The Historic District

It's not just the Zenith cabs that it's a problem on. I've had many other manufacturers cabs in the shop where the photo finish has flaked off. I touched it up by hand with very fine artist brushes prior to the top coat of finish going on.

Al F. Furnituremaker wrote:It's not just the Zenith cabs that it's a problem on. I've had many other manufacturers cabs in the shop where the photo finish has flaked off. I touched it up by hand with very fine artist brushes prior to the top coat of finish going on.

That's true - the 1937-38 Philcos are notorious for these problem as well among others. The Philco cabinets are especially a problem, as some models had only poplar under a photofinish that covered the entire front.

What kind of paint did you use to do the touch up? Did you have an issue with any of it running under the lacquer after it was applied?

I don't use paint to touch up the photo finish. I use stains and dyes from the same supplier as my final finish.

I think he is referring to the "Shooley method " loosely coined among radio collectors and it's worth looking into , maybe for some who have faux parts.

as I understood it , he put UHU stick on paper, then ran that through a printer and put black and white images of real wood grain on the paper. - there were variations in technique... and others experimenting.. but neat ideas were coming of it all.

the item was then lacquered and the paper sheet was too. after a wet coat of lacquer on both, he put the print against the radio and let dry. once dry the paper was washed away leaving only the ink and the image from the printed sheet. ( the water didn't hurt the lacquer and the image so it remained . toners and things were used over that to turn the black and white image into something resembling wood. it was kind of like making a waterslide label from lacquer and ink and the paper was washed away.

I might be off on a few steps but it was quite an ingenious way of doing photo finishes or faux finishes without the artistic talent needed to actually replicate wood grain. I'm sure more experimentation was done I remember discussing this back on the radio newsgroups before internet was really that big. before PHPbb forums we had newsgroups

I have some RCA metal dog coffin style radios from about 1927 that have a finish like that only on tin, and they are hard to get back to original. they have a lot of lead trim too. the radios had speakers that match with matching lead trim and faux paint. and I have two speakers. I have seen pictures of a table that went with them but I have never seen one for real. There were also some old cars with woodgrain painted on the dashboards and I saw a really good video about replicating the faux patterns. fun stuff


Phil

Interesting concept Phil. Worth looking into for large areas. Fortunately, most of the stuff I get is small areas flaked off and more easily done by hand. Reminds me, there is supposed to be a radio cab on my back dock that was left last night. I better go look.

It sounds like you are pretty good at applying veneer so perhaps real wood can replace faux. If you get a cabinet you hate just leave it out in the mist or let it freeze outside. Evidently the veneer will pop right off when it's frozen solid, so you can re-use it. I intentionally left a set out in rainy weather, it just fell off, a bit curled up but can probably be ironed out. At work the joiners have a little sewing machine that is used to sort of stitch veneer together with a sort of gummy dental floss like thread. It doesn't penetrate the wood, it does a zig zag on the backside of the veneer. They can put together some nice patterns and then apply it as one sheet with a hot press. It's really cool to see the intricate detail on tabletops and such. I have done some radios with loose veneer and plant damage but I find it pretty tough to get it dead flat and not to penetrate the veneer with glue. then I start spraying lacquer and creating some areas where the grain is filled with lacquer and other areas where you can feel the grain. I guess I should use grain filler. on some I seem to get carried away re-spraying and sanding and trying to fill the grain which isn't very productive and a bit frustrating. Practice makes perfect. the stuff you are turning out looks super nice. So often I see radios that are over restored or where they much with the color so much that it's obvious that they were refinished. Yours look like they are well preserved but original which should be the goal of restoration and preservation.

Thanks Phil.

I lay up the patterned veneer using tape (similar to the sewing your guys do). I also have a vacuum press that I use to glue down flat sheets. Curves are another story. I've devised a method using wide ratcheting tie down straps, works pretty good. Sometimes I need to make matching contoured blocks. I reglue a lot of veneer if it is just lifted. Most of it was put on with hide glue, so water/moisture really does a job on it, but it also makes it easy to remove or repair. As far as the grain goes, filler works wonders. It's not hard once you develop your method. I've seen clear filler but haven't tried it.

Yea I've had all kinds of home brew repairs come into the shop that have to be redone. Most of the cabinets are taken completely down to "new" wood and refinished.

Most of the cabinets I do are for collectors and they want them better than new.

Al F. Furnituremaker wrote:Most of the cabinets I do are for collectors and they want them better than new.

That concept has always baffled me. I used to see it withe the car restoration crowd, a beautifully restored vehicle shiny and lovely. Not customized, the owner wants it "stock" but the finish is so very much better than new, the paint on the underside is glossy and polished, all hose clamps are stainless and gleaming. To me, with those cars I think, "but it doesn't look stock!" - lol sorry for the ramble, its just a bit of the collector psyche I dont quite understand / relate to I guess.

Mick, a man after my own heart. I restore cars as a hobby and prefer dead stock, I mean realy dead stock. No better than the factory. I work with the idea this is the 200 car that assembly line worker has assembled the exact same part to. But I too have rambled. And Al's work is just so good it's hard to invision any thing less than perfect.

I too prefer for antiques to look like antiques, but whatever the customer wants. In fact I'm working on 4 pieces right now of one clients. They will look old when done, and even the repairs will be as close as possible. They will be repaired, cleaned, and the finishes restored. Their original finishes are all shellac, so a very easy finish to restore vs. refinish.

Thanks Gothichome for the kind words about my work.