The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I went a conservative route with restoring the finish on my C-19 cabinet. I guess it isn't really so much restored as it is shined up. I used teak colored Bri-Wax which brought back some of the red tones into the mahogany finish. It's still much browner than it would have originally been, but looks much better! Here's a photo.

That looks pretty good! By the time those C-19's were being made, the mahogany was stained much browner than it had been a few years earlier. It's a lot of work to clean one of those things up, that's for sure.

EarlH wrote:That looks pretty good! By the time those C-19's were being made, the mahogany was stained much browner than it had been a few years earlier. It's a lot of work to clean one of those things up, that's for sure.

^^^This.

Much browner and darker. Almost such that it slightly resembles the "Trafalgar Brown" used for the Long Playing and Edisonic cabinets. Almost...but still slightly lighter to my eyes.

Fran

Edisonh19 wrote:I went a conservative route with restoring the finish on my C-19 cabinet. I guess it isn't really so much restored as it is shined up. I used teak colored Bri-Wax which brought back some of the red tones into the mahogany finish. It's still much browner than it would have originally been, but looks much better! Here's a photo.

IMG_5128.JPG

Lookin' good, Ed!

The cabinet looks great! The best buys out there fall into the "unwashed and unloved" category. When cleaned up, the shellac looks like it should. Refinishing only takes away from antiques unless the techniques used are very good. Most of the time I can tell the difference so only refinish as a last resort and you know what you are doing. Have fun with your Edison.

Thanks everyone. The interior of the cabinet still shows the original color, so I know that this machine was much redder when it was new. Despite the color change, I like that it shows its age and still has enough of the original finish to be left as is. It's too bad that these old finishes took such a beating! The interior of the cabinet has a lovely hard shine, like a piano. Must have been a stunning piece of furniture when it was new!

I always prefer to keep my machines as original as possible. This H-19 came out of a closet in an antique store when I was in high school. I cleaned it and waxed it, and have always been proud of the original finish. It even has the original packing slip. The only thing I've replaced on it is the speaker cloth which had been replaced prior to my caretaker-ship.

My C-19 (#136969) has a very dark red finish. I noticed that all of the replacement pieces I found (grill, corner mouldings, etc) were a brown mahogany finish. Since the outside of my machine was so beat up, they all got refinished to match the inside anyway.

Martin

Yes, I would agree. There are certainly times when refinishing is unavoidable. I avoid it when possible, but when I do refinish, I try to use stains and finishes as close to the originals as possible. Shellac is a pain in the butt, but there's nothing like the sheen.

Oak is another story from Mahogany.. I usually find that oak cabinets can be simply cleaned and waxed and will look good. One exception what the Jacobean Edison upright. It was badly flaking the finish for some reason, probably damp storage conditions. I had to clean it as well as I could an then add stains to bring back the overall stain pattern of the cabinet which seemed to have been a somewhat waxed look originally.

On Mahogany if its simply highly crazed I have used very fine sand paper being careful not to cut though on corners or trims. After that so long as the finish is still solid I use a shellac that is cut by half with denatured alcohol. That usually will bring back original look with one to two coats. One needs to be careful not to get runs in the thinned shellac. I try to do most surfaces flat when ever possible. After its dry it will look too glassy, you then need to lightly use fine steel wood to dull it somewhat which then is waxed to get a more realistic finish. I would check some furniture refinishing sites on the internet to fully understand the best approaches when using these methods.

I did on my Chippendale have to tonally redo the lid and rim along with the front door panel which had been totally ruined by some substance which was allowed to come in contact with them. I matched them to the best of my ability and gave them 4 or 5 thin coats to bring the finish up to the original look. The sides I used the denatured alcohol and a large brush quickly leveling out the old rough finish. It worked but I had to sand down quite a few ridges left by the brushing out of the finish. Then several light coats finished it off nicely.

The latter William and Mary Console was also quite bad and some parts needed total refinishing. That machine being a latter style was lacquered. I found the brushing lacquer somewhat easy to apply but it doesn't seem to hold up well to things which may be sat on the top from time to time.