Do I Hear an Echo?

This is a fun one. Yup, its an old Zenith long-distance radio. Manufactured in the mid-1930's and featured routinely in family homes all over the country, these radios were particularly significant to provide the news--and a lot of really fun "family gathered around the radio experiences"--through several decades, but especially during WW I and WW II.

Consequently, there are multi-layered stories that can be told here. It's almost like hearing and echo. The first layer is about the stories this old Zenith can tell about itself. For example, it can tell some stories about its fabrication on the assembly line, and it can tell stories about the people relationships and family environs that were called "home" through the past 80+ years. The second layer is about the stories it knows to rehearse about important news and life-changing events occurring in this country and around the world through those same eight decades.

The refinishing process will require some special steps necessitated by the variety of woods and stains included in the cabinet. But we'll start with a methodical cleaning of the cabinet itself...there are a lot of dust bunnies hiding in there! Along the way features will be taped off and wrapped to prevent damage--both of the electronics that still occupy the upper portion of the cabinet and of the stain, elevation, and color transitions found across the cabinet's face and top.

The centered speaker on this model is positioned between two curved, burled walnut "columns." These handsome sentries received their share of ware and tear through the years, so they are variously scarred and bruised. During the repair process of the second shop day we realized that the burled surface we were working on was actually a very good photo grain applicae! It is wrapped and stretched over a curved (i.e., the "columnar") wood foundation. That discovery has required some appropriate changes in the refinishing strategy. In the second picture, left, you can see we've covered those burled surfaces having repaired the



scars (as best we can without actually replacing the photo finish). Then these were covered away for the next phase in the cabinet's refinishing process.

On the right you can see a detail of the top of the cabinet where the "column" on the left side of the cabinet joins details at it's top. See a portion of the attractive walnut burl on that side and across the top of the cabinet front--it's all part of that photo-plastic wrap, but very attractive for sure.


That's Wood Talkin for today, but check back to see what's happened since your last visit.

Dick