Victrola XIV Door Knobs Color

[novkev24]

Hi All,

I'm trying to figure out what color the knobs should be on my 1921 Victrola XIV. They appear to be a yellow/greenish color. I'm wondering if this is just dirt caked on or this is the color. I have a bottle of Flitz Metal Polish, but I tend to get carried away with rubbing off finishes. The tonearm and other items are nickel coated. The winding key is a funky textured brown color. Your input is appreciated.

Thanks,
Kevin

[Jerry B.]

Only the very first Victrola XIV's with the unique cabinet have gold hardware. The only piece of hardware that was nickel was the edge of the turntable. The edged was finished in nickel because the brake rubbed on the edge and the nickel finish was much more durable than gold. (All Vic VI's with gold trim had nickel turntables for that reason.) The first XIV has a Vic V style motor, cannon brake, Vic VI type speed control, and a Vic VI tone arm.

The vast majority of XIV's all have nickel trim. You don't show enough of the cabinet for me to tell what you have but my early XIV appears to have the gold knobs closer together than yours. Because of that, I suspect yours is a later one which should have nickel knobs.

How is the hardware under the lid finished? If the tone arm, brake, and speed control is finished in gold, the door knobs should be in gold.

[novkev24]

Hi Jerry,

I attached three pictures of my machine. Sorry for the bad lighting and poor image quality. All the hardware with the exception of the winding key is nickel coated. The last picture is of the winding key. It appears to have a textured finish. I have seen pictures of this type of winding key on victor-victrola.com. Does it look ok to you?

-Kevin

[Jerry B.]

The photos help. Your machine should have nickel knobs and a nickel crank. I suspect that when you remove the crank, the part hidden inside the cabinet has good nickel. I would guess that your machine was stored in a less than ideal environment and the bright parts on the outside suffered a bit. Let us know how it cleans up.

I bought a nice mahogany XIV this week and it plays like a million bucks. It has the big four spring motor with a large horn. I've been at this for about forty years and have owned bunches of X's, oodles of XI's, a good number of XVI's but only a handful of XIV's. It's kind of like the Vic IV of Victrolas.

Happy collecting, Jerry

[novkev24]

That for the advice and feedback Jerry. It's an honor to have folks like you around.

The knobs shinned up like a new penny. The crank is coming along, but needs more work. I'm using Flitz Metal Polish. What do you use?

-Kevin

[Jerry B.]

I might get jumped on...but...I use Mother's Mag Polish with 0000 steel wool. I use the steel wool gently. I collect old bicycles that have lots of chrome. At first I had problems getting the rims rust free especially where the spoke meets the rim. Another bike collector suggested a mild hydrofluoric acid. It worked great along with a little brass brush or 0000 steel wool. All the chrome parts were spectacular! It worked so good I thought I've got to try this on a nickel horn. Mistake!!! The nickel flowed off the horn and I was down to brass. Luckily, it was nearly a junker horn but I learned a good lesson. Occasionally you see all brass flowered morning glory horns. I've wondered if they started out as nickel horns and had the original finish washed off.

DO NO USE HYDROFLUORIC ACID ON NICKEL PARTS!!!

[antique1973]

I use just 0000 steel wool for shining nickel. You do have to be
careful though and just go far enough to bring back the nickel
color without removing the nickel. Some knobs have been oxidized
badly and won't always shine to a bright luster, but usually they
will shine to a nice "antique nickel" hue.

[Henry]

Ditto the 0000 steel wool. In addition, I give the newly-shiny metal a thin coat-and-polish of Johnson's Paste Wax, the kind that comes in the yellow tin, available at hardware stores last time I looked. I have two cans of the stuff, enough for at least two lifetimes. The shelf life of product seems to be limitless, as long as you keep the lid on tight.

[Retrograde]

Boy that Flitz Metal Polish worked well on those knobs. I'll have to remember to pick some of that up sometime.

General note to anyone reading, be very gentle using 0000 steel wool on plated phonograph/gramophone parts. The plating is usually very thin and can be damaged or removed before you know it.

hydrofluoric acid?

[Covah]

Don't use hydrochloric (muriatic) acid, use phosphoric acid to derust parts, even rusted-solid casters. Soak parts in baking soda solution to neutralize. Spray with lacquer or new rust will be noticeable in a few hours.