Cabinet restoration of an Orthophonic 'Paloma'/VV 4-7

[Mike_J]

Hi Folks, just joined this site!
I recently rescued from the landfill a Canadian Orthophonic "Paloma" / VV4-7.
The case is walnut, with bronze finished hardware, which I understand is a little unusual for this model.

The attached pictures are before cleaning. I cleaned the case with non-pumice GoJo hand cleaner In fact, the front doors are not looking too bad, as are the sides and the back. The inside also came up beautifully. The horn grille looked really awful, but also came up beautifully, as did the inside of the doors. However, the lid is a mess - it looks like there has been some heat or water damage, and large sections of the the lacquer has flaked off, and some of the stain has faded as well. There are also some black marks from age, that actually don't look too bad and give it some character. However, the decorative edging around the case is also a big mess, as is the stand, with flaking lacquer missing. One good thing is that the veneer is intact throughout.

So, do I strip the whole thing? It seems a real shame to strip the doors/sides/back when they came up so well after cleaning. Perhaps they are dry and just need some wax or oil and polish...??? How do I polish a lacquer finish?

However, if I just strip the outside of the lid and the legs/trim is it going to look like a crappy piecemeal homemade job with different finishes? I'm not touching the inside of the lid, the inside of the machine or the inside of the doors, except to buff them up. I know I'm not going to get the same original finish as the VTM Co., so anyone with any Orthophonic experience out there?

Thanks so much!

[kirtley2012]

welcome to the forum.
at the end of the day, it is your machine and your choice, but remember, this machine is about 80 years old!, I wouldn't expect it to look perfect!, I prefer to keep machines original personally, I would repair the badly damaged parts like the lid but don't go overboard, a over restored machine can take the collectability to nil!
good luck!

[52089]

There is much to be said for Howard's Restore-a-finish, which works wonders on something like this. I don't think it would do a huge amount of help on the lid, but it's worth a shot.

[De Soto Frank]

The lid looks like it has suffered a scorch or perhaps a water / iron stain ( the dark spot towards rear center, plus a lot of finish-loss.

If you were to do anything to the finish, I would consider removing the exiting finish from the top using Lacquer-thinner, or perhaps trying to "flow-out" what is left of the original finish, then go over it with rotten-stone to smooth it, then spray with a coat or two of satin lacquer.


I would NOT attempt a complete strip and refinish, unless you are really skilled in working on 1920's-'30s lacquered furniture.

You might want to find a nice tapestry to lay across the top...

My great-grandmother's VE 8-12 came to me with the 1920's era faux-Moorish tapestry runner with fringe along the edges, that had always been draped across the top of the machine since way before I was born... the top is still in excellent condition... I keep the tapestry over to protect from dust, sunlight, etc.

Just my quick thoughts... nice machine you have there...