NOTE: THIS IS A RESTORATION THREAD BUT I AM NOT SOLICITING QUESTIONS, TIPS OR ADVICE.
PLEASE CHOOSE WISELY...

I'm gonna doll this one up real nice because I just love it!!

I was playing with it for a bit before I realized that I would have to 'tear it up'. Now, where I come from, that's about the scariest thing you can do. It's no big deal to further disassemble a cabinet that's taken a beating, but it's a real big deal to try and disassemble a rock-solid piece.

I studied it for a bit, discovered nails I hadn't seen before and then figured out what to do. I took a shell blade to the bottom of the arch where it meets the molding and began to pry all around. Lots of creaking and chattering... I did this enough so that the nails would be pushed up in order to yank them out. Once they were out, I simply plunged the long blade into the base and apart it came.

Grille popped out. This was also very scary.

Interstingly, besides the glue, there were little nails in it but only on one side.

Okay, what is the next step in the process?

I would assume you are gonna vary from "authenticity" and put the bottom back on with screws? Otherwise, you would have to straighten out the original nails, and hammer them back in with a vintage claw hammer. Don't use new shiny nails, some picky collector would spot that right away and cut the price by 50%.

No.

That speaker must have pissed you off. Taking your revenge?

Could you post a picture of the speaker cone assembly?

OH, LOOKS LIKE IT FINALLY GOT MOVED.

Ah well... here's where I am now.
I mentioned before that this thing had been previously stripped BEFORE it was paited, so it was hell.
There are still little flecks of that crappy light blue sticking in the grain.... I thought the stain might make them go away, but no.

How it started

Cabinet hand-buffed and ready for lacquer tomorrow... or whenever it stops being swampy outside...

First lacquer 'session' which is actually four heavy coats. No, I didn't lacquer it with the grille in.

I played with a bit of wood dye on the grille - that's what those dark areas are.
The back and 'depth' of the grille were done in gloss black epoxy.

Too shiny? This is only hand-buffed shiny, I haven't touched it to the buffer yet.

Don't worry about the shiny. Why didn't you use some kind of grain filler?

Actually if you don't want to fill the grain, do like a lot of people, use a semi-gloss finish, It will reflect less light and therefore hide the grain better, but won't be as the original.

You need to wait DAYS before you buff it.

I personally like having exposed grain on earlier, plain radio and speaker cabinets, glossy or not. The 'sparkly' look of it just appeals to me.

If this were something in the post 1930 'Deco' realm, though, I would have sprung for grain filler. Also, I would use grain filler on an earlier radio if it had carving, pressed wood or some other dimensional detail.

OK.

But, if you are going to buff it out, wait at least a week or you will scratch the finish rather than polish it.

What kind of compound will you use with the power buffer? Is it one of the small electric ones like Walmart sells?

COMPOUND!?

I dry-buff clean lacquer, new or old. I only use finishing compound and/or wax for dirtied and hazed lacquer finishes.

I don't buy new things unless I HAVE to, like most consumables. My bench buffer is a 1/6 horse Emerson from the mid '30s.

Wool Pad? If you use less RPMs you can buff it sooner. A high speed buffer can burn the finish quick, but if used correctly will produce a vey nice finish.

Loose cotton pad, about 1500 RPMs. I'm not necessarily an idiot.