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I have an old oak Edison s19 that i am refinishing. However, the cabinet has been refinished before and the grain was not filled. Does anyone know if the original oak cabinets were grain filled? I want to stay as original as possible.

Thanks
Jim R.

There are a lot of threads ( information )on this forum on refinishing . In the lower left corner is a box titled search. Type in refinishing or oak refinishing or filling grain, etc and you will pull up a lot of info. Tom B

Thank you for replying to my post but I think you misunderstood my question. I am trying to find out if the original oak finish on th S19 had a filled grain.

Thanks
Jim R

If there's any finish left on the inside of the machine ( under side of lid, inside of record storage door, etc. that will usually be your best clue.

I will check my Golden Oak C-19 when I get home to see if that has been "filled".

Jeff,

I took a good look all over my Edison C-19 in Golden Oak this morning. The machine is in its original finish, which is consistent inside & out, even right around the lid decal.

The finish has a sheen to it, but not a glass-smooth "piano-finish". I cannot say whether the cabinet factory used filler on the grain, but I would say "not". The grain texture is evident through the finish; the surface is not glass-smooth.

I DO have some original Columbia Grafonolas in Golden Oak, whose interior surfaces do show a smooth, filled finish, so apparently there existed "piano-finish" oak pieces during this era.


I will try to grab some pictures of my C-19 when the light cooperates, which will hopefully give you some decent reference.


Frank

My oak C- 250, the precursor to the aforementioned C- 19, does indeed have a filled grain.

Back in those days, even when they said they didn't fill oak grain, it just meant that they made no effort to make it perfectly smooth. They still filled the grain, or at least went over it with grain filler. If they wanted a piano finish, it was usually gone over twice with grain filler because once the oils dried out of the old filler, it would settle down into the grain when it dried. Waiting a week for grain filler to completely dry in those days would not have been considered unusual and probably was the way most companies operated in those days.

If you get natural (color) oil grain filler and tint it with dry pigment, say Van Dyke brown or Burnt Umber, you'll be pretty close to the dark color they used in those days. If you use pigment to tint the filler instead of dye, it shouldn't change the overall color of the wood very much, but will darken the grain. You'll want to experiment some on scrap wood of course. You'll have to thin it with some Turpentine or Mineral spirits so it will brush out easier as the pigment will thicken the filler up. I've had much better luck adding my own pigment to filler instead of using whatever stock colors they have to fillers anymore.

I'm not much of a fan of water based filler, but then I grew up learning this stuff before that existed and I'm sort of resistant to change. I've just had too many bad experiences when I try things that are "new". And the water based fillers dry so fast, I think they are hard to work with. But I've had others tell me they are wonderful so it ends up being a draw I suppose. And make sure you wait at least a few days before you put a topcoat over filler. If it's not completely dry it will often turn white for some reason when it does dry under the finish. I've had that happen a few times over the years, and it's not fun to start over.

Well good luck with your cabinet. I did a Victrola XVI this summer with asphaltum varnish and gold size over the filler and it really turned out well. I'll have to post some pictures of it when I can get to them. My computer crashed right after I sold it and the pictures I took are on my other computer.

Thanks to everyone who replied. I did take a look inside of the cabinet and it looks like it may have been partially filled so I am going to give it one coat of water base filler since I am using a solvent based stain. I would normally use a dye but I found a solvent based stain that blends perfectly with inside of the lid. I have learned that my problems with filler are negligible if I use a filler that is not soluble in the stain so I use a solvent based filler with alcohol/water based filler and vica versa. By th he way, I also have an oak Grafanola with a piano finish which is what caused me to question the S19 finish.

Thanks everyone.

Jim,

I have several machines in Golden Oak:

Victrola XI

Edison C-19 Diamond Disc

Brunswick upright

Silvertone upright

Grafonola Jewel / 35 ( one each )


The only ones that had a "piano finish" are the Grafonolas.