Admiral's Cabinet - Preserve, Conserve, or Restore?

[RitchieMars]

I don't think I've ever shown you guys a picture of the Admiral's cabinet in much detail. I spend so much time staring at that small chassis during all of my hit-and-miss repair work, that it sometimes seems strange that such a small instrument is the heart and soul of a much larger and imposing entity! Here's what it looks like:

Older picture, before I took it apart:



At the moment it looks like this:







It's not in the best shape, but it's far from atrocious. As you can see, she has very broad shoulders! The top is probably the roughest, and it's easy to imagine why. So many things have been placed up there over time, not to mention the fact that a portion of my great grandmother's roof actually collapsed on it! There's a dent or two from this on the top left side...



Now, as many of you probably know already, the flash is very unforgiving on things and the Admiral actually looks quite nice in normal lighting. I've always had a record player sitting on top of it, which always seemed to hide a lot of the rough spots. I have a few choices here, and I'll let you know already that I have done wood refinishing before and I rather enjoyed it. But, I'm particularly picky about the Admiral.

This radio had always fascinated me as a child when it sat in the corner of my great-grandmother's den. I recall there being an old chair beside it, and even though it was on the opposite side of the room, I'd go sit over there so I could get a closer look at it. I was always reminded not to try and turn it on or mess with the knobs, so I was really excited when my dad told me that she said I could have it. She couldn't live on her own anymore, and we soon had to move the rest of her furniture out of the house. She passed away just a few years ago at the age of 104, buried not even a block or two from the house she lived in all those years. Thinking back on it, it makes me feel good to know that she remembered how much I liked the Admiral and wanted me to have it...

So, as for the cabinet... I can either simply preserve what's there, flaws and all, and keep it shined up the best I can and let it continue to show it's age. Some would say that's leaving it "original" but of course... it didn't originally come with all this wear and tear, now did it? I could take a sort of conservative approach and use some light refinishing techniques that would somewhat hide some of the damage without completely repairing it. Or... I can plan on going to town on this thing between now and fall and try and do a major refinishing job. Based on my skill level, however... I'm leaning more towards the middle-ground approach.

Any advice on how I should proceed? Feel free to simply link me over to an example of a similar project that one of you guys did. I also won't count out the possibility that I should take this to someone with more experience, if one of you may know someone who does good, affordable work not too far outside of my region. ( South Carolina Upstate )

[Bill Cahill]

If it were mine, I'd hone in my refinnishing skills, and, totally re finnish it.
Save the dings as memories, if there is any veneer dammage, fix that.
But, I'd say totally restore it, inside, and, out. Don't re finnish inside.
But, do a good job cleanning chassis, tubes, etc. Clean the phonograph very well, If you don't want to use phonograph, you don't have to restore it.
But, if it were mine, I'd do a bang up job restoring it in her memory.

If I may here, let me tell you this true story...
Many years ago my Polish Grandfather gave me his old GE Upright late 30's art deco radio. Model J-805.
It was pretty torn up. I picked up another different model with same chassis.
I took all the needed parts from it, repaired original, and, re built chassis.
Due to room problems storing it in small apartment I was renting at the time, I stored it in the basement.
Unfortuanately, a rotten tennant decided he needed the special speaker for it more than I did, and, stole it.
I got so stupidly mad, I threw out the radio.
That was really dumb.
A few years ago, I paid a horendous price for another same model radio. Over 300.00 in trade, and, cash.
Obviously, he saw me coming.
However, re re capped chassis. It's got other issues I haven't gotten around to fixing yet.
In the meantime, due to old age, the cardboard antenna barel fell apart.
It just plain rotted!
Now, I have to re build the barel. I will, but, it won't have alot of the original fancy stuff on it, though I am painting it the same color, and, will put some decoration on it.
What I'm trying to point out here is the fact that this model radio has alot of memories in it of my Grandfather. He always had it playing in his own private room.
I want to get this one going as well as I can so I have the memory.

The same thing with my finally finnishing repair work on restored RCA Victor tv.
Alot of memories sitting in front of family set watching cartoons, programs, sit coms, etc.....
Memories are important.
Nothing wrong with having some little reminders that we can even make more memories of for others, and, ourselves.
Just my opinion.....
Bill Cahill

[Sandy G]

If you lived closer, I'd ask you to bring it up here...We have an EXCELLENT refinisher in this town, he's made MANY Silk Purses outta the dreadful Sow's Ears I've brought him-And he doesn't hold you up, or take til next St Swithins' Day, either.

[VintagePC]

I have to agree with Bill here-

You should at least re-finish it, as it will have more significance for you, and possibly even add a plaque to it with "in memory of" and make it a family heirloom. What's more, if the end result looks great, and is your own work, then you'll have something to be extremely proud of.

If that's veneer, and a surface stain or varnish, (looks like varnish from the damage), I'd go with some good cabinet scrapers - If you have a Lee Valley near by, see here:
http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/pag...at=1,310,41069

Practice a bit on some scrap wood until you get a feel for them; you can make very thin wood "curls" (long, long shavings much like you get with a hand plane, only even thinner) with them if you do it right.

The advantage here is they will take off very little of the surface, preserving most of the dings and scratches (and their memories), unless you want to remove them.

If you work with the grain of the wood, you can get an extremely smooth finish (smoother than sanding!).

Once you've scraped off the old paint, you can re-finish with stain, shellac, or varnish; I'd recommend varnish as it brings out the natural colour and design of the wood- this is extremely rich, especially for aged wood.

Three to four coats of varnish (thin it slightly on the last coat to get a smoother coat and reduce brush stroke lines), or you can try with a model airbrush set - but practice first!

Also a note: If that cabinet is made of maple, it will do a number on those scrapers; Maple (and latex paint) contain silica (and quartz, respectively) which dulls the sharp edges faster than on other woods... so you may want to pick up a scraper sharpening kit too.
- particularly this file holder so you can get a perfect 90 degree edge:
http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/pag...=1,43072,43089

and this (or another burnisher): http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/pag...at=1,310,41070

I'm currently doing the same thing with my Fleetwood 4068 cabinet- (in the middle of veneering right now) but I should be finished in a few days, at which point I'll post pictures of the finished result so you can see for yourself.

[Reece]

I'd refinish it. You can do it. You're going to hear a number of different methods that people use. In the 1920's, radios were finished with shellac. Towards the end of the twenties manufacturers changed to lacquer, which is what your Admiral was finished in, and would be the authentic refinish.

The way I would do it if it were mine: strip it, sand lightly with very fine paper, and use the same brand spray sealer on the wood as the brand of spray lacquer I'm going to use. I use Deft. The sealer keeps the stain used later from soaking in too much. Then get a rag and do some staining, starting low down on the side somewhere until you get the technique you want. Sand again lightly and spray more sealer on top of that. Again sand lightly with 1000 grit. Think that when you put the finish on top of the stain it will look darker. Turn the set so that you are doing one side at a time with that side horizontal; this avoids runs. Several light coats with superfine sanding in between.

Can't tell from the pictures but that figured wood on the curved front and the band around the set "might" be photofinish, which is a printed paper product made to look like expensive wood and glued on. Examine carefully. If it is and you remove it, you'll find plain wood underneath that won't look very good. You might have to take pains to mask it carefully to preserve it during whatever refinishing process you use. If it is photofinish and in reasonable shape, you can touch it up with a fine brush and some artist's colors.

[electron]

In my opinion, refinished pieces often don't look right. I would go over it with scratch cover and put your record player back on top. If I was to refinish it, i would strip it with citrus strip, avoid sanding it, and spray it with lacquer.

[RitchieMars]

Hm, I'm considering all of these options and one thing that did stick out to me was these photofinish pieces. I'm pretty sure that's exactly what it is because where it's chipped, I can see a sort of "tear" with plain wood behind it. I'd rather not replace any of this unless I absolutely have to. I believe there's more photo-finish than meets the eye. In fact, both of the doors seem to be made this way with four separate pieces that mirror each other. The trim line that runs above that, across the front and down the sides is like this, as are those those front "shoulders." At the bottom of the cabinet, there's photofinish over the bottom centermost portion of the speaker grille. The big nice-looking sides even look like veneer, judging by one chip that's come off. If it were all solid wood like the rifle stocks I've worked on, I wouldn't think twice about stripping it down and reworking it all.

Most of the cabinet would look great if the scratches were filled in and it wasn't for all the cracks in the lacquer. How does lacquer work over old lacquer? I've heard that some people have had luck filling in their cracked lacquer with a new coat and building it up.

[wa2ise]

Originally Posted by RitchieMars

Hm, I'm considering all of these options and one thing that did stick out to me was these photofinish pieces. I'm pretty sure that's exactly what it is because where it's chipped, I can see a sort of "tear" with plain wood behind it. I'd rather not replace any of this unless I absolutely have to.

I've read in this forum and others where people used artist's oil? paints to match the color and approx match the wood grain pattern of the paper photofinish, to fill in the damaged spots. Of course, the oil paint or whatever you use needs to be compatible with the lacquer you will use.

Some people have created new photofinish by printing it out from a computer printer, and using photoshop to edit it. Of course you'd need stable printer ink, or maybe use brown colored paper and a B&W laser printer. Of course it needs to be stable against UV and whatever you finish it with (lacquer, poly or shellac).