The Philips radio cabinet needs some work, and because I need advice, I thought I'd start a thread separate from the restore thread.
There are mainly two surfaces I need to restore. The biggest area is the top, sides and a small bevel on the front. These surfaces seem to have been lacquered or varnished with a dark colour. There is quite a lot of damage in parts, all the way through to the wood. The wood grain does show through a bit on these surfaces.
Then there are the veneer inlaid surfaces on the inside of the front or let's call it the facade. These are in much better condition. The varnish or lacquer has "crackled" and there is the odd nick/scratch and some discolouration, but they are pretty much fine. The brass trim can easily be removed from that one loose piece.
I do have some idea of how to approach this, but I thought I'd put it to the learned members of the forum before I do something silly. I am anticipating as many opinions as respondents. ;D
The first thing I must say is that I'm not looking to do a "concourse" level restore, and don't have the time and patience to do something like 14 coats of shellac. Also, I think that old equipment has earned the right to have some "houding" (character), so I don't want to lose the "crackle" effect on the lacquered inlays.
For the dark top, sides and front bevel, I think I need to (carefully) get it down to the bare wood, and then varnish with a dark stain and gloss varnish or lacquer. I don't have the skill to patch and try and colour match the damaged sections, so think I need to redo the whole lot. I could also then sand it with fine grit to get it to look more like lacquer. I can test the technique inside the cabinet where there is the same wood.
For the inlaid surfaces, my idea is to sand them very gently with a high grit (320-400?), rub with thinners and gloss varnish or lacquer over them as smoothly as possible (maybe spray?), sand if needed. I can test on the darker section of the loose piece in the photo above as that is not visible when the radio is assembled.
Please let me know what you think.
There are mainly two surfaces I need to restore. The biggest area is the top, sides and a small bevel on the front. These surfaces seem to have been lacquered or varnished with a dark colour. There is quite a lot of damage in parts, all the way through to the wood. The wood grain does show through a bit on these surfaces.
Then there are the veneer inlaid surfaces on the inside of the front or let's call it the facade. These are in much better condition. The varnish or lacquer has "crackled" and there is the odd nick/scratch and some discolouration, but they are pretty much fine. The brass trim can easily be removed from that one loose piece.
I do have some idea of how to approach this, but I thought I'd put it to the learned members of the forum before I do something silly. I am anticipating as many opinions as respondents. ;D
The first thing I must say is that I'm not looking to do a "concourse" level restore, and don't have the time and patience to do something like 14 coats of shellac. Also, I think that old equipment has earned the right to have some "houding" (character), so I don't want to lose the "crackle" effect on the lacquered inlays.
For the dark top, sides and front bevel, I think I need to (carefully) get it down to the bare wood, and then varnish with a dark stain and gloss varnish or lacquer. I don't have the skill to patch and try and colour match the damaged sections, so think I need to redo the whole lot. I could also then sand it with fine grit to get it to look more like lacquer. I can test the technique inside the cabinet where there is the same wood.
For the inlaid surfaces, my idea is to sand them very gently with a high grit (320-400?), rub with thinners and gloss varnish or lacquer over them as smoothly as possible (maybe spray?), sand if needed. I can test on the darker section of the loose piece in the photo above as that is not visible when the radio is assembled.
Please let me know what you think.
