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.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/off-topic-discussions/1160663-two-winter-project.html
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.
CONTINUED: