[Warren]

I am refinishing the cabinet of a 47-1230. I was wondering if anyone knew the procedure for staining the cabinet. The wood is naturally 2 different shades. The bottom of the sides is a darker wood than the top of the sides. Do I get a walnut stain and use the same on the top and bottom and it would turn out the way it should or do I need another stain for the top lighter part and then put the clear over it? Or do I just clear it and the shades would be right considering it is 2 different colors of wood to start with? Any Advice on this would be appreciated. Thanks, Warren

[klondike98]

Warren, here's a place to start http://philcoradio.com/phorum/showthread...t=refinish . There are many discussion threads on the phorum that should be helpful. You can find them with the "search" feature but this thread is specific to your model. From what I've read, stains were not used on Philco cabinets at all. Toning lacquers were used. Mohawk brands are currently available.

[Arran]

Actually they did not use stain at all to achieve that effect, they used tinted lacquer. On the blond solid wood parts it is impossible to get that colour by using oil based stain, aniline wood dye maybe but oil stain just will not penetrate it. If they used two different species of wood that may account for why the top and bottom of the cabinet appear to be two different colours, but very likely they sprayed over the whole cabinet using a medium walnut dye tinted lacquer but more research may be in order since it's a post war set.
Regards
Arran

[Warren]

Thanks for your replies. They help very much. I found the Mohawk toners and there should be a store just a few miles from my house where I can get the shades I need. If not it looks like you can order them from the site also. I wll finish prepping the cabinet and try the spray toners on it. Wish me luck. Thanks, again. Warren

[Marsupial]

Did you manage to get the Mohawk toners?

In Canada, they are very hard to acquire - can't mail order aerosols trough the borders and nobody seems to sell them.
When I worked with them, I really liked the result. Patience is needed, and good weather. Order more than less if you're going trough mail order; I didn't, made a mistake, and didn't have enough products to fix it like I should have, so I had to improvise. It works well so I achieved a good result nonetheless. Hope all goes good with yours! those 1230 are awesome.

[jerryhawthorne]

I have used the Mohawk toner and it certainly works well for small toning areas. When I have to work a whole cabinet I use the linked product which I mix with Deft lacquer and thinner and shoot through my spray gun. I find it more controllable for larger areas and certainly more cost effective for large areas. One bottle of a given color can handle many consoles that require a general overall tint after stripping.
Jerry
http://sale-fire.com/Transtint%20Dye?gcl...Qgodk0cAbQ

[Arran]

Mohawk toners are not hard to acquire at all, at least outside of Quebec, their head office in Canada is in Vancouver.
Regards
Arran

[Warren]

I haven't picked up the toner/laquer yet. Sounds like it might be better to get it in a can instead of aerosol for doing a complete cabinet. I do have a compressor, will need to get a sprayer for it and practice a bit thinning etc. It has been a while since I have done spraying with a compressor. How much toner to laquer should I use would you think..1 part to 1 part, 2 to 1, etc. Thanks all for your input...anymore would be appreciated.

[Steve Davis]

Warren, I use Behlen Solar-Lux dye base stain. I use about 1/2 to 1 ounce per quart of lacquer. The exact amount is not real critical, the more dye, the fewer coats are required.

Steve

[jerryhawthorne]

+1 for Steve. Dyes are much more cost effective. When using them, you just add them to your mixture of lacquer like Deft and thinner. I generally do a 1 part lacquer to 1.5 to 2.0 thinner depending on the temperature. Use gloss lacquer and as Steve indicated, the more dye you add to the mixture, the less coats you need to get the darkness your looking for. Do a few test sprays on some other wood to check color and coverage. To get a nice even over the whole cabinet I prefer not too much dye. Makes it easier to touch up areas that were not covered evenly.
Adjusting your spray gun for proper delivery is important. Getting the air pressure proper and getting the fluid feed rate right to give a nice even coverage and nice laydown of the material takes a little practice.
A few bottles of the dye in proper colors will last for a ton of radios. The nice part about the dyes is that you can also mix them to get the toner color you want.
Just my way of doing it and another member always says "your mileage may differ".
Jerry

[Warren]

OK, for instance I can mix 1 part Deft laquer to aprx. 1.5 parts laquer thinner to get a quart then add 1/2 to 1 ounce of Belher solar Lux dye to get the shade I want and spray, which should be apprx what I want. If I dont want a Quart at a time i can just figure from there. I will defintely be practicing a bit before spraying the cabinet. Thanks again to all that have replied EVERYONE has helped me figure out what to do. If anyone has anything to add please do. Warren

[Warren]

I have been reading some about useing a grain filler on the cabinet before spraying the toning laquer. What do you think, is that what i should do or is it fine to just prepare the wood and just use a toning laquer then clear over that? If I should use grain filler how do you suggest it is put on and what one should Iuse? Thanks for any answers.

[Bob Andersen]

Yes, use grain filler with open grain woods such as walnut and mahogany. I prefer Constantine's grain filler (they call it paste wood filler) http://www.constantines.com/pastewoodfiller.aspx

You can read about application techniques in this thread: http://www.philcoradio.com/phorum/showth...p?tid=3461

Good luck

[Warren]

Thanks Bob, for the info. I will check it out.

[Warren]

Another Question, Home Depot has the Deft Laquer but they call it "Brushing" Laquer in a can. Can I use this? I am thinking that this is the same but I need to thin it out before I can spray it. Does anyone know? Thanks Again.