I purchased this Patterson tombstone a few years ago on e-Bay.  It was shipped out from Los Angeles.  Patterson was a West Coast manufacturer who made high end radios, including communications receivers.  Many of them were exported to New Zealand, and even on the West Coast they are not terribly common. 

This radio clearly has problems with the case.  The finish is shot.  There are significant veneer chips on the front, including in the Zebra trim area.  The bottom edge of the front panel has been warped, possibly by the radio getting wet or sitting in water.  The top has a cigarette burn on it. 

The radio cabinet will be stripped, veneer patched or replaced, and refinished.  The escutcheon will need some cleaning up, and the grillecloth will have to be replaced (it is a common pattern).  The chassis will be restored at a later date.

Here is the Patterson cabinet after stripping.  The damage to the top (burn), and other issues become more evident.  What wasn't evident immediately was the fine maple veneer on the front edges.  The radio has a highly figured butt walnut front, book matched, with the maple trimmed edges and zebrano accents near the bottom -- a very high end piece!  The top is walnut veneer, sides are solid poplar.  The construction of the radio is similar to many of the Gilfillan sets I have owned, which were also made in Los Angeles.

Another interesting thing about the cabinet is that it is entirely screwed together.  This means I could take it apart to fix various issues, the most glaring being the warped bottom edge.  Once the front panel was separated from the bottom, it would be much easier to glue and clamp.  So the next step,  I unscrewed all the pieces.

 Here is what the cabinet looks like in pieces:

Each panel was screwed into another panel.  The front did have some glue holding it on, but it was coming apart from the water damage.  It was pretty easy to get the front off using a putty knife and a hammer.  A few light taps and it came right off.

You can clearly see the warping on the front panel in the picture to the left.  The radio clearly got wet at some point, causing the veneer and underlayment to expand and warp.

This will be fixed with glue and pressure via clamps.  There is also a considerable amount of damage to the zebrano trim on the panel.  That will either have to be patched or replaced.

Here is the Patterson front being clamped.  Glue was injected into the bottom edge, which had warped and come apart.  There were several layers, what with the veneer, substrate, etc.

Once the glue is injected, a layer of saran wrap was wrapped around the area, so that any excess glue wouldn't stick to the wood boards.  The boards were used to make a "sandwich" so the clamps could put equal pressure across the front.  The entire sandwich was clamped down hard, and allowed to sit for a day.

When the clamps and boards and wrap were removed, all the warpage was fixed!  Some excess glue needed to be trimmed off, but that was it.

The next step will be to fix the veneer issues along the front edge, in the zebrawood trim.

Here is the front edge of one side of the front panel with new zebrawood veneer.  The existing zebrawood was badly chipped.  It's fairly easy to fix zebrawood, as you can slice the veneer along the prominent grain lines, replacing thin strips.  However....there was so much damage, it made sense to replace all of it.

The old veneer was stripped off using a putty knife.  The area was sanded, and I made sure any divots in the substrate were filled first.

A piece of zebrawood veneer was trimmed with the appropriate angles, and wood glue was painted on both the panel, and the backside of the new veneer.  Once the glue was dry, the piece was put in place, then ironed, with the heat activating the glue and adhering the new veneer to the panel.  Some trimming was required along the edges.  The photo to the above left shows the finished work.

Here is the Patterson tombstone case put back together.  The case was screwed back together, with glue added to the front and other areas to make sure the cabinet was solid.

The top veneer had a burn mark on it, as well as multiple chips and other damage.  Instead of trying to fix all the damage, I decided to re-veneer the top, which is quite easy on a flat surface such as this.  Instead of removing the old veneer, I simply go right over the top.  Of course, I made sure all the dents/divots in the top were filled first, and that the underlying veeer was stable.

A new piece of nicely figured walnut veneer was cut close to size, and wood glue painted on the veneer and the top.  After the glue dried, the veneer was laid on top, and ironed -- heat activating the glue and attaching the veneer.  Just to make sure, the top was rolled with a veneer roller, and then clamped overnight.

The result is shown to the left.  The new veneer was trimmed, and it looks quite nice.  It now needs to be sanded and grain filled with the rest of the case, before any toning or lacquers can be applied.