[GarySP]

Hello Ron.  I don't want to piss in your cornflakes, but...
Unless you plan on getting into woodworking as heavily as you are into radios, the saw you need to make the tops is very cost prohibitive.  My saw is a 10-inch belt drive with a 3 foot by 4 foot table, and it would be just barely capable of the cuts you want to make.  Please don't get suckered into one of those table top, direct drive, plastic housing $199.00 pieces of fecal matter.  Woodworking is my main hobby, and my saw was $600.00 15 years ago.  With table saws, you truly do get what you pay for.
I would suggest you find a custom cabinet making shop and pay them to cut a couple of tops for you.  They have panel cutting saws that would make quick work of it, and you would have several hundred dollars still in your pocket.  Or, provide me with very precise measurements and I could attempt to cut a couple for you.  It's no real issue for me.  You make the call.  Just my two cents worth.
On a brighter note, your risers are built.  Just have to do a finish sanding on them and drill the mounting holes through their sides.  Should be ready to ship in a day or two.  Take care, Gary

[Ron Ramirez]

Gary - I am going to send you a PM on this subject. Thanks for everything!

[Arran]

Ron;
  I would try to salvage the original tops if at all possible, and make new moldings for them. It looks like the tops were some sort of walnut (either French or Claro) or mahogany, and the edge moldings were probably the same.
 As I mentioned before your best bet is to buy a second hand table saw off of craigslist or what not, if age isn't an issue you can pick up a fairly decent one that's 20+ years old, just make sure that it has a cast iron top and a decent fence/rail system.
 There is an easy way around the width problem on a table saw for cutting larger panels, you can build a sled out of some plywood with strips on the bottom side to fit into the T square slots in the top of the table as a guide. It's actually harder to describe then to build one.
Regards
Arran

[Ron Ramirez]

No offense intended, my friend, but it's easy to say "Save the old tops" when you're not the one unable to get the D**n old molding off...some of it is really glued on tightly, and I feel that any further attempts to remove them will seriously damage the old tops anyway...so why not just replace and be done with it...using new wood, I think I can get a more uniform color on the tops and molding...

Oh, I hadn't mentioned the color. They are finished in a color lighter than the Medium Walnut found on many vintage radios. Debbie recently had our dining table and chairs (Heywood-Wakefield) refinished in the original H-W factory champagne color. The color is very similar to the color of these Bozak tops. We have some stain and finish left over from that project, should be more than enough to take care of the tops and trim on these Bozaks. When finished, they should look very 1950s, which is the intent...

[GarySP]

Hey Ron, check your PM.  Take care, Gary

[Ron Ramirez]

Checked, and replied...wow...

[Arran]

Ron;
  If the molding around the tops isn't held on by nails you could just cut them off by running the tops through a table saw. If they are are held on by nails then placing a block of wood behind the inside lip of each molding, and then whacking the block with a hammer, might help get them off. But if the tops have burn marks or potted plant stains then replacement is probably the best idea, Baltic birch plywood of the appropriate thickness is a good option.
Regards
Arran

[Ron Ramirez]

If the molding around the tops isn't held on by nails you could just cut them off by running the tops through a table saw.

Great idea ...but I don't have a table saw...yet...

No nails in the top trim, just glue.

It's a moot point anyway, because I've heard through the grapevine that Santa Claus is making a rare summer delivery, bringing some freshly cut tops my way. I told Santa that I didn't deserve it, that I haven't been as good a boy as I could have been this year, but he wouldn't listen.

Anyway, speaking of trim, that brings to mind an upcoming issue. It looks like I will have to use nails to hold the bottom trim in place; I don't see any other way of doing it. It will go directly over the bottom edge of speaker grille cloth. I suppose I can use some filler over the nail holes and reapply Heywood-Wakefield stain and finish over the filler when done. It should be OK. I do not know how the originals were put in place because the original bottom trim was long gone before I acquired these speakers.

I do have access to some photos of a set of Bozak E-300s on the auction site; it was that seller who kindly furnished all of the measurements for the risers. I'll study those photos and see if I can tell...

[GarySP]

Hey Ron, one other trick you might try is applying heat with a heat gun to the trim on the original panels.  Try not to heat the panel itself or you might scorch it.  Don't worry about scorching the trim, you're scrapping that anyway.  After you get it good and hot try sliding a putty knife or lock blade knife between the trim and the panel.  The heat may soften the hold on the glue enough to release the pieces with a little effort.  Good practice for future projects.
For the bottom trim on the cabinets you might try this.  You can get wood trim cut in the shape of an "L" at most of the big box stores.  Looks kinda like wooden angle iron.  Measure the cabinet WITH the grille cloth on it  Cut the trim at 45 degree angles to essentially build a picture frame with the inside dimensions just a whisper larger than the cabinet measurements.  This can be done carefully with a hand miter box.  Sand all of the miter cuts smooth to make a tight fit, and then glue them up being very careful to keep the frame square.  Clamp it until dry, then sand and finish it.  You can then slide the trim frame onto the cabinet from underneath, and have a lip to nail it to the cabinet into the bottom of the cabinet where it will never be seen.  A little glue and some small finish nails should get the job done.  Once again, just throwing my two cents in...  Take care, Gary

[Ron Ramirez]

Gary

Thanks again for all of your great advice. I will try the heat gun on the old tops/trim.

As for the bottom trim...I've carefully studied as many pictures of Bozak E-300 cabinets as I could find, notably the pair I mentioned previously that are for sale in South Carolina. I'm going to give the seller a "plug" and list his auction in the Items For Sale Online forum. But anyway...

The bottom trim is identical to the top trim in appearance. And from what I could tell in the photos I've looked at, it appears the bottom trim was indeed held in place with nails. So nails it is. That was easy.

I do have a power miter saw...had to buy one when I was renovating my house in Evansville in preparation to put it on the market. We pulled up the old carpet in the living room of that house, revealing good hardwood flooring (thankfully) and I then had to replace the bottom trim between floors and walls. Thank God all of that is behind me. But anyway...I'm all set in the miter department.

[Ron Ramirez]

Progress report:

A package arrived from Santa Claus three days ago.

I now have beautiful new risers...and new, smooth tops!

I bought a piece of very small diameter dowel rod. I thought that using that to fill in the now-oversize screw holes and then drilling new holes would work out better than using wood filler in the holes - in my experience, wood filler in screw holes never worked out well.

I masked off one cabinet and sprayed the front and sides with satin black paint, in preparation for new grille cloth. I need to do the same to the other one, but it has rained every evening since then.

Yesterday, I went looking for lattice molding to replace the old trim. Turns out I cannot get 1/4 x 1-1/4" lattice molding locally, only 1/4 x 1-1/8 or 1/4 x 1-3/8. The original was actually 1/4 x 1-3/16, so...I went with 1/4 x 1-1/8", picking up two 8 foot lengths today on my lunch hour. Close enough.

Hopefully this weekend, I will accomplish the following:

• Mask off and spray the other cabinet as the original circa 60 year old flat black has worn thin.
  
• Attach the risers to the cabinets.
  
• Attach the new grille cloth to the cabinets.
  
• Prepare the new tops to have the new trim glued to them.
  
• Measure and cut the trim to size with my miter saw.
  

If I get to glue the new trim pieces to the tops, that will be a bonus.

If I get to fill the enlarged screw holes with pieces of small dowel rod, that will be an extra bonus.

And then I still need to...apply grain filler to the tops (and the trim), stain the tops and trim including bottom trim pieces, and apply the finish to same.

I won't be finished with the cabinets this weekend...but I hope to make significant progress on them.

[GarySP]

Ron, for the oversized screw holes take round hardwood toothpicks, dip one end in wood glue, push as far into the screw hole as you can, and snap off the excess toothpick flush with the cabinet.  You can then re-use the holes with new screws and the toothpicks will form to the dimensions of the new screws.  Works like a charm!  Take care, Gary

[Ron Ramirez]

[Image: http://www.herdofcats.ca/files/images/fu...-point.jpg]

Hmmm...

Yes...

Great idea!

[Ron Ramirez]

So far today, I have masked off the other cabinet in order to paint it:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum/bozak_014.jpg]

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum/bozak_014.jpg]

You can see the flaws in the original black paint. To make sure they do not show through the new open weave grille cloth, I sprayed the cabinet with two new coats of satin black.

The paint is drying as I go to have lunch.

This afternoon, I plan to install a riser on the cabinet I painted the other night and then install grille cloth on the same cabinet.

[Ron Ramirez]

Rise and shine, er, riser time!

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum/bozak_016.jpg]

This cabinet's riser had been glued to the bottom originally, and there was still a little wood and glue residue left. A quick sanding with 180 grit sandpaper took care of that.

Using the measurements that had been sent to me by an eBay seller I had mentioned previously, I carefully measured, re-measured, re-re-measured...and then attached the new riser to this cabinet.

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum/bozak_017.jpg]

I countersunk all of the screws 1/8" or more from the surface, so the screw heads should never come in contact with the linoleum floor where these speakers will eventually be placed when they are finished.

Also, these new risers are far superior to the originals as they are more than twice as thick and, therefore, should hold up very well indeed. The original risers were made from 13/16" wood, relatively thin considering the amount of weight they need to hold up. The new ones will support much, much more weight. Which is a good thing, as I plan to use these as printer stands as well as speakers.

I repeated the measuring and then attaching process with the other cabinet.

Here's how they look now - with risers again, for the first time in at least a couple decades, maybe longer:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum/bozak_018.jpg]

Notice how the insulation is different in each cabinet? The cabinet on the left uses a brown paper type of product while the cabinet on the right uses fiberglass. So I suspect the cabinet on the right is newer...perhaps much newer...than the one on the left. That, or someone replaced the brown paper in the cabinet on the right with fiberglass at some point.

I can sort of guess at the time the original risers were removed and the casters installed, as all of the casters still have Furrow price stickers on them - on the underside which was attached to the bottom of the cabinets until recently. Furrow was a home improvement center that went out of business in 2001, and the stickers look much older than that...I'm guessing 1980s...

Anyway...the cabinets are now on their way to looking original again.