I bought a simple, clean looking Sentinal radio on Ebay, and the pictures didn't show everything. Notice you never really see the top.. Anyway it only $30, but the trouble is, it's photo finish, and the top has "worn" off. It's all photo finish, even the sides... I'd like to repair it with real veneer. I've never tried to re-veneer a round front radio before, and I'm not sure how to get it flat before the glue sets, and to make it worse, It "looked" like it had inlay stripes on each side, but how do I trim it? My thought was using a glue that has "working time" to allow me time to slide it around a bit, that way I could test fit it and trim it very close before I glue it... OR, I could leave it long, and try to trim it afterwards, but that seems tricky at best. What glue should I use ? And should I final trim it before of after installation??







Thanks, Rich...

You're not really letting us see the top either.

As it is now, I would color in that big chip on the grille and be DONE. It looks great for photofinish.

That's what lace doilies are for. It will never look as good as it does now, even if you made a new cabinet.

Veneering is tricky, curved is trickier, and a tight bend like this, well, it shouldn't be your first project. I would think you'd
need heated forms to shape the curve and hold it while the glue set, without cracking the veneer.

Those were the ebay photos...
Can't get a good shot of the actual defects, but here's a close up,
that's not all glare from the flash, they are "bleached out" spots, where the finish is worn off.


and flaking....


Rich...

It look like lacquer to me, if you look at some of the scratches, there is a wood grain under it.

I've never tried it, but I've often come across folks singing the praises of those vacuum storage bags (for blankets &c) for applying veneer to a curved surface.

The corner columns on this 28X5 had a revolting photo finish on them. They are removable so I took them off when
I was refinishing the cabinet. I sanded them and glued on paper backed walnut veneer using Weldwood contact cement.
The waterfall edge over the right column had a hole punched right through it.
I filled it and applied a pice of veneer over it as well. It worked like a charm.

That does look nice. I assume the paper-backed veneer is thinner than ordinary veneer?

Still, if the Sentinel were mine, I would rather spend an hour or even two, doing detailed touchup of the missing photofinish, than a week or two of reveneering and refinishing.

Yes, the paper backed veneer is thinner, even the backing paper is tissue thin. You have a good point. The Sentinel is in fairly nice shape. This RCA was in ruin, I think I paid $6. The bottom was split and separated from the cabinet.

On this radio I agree with a previous poster - repair the speaker grille chip, but leave the top alone - call it a day. If you want, you could touch up the top with a light color stain pen.

Your choices are to clean the surface, touch it up with artist brushes and acrylic paint (which I'm doing now on a Philco), but this is an incredibly tedious process and requires a steady hand I do not have.

Or you could strip and reveneer, but this is a big job, something I only do if the cabinet is a basket-case, and requires finesse. I tried and screwed up several cabinets before figuring out how to veneer over curved surface. The process involves using a steam iron, but in this case since the curvature is tight, it may require softening the veneer and "pre-bending" it before ironing on. I've tried stick-on veneers with little luck.

Once you get the veneer on, you'll have to cut out the speaker grille, and one gaffe could ruin your new veneer application.

I'm thinking this might be the radio to experiment with, it's definately photo finish, and touching it up by hand, while it might work, it's not what I'd like to learn to do ( at least on this scale ). I'd like to learn some veneer techniques. From what I've read, you need to soak the veneer, to make it plyable. I do agree, bagging it would be the best idea, but those bags can put tons of pressure on the radio, so bagging just the top and face would be the trick, as bagging the whole radio may crush it. Joe at veneersupplies.com recommended the paper backed veneer with preasure sensitive glue, but I'm leary of the paper over the long run. This is a sturdy cabinet, and I think, a nice style, and could benefit from a nicely finished cabinet. I've got less than $50 in it, so a couple of experiments won't break the bank. If it works out, I would be more tempted to try something nicer next time. I'm afraid of contact cement as you get one chance to position the veneer, and if you screw up, your chipping it back off. I'd like to find some adhesive, with a 20 minute working time, to position, and seal the bag, before it sticks tight... I've got a nice vacuum pump, and just need the bag, and some fittings. I've also got several pieces of veneer. I was thinking prefit it without glue, just to get the positioning down pat, and help preshape the veneer.. I'm just working up the nerve still...

Rich...

Joe knows and sells veneer. He knows that paper backed veneer is the easiest to work with. What could go wrong with the Paper? I've never used the type with pressure sensitive glue. Paper backed veneer with contact cement is easy to work with because it's flexible and it stays put. There are techniques for laying veneer and laminates on surfaces with contact cement. Dry fitting, wax paper and spacer sticks to hold the veneer away from the glued surfaces until you can get one edge attached squarely, then bend back the veneer and roll it down on the glue removing the spacer sticks as you go.

I covered this 1953 mahogany record player cabinet with contact cement and paper backed walnut veneer in 1970. This was my first of many veneer projects. I was an impatient 18 year old high school kid. Stuff like this was considered junk back then and I wanted to update its look. 42 years later the oiled walnut veneer is still tight. I didn’t have a lot of curve or any filigree to work with but with the right cutting tools you should be able to cut a speaker grille.

Doug, nice work. On the RCA 28x5, it looks like you painted the indented rings on the knobs. What color? Mine don't have it; though they could have originally.

The knobs were borrowed from an RCA Victor V-300 console. They are original and well preserved because they were protected under the top lid. It's metallic gold paint, brighter than you might think the original would be. Now all I need are some early '40s Detroit area station call letters for the push-buttons.

Did you apply new decals, or finish around the old ones? Radio Daze doesn't list these decals on their website.

The control panel was the only part of the radio that wasn't stripped. I made sure that it was thoroughly cleaned and lightly sanded with 400 grit wet or dry sand paper. I wiped it with the same stain used on the rest of the radio which filled all of the scratches then it was clear coated right over the decals. It's not perfect but compared to what I started with it looks fairly good. I only paid $6 for the radio. It was a train wreck.

Doug, I restored an RCA 28T which is very similar to your set. Mine still had an original station label or two so I copied the design on the computer and made my own new ones. Tell me what stations you want and PM me your address and I'll pop them in the mail to you.