The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hello,
I recently purchased a nice little Gem model B from one of the Forum members. The lid has some veneer damage and I would like to tackle repairing it. In all my years of collecting I have not done any veneer repairs. The veneer on the top curved corners of the lid is under a lot of pressure and is pushing outward. How can I reglue and clamp the veneer back down on a curved surface? Should I consider glueing a couple stabilizing blocks inside the lid?? Does anyone have an original small piece of veneer that I could buy from them? Open to all suggestions!!
thanks
Pete

Forum member Wyatt Marcus (Micamonster)has documented repair of a heavily damaged Edison Home lid on his web site. http://www.lagparty.org/~wyatt/home/
Hope that helps.
Andreas

Pete,

It will be a challenge, but if you can match the color you can achieve reasonable results. There are 3 challenges you will face:

1-matching color
2-cutting and fitting the replacement piece
3-clamping and gluing

Matching color - Good luck All edison cases look identical until you place them next to each other. Luck is what you have to go on here.

Cutting and fitting. The natural way to go is cut the opening to a rectangle with straight edges and cutting the replacement piece to fit. You can certainly do this, but the cut line across the grain will be very visible. If possible, cut the area in parallel oor close to parallel) with the grain, and at an angle across the grain. This will help mask the change in grain.

Clamping and gluing. With veneer, you need even pressure across the entire surface you are gluing. This can be challenging for a curved surface. You can make a jig to achieve this with a little effort and it should give you good results. Take a look at the veneer reglue I did on a cylinder cabinet here http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... lit=herzog (there is a link in the thread to some more pictures). I fashioned a jig that provided a frame that followed the curved section with space for a block and shim to hold the block tight to the door. For shims, I took a package of door shims from Home Cheapo and ripped them into narrow strips on the table saw. You can come up with a similar approach.

For glue, I recommend hyde glue. There is now bottled hyde glue on the market that is easy to find and you can remove it later with water if you are not happy. Make sure the surfaces to receive the glue are clean, free of grease and any loose debris. Apply glue to both surfaces and place wax paper between the veneer and your clamping jig to prevent gluing the lid to the jig (not good).

Clean up the glue squeeze out and touch up with stain, sharpie, paint, wax, whatever you need to cover the imperfections to taste.

Good luck and post lots of pictures.

Thanks Andreas and Brad for posting ideas on how to handle the curved veneer problem!
Pete

A woven tie down strap used to hold things on trailers etc will follow the curve of the lid. Make sure you put something plastic under the strap, a piece of carry bag or Glad Wrap, so the glue doesn't stick the strap to the work.
I've done a few of these jobs without much difficulty.
Cheers
John