Brenner Ball Past the Arrow colour?

[widget2k4]

Does anyone know if :-
all the Brenner ball past the arrows were made in black?
Were they hand painted and was it gloss, satin, matt originally?

I started sanding mine down today to repaint it but was quite surprised to find really nice wood underneath, so several hours later sanding all the paint is gone and lovely oak is revealed, but now that I have done that I feel really reluctant to cover it back up in black paint and hide it all again.
So was wondering if all of them were painted black originally, or could it possibly have been really dark wood stain (ebony) which would be really dark and still show the nice wood grain through.

I've only ever seen this one and a quick glimpse of another one but didn't really pay much attention. All the pictures I can find look like black paint but I'm kind of hoping I'm wrong.

[treefrog]

Most seem to have been black, but seen lots in the raw, the the strips still painted. I have an unpainted one.

[widget2k4]

I like that
I prefer to see the wood. How has yours got numbers on from 1 to 10? Mine hasn't got any numbers on?

[treefrog]

There are two variations of the machine with slightly different graphics and also the arrows are different sizes - your arrow maybe bigger.

[widget2k4]

Ah right, cheers - learn something every day.

[badpenny]

Yup, mines dark wood too! Go for it.

[widget2k4]

It's gotta be better than black gloss.

[badpenny]

No way am I having my coffin painted black, gloss, matt or emulsion ..... I was thinking EEZY WIN fiberglass Red.
Are you available?

[gameswat]

I've owned three of these and they were all black, plus every other example I've seen has been black or was once black. I kind of thought the same thing when I got the first example that it was strange they hid the oak. But in fact on stripping I found it's not totally hidden. The original black finish was very thin, thin enough that all the wood grain shows through. It's a subtle effect but very classy. This was either a black wood stain with clear finish over the top, or more likely a thin coat of black lacquer. I seem to remember respraying with lacquer as this matched up well with the original finish I found under coats or re-paint. I think the machine looks better like this as it stands out from hundreds of other oak finished cases - boring! Plus it's the way it was designed to be. If Brenner was like most makers they'd have chosen a soft wood for the cases since they were to be painted. But of course few would have survived the years in a softer wood due to the heavy mechanism.

Not only are there slight differences to the larger and smaller arrow versions on the outside, but the mechanisms are both quite different.

[widget2k4]

thanks gameswat
thats how i imagined it should of looked like with the wood grain showing through but thats the first one ive seen like that, it does look really nice that way, thats why i was thinking ebony wood stain as its almost black.

[widget2k4]

No way am I having my coffin painted black, gloss, matt or emulsion ..... I was thinking EEZY WIN fiberglass Red.
Are you available?

how long have i got ?

[badpenny]

I'll put you on fast dial.

[widget2k4]

[pennymachines]

I believe Gameswat is right - the factory finish for the Ball Past the Arrow appears to be black, and although you see many that aren't (as below), they've probably been stripped and refinished.

Here's a technique for ebonizing a cabinet while preserving the woodgrain. I used this on the outer case of a Sky Jump and would probably try the same if re-finishing a Brenner Arrow.

Ingredients required: vinegar, rusty iron and sodium bicarbonate to neutralize once the wood is dark enough. This website more or less describes the technique: http://www.joewoodworker.com/ruststain.htm
Basically you make a solution of soluble iron acetate which reacts with the tannic acid in the oak, dramatically darkening it. I didn't use steel wool, just lots of rusty screws and nails (I have plenty) soaked for a week in spirit vinegar. Because this darkens the wood itself and doesn't involve painting a layer of stain or paint over the top, the grain pattern remains visible. I would finish by brushing on a heated oil varnish, rub off with cloth and repeat.

The Skill Fun had an exceptionally long production run and I've seen at least four different backflashes on them. The earliest machine had a separate knob on the left which you had to turn to set the arrow. (This one also had a black finish). I think the flash without the numbers was the last version. I guess it was redesigned to eliminate confusion caused when players thought the numbers indicated payouts (they actually represent the rather vague concept of "number of chances to win").

[widget2k4]

top notch information there Dave as usual

[gameswat]

I found some photos of the first machine I restored showing as found and with the top layer of paint removed. The wood was clearly stained black originally and then this example overpainted in black. And that outer layer of black was definitely laid on at a later time because it covered over the original blue vertical pinstriping. Restored this a long time ago so my memory is vague but I try to keep things as original as possible so it's most likely I re-stained the wood black and then laid a fine coat of clear lacquer over that to seal. But either way you can quite easily see the wood grain showing through in both these pictures. I use Feast Watson Prooftint stains and the black is jet black once applied. Unless you want to thin before use or wipe back with thinners after applying to fade and bring out the grain some more.

[gameswat]

Great call on the vinegar/rust ebonizing solution PM! I'd only ever removed the accidental outcome of rust blackening to oak in the past. Absolutely awesome process. I'd previously stripped and black stained this case and then thin coated to seal, but wasn't 100% happy with the outcome this time as the black was quite patchy. A good alcohol or oil stain won't foul the grain in any way if it's rubbed back afterwards. I think the age of the oak and the fact it'd had so many things painted over it meant the stain wouldn't take anywhere near as well as on freshly resurfaced wood. I rarely if ever use sandpaper on the surface of original cases if at all possible, just very fine steel wool when stripping, as I want to keep as much honest patina as possible. Never been an issue before as I rarely ever have to stain a case a solid colour like this. I found 3 coats of the ebonizing solution gave me a much deeper and more substantial blackening effect, though still not 100% black, which is exactly what I wanted. There are still sections of grain slightly showing through where there was less tannin in the wood to turn black. This suits me fine as I want the case to look aged, faded and not brand new. The grain showing through is not as easy to see normally, much more pronounced under the camera flash or a very bright light. I image this is very likely to be the way Brenner originally stained these cases as it was by far the cheapest way possible and quite common back in those days. The effect on brand new cut oak would have been absolutely jet black! Without a seal the solution leaves the wood looking greyish. I sealed with two thinnish coats of shellac so the grain is still prominent, then rubbed down with #0000 steel wool to a dull satin.

[pennymachines]

Looks so much better than black paint.