The PHILCO Phorum

I purchased this 51-1731 from a local 2nd-hand furniture store. The radio was still working, but the cabinet was in pretty poor condition and this became my first restoration project.

Here are a few Before & After photos:




While there were a few screws holding some of the frame together, most of the panels were adhered to the frame with glue, and those bonds had to be carefully broken.


Although I took a number of photos during disassembly - just in case - what I should have done was mark on the inside where these pieces lined-up with the frame. My plan to just reuse the old screws holes to ensure alignment, didn't work out very well.



After the panels were restored, reassembly turned-out to be rather troublesome; I must of taken it apart and reassembled it three or four times before I got it right.

Once all the panels had been removed, the frame became skewed, making alignment of the front door unsightly.

In the end, I found it best to assemble the front (leaving these screws loose), reattach the top panel, then one side using Gorilla Glue. Then tighten any interior screws that would be hard to reach when the last side panel was reattached.

Once the second side panel was in place, the frame aligned correctly. Any remaining screws to go back, got new holes, rather than trying to use the old holes.

Fortunately, the stained areas of the mahogany veneer were either oil or wax based. Some hard scrubbing of the veneer with mineral oil removed them all.

When it came to refinishing the frame pieces, it took a fair amount of research to determine what the original application most likely consisted of, and to match the color.

With the help of my local hardware store paint guy, Bush, we concluded the finish on these parts was likely a pigmented lacquer.

I used Watco clear Lacquer. Using lacquer was new to me, and I quickly discovered this was some very volatile stuff. Even though I was in a very large room, with a vent fan to the outside, just working with the lacquer was overpowering. After the first coat, I stopped, and purchased a good quality respirator. What an amazing difference. Not only did the dizziness disappear, but I couldn't even smell those horrendous fumes.

Matching the color was achieved by mixing two Zar wood stains: #140 Merlot & #121 Black Onyx. Starting with the Merlot, it took a fair amount of Black Onyx to darken to a match.

This experimental mixing was much easier when I used clear Mason Jars, because I could watch the color changes through the glass. Also, when I first poured some lacquer in a hard plastic container, in a few minutes it'd eaten right through the container and spilled all over the floor. Another good reason for using Mason Jars.





Then I mixed the matched stain in with the lacquer. It was a bit of trial and error to achieve the right ratio. Several trial brushes on the backside of the frame pieces was very helpful.

Here's a photo showing the first coat of this pigmented lacquer.


Note the small narrow grooves cut into the top of the front decorative wood. I used a gold metallic paint to restore these. The same paint was used to trim the edge of the dial glass insert area.


The decals were obtained from http://www.radiodaze.com

The mahogany only needed a very light hand sanding with 200-grit paper to smooth out the surface. An electric sander would have risked eating through the veneer.

Early on, my friends and I decided this piece shouldn't be perfect, but should show some of the wear and tear that gave this old radio some character.

In a few spots, gouges had penetrated the veneer. The exposed underlying wood was darken with a mahogany stain, with the gouges remaining.

When it came to refinishing the panels and front door, I suspected a differently tinted lacquer was originally applied. However, I wasn't eager to work with lacquer any longer, and opted to go with Bush's recommendation to use Minwax Tung Oil Finish.



The benefits to using this product were:
1. Sanding between coats wasn't necessary
2. The level of gloss on the finish was directly related to the number of coats I applied. The surface gets more shinier and smooth with every coat, so you can take to just the right point and stop.
3. The tung oil gave the mahogany a perfect hue.

Upon removing the front door, I discovered there were two holes along the bottom edge not visible when the door is in-place. These were likely used during the manufacturing process so they could work on both sides simultaneously. It only took a couple of minutes to replicate a working mount so I could do the same.


It wasn't until after a lot of elbow-grease, it was revealed that the two-piece metal handle was two different colors; brass & copper. It was close to six applications and buffing with Brasso before the nice metal finish was restored. I'm going to spray the handle with a clear acrylic, as fingerprints tarnish this metal rather quickly.


I'm still finishing the interior, but that shouldn't take long.

Fantastic

Steve

Very nice work! Thanks for sharing the great pics along with your methods and materials.

Craig R.

Scott

I don't know if the tint what it is supposed to be, but otherwise my hat's off to you, looks snazzy!

The tint on the frame/decorative pieces was a dead-on match, but the photography makes it look a little off in some of the pictures.

The tint on the mahogany veneer might be a bit darker. Initially I was concerned it'd be too light, and I like that deep mahogany look, so that's what I was striving towards.

The grill cloth is different. The original was pretty nasty, and I couldn't locate an exact match. So I went with a new reproduction cloth that had a nicer look.

The grill cloth is wrapped around the original pressboard cutout, that was tacked in place. A big mistake I made, was attempting to screw this pressboard into place once I'd wrapped the new cloth around it. The turning screws easily snagged threads from the fabric and created runs; much like a run in a Nylon stocking. In the end, this pressboard was stapled into place, which was much easier and faster anyway. Live & Learn.

Wow, first time and what a difference. I love these posts, but wish the radios were mine to restore. lol I cleared my craigslist of radios

Kirk

Scott:

What I did the very first time I re-clothed a speaker board - I put a bid of glue around every screw hole, and made sure the cloth was really glued around it. Then the were no problem. The cloth gets ripped ONLY inside the bead. And this is the place that is not visible from the front so....