Restoring a Century Universal 8x10

[John Jarosz]

I'll second the recommendation of using Formby's to remove the rest of the finish. There's no water used when you use Formby's so the grain in the wood doesn't swell. A little sanding and you are ready for a finish.

Don't throw away any parts no matter how bad they are until the whole project is done.

I use tung oil to finish the wood. Wiped on, a lot of coats, but it gives a nice finish.

John

[Michael Roberts]

Okay, here's a question for those of you who have restored 2Ds and other oldies:
I ran into this problem with a circa-1925 Empire State a few years ago, and I've got the same problem here:

The shellac is worn away very unevenly. I think if I could find something to use as a finish coat that would fill in the worn away shellac I could get away with not having to strip or sand so much. On my last restore job with the ES, I never could find anything to "fill in" the missing shellac. When I tried to coat over the wood parts where the shellac was partially missing, it looked terrible--i.e., like I had done just what I did--tried to coat it over. So, does anyone know of a product that will "fill in" partially missing shellac?

My guess is probably not, but there's a lot of expertise on this forum.....

[Michael Roberts]

Thanks John! I used tung oil on the spring back and base rails of my 2D. Fortunately I didn't have to strip the front or back frames/standards on that one. I like the finish of tung oil, too.

[John Jarosz]

I've restored 2 2D's and built my 8x20 from 2 others.

You'll never get the new finish to meld into the old. The only thing I've found when it gets that bad is to strip it off completely and then work from the bare wood. The Formby's is so good because it affects the wood very minimally. Use as little sandpaper as possible.

Depending on how tight the screws are, you may want to put some wood filler in the screw holes to tighten up the grip of the screws.

John

[John Jarosz]

The bellows looks like toast. When you have a new one made, send the front & back frames of the bellows (You could send the whole bellows) to whoever you get the new one from. That way, the new bellows should fit exactly like the old one.

John

[John Jarosz]

Using the Century for 2 years gave me a good chance to know what I wanted in a 'modern' 8x10 camera.

What's wrong with the old cameras???????

John

[Michael Roberts]

I've restored 2 2D's and built my 8x20 from 2 others.

You'll never get the new finish to meld into the old. The only thing I've found when it gets that bad is to strip it off completely and then work from the bare wood. The Formby's is so good because it affects the wood very minimally. Use as little sandpaper as possible.

Depending on how tight the screws are, you may want to put some wood filler in the screw holes to tighten up the grip of the screws.

John

Yeah, my real problem with NOT stripping off the old finish is that the shellac has gotten so dark (where it hasn't worn off), that you can't see the wood grain at all. I like to see the grain--I don't mind a dark stain--but I don't want the finish to look like black paint (yuck!). I'll try the Formby's!

[ic-racer]

What's wrong with the old cameras???????

John

Actually I have got a brass lens on the Century now, so its not forgotten, and I'm pretty excited about seeing what that lens does (its been raining all week )

[ic-racer]

On my camera I sprayed clear nitrocellulose laquer over the existing finish then rubbed it out to give it a shine again. All the imperfections and dents are still in the wood, but I know I would not be able to sand them all out if I stripped the camera.

I knew the nitrocellulose would cover shallac becasue I had just re-finished a guitar with nitrocellulose over shellac.

My only problem with that was that I wet sanded. On a solid body electric guitar wet sanding the laquer is the norm, the because the wood should be perfectly sealed. On the Century there were so many nooks and crannies that I got some residual moisture under the finish in some spots. This turns the clear laquer to white. So, if I did it again I'd not do any wet sanding.

The other thing I would do different is to not rub out the wood rails. The rubbing compound got in the nooks and crannies and leaves a white residue. I would just have given a good final coat with some retarder in the laquer so it layers out to a nice shine that would not need rubbing out.

[Brian Ellis]

Thanks Brian...does this apply to the spring pin also?

Sorry, I don't know about the spring pin.