Mahogany Home

[rgordon939]

Hi Ronnie,

It looks to me like the wood wasn't sealed well and the finish didn't cover evenly. I think this well go away after sanding and a few more coats of finish.
Rich Gordon

[martinola]

The photo of the left end looks like there is white stuff in the grain. Is that what you were talking about? Even very enlarged, I'm still not sure if I'm seeing actual opaque stuff (bad) or just light reflecting off of the open grain (good).

If it is reflected light, then it's only a matter of putting on many more coats to fill it in. It is doable, just a lot of time and effort. Here's a link to my C-19 done that way:

http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... =7&t=11774

If it is opaque stuff (like leftovers from the stripper), I'd be tempted to take it down to bare wood with 80 grit sandpaper (not stripper) and start again. After it's bare, I'd do a good scrubdown with mineral spirits to wash out any remaining gunk. When filling, you may want to refer to this article as a loose guideline:

http://www.antiquerestorers.com/Article ... ilpore.htm

This is a cool case and it is worth the extra effort. You know you have a good sense of the color, so I'm sure that it will come right. Good luck on what ever you decide to do.

Regards,
Martin

[ambrola]

The photo of the left end looks like there is white stuff in the grain. Is that what you were talking about? Even very enlarged, I'm still not sure if I'm seeing actual opaque stuff (bad) or just light reflecting off of the open grain (good).

If it is reflected light, then it's only a matter of putting on many more coats to fill it in. It is doable, just a lot of time and effort. Here's a link to my C-19 done that way:

http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... =7&t=11774

If it is opaque stuff (like leftovers from the stripper), I'd be tempted to take it down to bare wood with 80 grit sandpaper (not stripper) and start again. After it's bare, I'd do a good scrubdown with mineral spirits to wash out any remaining gunk. When filling, you may want to refer to this article as a loose guideline:

http://www.antiquerestorers.com/Article ... ilpore.htm

This is a cool case and it is worth the extra effort. You know you have a good sense of the color, so I'm sure that it will come right. Good luck on what ever you decide to do.

Regards,
Martin

What you are seeing is the pores in the wood. That is what's bothering me. I really think I need to start over. The color is ok and its no big deal stripping it right now before I do the sanding and buffing.

[Lucius1958]

The photo of the left end looks like there is white stuff in the grain. Is that what you were talking about? Even very enlarged, I'm still not sure if I'm seeing actual opaque stuff (bad) or just light reflecting off of the open grain (good).

If it is reflected light, then it's only a matter of putting on many more coats to fill it in. It is doable, just a lot of time and effort. Here's a link to my C-19 done that way:

http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... =7&t=11774

If it is opaque stuff (like leftovers from the stripper), I'd be tempted to take it down to bare wood with 80 grit sandpaper (not stripper) and start again. After it's bare, I'd do a good scrubdown with mineral spirits to wash out any remaining gunk. When filling, you may want to refer to this article as a loose guideline:

http://www.antiquerestorers.com/Article ... ilpore.htm

This is a cool case and it is worth the extra effort. You know you have a good sense of the color, so I'm sure that it will come right. Good luck on what ever you decide to do.

Regards,
Martin

What you are seeing is the pores in the wood. That is what's bothering me. I really think I need to start over. The color is ok and its no big deal stripping it right now before I do the sanding and buffing.

I believe that is what Martin was referring to: light reflecting off the pores of the open grain.

In which case, you can either take his advice, and add more coats until it levels out: otherwise, you can strip it and start again from scratch.

If you want as authentic a finish as possible, you should use shellac. The sources I have read suggest rubbing pumice into the grain (or sometimes, for mahogany, brick dust), and rubbing a coat of shellac over that (I am thinking of the French polish method of finish, which, if done carefully, produces marvelous results). If the finish looks matte and rough after that, then fine sand it down to level it. You can proceed with further coats of shellac until you get the finish you want.

Bill

[ambrola]

So the Lacquer will eventually cover it up? I am not a purist and will keep this one. If they had the materials we have today, I think they would have used them. Is shellac a stain?

[EarlH]

Unless there is something white in the grain pores (openings) the lacquer will fill them in to level up the finish. You MUST sand between the coats to do that. It's a lot of work and that's why a piano finish is expensive to do. You want to level up your finish and at the same time keep it at thin as possible. If you build lacquer up too thick, you'll have other problems eventually like crazing and cracking. Shellac is close to what they used on that stuff when it was new, but they added some other resins to it to make it a little tougher than just shellac. On higher end furniture they would have built the finish up with shellac and then gone over it with varnish to finish it up. That's a much thicker finish and that's usually how mahogany was finished in those days. Edison tended to be a little more careful about how money got spent, so that can be considered as well. But even Victor did some of that on the lower end stuff. All that aside, you'll want to get some wet & dry sandpaper and a small sanding block (I would use 800 grit or finer on it) put a little dish soap in the water to keep the paper from clogging and sand it down. You must be careful not to sand through the finish, especially at edges. And then spray more lacquer. It will level up, but it will take a little elbow grease. Once you are done with this, you'll understand why hardly anybody wants to do a really nice job on a large machine.

I've refinished 40-50 pianos this way and it's just a lot of work. The grain filler does speed things up, but you are this far into it and you might as well work with it a little more before you give up on it, you can always start over. But this looks like it will turn out just fine. Are you using Mohawk piano lacquer? I hope you aren't using anything that's pre-catalyzed, that's stuff is a nightmare. If it is the pre-catalyzed stuff, you will want to get that off that cabinet ASAP. Once that stuff cures, nothing will remove it and in about 2 years and three days, and believe me I know as I had it happen to 5-6 pianos, the whole thing will craze, crack and fissure and it's an unbelievable mess to remove. It also won't stick on sharp corners. Anyway, it looks fine to me, you'll just need to do some sanding now between coats.

[ambrola]

Thanks for the explanation Earl. I am going to do just as you said. I have 600,800 and 1200 grit sandpaper. I just didn't know that the lacquer would eventually fill it up. The worst thing that could happen is a strip and start over.