I thought I had posted a topic on this but I guess not...
I purchased this off eBay last year and started restoring it. It then sat for 6 months when I got frustrated...
I stripped it and was trying to get the colors right but it was not working...
On the final coat of toner I slipped and got runs...
Today I decided to get it done.. I stripped it this morning but before I go and start toning. What do you guys think are the best colors?
I had ex dk walnut on the bottom half and perfect brown on the top...
It just seemed too dark and to red...
It got dented and stuff while sitting in the workshop so I will have to try and iron out the dents...
I was just looking at Mohawk's color chart. I really wish they had pictures of their toners as they actually appear on wood...
Anyway...
My suggestions are (Ultra Classic, not Tone Finish):
Perfect Brown for the top part. Just enough darker than Medium Walnut that it should be a good match for the original, based on the picture in your first post in this thread.
For the sides...hmmm...that's another story. You need something darker than Perfect Brown but not as extreme as Extra Dark Walnut (which would be too dark). This is where I wish someone had experimented before me, but I'm not aware of anyone who has.
So...based on Mohawk's color chart...perhaps Dark Walnut, Dark Red Walnut, or Dark Walnut/Oak. Cans aren't that expensive...buy one can of all three, try them all on a piece of scrap wood and see which one matches best?
P.S. What was wrong with your first attempt? In the pictures, I thought the top part looked OK...as you know, you can always spray darker toners over lighter toners for the sides...You had mentioned runs. Were the runs in the sides, or on the top? If just the sides, then you could have sanded and tried, tried again...
I like to start over when mistakes are made. If I took some time to try and fix runs and uneven coating then sand through it by accident I would be really mad so I just strip and start over... I want it uniform and it was not.. I think I have the colors you mention but the 3015 walnut oak toner has red in it. I dont really see red in the original job. The 7020 walnut has no red...
I will just test them and strip if necessary.. Wood is forgiving...Thankfully,
Acked on the red. Like I said previously, it's so hard to tell from Mohawk's crappy color sample pictures.
Edit: As an example, there's Maison Brown (0004). It looks medium-darkish brown in their color chart, but in reality it is an extremely dark red that turns almost black after the second coat. When I stripped my 42-761EZ cabinet a few years ago, I found that Philco had used an even darker version of Maison Brown due to the deep red that became evident as I stripped the black areas of the cabinet.
After soliciting your advise via are last email I ignored it and I decided to strip it any way.
It was that seductive orange stuffs fault!!
Under the green there was white too. Ended up having the scraping the wht off
with a snap blade knife. Messy!!!
When my pals were reading comic books
I was down in the basement in my dad's
workshop. Perusing his Sam's Photofoacts
Vol 1-50 admiring the old set and trying to
figure out what all those squiggly meant.
Circa 1966
Now I think I've got!
Bret.... If these come out good I will of course do yours.
Sam.. Cartridges are small.. Lots of them fit in a "Very tiny box"
Next time keep the cartridges apart.. They multiplied from the last time,
Today was prep day.
I gave the cabinet a once over and steamed out any dents I could.
I then block sanded the top flat and then washed down the whole cabinet with mineral spirits..
I may fill one or 2 dents that are annoying me but the cabinet is ready for toner tomorrow..
Then I just have to recap it, rebuild the motor and do the cartridge...
Toning..
5 coats of medium Walnut but not good enough and too red.. 5 coats of dark walnut did it for me...
Picture is 3 coats of Dark walnut.. I added 2 more after pic.. Tomorrow I will tape off the top and tone the ex dk base..
I should be recapping the chassis but am working on the bar right now.. STILL cleaning it! SOOOOO DIRTY!
