Hi everyone
I recently acquired this lovely old console and am in process of replacing capacitors etc.
The cabinet by Ricketts and Thorpe is in need of work and I seek advice from those with cabinet refurbishing experience.
The sides are coming away from the rest of the cabinet and the front veneer has some cracking. This seems to caused by being near the hot tubes on the chassis.
Reading lots of UTube and other forums I am thinking of using a low viscosity epoxy to fill and bind the splitting and then sand smooth followed by grain filler and a final spray of urathane gloss.
All suggestions would be welcome as I am new to cabinet work
Thanks for your interest.
Rogermark

Welcome to the joys of cabinet restoration..

Have a look at Vintage Pete's threads in the Cabinet Repairs forum.

Hi STC830, Thanks for your reply.
I had a good look at Vintage Petes threads but he seems to keep his processes to flat surfaces.
Hopefully Brad will upload my pictures and you will see that my splitting problem is on a curved surface.
The front area of woodwork appears to be a formed panel of plywood about 1/4 in thick with an integral layer of veneer on the outside.
It looks like the outer veneer layer is most stressed by the forming process and over the years of aging, hot and cold and being just above the chassis where the rectifer and output tubes are resulting in the veneer giving way and developing a split.
Would appreciate you comments when the pictures get posted.
Rogermark

Roger, I'll follow your work with interest.

Having made a few cabinets from scratch (see special projects) with rudimentary ability I can't offer any expert help.
I think it sounds like you are on the right track, the curved veneer may need a total replace.
Look forward to the pictures.

Fred.

Photos uploaded.

I haven't had to repair a fracture like this and I think re-veneering is probably the best answer for best result.
If you are willing for the fracture to be part of its history, then after stabilising the fracture as you describe, you could fill the crack remaining after stabilisation and refinish. If after all that you can't live with it then re-veneer.

Could try Woodwork Forums for an identity of the veneer.

Might be worthwhile adding some reinforcement of the fracture underneath.

As far as the loose joint at the end of the case, the old glues were brittle, and the old furniture makers would disassemble joints for repairs with a smart blow. Not for the faint hearted, and you would need to have a good look and be sure that you understand how the joint works, but you would then be able to properly clean out the joint for re-glueing.

Best to use the old glues if possible eg Titebond Original Wood Glue.

I think re-veneering is probably the best answer for best result.

This.

Take a look at member Tippy's YouTube channel where's he's re-veneered a few radios, and he's quite adept at it:

https://www.youtube.com/DavidTipton101/videos

I watched his STC 548 video which has the same case problems as Rogermark with regard to the ends coming adrift - the best way to do it.

He takes a pragmatic approach trying as best as he can for originality but not breaking his heart over it.

His comments about speaker repairs are what I have found - it is surprising how good they can sound despite what we do to them. So have a go.