I'm restoring the cabinet from a 1940 AWA Radiola console. I believe the original finish would have been nitrocellulose lacquer.

My question is whether that would have been a high gloss or a satin finish.

Thanks

What are you going to finish it in ? Nitro ? Shellac ? varnish ? poly ?? If nitro was used the 80 percent is classed as gloss and the 55 percent is classed as Satin ... I would do it in 80 percent if using Nitro from Wattyl,,,, Pete

I was thinking of using FeastWatson wipe-on poly.

Dan

Poly is a Modern finish that looks Modern , you can get it in Gloss, But the Gloss level is much less than a Nitro .. If you dont want to get involed in complicated finishes such as Nitro or Varnish , A Danish oil is also a option as it can be wiped on and the level of gloss is adjustable by putting the last coats on wet and letting it dry ....Then polishing it to how you like it ... Got a pic of the radio ???

Oh should also mention that poly is a tough finsh that does not scratch as easy as others ,in case your looking for a tough finish

I see that Bunnings sells a Danish oil by Cabots and assume this would be suitable? Would Danish oil be in keeping with the look of the era?

Not looking for a tough finish, but something that's not difficult to put on but still looks somewhat in keeping with the period. Was also thinking of brushing nitro. I don't have a place that I can set up easily to use a spray.

I have some tung oil but I don't think I could get enough of a gloss from it. I don't think it would look right.

I don't have a photo. It's a console with two different woods, one looks like a walnut and the other some kind of rosewood. I've stripped it back to the bare wood.

The base of the console looks like it might just have a brown paint on it. Either that or a brown stain. The exposed sides of the veneer looks similar, not sure if it's stain of just brown paint.

Trying to figure out how to finish it has been a lot harder than getting the radio to work again!

Hello , I mentioned Danish oil because you dont need any tools or even a shed to do it in ,, The fumes are such you could do it in a kitchen ,
The other reasons were , Its easy and if you have had no experience in finishes the place to start is with Shellac or Danish oil. Mostly people think of danish oil as a flat finish that soaks into the timer and is used on Teak items,,But that is because people have only seen modern finishes finished in that style , The Danish oil can give you a gloss finish that sits on top of the timber and it will also appear older to the eye ., Which is a very old way of finishing . .. When your putting a finish on an item , The aim is to fill the timber and all its pours and holes to the point where it is completely flat like a Glass , Then you polish that ! This is the aim of most finishes apart from Teak or very open Grain .
So you would just keep putting Danish oil on until it is flat . This can be done with a Rag.
To make life easy , You would finish the radio in this way on a stripped radio . : Fill the Grain with Timber mate grain filler ,,, Then buy a very small tin of Bondel oil Varnish , Mix it 50 / 50 so its thin ,, Turps and oil Varnish . Wipe it on as a seal coat or a wash coat .. Then put your stain over the top of that when it is dry .. Then just buy some Wattyl Danish oil and wipe it on each day until you get the finish you are looking for . The issue you will have is that it is winter and oil is slow to dry and there for you may only be able to put 0ne coat on per day or maybe every 2 days and at a guess it will take about 10 coats .

That is a very simple method of finishing .

Or you can do a shellac finish where the drying times are fast ???

Note if you were going to use Danish oil you could also use it as a sealer or wash coat by putting Turps in the first coat 50/50 , From then on though you would only use the Danish oil straight out of the can and not dilute it ..
Danish oil or Shellac is the best finish if you have never done this before .

The other thing I should mention is finishes such as Nitro or a full Oil Varnish are not really possible to do in the Winter ,So they are not only complicated in terms of layers and tintiing layers they need Heat and lots of it so your limited to shellac , Poly , Danish ,,to a degree . which is fine if your just starting out on your first finish

Pete

Thanks for that Pete.

I thought the wipe-on poly might be good because, in their words, it "provides durable protection with classic, hand-rubbed beauty".


Dan

Your Welcome Dan,
Poly has its place . I dont use it much because it looks modern , But it has its place. Finishes can be very complex and most radios,Radiograms ,TVs are a Glaze finish which takes time to learn so poly, shellac , have their place and people need to start somewhere . The most important thing is that it is fun ,,
Please let me know how you get on with your Restoration ,,Pete

Hi Pete, here's a bit of a progress report for you.

I was going to use wipe on poly, but after reading you comments about poly looking 'modern' and other people who said it looks plasticy, I decided against it.

I looked into using Danish oil, couldn't find the Wattyl brand that you suggested. Had a look as to what it's made of and there doesn't seem to be anything standard. Tung oil seems to be one of the main constituents of some of them. So I decided to use some pure tung oil that I already had, diluted with citrus terpene.

We were still having some quite warm days in the later part of June and I managed to get a few coats on. It was coming up nicely and was starting to get a nice sheen to it. Then the weather cooled off and I had a few problems, so I'm leaving it until we get some warmer days, probably not until end of August or into September.

It's going to look good.

Thanks again for your suggestions.

Dan

Fogging ? going white ???....hmm I dont use Tung oil , . ....... pete

Just not drying fully. Rubbed it with a cloth after a day and it started coming off. Will wait for the warmer weather and then give it a light sand with 600 paper. We've already had some warm days so I'll start on it again soon.

I've used it on floorboards and it comes up nicely. If you put on enough coats it has a nice sheen.

From what I've read it's one of the main components of some Danish oils.

Hello Dan ,,, Yes its used for floor boards . Danish oil has a small amount of Varnish in it so dries . To get danish oil to a full gloss you put the last coat on wet , You can then dull it with 0000 steel wool or put a small amount of Turps on a cloth and polish it to a higher Gloss level . I dont work with Tung oil because I only do furniture with the 3 traditional finishes and sometimes I do 2k 2 pak which is great for Radiograms and TVs but is technical and requires spray gear and good guns , But I love it . Pete