01-20-2026, 11:16 PM
I wanted to share some pictures of the cabinet restore and document the toners I used for my 1936 650X console. The cabinet was in pretty bad shape when I got it.
Lots of loose and broken veneer. The internal radio support plywood was warped badly. After much time gluing and clamping, it came out pretty good.
Below are some before and after pictures. The process I took was as follows:
Thanks to all of you for your input along the way.
Lots of loose and broken veneer. The internal radio support plywood was warped badly. After much time gluing and clamping, it came out pretty good.
Below are some before and after pictures. The process I took was as follows:
- Broke the radio down into multiple parts. Most of it is screwed together so I was able to easily separate it into multiple pieces (top, front, left side, right side, speaker grille and bottom).
- Reglued loose veneer and underlying plywood. Some of it had to be gently removed before regluing. A syringe with glue in it works great for getting in tight places.
- Filled a few of the really bad veneer spots with some Timbermate water-based Walnut filler. I didn't think it was worth re-veneering.
- Stripped old lacquer finish off. Initially I used a plastic scrapper to get a good bit of the dried up lacquer off. I then used Minwax Antique Furniture Refinisher to clean the rest.
- The whole cabinet was then lightly sanded with some 320 grit. Some of the grainer sections were either filled with the Timbermate Walnut filler (same as above) or some Mohawk Sanding sealer (M102-0413) and then lightly re-sanded.
- The lightest sections (left and right of top, left and right of front and sides) were toned using 2-3 light coats of Mohawk Medium Walnut Brown Ultra Classic Toner (M100-0207).
- The Top Middle and Front Middle sections were toned using 4-5 coats of the same toner (M100-0207) to make them darker.
- The rest of the dark sections were toned using 4-5 coats of Mohawk Dark Red Walnut Ultra Classic Toner (M100-0383).
- All pieces where then sprayed with 4-5 coats of Mohawk Pre-Cat Gloss Finish (M102-0410) and then the various parts reassembled.
- The inside was cleaned with some lacquer thinner and then sprayed with some Matte Black Lacquer.
Thanks to all of you for your input along the way.




