ALLIGATORED MAHOGANY FINISH ON EDISON A250.

[Sethallen1973]

Hello I would like to know a good way to get some of the rough finish on my A250 to smooth out some. Does anyone have a good method of wet sanding lightly to bring out some of the finish?

Thanks for the help,

Seth

[Jerry B.]

Hi Seth,

Congratulations on the A-250. I collected for many years before finding one. I'd suggest you use the search feature on the Forum. There are many threads about cleaning crazed finishes. Please post a photo when it's finished. Jerry Blais

[JerryVan]

Either on the forum, or perhaps on youtube, search for "reamalgamation". You basically want to remelt the finish, using alcohol.

[52089]

Either on the forum, or perhaps on youtube, search for "reamalgamation". You basically want to remelt the finish, using alcohol.

...but be sure to clean it thoroughly first!

[Henry]

Either on the forum, or perhaps on youtube, search for "reamalgamation". You basically want to remelt the finish, using alcohol.

I did a re-amalgamation job on a solid maple chest of drawers, using Formby Furniture Refinisher (Ace Hardware equivalent is their #17343, acetone+methanol+toluene) and Scotch stripping pads (Ace #1007814). The results were quite satisfactory to me; the finish came out nice and smooth, and the maple stain was preserved. Note, though, that the piece was not alligatored, and it wasn't a veneer. If you decide to try this on your Edison, test on an inconspicuous location first. I won't enter the eternal debate in re: original vs. refinished, except to say that I wouldn't try this on my VV-XI.

[Sethallen1973]

Thanks for the help!

Seth

[martinola]

Although Henry's suggestion of the Formby's method can look good, I wouldn't call it re-amalgamation. With re-amalgamation one is simply re-melting the original finish together. With Formby's method you're melting the original finish off. Usually much or some of the original stain is left over and one places new top coats of tung oil (or shellac, or varnish, or whatever) over it. To me, the color always looks lighter.

The original idea of cleaning the case, then using a very fine (maybe 800) grit wet/dry sandpaper to flatten out the worst of the alligatoring is probably the least destructive method you can use on your original finish beyond just cleaning it. There are threads on this, but may take a bit of poking about to find them.

It's only original once, so good luck!

Regards,

Martin

[JerryVan]

Seth,

I honestly would not sand away original finish, even if alligatored. Reflowing it is the closest you can get to a restored original finish, versus removing most of the original finish by sanding, which I consider destructive.

Reamalgamation, (reflowing), takes some practice however. As already mentioned, the surface has to be very clean or you're just melting 100 years of old dirt & wax into your restored finish. Start on an area of the back panel or even on some other object with similarly alligatored finish.