Camera Refinishing for Lazy People Like Me :)

[bmac]

I just finished "restoring" the finish on my 8x10 Deardorff. I've still got a little bit of fine tuning to do, but I am totally shocked to see what it looks like now, compared to what it looked like before.

A little background....
My Dorff was a user, it looked like the previous owner didnt have a proper case for it either, as it had pretty substantial scratches in the surface. The bellows ended up self destructing after I used it for a while, so I removed it and ordered a new one. While I had it apart, I thought I might as well spruce up the finish.

Home Depot sell a product called "Howard Restore a Finish" It promised a lot on the can, I bought it and figured it couldn't make it any worse.

I AM IN UTTER SHOCK. After 20 minutes of work, 90% of the finish looks good as new, heck, maybe even better than new. I need to do a little fine tuning, and then apply the wax finish to complete the job, but boy am I shocked! I wish I had before and after shots to so y'all.

http://www.howardproducts.com/restora.htm

 

[Jorge]

Isnt it amazing how beautiful these cameras are when the finish looks good?

Congrats Brian.

 

[Alex Hawley]

I took a look at the MSDS for the product. Looks like the primary solvents are keytone and xylene. Those two will dissolve just about anything ever used for wood finishing. Add to it some polyurethane, mineral spirits for the carrier, maybe a bit of tung oil, and voila'. Deardorff used lacquer for their finish which was a good overall choice, best overall in the era they started in.

My 'Dorf is a user too. One of these days, if there's ever a convenient opportunity, I will take it down and refinish it with the same stuff I used on custom rifle stocks. Of course, I'm not sure when that convenient opportunity will come. Maybe we will have a record blizzard this winter.

 

[bmac]

My 'Dorf is a user too. One of these days, if there's ever a convenient opportunity, I will take it down and refinish it with the same stuff I used on custom rifle stocks. Of course, I'm not sure when that convenient opportunity will come. Maybe we will have a record blizzard this winter.

The hardest part of this whole thing is that I have been without my camera for three weeks now. If I had to do it again, I think I would have bought a second to use and resell. hehe

 

[FeS2]

If my camera works I'm happy, a Beauty Queen is low on my priority.

 

[Bill Burk]

Oh gosh, be careful. I refinished a Grafonola with that and it “leeched” into a cloth I put on top of the record player. I think that stuff never dries.