08-08-2021, 08:06 PM
Today was beautiful here, sunny and warm. I took the cabinet out onto my side deck and began to work on it. I took off the dial bezel with the dial glass, which is easy, just 4 screws. Then I removed the little hood that goes over the magic eye. The way these are mounted it seems they never expected anybody to ever remove them. They just push in fit in a hole with virtually no clearance, and are held by little barbs punched into the sides of the tubular part that pushes into the hole. One must be very careful removing them or you can damage the face of the cabinet when the little barbs pull at the wood. I managed it with no noticeable damage, what little there is will be covered by the rim of the little hood.
I considered removing the speaker mounting board, but when I had removed the 8 screws holding it to the rest of the cabinet, it seems it was also glued in place, so I said "to heck with it" and decided to just be VERY careful with the grill cloth which is original and is in great condition. I screwed it back. Then I proceeded to clean the whole outside of the cabinet with GoJO. At some time the cabinet had been around where someone was painting with white paint, and there were a lot of tiny specks on it and a few larger ones. These came off after rubbing with more GoJo and then careful scraping away with my thumb nail. The results of the cleaning with GoJo were so good that I decided to just give the cabinet a couple of coats of tung oil, and leave it at that. It will look like the well loved, venerable, 85 year old lady she is.
I let the cabinet dry in the sun for a few hours, then rubbed on a thin coat of tung oil. This brought the finish back a great deal, hiding minor scuffs and scratches. It already looks quite good, and will look even better after a couple more coats.
I also cleaned and polished the little hood for the magic eye, and the bezel for the dial glass, both of which appear to be stamped from copper or bronze. I do not completely polish them, but leave some patina in the crevices which accentuates the pattern, just as one should do with fine silver. They now look REALLY nice, and will suit the feel of the cabinet, not new, but classic.
It is going to be a while before I actually finish this radio. Doing the alignment I could see how very faded the original dial phenolic is, so I ordered a new one from Renovated Radios. That means this saga will go on for at least another 10 weeks. LOL !
I considered removing the speaker mounting board, but when I had removed the 8 screws holding it to the rest of the cabinet, it seems it was also glued in place, so I said "to heck with it" and decided to just be VERY careful with the grill cloth which is original and is in great condition. I screwed it back. Then I proceeded to clean the whole outside of the cabinet with GoJO. At some time the cabinet had been around where someone was painting with white paint, and there were a lot of tiny specks on it and a few larger ones. These came off after rubbing with more GoJo and then careful scraping away with my thumb nail. The results of the cleaning with GoJo were so good that I decided to just give the cabinet a couple of coats of tung oil, and leave it at that. It will look like the well loved, venerable, 85 year old lady she is.
I let the cabinet dry in the sun for a few hours, then rubbed on a thin coat of tung oil. This brought the finish back a great deal, hiding minor scuffs and scratches. It already looks quite good, and will look even better after a couple more coats.
I also cleaned and polished the little hood for the magic eye, and the bezel for the dial glass, both of which appear to be stamped from copper or bronze. I do not completely polish them, but leave some patina in the crevices which accentuates the pattern, just as one should do with fine silver. They now look REALLY nice, and will suit the feel of the cabinet, not new, but classic.
It is going to be a while before I actually finish this radio. Doing the alignment I could see how very faded the original dial phenolic is, so I ordered a new one from Renovated Radios. That means this saga will go on for at least another 10 weeks. LOL !
