Pooley Cabinet from Minneapolis Craigslist

[Mr Grumpy]

Not sure if this horn would work for you Earl, but I spotted it on ebay and thought of you.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Victor-Victrola- ... 6016.l4276

[Zwebie]

Earl,

Check this out, it may help you:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Victor-victrola ... 339d358a01

[brianu]

are you suggesting that this complete machine be parted out to "save" the gutted, painted one with the incomplete cabinet???

[Jerry B.]

I imagine the ebay auction, once finished, would give some idea of the current value of a flat top and how much to invest in a gutted and incomplete cabinet. Jerry

[Zwebie]

are you suggesting that this complete machine be parted out to "save" the gutted, painted one with the incomplete cabinet???

Sorry, Brianu, I think you misunderstood my thinking.

I was thinking that if the doors on his empty cabinet had good veneer after cleaning the blue off, they could be used to bring this baby back!

Bob S.

[brianu]

are you suggesting that this complete machine be parted out to "save" the gutted, painted one with the incomplete cabinet???

Sorry, Brianu, I think you misunderstood my thinking.

I was thinking that if the doors on his empty cabinet had good veneer after cleaning the blue off, they could be used to bring this baby back!

Bob S.

ah... that makes sense. I definitely misunderstood.

either way, I totally applaud any effort to resurrect any of these machines, especially ones that have been as tampered with as the one that's the subject of this thread. I've invested the time and money into such lost causes myself on occasion and while it hasn't necessarily been worthwhile financially, it's been totally fulfilling in other respects.

[EarlH]

Thanks! That's interesting and kind of timely I guess, but it's an 18 hour drive for me each way. So even if it went cheap, I'm kind of out of the picture on that one. It would be a job to re-veneer the case on that one. The one on ebay is stained darker than the one I have is, but it's also a little later and that may be why. Or it was in less light of course. I'll bet the sides need to be re-veneered on that one as well, and I would guess the feet and casters are in tough shape as well.

I did the sides on a XVI a long time ago, but I don't know where to get two ply veneer like that anymore. That guy is retired, I would imagine it's out there, but finding it could be a problem. Victor also used varieties of mahogany that are not being used anymore. They aren't extinct, but kind of considered that way as far as woodworking goes. So, I really don't know how easy it would be to match all that up, but I'm sure it can be done.

On a brighter note, I did find a guy that will make the molding for this one of mine for $400. Which is less than half what the other outfit wanted to do it. This guy makes his own shaper blades and when the guy that told me where to go in the first place found out how much they wanted to make it, he told this other guy to get in touch with me about it. So I'm glad about that. As soon as I get a good copy of that profile, I can get that started.

[edisonplayer]

My friend Arthur Pare(who's in his 80's,and got me started in collecting)can remember when nobody wanted Victrolas.Thank God that you rescued this BEAUTIFUL Pooley!! edisonplayer

[EarlH]

A few months ago Gene Cole was nice enough to sell me his half of one of these Victrolas. His was that machine that had been cut off just below the horn that I'm sure most of you will remember. Holy cow was that a drive out there and back from the Midwest, but we've all done some goofy things on account of this hobby... Haha! A few weeks ago I figured I would get started on this thing and see if I could get it apart and back together and this is where it's at right now. It's been a lot of fussing around and during some of it I was beginning to wonder what the hell I was thinking by taking it on in the first place. But I did get it all glued back together a couple of days ago and got some stain on the cabinet yesterday. These things (at least the few I've seen) are very red and the "Blood Red" Behlen stain is a good match I think. I ran out and had to order some more as it's not a color I use very often, so that's why the one door is much lighter. That Victorian red color wasn't used much on furniture I don't think after about 1906 and it got much browner of course later on.

Pooley used a lot of nails to hold that whole thing down on top and I should have taken some more pictures of that while I had it all apart, but I didn't think of it. The board that the wide molding sets on is about ¼ to ⅜" wider on my machine than it was on the donor so I had to split that off the board and re-attach it to the one that had always been on my cabinet. That was doweled in place and fortunately they didn't put any glue on the dowels so that came apart more easily than I was expecting. A heat lamp popped about half of that loose, and the rest had to be worked loose with thin putty knives and that sort of thing. It took a couple of days, but it finally did come apart. I used screws instead of nails and did use hide glue again to hold it all together. I doubt it will ever have to come apart again, but who knows.

I have some more stain on order and hopefully in the next few months, I'll be able to get some varnish on it and get it rubbed out. It needs to have the grain filled once I finish getting it stained, and then I'll stain it again and go from there. I don't know if this color was considered the "light red" or "dark red" but it sure is red.

[Ripduf1]

Hi Earl,
I recognize that you have a long way to go - but my hat is off to you. The work thus far is incredible (let alone the 2000 mile drive). Excellent job and keep going! This is one where I really want to see photos when your done. John Duffy