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Hi guys,
I currently have a BF in the shop, and I'm debating what I should do with the case. Advice would be appreciated.

The lid is in pretty good condition; some alligatoring, but nothing that can't be fixed ith some re-amalgamtion. The bottom case though, is in worse condition. The pictures below show it after a couple cleanings with GOJO. As you can see, the GOJO stripped some parts back to bare wood; in these parts the shellac was flaky and severly alligatored, and a scrubbin with GOJO just took the finish off. In other places the finish is rather heavily alligatored, but still "structurally" sound. The front decal is nearly completely gone, and needs to replaced, while the back decal is pretty good.

The question is this: should I strip and refinish completely, or attempt some other method (re-amalgamation, etc)? I'm thinking that stripping and refinishing from scratch could prove to be difficult, considering all the nooks and crannies that a machine like this has with all its moulding.

Benjamin

Why don't you give Howard's Restor-a-finish a shot. Wipe on, wipe off, done. Great for making the finish more even overall without really refinishing.

And if that doesn't work to your liking, then you can consider truly refinishing it.

Apart from doing nothing at all, reamalgamation is the least destructive thing you can do with that case. You might get lucky and be able to "pull" some of the color over the bare bits. The bigger bare spot may need a little dilute dye stain like van dyke brown mixed in with some shellac to match in. It's more work, but it'll be the best way to preserve the original decal and it will look better than a refinish. You've got nothing to lose except the original finish.

52089 - I'd shy away from Howard's in that it isn't shellac and will make it harder to do a shellac repair (like reamalgamation) in the future. I've used it. It looks OK, but to me it doesn't look as good.

Martin

Martin: How will reamalgamation work on those really dark bits? I've used the technique with great success before, but haven't done it on something this alligatored...

Benjamin,

Those dark areas will probably remain darker than the rest of the case. What you will probably see is that as the shellac re-combines (with new layers on the top) the scratches & voids will fill up and make the grain much clearer. I suspect that the lightest areas are due to all of the top layers combining with dirt and grease. Once the GoJo hit it, it all melted off leaving perhaps only a sealer coat (at best).

It won't ever be an untouched case again, but can probably be greatly improved with reamalgamation and some additional shellac. Certainly it will be more original than stripping off the finish and adding a new decal. A few grains of Van Dyke Brown can be mixed into clear shellac to darken up the lightest areas.

There are no guarantees that it won't go wrong, but I think it's worth a shot. Were it mine, I'd do the brushing out with alchohol as described in "The Compleat Talking Machine". The decal area would be the exception: I'd start by giving it one fairly quick, gentle coat of clear shellac thinned a bit with alcohol. (What I'd be trying to achieve is to both melt the old stuff a little and have the new stuff start to build up a protective coat.) I've never done this to a Columbia, so I can't say how successful it will be. I have a few Edisons however, where this worked well.

What ever you end up doing, please post it - that way we can all learn something. Good luck with this interesting project!

- Martin

Thanks for the advice Martin; I've had a chance to do some work on the case and it worked much better than I expected. For the decal area, I brushed on some alcohol with a small amount of shellac, and worked it with the brush a little, very gently of course. That area all lightened up nicely, and has a nice clear view of the grain. The decal wasn't harmed at all. In the other areas, I was able to move the color around quite nicely, and got everything looking quite even. There are some areas that are somewhat lighter, and I'll probably do the stain & shellac treatment that Martin suggested. I'll post photos when I have everything together again...

Benjamin

52089 wrote:Why don't you give Howard's Restor-a-finish a shot. Wipe on, wipe off, done. Great for making the finish more even overall without really refinishing.

And if that doesn't work to your liking, then you can consider truly refinishing it.

Howard Restor-a-Shine really cleans well and polishes the shellac. Use Restor-a Finish after if needed.