Fireside Restoration
Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2024 8:08 am
Recently restored an Edison Fireside A (B reproducer conversion). The previous owner had finished the case in wipe-on polyurethane and used decals that were inaccurate. You could tell it was an old restoration job from across the room.
I completely stripped the case down to bare wood, stained it using aniline powder dye, pore-filled with aqua-coat, and finished off with a coat of sanding sealer, followed by 4 coats of amber shellac, and a new Greg Cline script decal. The oak on this was exceptionally "grainy" so it took a few tries to get a surface smooth enough for the decal.
The bedplate needed to be re-done as well. I lightly sanded off the old reproduction decals. The corner decals were very thick, and had a "sticker" like appearance. The pinstriping, while well done, was the wrong shade of blue, and Firesides originally used decals for the blue/gold pinstriping. I replaced everything with Greg Cline's fireside set. This was my first time applying pinstripe decals to a bedplate, so lots of trial and error. Thankfully I had two sets. Pinstripe decals, as I've found out, are best applied by soaking them in place with a cotton swab and gently pulling them into position.
Then came the motor tear down. The spring seemed to be in good condition with no thumping or noise or excessive hardened grease, so I left it alone. The gears needed to be cleaned however, and the belt tensioner had to be freed up. All the bearings were cleaned out and re-oiled, and the belt tensioner could spin again, albeit with a small bright spot buffed by years of a sliding belt
Every project seems to have its weak point, and shellacking the bedplate was that point for this project. I used a few coats of spray shellac, which gave horrible orange peeling that I was too afraid to wet-sand out of fear I'd sand into the decals. I opted to try and re-flow the shellac with denatured alcohol, but it did not react nicely and left streaks. Further attempts started to eat away at the decal's color, so I padded some shellac over them to protect from further abuse, and buffed everything out gently. In hindsight, I should've padded on the shellac from the start, but the results are otherwise acceptable enough to display.
I completely stripped the case down to bare wood, stained it using aniline powder dye, pore-filled with aqua-coat, and finished off with a coat of sanding sealer, followed by 4 coats of amber shellac, and a new Greg Cline script decal. The oak on this was exceptionally "grainy" so it took a few tries to get a surface smooth enough for the decal.
The bedplate needed to be re-done as well. I lightly sanded off the old reproduction decals. The corner decals were very thick, and had a "sticker" like appearance. The pinstriping, while well done, was the wrong shade of blue, and Firesides originally used decals for the blue/gold pinstriping. I replaced everything with Greg Cline's fireside set. This was my first time applying pinstripe decals to a bedplate, so lots of trial and error. Thankfully I had two sets. Pinstripe decals, as I've found out, are best applied by soaking them in place with a cotton swab and gently pulling them into position.
Then came the motor tear down. The spring seemed to be in good condition with no thumping or noise or excessive hardened grease, so I left it alone. The gears needed to be cleaned however, and the belt tensioner had to be freed up. All the bearings were cleaned out and re-oiled, and the belt tensioner could spin again, albeit with a small bright spot buffed by years of a sliding belt
Every project seems to have its weak point, and shellacking the bedplate was that point for this project. I used a few coats of spray shellac, which gave horrible orange peeling that I was too afraid to wet-sand out of fear I'd sand into the decals. I opted to try and re-flow the shellac with denatured alcohol, but it did not react nicely and left streaks. Further attempts started to eat away at the decal's color, so I padded some shellac over them to protect from further abuse, and buffed everything out gently. In hindsight, I should've padded on the shellac from the start, but the results are otherwise acceptable enough to display.