[glyphmon]

I wasn't planning on starting this thread this morning, but since I'm still awake and will hate myself the same when I wake up later, why not get it started?

While I'm waiting for some equipment to hopefully finalize the electrical work on the 6K3, I decided to start stripping the cabinet and make plans for refinishing it.

   

The gouges are deep enough that Restor-a-Finish doesn't seem to cut it.  Also, it seems to me from the color behind the escutcheon and the center vertical trim piece that someone at a more recent time in this cabinet's life than the factory floor had applied some second coat over the top which doesn't seem to have done much to make it a nice, smooth finish.

   

While the grille cloth wasn't in absolutely terrible shape, there were some thin spots and it was reasonably faded.  I have since sent it off to Michael Katz at radiogrillecloth.com as he was interested in getting the pattern and potentially having it reproduced.  I can't say that I've seen this wavy weave in reproduction form and it's unique enough I think it would be nice to have in original-like condition.  Will definitely be a bit of a wait on that if he does move forward with it.

   

The top panel inadvertently separated recently, and I discovered that it probably wasn't the first time.  A gummy adhesive had been applied to try to hold it together.  One more thing to try to clean off.  While the veneer on the left side (facing the cabinet) is reasonably good with probably just a couple spots for some repair to be done, on the right side as you can see, there's a lot more separation and missing, so that might be a good candidate for some replacement veneer.  These will be my first forays into veneer repair.

       

And lastly for tonight, there is some damage to the veneer by the controls, almost as if the front face tried to bend around the shelf inside.  I'll be as delicate as I can with this area, but it probably won't be perfect when it comes out.  Having already stripped most of the finish off, I can say the wood grain underneath here is really beautiful, though you can't see it yet in this photo.  Once I finish the stripping process I will post a couple updated looks.  I did have hopes briefly that the labels would be salvageable, but enough of it came off in the stripping process that I decided to remove the in their entirety, again, not picture here yet.

   

My observations on color are that the "shoulder" bands, the edges of the top board, and the stripe around the base above the "feet" were all a darker finish than the rest of the cabinet.  Certainly, I could go with that look, but I was also considering making the vertical stripes that start as part of that top shoulder band, running to the stripe at the bottom dark as well; same for the center vertical trim piece.  I was thinking this would make for a nice contrast, with the rest of the cabinet being more of the medium brown.  Maybe not completely faithful to the original, but I think in the spirit, and I'm not trying to keep this radio exactly factory faithful after all.

I have some toner on order to try to even up the color of the main part of the cabinet and will pick something up for the darker sections as well.  I think the fancy veneer by the controls/escutcheon will be left its natural color as it is already very nice when the stripping mixture is applied - sanding sealer will probably tell how plausible that idea is.  Hopefully, someone could identify it once I get the next round of pictures up.

So yes, that's it for tonight.  Like I said, additional photos when I finish getting the rest of the original finish off.

Best wishes,
Roy

[Arran]

Roy;
I have salvaged control decals at times, if they were in good condition, the trick was to strip around them, using like an artist's brush, and a razor blade. The decals for your set are readily available, I think, so it wasn't necessary to save them. The decals used on Canadian RCA-Victor sets are a little different, well the RCA logo is, they used a pair of circles one with the Victor "Nipper" logo, and the other with the "Meatball" lightning logo, with the name "RCA-Victor" written in a stylized script. Like these https://www.radiodaze.com/canadian-rca-a...l-crc-a38/
Regards
Arran

[glyphmon]

Arran,

Correct - decals for this radio are readily available, hence why I wasn't too sad to lose them, but it would have been nice.  I think the amount of damage around the RCA Victor logo made it an easier sacrifice to make.

Best wishes,
Roy

[Arran]

Roy;
My guess is that the crack in the lower front panel may have been caused by the cabinet falling on it's face, or being bumped into by something as that is directly above where the grill bar goes. That chipped shirt on one side should be an easy fix, just cut patches with the grain parallel to the existing veneer, as rectangular strips, and chisel out the section needing replacement to fit the patches.
Speaking of those decals, the price they are charging is outrageous, $16.50 for one sheet of word decals, I can remember buying some through Rock Sea years ago and they were only $6. Sure, costs may have gone up, but how much? I doubt whether it costs more then $2 a sheet to produce them even now. I have noticed that there a few guys selling repro decals on Fleabay, including big ones for gramophone lids, and those were about the same price as R.D wants for a word sheet.
The same is true with the dials, there does not seem to be any rhyme or reason, a repro dial with the graphics all one colour I.E white, costs the same as a dial with three or more, and plastic dials costing the same as glass. It's just not realistic to expect someone to pay out $40-$60 for a dial on a radio that might be worth $200 restored. unless you got the radio free. By the way, the dial in your set is etched, so if the paint is coming off you can fill it back in from the rear.
Regards
Arran

[glyphmon]

Getting close to the veneer repair stage.  Can anyone with a more trained eye tell me what wood this is?  I know walnut is pretty common, but not sure.  My uneducated guess is that this would be lightly-figured walnut.  I was thinking about fill sticks on the side with the tiny missing pieces along the bottom and maybe even wholesale replacement on the other side where so much is missing/lifted, but could be swayed.

           

Best wishes,
Roy

[klondike98]

Watching the show...should be a fun restore!

[Arran]

Roy;
I believe that it is plain cut French walnut, but it looks like they used tinted lacquer over the sides like they did with the molding. Originally they would have covered each side panel with one sheet of veneer, and then cut that wide slot into it, but you could just replace the damaged sections with something similar for the bottom. If you are really ambitious you could use bits of the badly chipped piece from one side to patch the small chips on the other, but then again you could just chisel off the bottom portion on both sides and replace with new, which is probably what I would do since it's easy enough to replace, even a 1-1/2' long piece of walnut veneer would be more then enough to replace both sides.
Regards
Arran

[glyphmon]

Arran,

Thanks - I was leaning toward walnut as well.  I may attempt to patch the better side with the remains of the worse side.

Best wishes,
Roy

[glyphmon]

Gave it a fresh coat of gray inside and the back edges got the same espresso brown treatment as the inside of the 37-620.

   

Today got the sanding sealer on.  Next will be grain filler.  Shouldn't need too much toner except on the dark areas.

           

Best wishes,
Roy

[Joe Rossi]

Roy,  Someone has been very busy. Keep the photo's coming!  Joe

[glyphmon]

One in-progress photo from this evening.  Not the finished product, because after this, bloom definitely became a big issue.  Going to get some Mohawk Super Bloom Retarder to see if that can salvage it.  Unfortunately, not much I can do about the humidity in the area and no dedicated workshop to work in to even attempt climate control.  My hope is the Super Bloom can get it back to the nice dark look it had in this photo.

   

Best wishes,
Roy

[glyphmon]

Okay, second attempt today, and I'm not pulling the masking off until I'm ready to do the next color.

I have some Mohawk Super Blush on order, but also read that a heat gun can work.  Well, gave it a try and while it did ultimately get rid of most of the blush, I feel like it also cooked portions of the toner, so I gently sanded it down with 400 grit.  It smoothed up nice, but as you can imagine, there were now light patches where the toner was removed.  So...

We keep the Super Blush on order, just in case, remasked it today, and in the warm daytime hours, while still probably a bit humid, given the amount of sweating and the not tremendous cooling that followed, a second attempt.  No blushing so far, and I've waited at least twice as long as it took to show the other night.

       

Best wishes,
Roy

[klondike98]

I have used the blush retarder from Mohawk with some success so hopefully it will work for you as well.

[glyphmon]

I have learned a few things recently:

1 - that it is much simpler to get the toner the way I like it to be if it is intended to be a really dark color/solid patch, and not so much if I just want a little color.  At this point, I'm settling with the lighter brown and have moved on

2 - waterslide decals are infuriating to work with since they like to roll up on themselves worse than Saran Wrap.

3 - that I should order 2 spray cans of lacquer for the floor consoles, not just one.

But at least we're moving forward.  I've found, at least for my conditions, that Mohawk's advice for multiple light coats of lacquer working better than a single heavier coat does not seem to work well for getting a glossier finish.  It annoys me to have the outlines of the decals, but I'm not sure I have the skill yet to apply them and not end up with that result, if it's even possible.  At least we're finally able to see some of the pattern in the nicer veneer at the center panel, though.  Feels like it's the home stretch for this cabinet.

   

Starting point, for comparison:

   

Best wishes,
Roy

[462ron]

Hi Roy, your cabinet looks terrific. Refinishing can be a tedious process especially using rattle cans. I, who hates doing cabinet work, had problems getting the finish on my Philco 37-116 to where I liked it. Probably spray equipment with a compressor and spray gun would be ideal but since I don’t foresee me having another floor model radio here, I can’t justify a huge outlay of money for such equipment. I know what you mean about waterslide decals being finicky to work with. They wrinkle or fold over on themselves and tear easily. I had success using a soft bristle brush to dab and work the decals into position and flatten out any folds or wrinkles and then spray a coat or two of lacquer over to seal them in. In my case I attached a dolly to the bottom of the cabinet so I could roll it out onto my deck for any spraying as my wife is super sensitive to odors so everything had to be done outside and then after it dried and the odor subsided I could wheel it in by the end of the day!

Ron