Wanted for VV-XI

[welshfield]

Thanks again for your continued interest and help. I now am fairly certain that this is the original finish. The decal under the lid is all there in excellent condition with the existing finish color coming through in the open spaces of the decal. There is absolutely no residue of an older or darker finish within the carvings on the posts, edges of doors, inside the compartments or anywhere else I look. I am also fairly cer4tain that this is not oak. Not at all the oak grain. I will accept the comments of some of you (on my original post under "Machines," auction gold) that this may be mahogany made to look like walnut because I am not clear about the differences in the grain patterns of the two species. I think the digital photo and camera made the lid appear lighter than the body of this cabinet. When seen in real life, they all match up fairly well. I have not tested the finish with alcohol (for shellac) or lacquer thinner (for lacquer) and probably will not at this point--at least not until I am ready to work on it. I do not suspect a modern polyurethane because it is not that shiny/glossy. There are a few small nicks in the finish that go down to bare wood, bare without any trace of a later-added top coat of a modern cover-up finish.

chem_jv: I am probably 12 hours away from Union, as I live in between Cleveland and Youngstown, Ohio, about 15 minutes from the Ohio Turnpike. I do need to adjust my schedule if possible to take off and meet you there to buy your parts to complete this machine. Please hold them for me, and I will advise you (by email or private message if I figure out how that is done on this forum) of my ability to come to Union and meet you there.

Thanks again all of you. I do think this is a very very attractive (and, it is seeming, unusual) machine and hope to have her "singing" again --an expression I now will adopt lovingly as someone said in one of the postings about over restoration.

John