The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Were there previous threads about restoring mahogany finishes? I just found a victor tabletop cabinet that was in my attic for 22 years. It needs some TLC. Al

Two routes you might take.

After a good cleaning you can sometimes use alcohol and apply with a 1" wide artist brush. Your finish though will be shiny like it came from the factory. But this will only work with aged mahogany. It will not work with sun damage as the varnish will not come back to life with alcohol.

I have used danish oil applied with fine steel wool (OOOO) This works nicely yet does not give it that refinished look that most collectors dislike. The wool helps remove the gatoring of the varnish, softens it and the coloring of the oil fills in scratches.

Mooo

What is the finish is badly gatored & rough, but 100% intact? I have a Victor VV-80 that looks like an Everglades Crocodile yet in insides are like factory new ???

Gatoring is a good sign that you still have varnish there to re-amalgamate. As you brush the gatored finish it will start to turn liquid again and you can smooth it out with the brush, just don't over work it as the alcohol dries fast. A sun damaged place will have no gatoring usually and actually the varnish is no longer there because it dried out so much and flaked off. I did this to a Edison C250 once and it was looking so nice until I got ready to do the door. about ⅔ of the door had been in sunlight for a very long time and when I applied the alcohol in that area it looked like it had been sheared with a towel. I has to strip it down and apply stain to match and a new coat of varnish. It matched up nicely though.

Gatoring can be difficult to achive decent results. I tried sanding my silvertone with 600 grit and the cracking was completely thru the finish. Alcohol was pretty much useless as it just couldn't smooth it out enough. Refinishing is my only option. Regards, Johnyy

What I do (basically) is scrub the old finish with mineral spirits to rid the thing of all dirt, wax etc, and begin loading lots of
coats of shellac (the original finish material). When I think there's enough there to work with, I begin wet-sanding with mineral spirits. Block-sanding the flat panels will show you where you're headed. Figuring out ways to sand the mouldings and other "not-flat"
areas so that you don't cut into the wood and lose the stain takes a lot of time and patience but the result can look like a machine that's only 30 years old rather than one that just got re-finished.

Thank you all so much. I intend to have a February project. Al