14-03-2011, 08:16 PM
Hi,
This is a tough call to make Mark. A lot depends on what you want to achieve; you could try as Steve suggests by touching in and applying a couple of rubbers of French polish but I wouldn't go near it with Vaseline as it might pick up in the polish.
As there are a multitude of scratches it would be a painstaking job to try to touch each one in individually. As the scratches are down to bare timber one idea I have would be to experiment with grain filler trying to match the colour as near as possible then use something like an old credit card and merely use this to wipe over all the scratches to fill them removing excess filler before it sets. Once the scratches are fully filled flat the entire lid to remove all traces of wax etc. but take a great deal of care not to damage the transfer; apply a few rubbers of shellac and hopefully this will freshen it up. For all the old fashioned finishing materials such as fillers and pigments you could try Restoration Materials in Bury; not too far from you.
If the filler stands out then good quality artist's acrylic paint could be used to blend it in; I know using acrylic works because I've done it with Bronwyn helping me for colour guidance.
I suggest filler because although I've read of shellac being used to fill scratches it never does for me; I once used an artist's brush to add layers of shellac to a very small depression only to find the shellac would not sit in the bottom of the depression but ended up looking more like the sides of a volcano; the harder I tried the higher the volcano became; in the end I flatted the area and had more success applying shellac with a rubber. I'm also very careful when I apply brush coats of shellac to a cabinet because if I splash the shellac the drops don't just sit on the surface like paint would but end up as deep rings which are a pain to get rid off.
I've never tried this Mark because I'm colour blind and find stripping using a cabinet scraper then applying new French polish is easiest for me but you could always strip as a last resort; it would of course destroy your transfer.
This is only an idea and good luck with whatever you decide to do; it looks to be a lovely turntable.
Kind regards, Col.
This is a tough call to make Mark. A lot depends on what you want to achieve; you could try as Steve suggests by touching in and applying a couple of rubbers of French polish but I wouldn't go near it with Vaseline as it might pick up in the polish.
As there are a multitude of scratches it would be a painstaking job to try to touch each one in individually. As the scratches are down to bare timber one idea I have would be to experiment with grain filler trying to match the colour as near as possible then use something like an old credit card and merely use this to wipe over all the scratches to fill them removing excess filler before it sets. Once the scratches are fully filled flat the entire lid to remove all traces of wax etc. but take a great deal of care not to damage the transfer; apply a few rubbers of shellac and hopefully this will freshen it up. For all the old fashioned finishing materials such as fillers and pigments you could try Restoration Materials in Bury; not too far from you.
If the filler stands out then good quality artist's acrylic paint could be used to blend it in; I know using acrylic works because I've done it with Bronwyn helping me for colour guidance.
I suggest filler because although I've read of shellac being used to fill scratches it never does for me; I once used an artist's brush to add layers of shellac to a very small depression only to find the shellac would not sit in the bottom of the depression but ended up looking more like the sides of a volcano; the harder I tried the higher the volcano became; in the end I flatted the area and had more success applying shellac with a rubber. I'm also very careful when I apply brush coats of shellac to a cabinet because if I splash the shellac the drops don't just sit on the surface like paint would but end up as deep rings which are a pain to get rid off.
I've never tried this Mark because I'm colour blind and find stripping using a cabinet scraper then applying new French polish is easiest for me but you could always strip as a last resort; it would of course destroy your transfer.
This is only an idea and good luck with whatever you decide to do; it looks to be a lovely turntable.
Kind regards, Col.
