[hunter2115]

I remember reading an interesting thread about restoring original finishes by touching up with toner,ect. I believe it was one of Ron's threads. Does anyone know where the thread is located?
Thanks!

[jerryhawthorne]

First step is a good cleaning of the old finish. Most use GoJo in the cream form. NOT the one with pumice in it. Clean well and rinse off with a damp towel. This will give you a good starting point, you will be amazed at how much dirt and grime it will remove.
After that, many will pitch in with various products. Howards Restore a finish works well for me. After that some wax and many have differing ideas of what to use.
You will be amazed at how nice you can get the original finish to look. Of course it depends on how bad it was to start.
Jerry

[hunter2115]

This was a thread dealing with worn finishes. Basically going over a worn fish with new coats of toner and lacqer topcoats as opposed to stripping and refinishing. It is a good thread, I just can't find it again!

[klondike98]

There are many threads on this topic, perhaps you are thinking of Ron's 2012 cabinet work thread at http://philcoradio.com/phorum/showthread.php?tid=4730 or his 2013 thread at http://philcoradio.com/phorum/showthread.php?tid=6699

[Arran]

First rule about touching up an old finish, if it has scratches or worn spots but isn't flaking you may be able to do something with it. If it's lifting, flaking off, or it has large areas missing, the finish is dead and there isn't much you can do but strip it and start over. Stay away from Formby's or other "refinishers" no matter what you do, all that is is solvent that melts the lacquer so you can smear it around, but it also smears the shading lacquer around making a muddy mess.
There was a guy on the alternative forum that was desperately trying to "restore" the original finish on a brand Z console with cowards restore a finish. The trouble was about half of the lacquer was gone from it and it had clearly been in a damp basement along with the lifting veneer problems that go with it. Well the peanut gallery was telling him what a great job he was doing and that it didn't really need to be stripped and refinished. The problem is that like a tung oil finish you need to keep adding the cowards to it every few months because it dries out again, there is nothing to seal it in.
Regards
Arran

[Geoff]

There is a pretty good video on YouTube about refinishing without stripping. I thought the results were amazing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLqDgJRsY5Y

Same guy has a lot of good videos on restoring radios and TV's.

- Geoff

[jerryhawthorne]

Nice link Geoff. I stumbled into the same process and wish I would have seen this earlier. I pretty much follow what Bob does. I like to save the original color and in very few cases have to strip a finish. A lot you can accomplish with overcoating the original with some new lacquer and yes, I will fill in little dents with a careful drop of lacquer on the dent. After a good drying and I use wet/dry sandpaper of 320 grit on a block to bring it down. Lacquer really shrinks with time so it may take a couple of repeats to fill the dents and holes.

Jerry

[Ron Ramirez]

The guy in question is Phorum member Bob Andersen, who has made a number of very useful radio restoration videos.

[Phlogiston]

When there are irreplaceable decals or other features, a finish restoration is the only option, rather than refinishing.

Could not seem to find a Thompson water slide decal.

Pepsi can was for perspective. (tis' a big radio)

   

No Howards was used on this. I have used GoJo, to clean my hands. I have some tung oil, but I don't know why.

[Arran]

My solution to preserve the decals on a cabinet with a rough finish is to carefully strip around them, in the case of Canadian makes of radios repros often don't exist. Fortunately the decals are usually well protected with extra coats of lacquer so the finish usually isn't flaking off in that area. Even so there are places where you can get decals made if you can't find them stocked anywhere, I think maybe Radio Daze may offer this service by now, though it makes more sense to get multiple copies made.
Regards
Arran

[Jamie]

I have had good luck reproducing decals using a kit from Testors. If you can get a photo of the original decal into photoshop, you can pretty much print the new decal on your printer. I found the kit at Hobby Lobby in the model car area.

[Electrothaumaturgist]

What an incredible looking radio, Phlogiston! Is she a good performer? (and what year was she "born"?).

[Phlogiston]

It is a Thompson Minuet from 1925. It is about average for a 20's TRF.
Its notable points are single dial tuning, though you do have to fine tune the 2 other rf stages and all batteries stored internally. It was designed to be a simpler, easier to use radio with no external batteries to look at and no need to add a speaker. Great Idea. I guess they did not sell a lot of them.

[sam]

very sharp looking radio can we see in back?

[sam]

WOW alsome no cords all linkage movement ? great find