The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

ROUND 1.1:

In preparing the case, I usually like to do all of the regluing while the original finish is still on the case. My feeling is that the old finish protects the wood against oozing glue. I had not counted on the baseboard being warped to this degree. This necessarily slows the process down while I wait for the clamps to do their magic.

Two days didn't do it. Four days was also a no-go. From what I've been reading online it might be more like two weeks. There are methods that relieve some of the stresses in the wood by cutting deep grooves on one side. While I'm sure I could make it look OK afterward, I'm going to start with the least invasive process first.

In the meantime, I'll do whatever gluing and prep work that I can.

This case has two loose corner blocks and is missing one entirely.
I made a new one from some scrap oak. I used a rasp to replicate the saw marks. To make it blend in better, I stained the piece in black walnut followed up with rubbing some powdered green dye.

The lid is in pretty good shape, but there has been some separation at a couple of corners, most notably; the right rear.
(I used a couple of leather gloves to cushion the moulding during the clamping.)
(That's a little better.)

Many of the associated bits of hardware have issues with rust. Well I really don't want rusty hardware on my nice case, so I spent some time cleaning it up.
A wire brush on a bench grinder is a lovely thing for cleaning purposes.
After some time with some sandpaper and a polish with tripoli, we have this:

In the case of the lid clips, only the screws were rusty.
(Note the factory installed shim - nobody's perfect.)
The original matte nickel cleaned up nicely with 0000 steel wool. I wanted to keep the pencil marks which I assume were made by the original installer.
***Ahem*** It's confession time...

The original bedplate frame was broken and splintered.
Ronnie didn't want me to waste my time trying to put it back together. He sent a nice replacement from Mark Gaisser.

However, I was bored. I had glue. I had clamps. I found all of the pieces...and I love puzzles.
Please forgive me, Ronnie. I couldn't help myself.

martinola wrote:In the case of the lid clips, only the screws were rusty.

lid_clip_shim.jpg

(Note the factory installed shim - nobody's perfect.)

lid_clip_clean1.jpg

The original matte nickel cleaned up nicely with 0000 steel wool. I wanted to keep the pencil marks which I assume were made by the original installer.

lid_clip_clean.jpg

***Ahem*** It's confession time...

The original bedplate frame was broken and splintered.

BPF_cu_brkn_left.jpg

Ronnie didn't want me to waste my time trying to put it back together. He sent a nice replacement from Mark Gaisser.

However, I was bored. I had glue. I had clamps. I found all of the pieces...and I love puzzles.

BPF_glu_up_wide.jpg

BPF_glu_cu.jpg

BPF_Repaired_wide.jpg

Please forgive me, Ronnie. I couldn't help myself.

That's why I sent it to you old buddie. Looks great, keep up the good work.

ROUND 1.2:

Progress is slow. Some of it due to my changing work obligations, some of it due to the slow process itself (at least the way I do it). Straightening the warped baseboard was rather like the Russian assassins trying to kill Rasputin. Difficult. The assassins were rather more successful in that Rasputin did eventually die. The warp however did not, well, not entirely. It did calm down to a great degree and the baseboards could be re-glued with everything looking pretty straight.

Here's a method that wasn't satisfactory (or at least would require better execution).
I finally used my bathtub with boiling water for a good, long soak. I got a spectacular oily ring in the tub. The board went out for two and a half weeks of clamping, tightening the clamps a little every day.

The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that the baseboard had warping issues from early on, perhaps from before the case was assembled. The shim on the left side is expertly made and indicates there was shrinkage and warping early on, probably at the factory.

The metal corrugated joint fasteners (or whatever they're called) are old and I think were supposed to be insurance against further movement. The messed up one doesn't look "factory" but I can't say that it couldn't be from the end of a frustrating day for some worker. Imagine trying to fix a whole bunch of warping baseboards to meet a production deadline.



I used liquid hide glue for the glue-up. The shim went back to its spot. I couldn't take out one of the fasteners without inflicting a good deal more damage, so I decided to keep them all. Whether or not they were placed by the factory, they are a bit of the machine's history and being underneath, do not show. I couldn't resist, however, cleaning up the messed-up fastener and installing it properly.
When dry, I cleaned up the excess glue , trying not to disturb the diagonal sanding pattern on the baseboard.
After the gluing was completed, it was time to strip the wood. Rather than use stripper, I opted to sand it off. There were discolorations in the wood, that I was hoping to minimize by taking off the top layer.
As you can see in the photos, the lower left side of the front is slightly redder than the rest of the case. Stripping off the banner decal revealed the color of the protected wood underneath. I'm guessing that prolonged exposure to sunlight changed the color of the wood. After some additional sanding, the differences were less noticeable. I decided to quit while I was ahead as I didn't want to remove too much wood.

Here are a few shots of the case ready to finish:

While I always start a project with an idea of how I'm going to finish it, I sometimes like the assurance of trying it out on a piece of scrap lumber first.
The green oak finish is rather a balancing act, so the practice block is the only way to go. Green aniline dye is strong stuff. I don't want the machine to look like Paddy's shamrock, so the block is a good way to see if I've got the dilution right.

I've prepared the powdered dye as a water stain using .25 teaspoon powder to 1 quart of hot water. It's weak enough that you can build up the green color in about 2-3 passes.
In the photo you can see the stain change color after drying only a couple of minutes.
This is where you have to have faith that the color will look right after you have applied the finish. I used a very thin clear shellac as the stain sealer.

Last time I did the green oak finish, I found that the medium walnut grain filler really wanted to darken up the finish. In order to make it less of a battle, I used a 50/50 mix of the medium walnut filler with the natural (neutral) filler. Both were thoroughly mixed (that took a loooong time) and thinned with mineral spirits to a thick cream consistency. After applying and drying a few minutes, I scraped off the extra filler and let the piece dry. Then I smoothed it out just a tiny bit with 220 grit sandpaper.
The next step will be to warm the color up with some amber shellac.

I guess that will bring this up to date. I know Ronnie has been working on the mechanism, so he may have an update as well. Until next time...

Happy cranking!

Martin

I must have missed a point or two...

Why did you sand it off entirely, after such a successful restoration of the original finish?

Marco Gilardetti wrote:I must have missed a point or two...

Why did you sand it off entirely, after such a successful restoration of the original finish?

If you remember, the decal was toast, so we decided to go all the way with it.
Great progress Martin. You have a real talent on these green tint Homes and Standards. Looking great so far. Not many people can duplicate that finish.

Marco,
Your point is well taken. As Ronnie said, the deciding factor was the Banner was too far gone. If the rest of the case was in as good condition as the Lid was, then we would have gone with the original finish. Another factor was the damage to the original color due to fading. Sometimes you have to think of the overall end effect. A new Banner on a weathered case will make it seem even worse. In the end, Ronnie wanted a green oak Home rather than a faded to red green oak Home. Were this a museum piece or a very rare machine, we certainly wouldn't have gone this way. It was a difficult decision and I wouldn't fault anyone for having a different idea of what should have been done.
Martin

In the end you have to do what ever it takes to make them presentable. I like to save the originality if possible, but sometimes it just can't be saved. I bought this machine because of its bed plate which is one of the best I've seen. This model seems to be getting hard to find in good shape with all its original parts. And I have less than 250.00 in it and it had a good H reproducer. Once Martin gets done with his magic, I will put it back together and post a picture of the finished machine with the wonderful horn I got from our very own John Duffy. I am looking forward to it.

martinola wrote:It was a difficult decision and I wouldn't fault anyone for having a different idea of what should have been done.

Please don't think that I was judging what you were doing. We're not working for a museum after all, and however most of the gramophone-realated things that I see in museums are very questionably handled (or non-handled, which is worse) IMHO. We all do what we think is best for our machines and for the future of our machines, with our money, and the rest of the world should anyhow praise what we do, as "official" or "state" museums do little to nothing in comparison to preserve the phonograph/gramophone heritage. At least here.

I was just struck by the fact that everything seemed to go ahead very well looking at the pictures, and then all of a sudden - BANG! - there's a naked case that looks as if it just came out of the carpentry!

I, too, also like early Home models very much and I'm looking for a decent and usable unit since at least a decade.