What finish was used on Victor and Edison machines?

[gramophone-georg]

French polish would be okay for a red-mahogany "piano finish", probably very impractical ( if not impossible ) over oak.

Right! Unless you sanded it smooth after filling the grain, but then there's no point in having oak.

[MidMich]

Are we talking The French Polish where you wrap cheese cloth in a lint free rag, like say and old tee shirt section, Add the 50/50 mix of Zinser amber shellac and denatured alcohol and then apply the mix with the wadded up cloth in a circular motion, moving until it gets tacky and then moving to a new section. Let dry and do say 8 more times? there are several you tube videos on this and they are doing oak tables etc. Then there is the French Polishing where they add boiled linseed oil or wax to the top coats. Nice part is no brushes to clean up.

If you are talking over new unsealed oak, then you would need to seal it 1st with shellac. But doing a restoration with old wood that has it's old stain, then I would think the grain is seal already.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMxQ5hc4s78

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6A_-MXbkDg

Interesting video where he sets the alcohol on fire 1st.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1F3QBrR6e0

If the wood is porous you may need to seal the grain with shellac 1st.

http://www.woodworkersjournal.com/five- ... hing-know/

Jeff

[De Soto Frank]

Yes, that is the basic technique of French polish, which translates as "very labor intensive, and works best on flat surfaces".


The main object of "filling the grain" in wood before applying the finish, is to wind-up with a smooth surface.

When you see mahogany Federal period furniture in an antique mall that looks orange in color, and every pore of the mahogany telegraphs through the new finish, this is a piece whose red "piano finish" has been stripped-off, including the filler, and a new finish applied w/o any filler.

Kind of like paint, and even less so, wood finishes only seal the wood and provide either gloss or sheen; they do not hide imperfections in the surface.


I have not encountered any "glass-smooth" original finishes on oak furniture / pianos / talking machines from the 1890's - WW I period.

In the book "look for the Dog", there is a section that reproduces a walking tour through the Victor Talking Machine factory, pre-1920, and the cabinet finishing process is described in some detail.

[MidMich]

That is a trap that too many fall into, they over "restore" and when they are done they have a piece that does not look like the way it left the factory. Same problem with the old bikes that I work on. They did not look that "good" when new.
I know what you mean about excessive finish, It starts to look like it is coated in a layer of glass. And this can take away from the beauty of the natural grain. I am 61 and my dad was a journeyman finish carpenter, All old school. He is 90 now. I remember helping him when I was younger. Then I went to the dark side - Metal working- . Now I am returning after many years to wood working. I am debating using the French Polish method on a couple of Amberola 30. They come apart into three easy to manage sections.
I will have to see if I can pick up a copy of that book, it sounds very interesting.
Jeff