New Vintage Audio Restoration HQ

OK guys - I did the next step today.

I took the wire wheel to the metal hardware to remove rust since the hardware is riveted into the wood and thus not removable.

I then by hand removes the last remnant of the cloth covering, and sanded around the hardware, and hit it with a second round of sanding with my Festool.

I DID add some glue to help with rigidity, but chose NOT to fill in the wood cracks and such and instead will be embracing them as the character of the piece from what I brought it back from.

Here are some pics. You can see all the mold that was o the wood. What do you think?

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atmasphere said:
Dang! That's impressive. You work with a dust mask, right?
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Thank you Ralph.

I'm very happy with how it looks. Just a bit more touch up and it will be ready for me to apply a finish.

I sand outside and my sander has a vacuum attachment on it. However I am extremely allergic to mold and mildew so even outside on this one I wore a 3M respirator.
 
brad225 said:
Looks good Michael. I can't wait to see it with some finish on the wood.
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Thanks!

I'm thinking I may do a little darkening of the wood, then depending how it turns out I'll either use the Gilboy's Hard Wax Oil of the Tried & True.

Gilboys goes on a bit clearer and T&T goes on darker. So I'll see if after I tweak the wood color I want a more transparent final finish or not.

I also received two new waxes to try on the chrome dials after I clean them up with the waxes I received last week. One is representing Japan and one from Germany....

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So I used for the first time over the last day SurfPrep sponge sandpaper.

I had bought some before, tried it and didn't like it.

Since then I educated myself more about it and have since learned not all sponge sandpaper is the same. There are differences in foam density and such which can make a huge difference.

Well I tried a different brand today - the red one which is from SurfPrep vs. the Blue ones I previously tried from Festoo.

Big difference in user experience and results.

Needless to say I really like the SurfPrep and now have a box of the Festool I won't use. LOL

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Some comparisons of my chrome restoration on the unit. All done with hand polish and time.....

I'm still not finished. I will polish with a hand glaze then wax. I will likely try several waxes to see if they impart a different look.

I completely disassembled the gauges so I could also clean the gauge face and also polish the inside of the glass which was filthy with caked-on dirt.

Last pic is a before and after of one of the metal brackets.

I applied a stain I custom mixed to the wood, let it dry and then spent an hour going back and forth on which finish to use.

I decided to use one I haven't used before: an imported Swedish cold pressed linseed oil.

I just applied the first coat and will apply a second coat in 3 days. I'm going to make you all wait for pics. :)

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