Finish On Fisher Case

Recently I picked up a cabinet that was in prettty rough shape: split seams, swollen particle board bottom, out of square front, not to mention the stink of nicotine :yuck: I got it back from the dead and now I'm thinking about the finish.

Tonight I put on a coat of walnut stain and I'm thinking about the final finishing. Does anyone know how these thing were originally finished??

Well, not all of them are Fisher factory. Most often the particle board bottoms were though. That hint says, this one might have the solid walnut front bezel that's beveled towards the outside of the cabinet.
What size is this one?
Is it for an integrated/tuner or receiver?

I've used many approaches. Initially, I used multiple coats of Minwax spray poly. Now I use about a half dozen hand-rubbed coats of oil and poly followed by a couple coats of oil and wax from Sam Maloof. If it's been beat up though, I still use the poly. The oil is only for the ones that are in good shape to start with.

The advantage of oil is that you can fix it if it gets scratched pretty easily. Needs an occasional renewal, like once a year, though or it starts to look dried out because of the heat it is exposed to.
The advantage of poly is that it's impervious to most everything except dings and scratches. The general day to day stuff doesn't affect it at all and it keeps its look.

Well, not all of them are Fisher factory....

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Dunno, this one came from someplace in New York :thmbsp:

I was told it housed an 800c; it's 15" deep, (see pic.) I steamed and sanded out most of the dings and scratches xcept a really deep one that will just have to live there.

I'm thinking of hitting it with a boiled linseed/mineral spirits mix to get it past the stain I put on yesterday. Its the protective coat I'm trying to decide on. I've done mucho work with poly and for this piece I just don't think I'd like it. The guys over at AntiqueRadios say that lacquer was the standard finish for period radios but I'm not sure that remained the case in the 60's. In any case, I'll have to wait a week or two after the BLO before I decide on the top coat so by then, maybe someone will chime in on what the original finish was.

My original Fisher 500c cabinet had an oiled walnut finish. When I redid last year, I stripped the old finish and lightly sanded the surface. I then applied 2 coats of Behr Scandinavian Oil Wood Stain (No. 605 Swedish Walnut) on the bare wood. I then applied 3 coats of furniture paste wax. IMHO, it now looks factory fresh.

notdigital said:

Dunno, this one came from someplace in New York :thmbsp:

I was told it housed an 800c; it's 15" deep, (see pic.) I steamed and sanded out most of the dings and scratches xcept a really deep one that will just have to live there.

I'm thinking of hitting it with a boiled linseed/mineral spirits mix to get it past the stain I put on yesterday. Its the protective coat I'm trying to decide on. I've done mucho work with poly and for this piece I just don't think I'd like it. The guys over at AntiqueRadios say that lacquer was the standard finish for period radios but I'm not sure that remained the case in the 60's. In any case, I'll have to wait a week or two after the BLO before I decide on the top coat so by then, maybe someone will chime in on what the original finish was.

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We used a light coat of stain first because our box looked kind of splotchy, it is an aftermarket one
Then we used Watco in the natural, easy, wipe on and wipe off! :yes: it dries hard
Seals everything oh so nice and smoothes evrything out but you still have your grain but it won't hold dirt like just a boiled liseed oil finish will
We also lacquered ours with about 10 coats of Deft satin from the can sprayed it on with my art class air brush
We only used the lacquer because our veneer wasn't the prettiest to begin with and the satin finish makes it look more even because after that it all reflects light the same
And, all this stuff was already here in Daddy's garage
Phyllis

Was that Watco oil? And if it was, any adhesion problems with the lacquer? I'm leaning toward lacquer as well especially since I already have a can of clear satin on hand.

Having once been a completist, wanting everything to be nice nice, I once posted this thread in DIY about cabinet refinishing.

It has refined the way I do these considerably.
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=322433&highlight=fisher+cabinet

Most excellent thread Don, thank you! A lot of great pointers on a variety of issues.

Working with stuff I had on hand I used Minwax Tung Oil which is mostly a boiled linseed oil and mineral spirits mix. I was a little worried after the first coat but now on my 5th coat, it is shaping up nicely.

Your thread taught me something about expansion/contraction and the heat cycle. So now it's a toss between wax and lacquer. I'll have to do more reading on the subject tho and make a decision.

Again, thx for the lead!

The heat is more of an issue on the cases for the integrateds than the cases for the receivers. They have more room. The integrateds are hotter and smaller and were built small to fit a form factor.