Restoring this finish

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MikeB
Victor II
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Joined: Mon Aug 30, 2010 9:28 am

Restoring this finish

Post by MikeB »

This Victrola IX has a fairly good original finish, however it has these splatters of silver paint all over. Is there a good way to clean this while preserving the original finish?
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jamiegramo
Victor III
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Joined: Tue Sep 21, 2010 5:52 am
Location: St. Albans, UK

Re: Restoring this finish

Post by jamiegramo »

I have had a similar problem and used cellulose thinner to remove the paint. This did not attack the shellac based finish underneath as alcohol would. Maybe acetone would also work. However, I am not sure of the type of finish you have here, you would need to test. Failing that the paint may partly scrape off with a plastic blade like the side of a used credit card.

HMVDevotee
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Re: Restoring this finish

Post by HMVDevotee »

When I'm sure I do not want to re-stain or re-varnish an original finish, I've applied a Kiwi colored furniture paste wax with a pad of "0000" steel wool. I figure Minwax makes similar products. Rubbing with the grain, the wax colors dryed varnish cracks and scrapes, and the steel wool smooths the finish. Once the wax dries... in less than a minute, buff with a terrycloth rag (I use torn sections of an old bath towel.) If you apply the wax heavily and let it set-up for five minutes, you will get a real workout trying to remove the excess. I buff until a fresh rag remains clean of color.

If there are rub marks that are through the original finish and are significantly lighter in color that the balance of the cabinet, I would touch-up with a good stain (or wood dye) and work to get the color you want before trying waxing. The steel wool does a great job of removing soil from handling, and you end up with a bit of a shine depending on the condition of the underlying finish. I have even removed fine paint splatter similar to yours. I never use solvents on original finishes unless I intend on refinishing altogether.

I get great results with this technique, again assuming I do not want to re-stain or re-varnish. Once the paste wax is applied, you would have to strip the casework before refinishing.

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