Worth the effort?

Discussions on Talking Machines & Accessories
gunnarthefeisty
Victor III
Posts: 775
Joined: Mon Jan 04, 2021 2:57 pm
Personal Text: Started collecting in August 2020, small collection of records
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Contact:

Worth the effort?

Post by gunnarthefeisty »

I have an Edison Fireside, with a far from perfect case. Poorly refinished, it's also cracked and (presumably) repaired, and the inside of the bottom of the case has been painted silver, except for areas inside where something seems to have been screwed in. Should I try to refinish it myself, or just get a different case that isn't as messed up?
Attachments
16344245035782623374126010928873.jpg
IMG_20211016_150836930.jpg
IMG_20211016_173811702.jpg
IMG_20211016_173822654.jpg
IMG_20211016_173917064.jpg
IMG_20211016_173900954.jpg
IMG_20211016_173930531.jpg

Josh_boro20
Victor I
Posts: 124
Joined: Tue Oct 29, 2019 11:04 am
Personal Text: Vintage sound
Location: Seattle

Re: Worth the effort?

Post by Josh_boro20 »

I personally think it’s worth the effort, at the very least it could be a fun project. A good sanding and varnish would make the case look new again. It seems to be in good condition considering the circumstances. The only tedious part will be removing the silver paint from inside the case.

gunnarthefeisty
Victor III
Posts: 775
Joined: Mon Jan 04, 2021 2:57 pm
Personal Text: Started collecting in August 2020, small collection of records
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Contact:

Re: Worth the effort?

Post by gunnarthefeisty »

Josh_boro20 wrote: Sat Oct 16, 2021 8:30 pm I personally think it’s worth the effort, at the very least it could be a fun project. A good sanding and varnish would make the case look new again. It seems to be in good condition considering the circumstances. The only tedious part will be removing the silver paint from inside the case.
do you know if there's any way to repair that crack better?

VanEpsFan1914
Victor VI
Posts: 3165
Joined: Fri Oct 06, 2017 11:39 am
Personal Text: I've got both kinds of music--classical & rag-time.
Location: South Carolina

Re: Worth the effort?

Post by VanEpsFan1914 »

Look on the forum more abt. how to do this. You can do this.

Grain filler is your friend. I used Goodfilla mixed w. water for a Home case.

gunnarthefeisty
Victor III
Posts: 775
Joined: Mon Jan 04, 2021 2:57 pm
Personal Text: Started collecting in August 2020, small collection of records
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Contact:

Re: Worth the effort?

Post by gunnarthefeisty »

VanEpsFan1914 wrote: Sat Oct 16, 2021 10:32 pm Look on the forum more abt. how to do this. You can do this.

Grain filler is your friend. I used Goodfilla mixed w. water for a Home case.
alright. I'll ask more questions. This is gonna be my first refinish job, so hopefully I can get it right.

JeffR1
Victor III
Posts: 500
Joined: Sat Jul 24, 2021 11:04 pm
Location: British Columbia Vancouver Island Canada

Re: Worth the effort?

Post by JeffR1 »

Using just grain filler in a crack like that isn't going to work, if the crack can be seen on the inside, then it's right through, you need get some glue in there.
Water based glues are no good, they set up too soon and they need clean wood to adhere too.
There's a 100 years of old finish and dirt in that crack.

Clean the surface of the crack out as best you can with an x-acto blade, then use a 24 hour epoxy and work into the crack until it comes out the other side.
This will take some time., a putty knife works here.
Once this happens, tape the back side of the crack with some masking tape.
Work some more epoxy into the front side, until it won't take anymore glue, being sure that the tape on the inside has not moved, if it has, add more tape.
Tape the front so the epoxy is sealed in and let it set-up for 2 days.

This will require to be scraped and sanded off, but since you're going to restore the finish, the old stuff that you will be removing won't matter.

Take a every sharp small chisel and just remove the top layer of glue, following the grain, you want to take the glue out and mimic the grain pattern.
Replace what you have taken out with wood fill that will take a wood stain, or use a wood fill the colour of the stain you pan to use.

I've restored antique furniture for over 25 years, getting the wood fill to match the rest of the colour of the grain takes some skill, and I can take you through this, if you want.

User avatar
Inigo
Victor VI
Posts: 3753
Joined: Mon Dec 18, 2017 1:51 am
Personal Text: Keep'em well oiled
Location: Madrid, Spain
Contact:

Re: Worth the effort?

Post by Inigo »

I always think it's worth the pain... You'll see it repaired and you'll forget the pains: the results remain and the case 100 years old has been saved, showing once more that it's ready for another 100 years! You'll be satisfied... OTOH, if you throw the old case to the trash bin, for a little that you love these machines...., it will pursue you forever, not letting you sleep quietly anymore! :D
Inigo

User avatar
dzavracky
Victor IV
Posts: 1547
Joined: Fri Oct 25, 2019 11:37 pm
Personal Text: college collector
Location: Knoxville Tennessee
Contact:

Re: Worth the effort?

Post by dzavracky »

Listen to Jeff's advice and you will do fine. This is a project worth the effort. Edison cases are pretty straight forward to re-finish, and are a good place to start learning how to do this.

Just take your time and don't rush through it. It can be frustrating to have a project go on for months at a time (My Herzog restoration has been goin on for over a year now). But when it's done and in the house, you start to notice real quickly the things you rushed through and end up being disappointed in your work. For me, the grain filling stage is always the most frustrating. I can never seem to get the grain filled in all the way. That then leads into the frustration of coat after coat of shellac trying to finish filling it in to get a nice smooth finish. If you have to do the filling / anything else twice to get it right, I promise it's worth the extra effort to get it right.

This is a good place to ask questions about the process of restoring that case. I recommend using the search button (right under the TMF logo in the top right of the screen) to browse through old restorations, most of them have good info about the process that went into the finished project.

For example here's a few:
Two exceptional restorations from Martionla

viewtopic.php?t=24403
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=22906&hilit=standar ... estoration

my ongoing herzog restoration and edison home re-finish

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=45501
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=45273&hilit=home

and there are lots more here on the board!

Cheers,

David

Josh_boro20
Victor I
Posts: 124
Joined: Tue Oct 29, 2019 11:04 am
Personal Text: Vintage sound
Location: Seattle

Re: Worth the effort?

Post by Josh_boro20 »

I agree with all the advice above, they sell special wood putties that match the type of wood. I believe the case can be fixed up nicely.

gunnarthefeisty
Victor III
Posts: 775
Joined: Mon Jan 04, 2021 2:57 pm
Personal Text: Started collecting in August 2020, small collection of records
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Contact:

Re: Worth the effort?

Post by gunnarthefeisty »

Josh_boro20 wrote: Mon Oct 18, 2021 12:13 am I agree with all the advice above, they sell special wood putties that match the type of wood. I believe the case can be fixed up nicely.
I hope it can. I guess I'll start with the lid- that's the "easy" part anyhow. How do you finish these? I've heard that you just coat it with shellac, but I don't really know how that works.

Post Reply