| You are not supposed to stain most wooden radios. Use colored varnish. If there are mixed woods, the fine woods will take the stain well, but certain hard or soft woods and plywood ends will take the stain very poorly. Pine and walnut will turn zebra, hard woods will not accept stain at all. The edges where the underwood (which is usually either really hard or really soft and sometimes is in layers if plywood) is showing should be covered with a dark colored varnish as was originally used. I'm not sure about how the Majestic you talk about looks, but my Majestic 180 has really dark colored varnish around the edges, as do my other consols, though in different shades. If you were to stain these edges, the radios would look rediculous. The trim around the base of the Philco 60, for instance, should be done in a dark colored varnish. The decorative border between the top and the sides of the Crosley Super 11 is a dark maroonish colored varnish. I found that it was a cross between walnut and jet mahogany. If this surface is stained, it will not accept stain at all. It will look light and plain looking. Colored varnish is used to hide ends of plywood and to blend different types of wood that would not blend with stain. Another advantage of colored varnish is that joints can be filled with wood putty, and the colored varnish will disguise them. You can purchase colored varnishes and polys at hardware stores and wood working stores. You can also make your own shades by mixing oil based paste stains with varnish. The paste stains will greatly slow down hardening of the varnish, so be aware of this. The varnish will lose its tackiness in the normal amount of time, but may dent with the pressure of a finger nail, etc. Once the colored varnish sections have hardened properly (a month, perhaps), they should be gone over with a clear coat of varnish. If you use precolored varnish, however, it should dry in the normal amount of time. Anyway, don't stain radios unless the wood takes the stain well. Remember that radios were originally made on assembly lines whether at the radio factory or at a cabinet factory. They used quick and cheap methods of assembly, and then used colored varnish to blend everything together and also to get striking designs not otherwise possible with the woods used. I see radios on eBay with stained walnut, which zebra stripes, and the borders of the radio are stained the same color as the rest of the radio instead of in a deep contrasting shade. The radios look boring and rediculous. Also, originally most radios were done in either a semi-gloss or a full gloss. Unless it is for your personal taste, don't refinish a radio in a flat finish. I have seen some radios which look good this way, but if you're going for original, they should be glossy. Thomas |
jim campbell 
Mark 