[37silverstreak]

My latest project is this 40-190 I picked up a few weeks ago.
[Image: http://i1160.photobucket.com/albums/q500...dc1653.jpg]
As you can see it was in pretty tough shape. It spent a good part of its life in a barn or garage and was filthy and the cabinet had a lot of scrapes and dings on it. I've spent a lot of free time on it and have just finished the cabinet. I know it's not the correct "look" it originally would have, had but the non veneered parts of the cabinet had to have a lot of filling work to cover scratches and dents in the wood. there was also discoloration from where the finish had worn off and stains had penetrated. As much as I tried I could not get those areas to blend together so I tried using Van Dyke Brown laquer on the non veneer portions. Well it covered up the defects but got a lot darker than I thought it would! At first I felt pretty sick about it, but I was not going to go through all the trouble of stripping it off and trying again, so i kept going. Now after spending some time looking at it, I'm really starting to like the overall look of it, so i'm calling this one my "Hot Rod"!
[Image: http://i1160.photobucket.com/albums/q500...5764ab.jpg]
[Image: http://i1160.photobucket.com/albums/q500...14d1f8.jpg]
I also ended up a non original style grille cloth as the pattern I needed is not available, so I ordered the Philco Chevron pattern, which I think adds a lot to the deco theme of this cabinet.
Okay, it's not authentic, but it's a heck of a lot better looking than when I started and it's nothing that can't be undone in the future! Now! On to that chassis!
Kevin

[NostalgiaRadioTime]

Wow! What a remarkable transformation. Looks amazing. Would've never guessed that was the same sad looking cabinet you picked up a few weeks ago. Good job!

[Arran]

I have found that using a wet rag or paper towel and a clothes iron does an effective job of removing dents, much better then putty, especially from poplar. I think your misgivings may come from the fact that the solid wood parts are now too dark and too opaque, it looks like they were originally a medium to medium dark, now they look like they are extra dark. If you used a dye based toner it should cover up the majority of the flaws without looking like brown paint. I'm not too sure of this but it looked like the solid wood parts were two toned themselves.
This is one of the reasons I'm so slow at refinishing things, If I don't like how they came out, and can't correct them in some other way, I strip them and start over again. There is a Philco battery radio that I attempted to refinish a few years ago that I think I may do that with, to the average eye it would look fine, but I don't really like the way it came out, it's too red.
Regards
Arran

[Phlogiston]

OK. It's cool. Does it have an MP3 jack?

   

[TimC]

Looks great Kevin. Nice job!

Tim