Restoring the shellac finish on a 1920 Victor Victrola VV-XI

[martinola]

Earl,
To some extent, you said what I was thinking. Pedalpoint, here are some things I'd consider: The top usually takes the most weathering of a machine. It collects dirt, people put potted plants on them, water spills on them, they collect scratches, etc. So refinishing a lid is not unusual. It is a discreet unit that can be taken off and worked on. The edges also act as a "stop" to the eye. Many variations in color or tone can be minimized or eliminated due to that phenomenon. (It's the same idea that autobody shops use to hide new paint on repairs.) The rest of the outside of the machine might still be salvageable with reamalgamation and touching-up. The inside of the lid looks to be in good shape and should be preserved.

Here's a link to a restoration diary of my C-19.

http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... 267#p66267

I did an exterior refinish due to all of the veneer patching, but managed to salvage most of the interior finish. I bring it up to illustrate how the refinish can be matched to original if one keeps to discreet surfaces. (Note the repaired hinge area on the inside.) Good luck on your machine. Don't give up. Having a family machine is a great thing.

Martin

[pedalpoint]

Thanks Earl. That's terrific information!

And it's good news for my project, too. It means all I need to do is match the kind of shellac -- yellow, orange or whatever -- and do the repairs.

[EarlH]

They pretty much used orange shellac for everything in those days. I honestly have several dozen old books from the 1870's into the 1930's and 40's on finishing and none of them refer to shellac as anything but shellac. The guy I used to work for as a painter started house painting and finishing in the 1920's and I asked Bill one time about button lac and the other varieties and he had never heard of anything but orange or blonde. Bill had done a lot of finishing work over the years and used to go to conventions and all sorts of trade shows for many years. He didn't do the kind of work that George Frank did, but that guy was doing work for a pretty limited bunch of folks in his day and you can't compare the kind of work that he was doing, to what Victor was up to on their main line of phonograph cabinets.
You'll do fine with your Victrola. You can always strip what you do off and try again. I used to refinish upright pianos and give them away until I figured out what I was doing. Once you get 40-50 of them behind you, you'll have your ideas about things. Pre-catalyzed lacquer is one thing I wouldn't use to finish a dog house after all the problems I had with it. But others love the stuff. It's almost impossible to remove if you ever need to. So even if it do go on ok and look right and not craze 3 years later I still wouldn't use it. Shellac and wax will work just fine on your lid. You won't be using it as a plant stand anyway. Ha!