Final Assembly of the Cabinet

First place one of the side pieces on a flat protected surface.  Next vertically glue in the bottom shelf,  rear panel, mid cabinet shelf, and front piece (that goes between lid and grill). Tap as required with a rubber mallet to ensure they are seated.  Next carefully align and glue in the remaining side piece on top.  Tap in place with rubber mallet.  It is very helpful to have a second person help.  Next reinstall the 4 screws that hold the bottom shelf to the legs.  Finally, use bar clamps to hold everything together while the glue drys.

Cabinet after assembly and clamping

Standing it up.  Notice the rear hinge piece is not installed yet.

A front view

These are the bottom shelf screws that need to be reinstalled.

Putting it back together

With all the pieces finished it is time to put it back together.

You will need Hide Glue, a rubber mallet, and some bar clamps.  I purchased the clamps from Harbor Freight for around $4 each.

The key to putting the cabinet back together is to glue the legs on the two side panels first and letting them dry overnight.  If you do this all the other pieces will go together in proper order.

3 clamps on a side panel with legs and a towel to protect the finish from the clamps

Apply a Finish

After repairing the shelf I moved to the lid.       There were a couple of deep scratches on the lid's top, so I sanded those out.  I left the curved sides alone since they were in good shape.

I next applied the Minwax Red Mahogony stain to all of the pieces.  Everything looks beautiful.  

I then brushed on a coat of shellac to all the pieces, sanded it with fine grit sandpaper, and then applied one more coat of shellac.  I was happy with the look, so I stopped at two coats.  On the legs and curved sides of the lid I used a spray sellac, not a brush on.  I also made sure to shellac the underside of the pieces to help seal in any of the "old" smell.  I did not shellac or stain any of the glue joints.

The shellac is available at Home Depot

Hinge Piece

The piece of wood that the lid and hinges attach to was severely cracked.  I have seen other reports of people having a similar issue.  I believe that the piece sees too much stress and finally fails after 100 years.

I decided to remake the piece out of oak.  Luckily Home Depot has oak in stock that is the same thickness.

I will say that a router with a 1/4 routing bit is needed to cut the bottom groove and the inset hinge areas.  I am not sure how else you would cut the bottom groove.

I used the original piece as a template.

Cracked

New Piece

Stain

Since this is oak, I needed to apply many coats of the Minwax Stain to get the correct color.  I used Red Mahogany color stain.  

  

Repairing the Bottom Shelf - Part 3

Now it is time to get rid of the deep scratches on the top side of the shelf.  

First I gave Howard Mahogany Restor-A-Finish a try.  I applied per the directions and wiped it off.  While it did color the scratches, I was left with a very visible colored scratch.  I knew there must be a better way.

I will add that I did not have much luck with the Restor-A-Finish on any part of the A100 restoration.

So I went old school...an orbital sander and 220 grit paper. I took the old finish off and took the veneer down enough to remove the scratch.  The veneer was pretty thick, so andong was not an issue.

In the above picture you can see the sanded down finish and some Mahawk epoxy being used to fill a gouge.

 The final problem with the shelf is the dowel and dowel hole at the end with the severe seperation was broken.  First I filled the broken dowel hole with Mohawk epoxy and let it set up overnight.  The next day I used a 3/8 inch dowel (Home Depot), a 3/8 inch drill bit, and a Dowel Jig (Harbor Freight). I drilled a new dowel hole using the jig and glued a new dowel in with the hide glue.  I also checked that all the original dowels were secure and cleaned the old hide glue out of the original dowel mating holes

Repairing the Bottom Shelf - Part 2

I started out by repairing the separated layers of wood in the corner.

My first thought was to simply buy a new piece of wood and cut it to the same dimensions.  However, when I went to Home Depot, I found that a nice piece of wood would cost $25-$30.  I decided to give the repair a try.

The items I used were Titebond Hide Glue, a set of syringes, and Mohawk Epoxy Stick.  I bought all of these items from Amazon.  I also used a couple of C clamps for clamping after I glued.

Using the syringe I apply the hide glue down into the separating layers.  After the glue is placed I clamp the area

with the C clamps (with a piece of cardboard between the wood and clamp for protection)  The shelf is made out a core piece of wood with mahogany veneer on both sides.   The veneerwas separating   in many places.  Wipe away any excess glue with a damp rag.

I also repaired a edge where the veneer had chipped.  Using the Mohawk Epoxy I filled the area, leveled it out, and then used the edge of a knife to press in some very small grain lines

The repair went great!

Repairing the Bottom Shelf - Part 1

These are problems with the lower shelf:  deep scratches, separating veneer, chipped edges, and missing/loose dowels.