The PHILCO Phorum

After managing to refinish a whopping total of two cabinets last summer, I want to do better this year.

Reading a thread started by F. Stephen Masek on ARF in which he talks about stripping several cabinets in one day inspired me to try the same thing.

I selected eight candidates. Of those eight, I am going to try a "selective" refinish on one, as it is in very good shape overall but has two major blemishes on top. So, on that one (a Tropic 39-770T), I am going to try scraping the top and then just refinishing that area, leaving the rest alone. If it doesn't work out to my liking, I can always strip the whole thing and try again.

Good old Southern Indiana weather...gotta love it...not. As seems to be the norm rather than the exception, the seasons here change from winter to summer with little if any spring in between. This year was no exception - once winter finally turned loose of its grip on the area, the temperatures rapidly rose to highs in the upper 80s with very high humidity.

It's been raining off and on here ever since I returned home from Kutztown. Today seemed like it would remain sunny, though, so I set up the new folding table I bought just for the purpose of outdoor radio work, and brought out the other seven candidates for this year's refinishing:

610T "Big Bullet". Needs a small amount of veneer repair, plus some veneer and parts of the cabinet are loose and will need to be glued down. To make it more of a challenge, it looks like someone attacked the cabinet with a drill, partially drilling several round indentations into the wood.

37-610T "Big Bullet". Has had some poor veneer repair on front that is going to show, no matter what I do, so I will just have to live with it. It also has some structural defects which will require regluing.

38-2670B tombstone. I bought this cabinet to replace an identical 37-670 cabinet that needs a lot of work, including some tricky veneer repair. The 38-2670 looked like someone had tried to strip it using one of those "green" strippers. One thing you can count on with a lot of those "green" strippers - they don't work. So the cabinet was very grungy, but also very solid, needing no veneer repairs.

Canadian 39-330AT. Has some small pieces of veneer missing on one side, otherwise very solid.

41-KR. This one has been sitting around here for two or three years. It is very dirty, and the cabinet is literally falling apart at the seams, so a fair amount of regluing is in order once it is stripped.

41-246T - A very neat medium-sized table model radio, identical to the 41-245 except for the frequency coverage.

42-22CL - Basically solid, but has several bad scratches at right front. These will probably show once the cabinet is done, even if I fill them in with wood filler.

I began work about mid-morning on the 38-2670, the largest cabinet of the lot. Because of its size and its overall grunginess, it took quite a while to get it stripped and clean.

After lunch, I proceeded with the 610T, the 39-330AT, the 41-246, and started on the 41-KR. The white paint is very, very heavy on the 41-KR. Add to that the sun and high humidity...I quit about halfway through the 41-KR and will tackle it, and the other two, later this week when it isn't raining.

Here's what I have accomplished so far:



Left to right: 41-246T, 39-330AT, 41-KR, 38-2670B with 610T in front of it. Four of those five are stripped and ready for the next step. The 41-KR will require a lot more stripping and cleaning.

Here is a "before" shot of the 37-610T:



and the 42-22CL:



Wish me luck...I shall need it. Now, if things go really well this year, I have at least three more cabinets needing to be refinished. We shall see how things go with these first seven, though. I just hope I can get more than two refinished this year.

Well, if you get the point.... I can remember lining up a bunch of stuff (radio cabinet included,)on a dry pretty much windless day and loading up thinned poly to a gun powered by my aging compresser, and blasting away with goggles and a mask. Did 3 light coats and it didn't rain. Takes half hour of time and a quart or so of gas to clean out the gun.

Couldn't and still feel I cannot afford rattle cans of clear laquer, although I recon I could justify it for a smaller set because I am moving slower nowadays and also like shellac for anything that doesn't have a flat top where some old lady (maybe mine) would put a flower pot there. Right?

I made a habit a long time ago of repairing any loose joints and veneer before stripping the cabinet, if you do it that way the old finish will help prevent any glue stains, and even if there are any you can remove them along with the old finish, then you don't have to do things twice. With regard to the bad veneer repair on the 37-610's front panel it looks like a fairly easy fix to me, what you will need is some 1/4 sawn French walnut veneer with a nice parallel grain. If you could remove those bad patches and make new ones that extend to the edge of the speaker grille it will help enormously, if you were really ambitious you could replace the veneer all the way from that curve over to that black inlay from the bottom up to the first grille bar, that would take care of everything but the top patch. Whoever patched it before was clueless, not only did they use straight edges on their patches but I think they used the wrong species of veneer, it looks like Philippine mahogany (luan) like they would use on a door skin.
Regards
Arran

P.S On the 42-22CL try steaming those scratches/dents with an iron and a wet rag, you may find that they will pop out somewhat unless there is wood missing.

Good ideas, Arran, thanks. I'll see what I can do with the 37-610T. If the poor patching is glued solidly in place, though, I will probably just leave it and live with it. Once it has a uniform coat of Medium Walnut toner, that will help make the patches less noticeable, I think. (I hope.)

Well, since my last post on this subject I have been very busy stripping the 42-22CL and 37-610T, trying to strip some more of the white paint from the 41-KR (with little success), and then concentrating on the 38-2670B, 42-22CL and 610T cabinets.

Last night, I had the 38-2670B ready for sanding sealer so I applied that. Today, it received grain filler. If all goes well, tomorrow, the lacquering begins on it.

Also today, I tried the iron and wet rag trick on the 42-22CL. It did help somewhat, but there were still some indentations that had to be filled. Once that was done, this cabinet received two coats of sanding sealer. It's going to be a nice one!

Finally, the 610T...I glued the cabinet in two places where the front panel had separated from the top/side, and glued down two loose pieces of veneer on the front panel using an old iron to speed things along. This is an old trick I learned from John "Hagstar" Hagman. After the glue had mostly dried, I filled those numerous small indentations on the front panel with wood filler. Finally this cabinet, too, received two coats of sanding sealer. The sanding sealer revealed some nice-looking wood on the 610T front panel, in spite of the filled indentations. This one should look pretty good once it is finished.

Now, the 42-22CL and 610T cabinets are ready for grain filler.

The 39-330AT and 41-246 cabinets need some veneer repair. I'm holding off on the 37-610T cabinet for now until I have a chance to see how well those poor patches are glued into place.

I'm wondering if I should find a way to soak the 41-KR in some sort of stripper. Even straight acetone is taking a long time to cut through this mess. It looks like Philco used a dozen or more heavy and thick coats of white paint on this thing.

Sorry, no photos. I was too busy working on the cabinets to stop and get the camera.

Oh, I forgot to mention the 39-770. The lacquer on this set is thick! So thick that the razor blade I was trying to use to scrape the top isn't cutting through this stuff. I was able to remove the lacquer in the water damaged areas, but nowhere else.

Ron;
Go pick up a can of the old fashioned paint and varnish remover, the nasty stuff that burns if you get it on your skin, paint that on the 41-KR and let it sit for at least 10 minutes to soak into the paint. I recommend a stiff brush or a nylon scouring pad to scrub the rest of the paint off, wearing gloves of course. You might try the same on the 39-770 if the finish is giving you trouble, I have a feeling that because it was an export set intended for hot and humid climates they may have used some sort of moisture resistant finish.
Regards
Arran

Do it when it is cool in the morning, works much better without evaporating.

Arran - The old fashioned paint and varnish removers are no longer sold in this country. Years ago I used some paint remover called Kwik. That stuff burned the skin...and it worked. Ah, the good old days...

And I suspect you are correct about the 39-770's finish. Philco did claim the following about their 1939 Tropic cabinets: The cabinet is treated with a special sealing compound which protects it against moisture and heat.

Phlogiston - Thanks for the suggestion, perhaps I'll try that tomorrow morning since I don't have to work (Memorial Day).

Well ,from memory, you can still cheaply get a can of LYE (AKA Sodium Hydroxide) and carefully dissolve in a couple of gallons of cold water outdoors with eye protection and of course heavy duty gloves and I believe a stone or galvanized tub will do. Add a few ounces of cornstarch dissolved in hot water to make the stuff into paste. Stuff is not so nice to water sensitive thin veneer, Antedote is of course White Vinegar, but a good flush with water also works. Runoff should be directed towards driveway and street whereupon it does no further harm that I am aware of.

Or a sandblaster. Or a torch. You can use mine.

So much for the U.S being the land of the free I guess, they still sell the stuff here. One possible substitute may be automotive paint remover, another maybe to make a mix of acetone, keytone, and xylene, or try them separately. Keytone is sold as epoxy paint thinner. Use gloves with any of them.
I don't recommend trying lye on anything approaching fine furmiture, for one thing it involves mixing with water and water will loosen a lot of old fashioned animal based glues.
Regards
Arran

P.S I can't find anything about methylene chloride paint remover being banned, in fact Home Depot has that very stuff listed on their U.S site under the Klean Strip brand.

Yes, they still carry that stuff in my neighborhood too. I don't imagine it will be banned anytime soon since it's about the only stuff that works on polyurethane.

Well, in this case, if I am wrong, I am glad I am! Klean-Strip, you say? Is this the stuff strong enough to burn your hands? If so, then later this week I'll visit Home Depot and see if they have any. The 41-KR is going to need it, possibly the 39-770, also.

Polyurethane, ugh...

I spent most of yesterday driving off into Kentucky to see my first grandchild for the first time...had just enough time yesterday evening after getting back home to wet sand the 38-2670 cabinet. It is ready for lacquer. In a few minutes I'm heading outside to begin that process. I was hoping to get the grain filled in the 610T and 42-22CL and maybe start spraying lacquer on those two, but rain is supposed to set in around noon and continue the rest of the day.

Well, I just tried spraying toner on the 38-2670. It did not go well. It is streaky on the sides, plus the D**n grain revealed itself to not be filled after I applied toner. It sure looked filled beforehand.

So now I'll have to remove the streaky toner and try filling the D**n grain again.

My hat's off to Bob Anderson, Steve Davis, and others who have mastered the art of refinishing cabinets - and it sure seems to be an art. I just can't seem to develop the knack of properly filling grain. I hate cabinet refinishing. Maybe I should just stick to chassis work.

Sorry, just needed to vent.

My hart is off to them also. I am dreading this. And the first one is coming and it's gonna be nothing other than the 37-116 itself! So much about "train on mice before you cut open a human".