[jrblasde]

Good evening, folks! 

    I spent a large chunk of my Labor Day weekend starting out with the cabinet restoration on my recently purchased 46-480. I stripped the varnish off, and the wood is in surprisingly fair condition underneath! Here’s a before and after.

   

   

    Though it looked much better, there certainly are some issues to be addressed. From best I could tell, mice had taken residence under the chassis. Once I removed it I discovered that there’s some damage to the wiring from chewing. There was also quite the bit of “fluff” strewn underneath the chassis. Not to fear, because I was already planning a full rewire. The shelf for the chassis was pretty nasty, though, so I replaced it with a new one.

   

   

    There were a couple of mud dobber nests in the radio as well, but fortunately they were empty! I got those removed, and doused the cabinet with disinfectant to get it all cleaned out. I scrubbed it with uncut Pine Sol and a brush, and finished up with some Lysol. I let it sit overnight. 

    The next day, I spent about five hours stripping the varnish off of it. As I said, I’m happy with the results. But there’s some work ahead of me yet. I repaired the corner to the right of the dial plate, where the two sides and top pieces of wood had been coming apart. I just need to do a bit of sanding to remove the excess glue.

   

I also repaired the framing on the back side. 

   

   

    I’m getting down to the more cosmetic repairs. There is a crack on the wood surrounding the glass dial, but I plan to fix that tonight. 

   

There’s also a bit of separation in the plywood on the back left (if you are facing the radio from its front) which will need repaired as well.

   

There was a water ring mark on the top right corner before I stripped it; the ring has come off, but there is still a black stain in the wood. I can recall from refinishing a coffee table that repeated coats of vinegar will lighten these types of water damage.

   

    My main question to the group here is, what kind of veneer was commonly used off these cabinets? I can see in the service manual that the cabinet was walnut, but is that an indication of the stain or the veneer? I will need to repair a few spots where the veneer has peeled.