[Robert]

I am restoring a 116b model and someone has drilled three dime size holes in the side if the cabinet, egad. Any ideas on how to repair this with out replacing the entire side of the radio?.

[auplater]

Perhaps you could track down plug cutters from Rockler, Woodcraft, etc.

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?FamilyID=4372

and patch it with luan mahogany or matched laminate from another old radio? Any pics of the damaged area?

John L.

[49Stude63]

Another option would be to buy at home depot or lowes a short length of dowel rods the same size or slightly larger and put that into the holes. These places also sell iron on veneer so pick the veneer that best matches the area, they typically have maple, red oak, oak, and walnut. Make sure you install the dowel plugs deep enough so that you can put the veneer patches on and do some light sanding to get the correct finish. Then on the inside of the cabinet you can just cut the excess off and stain with a dark walnut.

[Alan Douglas]

These cabinets are pretty thin to be using end-grain plugs.

I would cut out an area of surface veneer larger than the hole, in a pattern you can duplicate, cut a piece of veneer of that shape, and glue it in. Then insert a disk of core veneer from the inside of the cabinet and glue that. Finally, a piece of interior veneer that overlaps the hole. This should be rigid enough, even though the core repair isn't keyed into the rest of the core. There might still be some ripples visible in the outer veneer however. At best, these Philco sides are flimsy.

If it's a 116B like mine, the sides are very dark, with the wood grain barely visible, so matching grain isn't a problem. But matching the thickness would take some care. The grain runs horizontally on mine, and it's cheap yellow or tulip poplar.