RESTORATION DIARY - EDISON HOME - Model A #99667

[ambrola]

It was a difficult decision and I wouldn't fault anyone for having a different idea of what should have been done.

Please don't think that I was judging what you were doing. We're not working for a museum after all, and however most of the gramophone-realated things that I see in museums are very questionably handled (or non-handled, which is worse) IMHO. We all do what we think is best for our machines and for the future of our machines, with our money, and the rest of the world should anyhow praise what we do, as "official" or "state" museums do little to nothing in comparison to preserve the phonograph/gramophone heritage. At least here.

I was just struck by the fact that everything seemed to go ahead very well looking at the pictures, and then all of a sudden - BANG! - there's a naked case that looks as if it just came out of the carpentry!

I, too, also like early Home models very much and I'm looking for a decent and usable unit since at least a decade.

Hi Marco,
I don't think anyone took your quote out of context? I knew what you meant and took no objections to your post. You are exactly right. In fact, when I bought the machine, I thought it was a 2nd style red case Home. The guys on the forum noticed the case and informed me it wasn't, but it still had the bed plate I wanted, so off to Martin for a re-do. The banner decal had turned completely red, and could not be saved. That's the reason for the re-finish.

[martinola]

From the "two steps forward, one step back back" department -

STAINING:

After some experimentation on the practice blocks, I decided that I liked the grain effect with the grain being filled first and then stained with the green aniline stain prepared in alcohol. Using my previous dilution ratios, I went ahead to prepare the alcohol stain and then applied it.

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The dye strength was a great deal stronger than I anticipated and was hard to keep it from going too green. Either this was due to my dilution ratio being wrong or the alcohol tends to absorb more deeply and quickly.

When I tried to apply shellac over the stain, it moved waaay more than I expected. I was not very pleased with the results. The color was very blotchy.

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It looks much better in these photos than in direct viewing. This confirms what I had been told: always use varnish over alcohol stain. Duh. Lesson re-learned.

BACK TO NATURE:

When at first you don't succeed, try some 80 grit sandpaper. I hated to do it, but the best thing I could think of was to start over. I decided to go with the known quantity of using the water-borne green aniline stain, sealing, and then filling the grain. I stripped everything down to the bare wood again. I took special care to get the grain cleaned out for uniform color.

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TAKE TWO - STAINING WITH WATER BORNE ANILINE STAIN:

The stain was much more dilute and therefore easier to control. You can only see the accurate color as you are staining. As it dries, it turns that intense, powdery green color. Again, this is where you have to trust your initial impression of the color. It will look more like it did once the shellac goes on.

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Next, comes the very thinned sealer coats of shellac. This is to lock-in the green color and resist the dark oil stain color of the grain filler. We really want the grain to be dark, but not so much the green wood.

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Remember that the dark oil-based filler will adjust the intensity of the green.


Tomorrow's episode: Filling the grain.

[ambrola]

It's looking great Martin. That case was horrible when you started. Can't wait to see it done with the decal on it. The green dye is something many people can't or want do. You have a very special talent with it.
Martin,
How do you mix your orange shellac? I suppose you use flakes?

[martinola]

Ronnie,

I must confess that I use Zinnser in a can. I've been mostly using the "clear" (which is actually very slightly yellow-amber). Once the grain has been filled and sealed, I'll use a mixture of the "amber" (which is essentially the orange shellac we all know and love) and the "clear" to build up color warmth. Once the color is about where it needs to be, I'll add more coats of the "clear" for building the layer for smoothing.

To my relief, I find that I'm much happier with the green stain in this go round. As soon as the rain calms down, I'll go out and get the filler going. We'll get this puppy finished yet!

Martin

[martinola]

As my day off comes to a close, I thought I'd update a little here. Yesterday, I applied the oil based grain filler. I brushed it on, rubbed it in, and let it set up slightly before scraping most of it off.

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Once it had dried overnight, I very, very lightly cleaned off the excess with 0000 steel wool. When I say light, I mean 2 or 3 of the gentlest possible wipes with the steel wool pad. I followed up with a gentle wipe using a paper towel.

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I applied 2 moderately dilute coats of clear shellac to seal.

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As you can see, even though the grain is mostly filled, the filler is still slightly below the surface of the wood. The filler is extremely soft stuff, so that makes sense, but it will take several coats to make the finish smooth. This always happens to me. (Believe it or not, this is the best I've done so far.) Next will be the coats of Amber shellac to warm the color somewhat.

Finally, I've got what I think is a decent foundation to build the rest of the finish on. Obviously, we'll see what happens... Enjoy your week everybody!

Martin

[alang]

That looks great! Thank you very much again for sharing your techniques and progress. I am learning a lot.

Andreas

[ambrola]

It really is looking good Martin. I can't wait to put it back together. The bed plate is wonderful on this machine and with your magic on the case, It will be with me forever.

[martinola]

Another update:

I've been putting on very thin coats of clear shellac to build up a smooth finish. Believe it or not, the thin coats seem to fill in the voids faster than using thicker coats. (Maybe that's my imagination.) Certainly with the thin coats I don't have to sand as much as they go on smoothly.

Although I have a way to go to get a totally smooth finish, at coat number 20, I decided to do a light polish on the case front and apply the Banner decal that Ronnie sent to me.

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I kept notes on the original alignment of the decal to at least get me in the ballpark.

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After the decal had dried overnight, I applied some sealer coats of shellac on the decal with a brush.

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It will take several coats to conceal the edge of the decal.

Coat number 24 is amber shellac to give some color consistency between the decal and the case.

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It's getting there...

Martin

[ambrola]

Looking good Martin. Clines decal really stands out.

[ambrola]

I wonder how I can make it look old now? That's the issue with restoring a machine. You have to wait 50 years toget a patina on it.