[adamrobertg]

Today I did a fair bit of work on the cabinet... with 0000 steel wool and lacquer thinner I removed the old finish.  This seems to be the best method, I've found other people online seem to use quicker methods, citrus stripper and such... but this seems to work for me.

   

Next I sanded it... for my 38-8 I had been using 600, and then 800 grit sandpaper.  This took forever, and I went through a lot of sandpaper, and it still wasn't as smooth as I hoped.  I did a fair bit of reading online and someone recommended using 400 or 320 grit first, very lightly, followed by 600.  This is what I did for this radio...

   

Next I grain filled.

   

   

In the last photo, you may be able to see a couple small dings on the edge of the top, just above and to the right of the dial.  I was debating whether to fill these with wood filler or leave them.  I decided I would leave them, as I wanted to leave this looking like a 79 year old radio in 'good condition for it's age', not a brand new radio with no imperfections.  

The next nice day I will do some more work on this...