Time for another project thread. This one is actually a project restart after a very long hiatus.
My mom picked up this gramophone for me at an auction circa 1993 after I saw it in the listing and couldn't be there. It was pretty badly water damaged but I thought it would be a great piece to restore. Back at that time, I stripped off all the finish (which was badly damaged), and used wood filler to attempt to repair some broken veneer. Then the project stalled, for years, as life intervened, I moved further away, got married, etc.
About 2009 or so, I brought it to my shop with the intent to restart it. But the crank and numerous other parts that I had removed when stripping the finish had gone missing. We looked all over mom's place numerous times and couldn't find them. And I couldn't find the motivation to start working on it without the pieces to complete the project.
I always said that as a last resort, we'd find them when going through the house after Mom died. Well... Mom passed away last month. We were staying at the house for her funeral, and, I completely accidentally located the parts, not even looking for them. So now I'm starting the restoration again. I'm actually glad I didn't finish the project in the 90s, as I have a lot better skills and tools today. Filling holes with wood putty and staining over them isn't going to fly by my current standards!
The first picture shows the condition I left it at in the early 90s: The original finish stripped off, etc. The front "speaker grille" was very badly water damaged. I still have the original, shown in another pic, but I'll have to recreate it.
The next pic shows the inside, which is in the best condition. I'm going to try to keep this part as original as possible. The gramophone actually works - a couple pieces of the "tonearm" were cracked when I got it and were taped. I used superglue to fix it more permanently. It plays records just fine.
One of the joints on the top was separating badly so I opened it up even further to repair it. I also removed the top panel. It's pretty water damaged as well but as I mentioned in the previous pic, I want to save it as it's the inside of the lid also. I plan on stabilizing it, re-venering the top surface, and putting it back, keeping the inside original. The third pic shows the project in this stage, and the 4th, it being clamped back together.
The last pic shows the original "speaker grille". It's hard to tell here but the laminations are all falling apart. I will use this as a template to cut out a new one. There is also supposed to be cloth on the back... you can purchase reproduction cloth today and I will do that.
More to come, including my first attempts at re-veneering!
My mom picked up this gramophone for me at an auction circa 1993 after I saw it in the listing and couldn't be there. It was pretty badly water damaged but I thought it would be a great piece to restore. Back at that time, I stripped off all the finish (which was badly damaged), and used wood filler to attempt to repair some broken veneer. Then the project stalled, for years, as life intervened, I moved further away, got married, etc.
About 2009 or so, I brought it to my shop with the intent to restart it. But the crank and numerous other parts that I had removed when stripping the finish had gone missing. We looked all over mom's place numerous times and couldn't find them. And I couldn't find the motivation to start working on it without the pieces to complete the project.
I always said that as a last resort, we'd find them when going through the house after Mom died. Well... Mom passed away last month. We were staying at the house for her funeral, and, I completely accidentally located the parts, not even looking for them. So now I'm starting the restoration again. I'm actually glad I didn't finish the project in the 90s, as I have a lot better skills and tools today. Filling holes with wood putty and staining over them isn't going to fly by my current standards!
The first picture shows the condition I left it at in the early 90s: The original finish stripped off, etc. The front "speaker grille" was very badly water damaged. I still have the original, shown in another pic, but I'll have to recreate it.
The next pic shows the inside, which is in the best condition. I'm going to try to keep this part as original as possible. The gramophone actually works - a couple pieces of the "tonearm" were cracked when I got it and were taped. I used superglue to fix it more permanently. It plays records just fine.
One of the joints on the top was separating badly so I opened it up even further to repair it. I also removed the top panel. It's pretty water damaged as well but as I mentioned in the previous pic, I want to save it as it's the inside of the lid also. I plan on stabilizing it, re-venering the top surface, and putting it back, keeping the inside original. The third pic shows the project in this stage, and the 4th, it being clamped back together.
The last pic shows the original "speaker grille". It's hard to tell here but the laminations are all falling apart. I will use this as a template to cut out a new one. There is also supposed to be cloth on the back... you can purchase reproduction cloth today and I will do that.
More to come, including my first attempts at re-veneering!
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