what I would do is use turpentine, danish oil and vinegar. rub it in , rub it down dry. Do it a few times. the vinegar wont; mix in its just in there to help clean.
Then use some touch up pens. You can get the alcohol based sharpies in an assortment of colors so do some careful touch ups to hide any damage you don't like.
If there are chunks missing or cigarette burns the lacquer sticks can be used.
That way it will look like an old piece with it's original finish retained. Otherwise you start stripping and mucking with the finish and it will look like a piece of furniture someone previously restored. Just make it shine, hide the imperfections that bug you , accept it has some darkening and some pebbling and crazing to the finish. It proves it's age. do a few rub ons and rub off and wait a few days and repeat. it'll look great. That's more respectful to the piece in my opinion, but that's just my opinion. I think it's a nice table and I'd hate to destroy the beautiful patina if it were mine. It's different if it became a plant stand and the damage presented a lot of difficulty, but the finish on that just proves it's 100 years old or so. To maintain it , just do the same. It won't look so dried out , it will still look like an old table. the finish has done well if you think about it's long history.
Ive been watching a lot of radio restoration videos. there is one guy on there that does a swell job of explaining the technical side and then proceeds to give each a really half assed finishing job and in my opinion destroys the collectability of the piece. It happens far too often.
here's an example.
maybe it's a lady I don't know and I'm not being critical, its about the radio but he/she wears dresses but sounds male to me. That's fine Its not about that. If you watch a few you'll see what I mean. Good technical troubleshooting and info throughout all of them. very minimalist parts replacement. Horrible and destructive finishing skills. for me I'd rather do one piece and not 20 and do a nice job. leave the others for someone else rather than slopping minwax on antiques and just making a big mess.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kd75wbMnm70 one thing Ive been focusing on is doing minimal repairs to spot areas. hide everything else with tape , even if it's just a tiny scratch, then work on that not the surrounding. It is surprising how nice you can make things look just by really focusing attention on the marks and not being tempted to muck with the whole piece. That's restoration.
Refinishing should reflect the age of the piece and not something that came out of a time machine. If you refinish then try your best to mimic the age of the finish that would be expected but factor in it's age into that equation. You can strip it right down if you wish to because it's yours to do with as you please. Ive seen a lot of radios done by well intended people who wash the finish right off and end up with something way too light to look correct to the age. end up with something that looks shiny but with coloring that is totally incorrect.. Its common. I won't buy radios like that myself and most others into collecting don't want them after that. no one wants to buy someone else's mess. Collectors want originality and they are usually ok with some marking to the original finish. the most highly desired pieces have been maintained, maybe touched up but a good restoration should leave the person wondering if it's been refinished or if it were just really well cared for. the best restorations go unnoticed, that's the aim, but that's my opinion and everyone doesn't have to agree. a lot of old radios used lacquer and heavy toners. even in the 30's they respected the look of aged and darkened wood and they were trying to mimic that effect.
