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Good advice from Curt.

Do a forum search for Van Dyke Brown. Member "Martinola" has posted some pretty amazing results using that stain.

AZ* wrote:Good advice from Curt.

Do a forum search for Van Dyke Brown. Member "Martinola" has posted some pretty amazing results using that stain.

Yes! I like Van Dyke Brown in Behlen Solar-Lux aniline dye stain.

By the way, as to staining, I was referring earlier to the Edison Home, originally mentioned in this thread, and not so much the Standard, which I would tend to leave alone.

Some pics from this evening

The standard looks SO MUCH better (I did 2 light coats of amber shellac)

Edison home is completely stripped and ready to be stained and re-finished! (I am deciding not to try and fix the frame.... I’ll just find one down the road to replace it) 2nd pic was with mineral spirits on the wood

Also sorry if the pics are sideways.... the are correct on my phone

dzavracky wrote:Okay! Haha I’ll give it a shot.

A few more tips:

Cut the shellac about 50/50 with denatured alcohol; make sure the surface of the cloth pad is smooth, without wrinkles; and keep the cloth in constant motion, to avoid sticky spots. A few drops of lemon oil on the cloth will also help to lubricate it.

- Bill

I was told it would cost $65 to replace the broken mandrel piece. So I created the piece in a 3D software and 3D printed it this morning! Took 3 tries to get it right.... but I can’t wait to see if it’ll work!
The man who runs the machine shop said he could make me one out of metal AND drill out the broken piece in the mandrel!

I’ll keep y’all updated

The Standard looks great, not too dark... Do the same on the Home, shellac with no stain... The more coats, the darker it gets. The cabinets were not originally stained, anyway, just coated with amber shellac. They have aged over time, and the shellac has darkened, which makes people think they were stained. If you were trying to touch up a worn spot only and wanted it to match the color of the original aged finish, then stain would come into play. Glad that everything is working out for you. Thinning the shellac is a good idea and like I said before, if the finish looks too shiny, go over it with #0000 steel wool after it has "completely" dried - several days or maybe a week (you don't want small metal bits stuck in your finish).

Curt A wrote:The cabinets were not originally stained

It depends on which model we're talking about. I'd guess the suitcase cases had the least coloration, but the green oak cases and the later antique oak cases most certainly had used dye stains.

Martin

martinola wrote:

Curt A wrote:The cabinets were not originally stained

It depends on which model we're talking about. I'd guess the suitcase cases had the least coloration, but the green oak cases and the later antique oak cases most certainly had used dye stains.

Martin

Yes, obviously the green ones did... but we're not talking about one of them.

I don’t know anything about correct color.... I just want to do it right. The 3rd image I posted showed the color of the wood with mineral spirits..... is dark enough?

Curt A wrote:

martinola wrote:

Curt A wrote:The cabinets were not originally stained

It depends on which model we're talking about. I'd guess the suitcase cases had the least coloration, but the green oak cases and the later antique oak cases most certainly had used dye stains.

Martin

Yes, obviously the green ones did... but we're not talking about one of them.

Yes, we're talking about later cases - model b thru model d. If you look on the insides of the lids and cases of un-messed-with machines you'll see the drips and runs from the stain. I've seen this many times on many different machines. I ran across an article on how they were made and it mentions the staining process, but for the life of me cannot now remember if I saw it in the Antique Phonograph magazine or one of the Edison Phonograph Monthly reprints. In any case, I assure you I'm not imagining it or making it up.