To refinish, or not to refinish?

[LimeTree99]

I recently purchased an oak Amberola V. Everything looked good in the eBay photos until I got a closer look at the finish. It appears someone had amalgamated the original shellac, but didn’t do too great of a job at it. (Uneven rough surface, patches of undissolved age-darkened shellac, etc.) Even the underside of the lid was redone, which from what I’ve seen, is something that usually never gets touched during a restoration. Judging by the how tacky/sticky it feels, it was probably recently done as well.

While I understand this might still be the original 110+ year old finish, it’s fairly easy to tell it’s been tampered with whenever direct light hits it. I’m tempted to strip it, pore fill, and apply fresh shellac, but as I’m sure many of you know “it’s only original once.” Has anyone else encountered a similar situation regarding wanting to “redo” someone else’s restoration? Any advice is appreciated.

I’ve attached a few photos below.

[Couch Potato]

Well, perhaps before you go to straight to the strip and refinish stage, perhaps try cleaning it with something such as Gojo non pumice and use 0000 steel wool to do so with and see if that will smooth it and out and make it look better. After that if it still not what you want you could try re-amalgamating but more proper job of it. Then if that all fails do the total redo. Then sometimes it is better to leave well enough alone.

Yes, I suspect many of us have had to sort of reverse an earlier restoration. If they used polyurethane that stuff can be very difficult to remove and get out of the pores of the wood. Sometimes what the restoration method of choice is in 1970 is not the choice in 1990 or 2010 or 2025. Back in the 1980's I think you would get laughed at if you went to the home improvement store and asked for shellac assuming you knew it existed and that was used on most machines when they were originally built.

[JerryVan]

I'm getting the impression that it was over-finished and not re-amalgamated. I'm not really sure what the next step should be. I think it's more or less a personal preference on your part. I'm usually in the "do nothing" camp, but since someone else already put their mark on it, I believe it removes the onus upon you to maintain/preserve something original.

[LimeTree99]

I'm getting the impression that it was over-finished and not re-amalgamated. I'm not really sure what the next step should be. I think it's more or less a personal preference on your part. I'm usually in the "do nothing" camp, but since someone else already put their mark on it, I believe it removes the onus upon you to maintain/preserve something original.

You’d be correct on the over-finish. I tried to blend it with denatured alcohol, but it didn’t fully dissolve. Klean-Strip got it off pretty easily though.
Whatever polyurethane they used must’ve been tinted or something. It was almost like removing brown paint.

The biggest downside is that the “Edison” under the lid got covered over in the same tinted poly. Unfortunately, that one panel will have to be left alone. Having a thorough refinish isn’t worth sacrificing the decal.

[Curt A]

"It's only original once", does not apply in this case since it's not original anymore. Personally, I'd strip it and redo with amber shellac...

[LimeTree99]

Just wrapped up on the refinishing job. Stripped everything off, and used a golden oak stain to add some color back before doing a light pass on grain filling. (Oak looks better without a glass-smooth finish in my opinion). 3 coats of amber shellac was used as the final finish before polishing.

I noticed the dark polyurethane was also hiding a couple little repairs made to the lid at some point. I think it adds character.

[TinfoilPhono]

Looks terrific -- great work.

[Curt A]

As Rene already said - it looks great...

[Inigo]

Wahhh... Beautiful...!!
You did it! Looks great!