The PHILCO Phorum

Full Version: In honor of Norman Bel Geddes......
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.......I tried my best to reproduce the moldings at the top backs of my 112. After studying its construction, it was off to Lowes to look at their poplar dowel rods. The half-round profile on the molding was a tad more than a 1/2" dowel, but 5/8s was way too big. Now I could have fired up my lathe, but I was confident that 1/2" would work. First I ran the dowel over my jointer to make a slight flat spot on the dowel so that I could glue it to a piece of wood for safely cutting off the half-moon shape.

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The little pieces had to be precisely cut to the slot on the cabinet, so the chop saw was out of the question; they'd be flying all over the place! So I set up a jig where I could easily cut each one (20) with a Japanese pull saw.

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The pieces then had to be glued to a 3/32" strip of wood the exact size of the cabinet slot. To get each piece with the same space between them, another jig was quickly made to facilitate the needed accuracy. The back of each piece was carefully dabbed on to a swath of glue and then dabbed on some bare wood until there was enough glue to push each piece on without any squeeze-out. When all ten were on each strip, I clamped it between two blocks firmly.

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I sat it in place and rested on my laurels. Now the other side.

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For stain, I brushed brown mahogany alcohol on to the strips. I shot sanding sealer onto them and slid them into the slots. They seemed close in color, so I gave them one shot of Perfect Brown 100 toner. Better, but too brown, so I hit them with extra dark walnut 101 toner. Pretty close. I steel wooled the strips to emulate some wear and hit them with gloss. They easily pass the four foot test. Up close, one can see that my spaces between the half rounds are flat while the original is slightly curved. Don't tell anyone.

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Awesome work DK! Icon_clap

Joe
Well Done!!Icon_clapIcon_clapIcon_clap
DK that is some incredible wood work! I have the same radio and fortunately didn't have to go to that much work. As for the design, well, Norman did not impress me. I much prefer my 111 with the nice legs. Just a personal preference. He took radio cabinet design to the next level, more modern by our standards today. I just like the earlier style. My 112 is the lowboy, I would have really like to find the highboy one. Consistent to my love of legs. Hope that is not too sexy for the Phorum!
Jerry
Legs are nice but I'm a knobs guy!

Nice job!

Icon_crazy
Oh oh, Tim, we are going to get in trouble with Ron!
Jerry