HMV varnished gramophone case restoration advice?
 

Hi,

I've just been given an empty case for an HMV 119 (electric) gramophone. It's not worth revarnishing, and anyway I rather like the "original but been round the block a bit" look, but I would like to put a bit of wood treatment on it to tidy, preserve and shine it up a bit. Any suggestions?

Photo attached.

I'm going to store my pile of 78s in it which I have for my much loved HMV 109 table top!

Thanks,

Andy

Re: HMV varnished gramophone case restoration advice?
 

A coloured Danish oil could help hide the parts where the lacquer / stain has come off. If you want to preserve the logo I wouldn't do anything with it except spray some clear lacquer over it. You can of course spray acrylic lacquer over the whole thing after applying some of the Danish oil I mentioned - but ONLY once its properly cured, I.E several weeks later at the earliest.

I have one in much worse condiyion, if that's possible to imagine!

I don't suppose you got any of the innards with it?

Best Regards
Adam

Re: HMV varnished gramophone case restoration advice?
 

My favourite is linseed oil.

Peter

Re: HMV varnished gramophone case restoration advice?
 

Hi Peter, boiled or raw linseed oil, which is the better one to use?

Re: HMV varnished gramophone case restoration advice?
 

Boiled, every time. Raw linseed oil takes many weeks to cure properly. The usual advice is to apply the BLO generously, wait for 5 minutes for it to be absorbed (as far as is possible), then wipe off all the excess. The old advice for gunstocks was to do this once per day for a week, then once per week for a month, then once per month for a year. After that give it a yearly maintenance coat.

Having said that, tung oil, teak oil or Danish oil will do fine, and perhaps cure a little quicker due to the driers content.

Cheers,

Frank

Re: HMV varnished gramophone case restoration advice?
 

You might like to consider applying a very light colour of spirit based stain before moving to the oiling phase. The stain will only be absorbed by the bare patches and will wipe off the areas where varnish remains. Always start with a lighter coloured stain than you think is needed - too dark and the finish won't look good. Make sure the surface is really clean before you start. If you adopt this approach don't use a coloured oil.

Alan

Re: HMV varnished gramophone case restoration advice?
 

I think boiled.

Peter

Re: HMV varnished gramophone case restoration advice?
 

Many thanks all for the excellent advice! I think I have all the above on my shelf, I might experiment on a small back corner first - I'll probably start with Danish oil (I'm using some at the moment on another project anyway). Yes, I definitely want to preserve the logo.

Cheers,

Andy

Re: HMV varnished gramophone case restoration advice?
 

Sadly not, I think it had just been used as a storage box for many years. Unless you count a few woodworm as innards...