I picked up a trashed Crosley 1930's radio at the yearly local antique radio association's swap meet/flea market at the request of a then-girlfriend who wanted to make a gift of it for a close relative. It was in truly terrible shape, so I didn't feel too bad about the possibility of making things worse by being almost completely inexperienced with wood restoration. The speaker was shredded along with the grill cloth, all the electronics were covered in a thick layer of grease and dust and rust, and it had been painted. Repeatedly.
I used a "green" paint stripper with a plastic scraper, and discovered three layers of paint on top of the original finish: glossy black, glossy red, and flat black. I had to remove the original finish as well, which was the most resilient of the coatings.
After many sessions of scraping and scrubbing, the radio was down to bare wood again. After carefully re-gluing some areas of the veneer that had delaminated, I used a number of stains and varnish to make it all pretty again. In the end I did not end up restoring the radio to functionality, as that was less important for my friend. I did still replace the speaker cone and clean up the electronics as much as I could without complete disassembly.
Everyone was pleased with the result in the end, though I know I could have done better. Perhaps there will be a next time..
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