Ethics on restoration

[TheFatman]

I am a believer that if a machine is in good enough shape, you should not strip and redo or restore but enjoy its originality and patina. My question is not about the castings but the cabinet. I am getting ready to redo a Black Cherry and I will need to strip the casting paint and redo with hammer tone silver or grey, but the cabinet could just be repainted. Here is my question, when it comes to the cabinet, can you strip and do a finish that shows the natural beauty of the oak wood it was made from, or do you go ahead and hide it by painting the original black over it. I have not started the job for that issue alone. Thanks for letting me know what you feel.
Dave f

[mechanic]

It's first and foremost a question of what your going to call the work on it. Is it a restoration or just a reconditioning? Restored is put back as near as possible to the original factory condition. Reconditioned is leaving off the black paint for the wood finish and other modifications not seen on the factory original. Then comes the value!!! I have seen many fancy finished machines over the years, chrome plated castings fancy paint jobs etc etc etc. but I would not pay the price some ask for these over done machines as most would need to be redone just to get them back to factory specs. Final thoughts, if you leave off the black then fine you can add it later but dont do stuff to the machine that you have to remove and redo later.

[terick2104]

It is a good possibility the cabinet is not oak. Mills normally didn't use oak on their painted cabinets. I personally prefer to redo Black Cherry cabinets in black as per original.

[TheFatman]

Good point and will be considered before I do anything. Redoing the bib will be difficult because the chrome or nicke has been worn on the top third of it, but it is the original one that has the symbols embossed into the metal. I dont want to replace it with a repo one, but dont know if there is a method to redo one of these bach to original condition.
Dave f

[oldslotman]

Good point and will be considered before I do anything. Redoing the bib will be difficult because the chrome or nicke has been worn on the top third of it, but it is the original one that has the symbols embossed into the metal. I dont want to replace it with a repo one, but dont know if there is a method to redo one of these bach to original condition.
Dave f

The repo ones are even hard to fine, especially the 2/5 pay. No one seems to have them right now.

[watlingboy]

Preservation should always be the main goal of all slot collectors. If that can't be done then restoration matching the original as closely as possible should be the next step. You should try to make the machine as close to original without making it better or worse than it originally was.

Watlingboy

[TheFatman]

All this input really helps, even tho I love how the natural wood looks, it aint about me, its about preserving the originality of the machine and I am all for that. So when I repaint the cabinet, is there a paint that is the best match for that application that is better than most? I also have used the Rutsoleum hammer grey and it has smaller dimples than the older original hammer finish but I guess we cant get too pickey about that. It has a wrinkle red finish around the reel windows and I haven't seen wrinkle red paint for long time, any ideas on that? I also have redone the paint on a few Vest Pockets and I have a blue and grey one that I am having a problem only with the blue hammer paint. It seems to be a little old and thick. When i apply it, it goes on too thick so what is the best thinner to work with that type of paint and not effect the hammer effect it will have.
Dave F

[watlingboy]

Try letting the spray can sit in a bowl of hot water or put the can in the sun for a a while. This will help thin out the paint and make it flow better. A spray can that is cold will produce more orange peel results.

Watlingboy

[TheFatman]

Thats good to know for spray cans. But what I have, my error for not letting you know, is just regular paint in a can that I can add a thinner to. Its very heavy on the rush and is by date about 2 years old.
dave F