DIY help for Piano refinishing

I thought I'd step out my guitar forum and ask the experts a question. I rank about a 1 out of 10 on the keys so bare with my ignorance.
I saved an old Heintzman Model E baby grand from a trip to the dump when a local school was tossing it out. Everything to the best of my appreciation is perfectly fine, soundboard, pegs,hammers & astonishingly every key is perfect. No sign of replacements after being in a school for decades.

I just want to refinish the exterior to remove dozens of names from the varnish and fix some of the mahogany where it's terribly worn.

I asked some pro shops who treated me like an absolute idiot who should bring it to them and hand over $10,000! That was a consistent starting estimate for an overhaul. Toronto pricing!

Are there any sources of information that any of you would recommend to assist me and help me avoid destroying this instrument?

I can qualify myself by stating that I have a completely outfitted workshop, fine woodworking experience as well as with refinishing. But never anything like this.

Do's, don'ts & where help can be found would be appreciated.

Thank you

I have a rebuilt / restored Steinway (model S). I was able to tour the shop where they did the restoration. It was a very impressive thing to see for any piano lover.

They removed the keys, action, frame, soundboard- everything out of the external case - prior to refinishing it. (Is this something that you you feel comfortable doing?) Next, the case was repaired & restored & refinished like a piece of fine furniture.

And that was just the first step.

Personally, I don't have the skills, tools, space or time to do this. Although $10K is a lot of dough, I would still take it to a professional if you really care about this piano, or its value as an investment.

I've done a lot of piano refinishing. First thing you need to do is remove the action, and completely disassemble the piano. If you don't know how to do this you may want to hire a piano technician to do it, because you can break hammers off when removing the action.

Take all the hinges, and other hardware off, and put them in a jar, or somewhere for safekeeping. You may want to have seperate jars with labels for different items. It really stinks to start putting the piano back together and not have all the screws, or to put the screws in the wrong places.

I also take the legs off and put the piano onto 3 small saw horses. Just build them about the height of the legs, slide one under each section and remove the legs. The legs are held on by screws, and/or lock plates. You'll need to screw the lock plate pressure screw coming into the side of the leg, in, and then tap the back of the leg towards the inside of the piano to release from the lock plate. Sometimes you need a rubber mallet to get it to release. If you need any help removing the legs, consult a piano technician.

Now you have the piano unassembled you refinish as you would any other wood. Strip, sand, repair any holes or other bad spots in the wood, sand some more, apply pore filler, sand, and then apply whatever finish you want. Pianos traditionally have a lacquer finish but anything works as long as you've done your surface preparation correctly.

It's a hell of a lot of work refinishing a piano correctly. Really not worth it unless the piano is in decent condition. I'd get a piano technician to look at the piano before I spent that much time on it. It may have some serious flaws that aren't visible, or that you just haven't noticed yet.