A birthday gift for Vicki (31 photos)

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Last summer Vicki asked me if I could get this old music box working again. It was given to her by her grandfather 60 years or so ago. I don’t know how old it is, there is a patent date of 1890, so it’s newer than that. I’m pretty sure it’s safe to say it’s over 100 years old.
Getting the mechanism working wasn’t too big of a deal. On a lot of these spring-operated music boxes and Victrolas the end of the spring breaks off. All I had to do was square the end of the broken spring off and grind notches in the new end that fit into the spring attachment point.

I got it working but I didn’t really clean the mechanism up, and the wooden part of the case was a real mess. It had missing inlays and lifting veneer, and it was filthy. I got it in my head that I would fix it up and present it to her for her birthday this year, June 19th. This would be the first time I had ever done anything like this. This project was important, so I practiced finishing techniques on a piece that wasn’t so valuable.
A two-winter project







The top had a lot of inlaid veneer and some of the veneer was missing. To my mind the worst part to was a 3” diameter spot where someone had set a flowerpot or something on it. The veneer was lifting and badly discolored. I thought I could fix up the rest of the box, but the lid was way, way beyond my abilities to repair, so I made a special shipping container and sent the lid out to a pro.

Here is a video the pro made of the work he did on the top. In the video he said, “I only have the lid because it was the only part that was damaged.” He didn't know I had a lot of work to do on the rest of the box, but it was work I thought I would be able to learn how to do myself. After I sent the top off I had back surgery and took about 3 months off.







Once I was back on the job the first thing I did was clean it up with soap and water.





The back and sides of the music box were finished in this odd sort of faux wood grain. There were a couple of places where the finish was worn off and there were shallow gouges in the wood.



I smoothed the edges of the scars and filled the gouges. Making the repair invisible was going to be a challenge. To my eye it looked like black over red paint. Further investigation revealed the finish was a burn orange base with a black wash over it that gave the illusion of wood grain in a piece of cherry. And it had black stippling over that.



I messed around with various kinds of tints and paints. I was never able to match the base color, faux grain, and stippling, so I settled for faux knots in faux wood grain, then did my best to give it a French Polish.



I don’t know what it is about the French, they think they know more than anyone about kissing, tickling, fried potatoes, toast, finishing wood – everything. French Polishing uses a mixture of shellac and alcohol in various proportions.



My attempt worked out OK, not pro-level, but OK, and the practice came in handy.

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The top came back from the pro looking gorgeous. Unfortunately there were places where the finish had been damaged in shipment and I was going to have to do the finish over. I used the same technique as on the sewing machine case – a couple of heavy coats of straight shellac, wet sanding with 1000 grit paper between coats, then several applications of thinned shellac to get that silky, French Polish finish.

The music box sat on a frame with four legs. The legs were soft wood and were beat to hell.





To rehabilitate the legs I started by making a mold out of scrap wood lined with oiled packing tape.



I used epoxy to rough out the shape and give it strength, then finished the minor imperfections with bondo.





I tried some different ideas to match the black satin finish on the base and legs. In the end I settled on good old fashioned Rust-Oleum Black Satin. The gloss level is almost spot on, but this stuff is finicky. It reacts with everything – even itself – so you have to wait 48 hours to recoat. No matter how much I cleaned I had trouble with it reacting to the existing black finish. I resorted to coating the black parts with automotive primer/sealer before using the Satin Black.

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I’m not much on “patina” on cars, and this old piece called out for preserving some of its history, but the veneer’s condition was beyond mere patina, it was coming loose and there was a piece completely missing.

For the loose pieces I got a hypodermic needle from my veterinarian to inject hide glue under the veneer. It wasn’t quite flush with the surface even with clamping, so I sanded it level.





I lucked out on fixing the missing piece in the upper left corner. Wandering local ReStore, I came across and old table with loose veneer in the junk pile. I gave them $5 for it, pulled off a piece of veneer that closely matched the music box front, and donated it back to them.



Yeah, I know, it isn’t perfect.




While the wood finishing was going on I took care of some details.





I had to reattach the lid prop and also re-glaze the glass inner lid and repaint the frame. The lid was held on with #1 and #2 flathead wood screws. These things are tiny, and they were in tight. The slots are so narrow and shallow that I wrecked two screwdrivers and most of the screws trying to get them out.






The handles are nickel plated brass. They were dirty but otherwise in good shape and cleaned up beautifully. I replaced the rusty flathead screws with some nickel plated oval head screws I found on line.

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The last thing to do was clean up the mechanism, oil it, and repaint the base with gold leaf.







The pawl that stops the spring from unwinding is so worn the little spring that engages it won't move it into place. We can still use the music box, but we have to manually push the pawl into place.












I finished reassembly on her birthday morning and presented it to her. This was also the time I told her I had found a new puppy for us, so it didn’t get the reception I had hoped for. But at least it’s finished.

[masraum]

Outstanding! Great job on restoration!

[Scott Douglas]

Nice work!

Tough to beat that puppy of yours for reaction value though. She is one sweet looking pup. Love her coloring.

The music box looks fantastic. You should make a recording of it so we can all hear it play.

(I could almost smell the fumes from all the chemicals you were using in the pics.)
Thanks for sharing this with us.

[Steve F]

Well done Sir!!

[908/930]

Nice restoration.

[oldE]

Beautiful! Truly a labor of love.
What does it play?

Best
Les

[Seahawk]

The above post(s) by WD represent everything I truly suck at...if I show this thread to my wife it is over for me.

How dare you

Wonderfully done.

[Dixie]

Your music box isn't French, it's Swiss. Mermod Freres hails from Sainte-Croix, Switzerland. The company was regarded for making fine watches and music boxes. The company was founded in 1883, with the financial crisis of 1929 ending production.

Regardless, you did an excellent job!

[stevej37]

Looks great!
Very nice work.

[Flat Six]

Wow. Just wow.

The talent of some of the folks here on PPOT just amazes me.

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Originally Posted by Dixie

Your music box isn't French, it's Swiss.

It says “Switzerland” both on the box and the movement, so yeah, Swiss. There is no manufacturer’s name on it anywhere, and all the writing on it is in English.

[herr_oberst]

I will probably never post any pictures of any project of mine on this site ever again.

To the French Polish I say "Chapeau," to the restoration of the box I give you
"Ausgezeichnet!"

This is outstanding work.

What song does this play?

[KFC911]

Meh.... anybody could have done that for Vicki ... cute puppies are everywhere

Outstanding Patrick

[Evans, Marv]

Your wife is a luky and deserving girl. It's nice to see such devotion and love.

[A930Rocket]

Excellent work! I’m jealous of your ability for such fine detail.

[Rot 911]

I wish I had the talent and the patience for that kind of work. Very nice!

[MMARSH]

Beautiful work. A talent I wish I had.