[ccomer1955]

I was wondering what the consensus might be on dealing with this cabinet issue? Assuming the photo posts correctly, you can see the finish is removed in an irregular spot on just the lid portion of this cabinet. The rest of the cabinet seems in good shape, but the finish has darkened to a very dark brown.
So what do you think? Try to feather in a dark brown stain to match the rest of the cabinet? Remove the lid and refinish the whole lid to match the rest of the cabinet? Or strip, stain, tone, and finish the whole cabinet?

[klondike98]

Some of the more skilled refinishers will surely chime in but if you try the feather in approach an it looks bad you can always take off the lid and redo the lid. If it does not match well enough, move on to refinish the rest to match.

[morzh]

Did you mean Atwater Kent?

[dseverson]

Looks to me like someone tried cleaning it and removed some lacquer. You'll always see that bit of lighter wood even if you blend in some more stain. I'd wipe down the entire top a few times with denatured alcohol to remove the lacquer then stain and seal with either shellac or lacquer.

Dave

[ccomer1955]

Atwater, of course. I've been told elsewhere the wood is mahogany, and that Atwater Kent used a dyed shellac process in 1924. I'd imagine they mixed color and shellac at the factory and sprayed it on. I've confirmed the finish is shellac with a small amount of alcohol on the finish (it came right off in a small spot near the light spot and was sticky). That would explain why there is so little color on the wood itself. But the process sounds to me like what the Victor Talking Machine Company used in the early gramophones. Matching that dark color will be a challenge.

[Radioroslyn]

I know a guy in Dallas....

Terry

[Phlogiston]

That color is easy to match with wood dye and then shellac. Or leave it as is. Pretty much one or the other.

Since it is a common radio it is probably better to have it looking really nice rather than original.

[Fred Taylor]

If it were mine I would refinish the whole cabinet, trying to blend that in to match would be more of a challenge than doing the whole thing. Your dealing with a very old surface that has went though the wringer, Its to far gone   . If your mind is made up to just do that section I would get some extra dark walnut stain and rub it in to darken that area and let dry dull like the other side, then get some Howards restore a finish and wipe whole cabinet down ,that's my humble opinion

[Phlogiston]

I guess that I failed to say that I would refinish the whole cabinet.

[Arran]

  Try cleaning it with some Gojo cream hand cleaner, and some rags or paper towels, the rest of the cabinet is so dirty you cannot really tell what the proper colour was supposed to be. So try cleaning the rest of it first, and then decide to strip or leave it alone.
Regards
Arran

[ccomer1955]

Thanks to all. I suppose a good cleaning is the first order of business, but it might ultimately be fun to refinish the whole thing using a dye/shellac/French polish technique just to see how close to the old process I can get.