I sanded gently the rough parts that were beyond repair and purchased a liquid by
Ronseal called Wet Rot Wood Hardener. Apparently, this soaks into the soft crumbly
wood and hardens it. I had nothing to lose, so I used the whole can just to make sure,
brushed on coat after coat and left for a few days. The time and effort (and money)
was well spent, as the top panel was solid. I sanded to shape, and despite losing
approximately a sixtieth of an inch from the front lip of the panel it hardly notices.
Once the wood repairs were complete, the whole cabinet was sanded using 60
grit, then 120, followed by 500 for super smoothness. Forgot to mention the rear panel
of the case was not original, and besides, was so badly damaged that I had no choice
but to scrap it and make another panel.
The last step in restoring any cabinet is always the most satisfying: waxing and
staining. In past projects I've used one of the Ronseal liquid stainers, but find this too
harsh and soaks deep into the wood, so any change of mind on the colour is a no-no
unless you want to sand off half an inch layer of wood! I now use the Briwax Original
Wax Polish, which is natural beeswax with a hint of colour stain. For the R&W I used
the Teak shade as I felt this closely matched the original. Having rubbed the wax in
and left for a few minutes I began polishing off the excess to achieve a deep shine of
natural wood grain. Job done.
However, one part of this restoration was to prove a challenge. My allwin was
missing a major part, the payout knob. Having searched the internet for days and
contacting other collectors for any spares, it dawned on me that there was little chance
of finding the missing, essential component. The payout knob is of course a VIP (very
important part)!
Having looked at several photos of the missing knob, I made the decision to
make one. I considered using wood as I have fairly good woodworking skills and
thought this would be the easier option but after further investigation I felt that using
even hardwood it wouldn't have the strength to withstand the rigorous handling it
would no doubt receive from players. So I started to look at making the item from
metal. With absolutely no skills or experience of metalwork I decided very early on
that purchasing a solid block of metal, and filing, cutting and drilling to shape was a
,definite no go.
I began researching the internet on the possibility of casting the piece from liquid
metal. Unfortunately, all home metal casting involved an expensive furnace that had to
reach very high temperatures to melt most metals to liquid form, also the dangers
involved scared me off the idea.
I then remembered a friend of mine who made chess pieces as a hobby by
pouring metal into moulds, something he did at home. So a quick phone call was made
to my friend and Eureka, he tells me about Prince August (yes, I asked him the same
question, but it's nothing to do with Royalty)! It' s a metal that is specially made for
hobbyists because it melts at a lower temperature than other metals. In fact, a standard
home cooker hob provides enough heat.
So I gathered together all the materials required: Johnson's Baby Powder, a tin of
Heinz Spaghetti (bear with me on this ... ), pieces of wood and Prince August Metal.
The wood was for the mould; however, searching the internet I couldn't find anyone
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