The PHILCO Phorum

Greetings from the mountains of Maryland! I recently found a Philco Transitone PT-6 at a yard-sale for $10. (Hope this was a good buy/price) This is my first table top restore...Im also working on an RCA Victor Cabinet from a barn sale for $5 as my first full cabinet restore...

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And I am amazed that I cant find more info on this radio!! I have hit up the Radio Museum site and some other forums and only found the schematic and parts list!!

Main questions for you good folks are:

1 - Does anyone know the toner colors to use to get it back to an original look?
2 - Is there a decal for the "Philco Transitione" on the front panel that is available?
3 - Best way to repair a cracked knob...Im assuming its a "Bakelite".

The body is showing some good cracking from humidity, veneer pealing, and separation of joints...It still has the knobs, but one is cracked a little.

My level of wood work is intermediate, so I can repair most of the damage on this little guy. But im sure questions will definitely be asked!! So any and all input would be greatly welcomed!!!

P.S. Ive lurked for a few days and OMG!! If I can even come close to some of the work done in here i'll be lucky!!!

Welcome to the phorum cewrightiii
Nice looking radio
Sam

Hello and congrats on your new little Philco! To answer your questions:

1.) There are others far more experienced with toners than I (Kirk, are you here?), so I'll let those folks chime in. I would think Perfect brown for the main body, with something a bit darker for the insets, but, again, others will know better.

2.) Radio Daze has the correct decal for your Transitone. Should be set DCL-PH1 on Page 2 of this page: http://www.radiodaze.com/category/598.aspx

3.) It appears your set does not have the correct knobs on it. Assuming the photo of your set in the photo gallery is correct (Scroll down on this page: http://philcoradio.com/gallery/1941b.htm#u). If that's the case, then the Generic Knobs for 1930's Radios (KGen-5) way down towards the bottom of this page at Renovated Radios would be correct. http://www.renovatedradios.com/parts.html Believe yours would be the medium size knobs.

Best of luck with your restoration!

Ty to you both!!

Getting set to order the decals from Radio Daze...the wife wants me to try and keep the original on there, but color matching may be a pain in the rear and if I have to strip the body, not sure if that is even possible...

And I didn't even notice the knobs were different!! Guess I need to be a little more observant!! Good catch! I will most likely order the KGen-5's, although the wifey thing is liking the ones on the radio....

As a small side note, I have never restored radios before, but always enjoyed the ones my grandparents had..I always thought they were "solid" wood, not lam boards with veneer!! You would think that would make it easier, but having read alot of the restro posts, that doesn't always seem the case!!

Welcome to the Phorum!  If you strip the cabinet to refinish it with toner laquer and clear laquer it will be hard to keep the decal.  It will almost always have a difference in color compared with the refinished section (in my opinon anyway).  The decals from Radiodaze look fine after you put a few coats of clear on. 

That's what I figured and tried to explain to the wifey thing....Ill "quietly" order the decals and she will never know!!

After work ill be doing the GoJo clean to it and see whats really there. The weather is not cooperating for me to do any work on either radio ive got..Will be stuck doing chasis and ordering needed caps and such.

Looking closer at it last night I found a pretty good crack in the side, will post a pic after work. Will need definite opinions on how to fix it---either glue and clamp or fill and fake it!!

 No point in using the gojo on it, that finish is shot, best to strip it right down and start over. Most of it seems to be of a light to medium walnut colour on the solid wood parts, except the grille bars which have some sort of faux finish on them. The original knobs were pretty generic looking things, the PT-10 used the same kind, and Ive seen ones like that on probably several dozen sets from various makes.
Regards
Arran

Yeah, the finish is toast, but the gojo was to see what else may be hiding, and holy goodness! Pulled the chassis, and I think that was what was holding the cabinet together!!

The body seems to have swelled up and then shrunk at some point, so all the joints are blown. The bottom panel that holds the chassis is delaminated into 3 separate pieces.

But the good news is the only real "Bad" crack is in the side panel where the wood split about 1.5" vertically.

So, the question is, since I will basically be taking the whole cabinet apart. Would it be best to strip it as separate pieces, glue, then lacquer?

As soon as my son, whom is 1 year and 9 months, lets me know where he hid the SD card for my camera, ill post pics!

Hey new guy!

That is a good looking radio and I don't see veneer issues or cracking but maybe it is my eyes.
As for the finish, The original as far as I can tell seems to be Natural on the curved sides with no toner. The veneer looks to be a very nice burl so I hope it is not photofinish. if it is , you can try saving it and only GOJO'ing the curved sides or strip it and remake the finish. Use dark walnut on the sides and grill face. The grill bars are also untoned. There are many variations but I think those are personal touches. Strip the cabinet with lacquer thinner and a rag or #0000 steel wool. Then clean it up with a rag and mineral spirits or more lacquer thinner. I am not sure of your expertise but show us pictures of the damage and we can guide you from there. If there is cracks and veneer lifting, Make sure to fix those issues before stripping.

Welcome and keep us posted. Russ, Steve or Ron may have different ideas as they have been doing this much longer.

Dont try to save the decal

Ok have to go to the house now.

Regards
Kirk

 I think that the sides were toned, they are just faded to a large extent thanks to the moisture damage, they likely matched that molding above the dial. It's poplar, or some sort of bland junk wood, so it would be normal for it to be covered with a coloured finish. The joints are coming apart for much the same reason, though pre war cabinets used a lot of hide glue which tends to crystalize and let go sometimes anyhow. There is someone on here that three or more Philco PT-6s like this so they could answer as to whether that stump or burl walnut is real, I think it is otherwise half of it woudl be gone by now much like the sides.
If the cabinet is falling apart I would take your time with it, knock it apart, reglue a section at a time, and invest or borrow lots of clamps to help with it, bar and pipe clamps. I would leave the old finish on before gluing it up, it can be useful for avoiding glue stains, or at the very least you won't have to clean up twice. One problem you may run into is warping, if it got damp enough for the bottom or side to delaminate the edges of each board may have moved a bit, sometimes you have to recreate damaged pieces, or run the damaged ones through a saw to square up the edges and then add filler strips.
Regards
Arran

Ty folks!

I was wondering why it seems lacquer/toner is the method of choice and not actual stain? Is it because the lacquer/toner is more "original" to the way it was done?

Yes, lacquer/toner is what they used at the factory.

So, the next question would be, if I'm going to keep Mr PT-6, its OK to use stain? I still plan to lacquer semi-gloss clear but stain would be acceptable? Its going to be a keeper for me. As well as my Victor 87k.

There are differing opinions on the subject, but I consider stain to be OK.  If you can get the tones you want with the stain then go for it.  I have done several finishes where all or part was stain and they look very nice.  The main reason they used lacquer for toning was because it was faster in a production environment than multiple steps with stain.

Toner has an advantage in restoration in that it can be easily stripped and redone if the color doesn't turn out right.