cabinet restoration

Hi there. I have a music cabinet that I bought from the neighbours for $25. i don't know it's history or age, but it is a nice piece.

The shellac was brittle and basically scratched off to bare wood in many places, and had turned black so I spent a few hours carefully scraping it off with a razor blade and sharpened scraper.

there's a few photos:

I've read about french polishing - and I would be willing to shellac and polish this piece - so I am going to give that a go.

As you can see from the photos the old shellac came off in single swipes from the cabinet scraper. A bit of fine paper in the direction of grain and it came up great. I've used metho and will use metho/turps mix to remove any remaining bits before starting again.

Also - the lead lighting part is in fairly good nick, the panels are all intact (except for a tiny chip in one glass panel, which is held in place by the putty).

The putty itself is fairly old and cracking out.

Should I carefully scrape it out and re-putty? The leadwork itself is sound, and the panes are sound - just the putty is cracking..

Looking forward to working on this piece.

This piece will come up nicely.
I doubt it is french polish, as it is peeling off, more likely a varnish.
Others may differ.
Finishes could include stain and a polyurathane finish and waxed or french polish.
There is an article on french polish in the Wiki.
Click on the Wiki link and search french

The lead light can all be restored.
More info later if you wish.

hap

Should look good when finished. Nice simple clean lines on that piece.