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I have an Edison Fireside, with a far from perfect case. Poorly refinished, it's also cracked and (presumably) repaired, and the inside of the bottom of the case has been painted silver, except for areas inside where something seems to have been screwed in. Should I try to refinish it myself, or just get a different case that isn't as messed up?

I personally think it’s worth the effort, at the very least it could be a fun project. A good sanding and varnish would make the case look new again. It seems to be in good condition considering the circumstances. The only tedious part will be removing the silver paint from inside the case.

Josh_boro20 wrote: Sat Oct 16, 2021 8:30 pm I personally think it’s worth the effort, at the very least it could be a fun project. A good sanding and varnish would make the case look new again. It seems to be in good condition considering the circumstances. The only tedious part will be removing the silver paint from inside the case.

do you know if there's any way to repair that crack better?

Look on the forum more abt. how to do this. You can do this.

Grain filler is your friend. I used Goodfilla mixed w. water for a Home case.

VanEpsFan1914 wrote: Sat Oct 16, 2021 10:32 pm Look on the forum more abt. how to do this. You can do this.

Grain filler is your friend. I used Goodfilla mixed w. water for a Home case.

alright. I'll ask more questions. This is gonna be my first refinish job, so hopefully I can get it right.

Using just grain filler in a crack like that isn't going to work, if the crack can be seen on the inside, then it's right through, you need get some glue in there.
Water based glues are no good, they set up too soon and they need clean wood to adhere too.
There's a 100 years of old finish and dirt in that crack.

Clean the surface of the crack out as best you can with an x-acto blade, then use a 24 hour epoxy and work into the crack until it comes out the other side.
This will take some time., a putty knife works here.
Once this happens, tape the back side of the crack with some masking tape.
Work some more epoxy into the front side, until it won't take anymore glue, being sure that the tape on the inside has not moved, if it has, add more tape.
Tape the front so the epoxy is sealed in and let it set-up for 2 days.

This will require to be scraped and sanded off, but since you're going to restore the finish, the old stuff that you will be removing won't matter.

Take a every sharp small chisel and just remove the top layer of glue, following the grain, you want to take the glue out and mimic the grain pattern.
Replace what you have taken out with wood fill that will take a wood stain, or use a wood fill the colour of the stain you pan to use.

I've restored antique furniture for over 25 years, getting the wood fill to match the rest of the colour of the grain takes some skill, and I can take you through this, if you want.

I always think it's worth the pain... You'll see it repaired and you'll forget the pains: the results remain and the case 100 years old has been saved, showing once more that it's ready for another 100 years! You'll be satisfied... OTOH, if you throw the old case to the trash bin, for a little that you love these machines...., it will pursue you forever, not letting you sleep quietly anymore!

Listen to Jeff's advice and you will do fine. This is a project worth the effort. Edison cases are pretty straight forward to re-finish, and are a good place to start learning how to do this.

Just take your time and don't rush through it. It can be frustrating to have a project go on for months at a time (My Herzog restoration has been goin on for over a year now). But when it's done and in the house, you start to notice real quickly the things you rushed through and end up being disappointed in your work. For me, the grain filling stage is always the most frustrating. I can never seem to get the grain filled in all the way. That then leads into the frustration of coat after coat of shellac trying to finish filling it in to get a nice smooth finish. If you have to do the filling / anything else twice to get it right, I promise it's worth the extra effort to get it right.

This is a good place to ask questions about the process of restoring that case. I recommend using the search button (right under the TMF logo in the top right of the screen) to browse through old restorations, most of them have good info about the process that went into the finished project.

For example here's a few:
Two exceptional restorations from Martionla

viewtopic.php?t=24403
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=22906&hilit=standar ... estoration

my ongoing herzog restoration and edison home re-finish

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=45501
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=45273&hilit=home

and there are lots more here on the board!

Cheers,

David

I agree with all the advice above, they sell special wood putties that match the type of wood. I believe the case can be fixed up nicely.

Josh_boro20 wrote: Mon Oct 18, 2021 12:13 am I agree with all the advice above, they sell special wood putties that match the type of wood. I believe the case can be fixed up nicely.

I hope it can. I guess I'll start with the lid- that's the "easy" part anyhow. How do you finish these? I've heard that you just coat it with shellac, but I don't really know how that works.