The 112 highboy that I got a few weeks ago is progressing electrically. Now for the cabinet. It has endured some indignities over the years to the point where refinishing is in order – deep scratches, cigarette burns and general finish cracking and flaking. In examining the cabinet construction I see a possible difficulty. Has anyone on the forum had any experience with removing the grille and sliding door assembly from the Bel Geddes high boy cabinet, or perhaps any of the other Philco radios with sliding doors?
I thought that I should ask the Phorum before I really get into trouble! I did notice screws that appear to hold the top on the cabinet but they might just be the “clamp” used when gluing the top on – or hopefully they just provide a mechanical bond – if no glue was used! Otherwise, the removal of the front and rear horizontal support members that the radio chassis is bolted to would seem to be the only other option. I would think that the cabinet, grille and doors were finished separately and then assembled at the end of the cabinet manufacturing process, that no additional gluing would occur after the finish had been applied
As I said, before I delve in I thought I should ask!
Thanks for any information.
Well after looking the case construction over carefully, I decided that the best option was to try removing the 2 support members for the radio chassis. If any glue joint was going to “give in” those looked to be the most likely. The chassis supports were slid into a dado on each side of the case. They had the added support of a glue block beneath as well as finish nails from the top of the support, through the joint and into the side of the case.
[
attachment=21730]
I first located and removed the finish nails. This was an easy task with a vice-grip needle nose plier. There were 2 nails in each support on the right side of the cabinet (facing from the back) but only 1 nail in each member on the left. Working from the rear most support (left side) I gave the joint several smart “taps”. First from the top, next from the bottom, then from the rear and finally from the front. I repeated this on the right side and the glue joint broke free. I was able to manipulate the support out moving it back and forth in the dado. The glue block broke clean on one side but remained attached to the cabinet on the other...no problem. I repeated the procedure on the front support with similar results. There were blocks glued into the dado on each side, probably for additional case support. Some remained glued and some came out with the radio chassis supports. No problem, just glue them back at final assembly.
With the radio chassis supports removed, I now had access to remove the grille assembly and doors. First the grille assembly.
[attachment=21731]
The Grille assembly includes not only the thin veneered panel cut out for the speaker and radio controls, but also the decorative side trim pieces and the top support as well as the bottom decorative trim. All of the pieces are screwed together and can come out as a single unit. First remove the 4 wood screws at the top of the assembly. The decorative side trim pieces are cut at the bottom to fit into matching dados cut in the bottom of the cabinet. The bottom decorative trim piece is not only screwed to the grille panel, but has 2 very small finishing nails going through it into the bottom of the cabinet. I might suggest unscrewing that piece from the assembly before removal (2 small screws) and then dealing with the bottom decorative piece and the finishing nails once the rest of the assembly is out of the way.
[
attachment=21732]
Now just pivot the top of the assembly slightly to the rear of the cabinet and lift up removing the side pieces from the dados at the bottom of the cabinet. It will lift over the speaker shelf and out the back.
[
attachment=21733]
The sliding doors are retained with a metal glide on both top and bottom. The top glide is secured to a board that is attached to the cabinet with 3 wood screws. Once the 3 screws and the top support are removed, the doors can be removed from the bottom glide. There are grooves in the top and bottom of each door with felt strips that glide on the guides.
[attachment=21734]
One note about the tops for both the grille assembly, and the door support. Both of these assemblies were attached with a piece of newspaper as a gasket between the different attaching locations. Luckily, the newspaper contained its name and date. The newspaper is the York Dispatch (York, PA) and the date is Monday, September 1,… Monday September 1st occurred in 1930. I thought it curious that a York, PA paper was used. I would have expected a Philadelphia paper. Did Philco have a cabinet manufacturing plant (shop) in the York, PA area? The papers look original to when the cabinet was constructed. The next occurrence of September 1st on a Monday was 1941.
[
attachment=21735]
One last thing. The cabinet has 4 large threaded carriage bolts coming through the bottom of the cabinet and just hanging there. Anyone venture a guess why they are there? It looks to be original as the bolts removal is hindered by the speaker shelf for 2 of the bolts. I had never seen this before and was wondering if anyone else had.
[
attachment=21736]
Now on to refinishing the case parts!
Wow!! You're doing a pile of work! Yeah, the cabinets with doors are the hardest to refinish.
One of my 112 sets had one of those long bolts still left in the bottom; the other holes were there, but no bolts. I would imagine that they had something to do with shipping. Possibly the cabinet was bolted into the wooden shipping crate.
I suspected that the long bolts had something to do with shipping.
They do not appear to be visible when viewing the cabinet from the front or sides in a normal operating position.
Greetings!,
I just finished the case following a modified procedure that I read about on one of Ron's refinishing posts. Thank you Ron.
1. Remove old finish ( I used a soy based stripper).
2. Repair case damage (lower left base trim and spade feet; numerous deep gouges and scratches on top and right side).
3. Sand case smooth (Several grits, stopping at 320)
4. Apply 2 coats sanding sealer.
5. Fill pores ( I used timbermate putty - their Walnut shade, would probably go darker next time).
6. Remove excess filler scraping with old credit card.
7. Let filler completely dry.
8. Once completely dry, sand filler smooth with wood surface.
9. Remove dust
10. Apply 2 additional coats of sanding sealer.
11. Light sanding - 600 wet or dry silicone paper - wet; wipe down
12. Apply toning lacquer. This was my first attempt at case toning. It was the most nerve wracking part of the refinish.
12A. I used Mohawk medium Walnut for the bulk of the case and dark walnut for the base and the half round trim.
12. Applied Deft semi-gloss lacquer over the case - 4 coats (following can directions). Let dey overnight
13. Sand using 600 grit wet or dry silicone paper - wet using water and dish detergent. Dry case completely.
14. Apply 2 additional coats of Deft semi-gloss. Dry for 2 weeks.
15. Sand case using 1,000 grit wet or dry silicone paper - [b]wet; wipe down.[/b]
16. Rub down case with 2F (med) pumice and paraffin oil and felt block.
17. [b]Rub down case with 4F (fine) pumice and paraffin oil and felt block.[/b]
[b]18. [b]Rub down case with rottenstone and paraffin oil and felt block.[/b][/b]
19. Apply Mohawk "deluxing compound". This is a mixture of wax and very fine abrasive.
20. Apply paste wax (I used butcher block) and hand buff.
I do like how it came out, but I will be visiting procedural refinements next time.
I was lucky as the original grille cloth was in great shape, only needing cleaning. The radio performs to my expectations. I believe it is a keeper.
Thanks to the Phorum for very appreciative help on this, and other restorations.
Fran
[attachment=22899]
Very Nice!!
It's a lot of work to get a nice smooth and consistent finish. The prep work is a killer so many little things to make right. (A lot of the sets I buy are ready for the fire place) The toning and sheen coats are easy. The rubbing and final work you can see the pay off of your labors.
Terry, I could not agree with you more!
Thank you,
Fran
Nice job.
This said, the before was not that bad: many would choose to do the "Gojo" restoration
Morzh,
Thank you. The before photo makes the case look much better than it was. a couple of deep gouges on the right side and finish flaking off the feet as well as the top trim bead just below the barrel beading that looked as though it had met up with an eleven year old and a pen knife. I did do the "Gojo" routine, and decided to make it a summer project.
Norman is smiling at you from heaven
nice work!
Your radio came out great! I bet it sounds great also. Thanks for posting it.
