Doc's Radio Restorations
Here's a couple of radios Doc B. restored about 4 or 5 years ago. Each was photographed front and back, then dismantled. The cabinets were stripped with acetone, then any wood repairs were made. Notice the very difficult to repair hole on the curved face near the dial hole of the waterfall style Zenith chairside console! Once repairs were completed a thorough sanding with progressive grades brought the finish smooth, and water base aniline dye was used to stain the wood. Following the staining the laborious process of building up clear shellac to fill the grain began. Once the shellac was sanded to a super smooth finish, several coats of lacquer were applied and hand rubbed. At this point custom mixed toning lacquer was applied where appropriate, and a final coat of lacquer was applied and hand rubbed. Definitely a labor of love, these restorations would take anywhere from a week to several months of  gluing, sanding, finishing and rubbing in Doc's off work hours .

This is a 1934 RCA model 128 "shouldered tombstone" table radio. It's hard to see here, but when the red faced dial lit up, a silhouette of the world appeared on the dial face. This resto was immaculate, the chassis was cleaned, repaired and aligned, and even the original grill cloth was dry cleaned!

This was one of Doc's last restos, a 1937 Zenith chairside console radio. The "robot dial" featured motorized tuning, and as you changed bands the dial face would split open to reveal another dial underneath. The picayune will note that the newly refinished bezel has not yet aged to it's proper patina. This job used a full quart of lacquer and took eight months to complete.