The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I had this link posted under a different board. I thought this might be a better place, so here it is: http://www.wag-aic.org/2001/WAG_01_heginbotham.pdf.

This article was written by a professional conservator. Even if you don't intend to use the technique described therein, it's a good article to read to understand the sort of issues conservators--and we--should consider before undertaking a job.

Thank you for providing the link here. I'm assuming there's no need to position the surface being treated horizontally. Not that I'm proficient at restoring or refinishing, but that -- in and of itself -- would seem to be a huge positive?

Best,
Fran

jboger wrote:I had this link posted under a different board. I thought this might be a better place, so here it is: http://www.wag-aic.org/2001/WAG_01_heginbotham.pdf.

This article was written by a professional conservator. Even if you don't intend to use the technique described therein, it's a good article to read to understand the sort of issues conservators--and we--should consider before undertaking a job.

I really enjoyed the article, very informative!

Thank you!

Matt

A brief synopsis of the article for those who may be interested in reading this article but haven't. The article concerns how to treat a degraded (hazy, crizzled, alligatored) shellac surface on antique furniture in a reversible manner. Some people use the word shellac to refer to any type of surface coating. But to be precise, shellac here refers to that surface coating derived from the lac beetle found in India and Thailand. A common brand found in most hardware stores is Zinsser. Sometimes crizzling is so extreme it can not only hide the grain but even disguise the wood. This is caused by a rough surface that multiply scatters the light in many directions rather than having that light penetrate a smooth, even coat and bounce off (reflect) the wood underneath, as was the case when the shellac was originally applied. The surface may even feel smooth to the touch but microscopic granularity is sufficient to cause the effect. The challenge, then, as discussed in the article, is to fill in all these fissure with a transparent coating on top of the shellac. To be effective, this top coating needs to have a refractive index as close as possible to that of shellac so that the two coatings act as a single, translucent layer. And it must be removable without disturbing the original surface. The author discusses such a compound and describes several pieces of furniture given this treatment.

For those interested, I would suggest reading the article even if you don't intend to use it. And if you are about to start a new project, stop and think the entire process through rather than just starting somewhere and see where it takes you. Personally, my aesthetic is not to try to make a 100-year-old object look new. But people are different. It is your object and yours to do with what you like. I have no desire to go down that road.