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Has anyone attempted to, or succeeded in removing a laminate from its substrate?

This morning, I purchased an 1858 Jean-Henri Pape' "rosewood" parlor piano.

Knowing that the "rosewood" was most likely a laminate, my suspicion was confirmed this morning when I examined the piano.

At that point, I was about 98% certain that I would NOT purchase it but then I looked at the sound board.

9"-wide spruce planks with AMAZING bearclaw character. (162 years old!) So I bought it. Only one I've ever paid for.

Now, I would love to salvage as much of that rosewood laminate for guitar use (headstock overlays?) as possible without damaging any of it.

I would love to hear your thoughts.

Thank you, in advance.

Back in the 70's I was given several old pianos which I completely disassembled. I have some birdseye maple veneer about 1/8" thick from some of them stored elsewhere, and many of the upright beams became legs for tables and benches. I scrapped the metal fittings out of them, and one had real ivory on the keys which I saved for inlays (I gave much of it away over the years). One had real ebony black keys and they were cut up into nuts for violins and cellos. It was great fun and I learned a lot about piano construction. I don't see why you can't be careful and salvage that rosewood!

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Time consuming, but depending on how thick the laminate is, cut your piece out, flip it over and run it thru the thickness sander til just the rosewood is left.

Going to be more practical on 1/4” thick pieces than 3/4”, of course.

The knee board is about 3/8" thick and I can actually get a fingernail under the edge in a couple of places. I'm guessing Pape' used hide glue so I may try a palette knife and a little heat. I think the keys have been re-topped as the tops are in excellent condition.
As you mentioned, Chris Pile, I thought I had some real ivory there but I really think it may be faux. While there are the grain lines, there is no hint of a curved pattern as you would expect in real ivory.
Still, a pretty interesting old piece.

The "ivory" might be celluloid. Good for replicating some vintage guitar bindings and inlays..... Keep some anyway - you never know.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Agree.

Heat up a pin or needle and poke it into the material. If it sinks in it's plastic, if not it's ivory. Never do this test on anything valuable, like jewelry.

The history of ivoroid is fascinating. In 1855 a guy named Parkes found celluloid as a by-product of early photographic film. In 1862 he patented it as Parkesine, and this is considered the birth of plastics. It was the first synthetic ivory. I use ivoroid a lot and think of this when I do.

If your 1858 piano has original synthetic keys, it would be a very early use of the material. Your picture shows a different color on the tops than the faces, so they could be replacements

3/8" pieces - yow. could be some 3 or 4 piece backs in there. Let us know what happens

Ed