[Phlogiston]

That WAS the grey Por-O-Pac stuff that I tinted.

[Ron Ramirez]

OK

I did some online research and discovered that some guys who repair and build guitars use joint compound dyed with Rit dye to fill the grain on the bodies of their guitars!

Anyway...

I finally managed to get the front arch and pilasters on my 19B cabinet filled with CrystaLac. I sprayed medium walnut toner on the cabinet body today. So far, so good. Tomorrow, I plan to mask the cabinet off and spray the trim with Maison Brown Ultra Classic.

The Perfect Brown Ultra Classic is indeed the "perfect" choice for the front panels on these Clyde Shuler Philco cathedral cabinets. Perfect Brown darkens the panels *just enough* for a good contrast, without overdoing it. And the Ultra Classic, having dye instead of pigment, does not hide the grain with multiple coats as does Tone Finish.

I resisted buying Ultra Classic for a long time, fearing I would have the same experience I had with Mohawk's previous dye lacquer product called Ultra Flo. I tried Ultra Flo once on a radio cabinet and it fisheyed badly. On the same cabinet, Tone Finish went on just fine. So I suspected an inferior product in Ultra Flo.

Ultra Classic is nothing like Ultra Flo. Ultra Classic goes on just as smooth as Tone Finish. Plus, as stated above, it does not hide the grain since it is dye-based rather than pigment-based.

[Ron Ramirez]

The 19B is finished!

Here's a quick and dirty photo - note that in this picture, the front panel is not attached. I put the container of CrystaLac behind the panel to hold it in place for this photo:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum..._00001.jpg]

I think Extra Dark Walnut, or even several coats of Perfect Brown, probably would have looked better on the trim - Maison Brown is, I discovered, a very dark cherry reddish brown. But the flaws in the trim are now hidden, and the cabinet does look much better than it did before refinishing.

I intend to let the cabinet body and front panel thoroughly dry before I rub both out. And then, I will reattach the front panel to the cabinet body.

The 42-761EZ is next on the agenda...

[Steve Davis]

Very nice

Steve

[TA Forbes]

Ditto!!!!

I have discovered that spraying your project with the color a majority of the radio will be, THEN masking and spraying the dark over it improves the quality of the dark. This is, assuming that you are using dye-based toner.

This way the wood grain will show through the dark toner instead of the "muddy" look.

[TA Forbes]

Hmmm, I could have said that better.....

[codefox1]

Stunning. Yeah leave it alone for a couple of weeks at least at this time of year. Keep the cat away as well. Don't ask.

[Ron Ramirez]

I want to welcome our lurking audience from ARF.

I accomplished two things tonight:

1. I sprayed sanding sealer on the 42-761EZ cabinet.

Here's how it looks:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum..._00001.jpg]

This cabinet has very attractive veneer in places where it was toned with Medium Walnut. In areas that were originally black, the wood is quite plain.

It will be re-toned in the correct colors.

I spent the last few days, after work, gluing in small pieces of veneer on the back edge of the top of this cabinet, to replace missing small pieces of veneer.

To do this, I glued on pieces that were slightly larger than they needed to be, then once the glue had dried (the next day), I sanded the pieces smooth until they feathered in to the missing areas.

Here's an example - I had to do this in four areas along the back edge:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum..._00002.jpg]

Not bad for my first attempt, I think. I've never done this before. Not all four turned out perfect - but you know the old saying about practice making perfect...

2. I had previously added dye to my Behlen water-based "brown" grain filler that was a light ivory, not brown.

I poured part of the product into a pint jar and added a lot of dye to it. The result: Grain filler that looked like mud.

So, I added some black dye to the mud-colored filler. This (finally) darkened the product to a color more to my liking.

Wish me luck - I'll be trying it out tomorrow!

[Ron Ramirez]

I have discovered that spraying your project with the color a majority of the radio will be, THEN masking and spraying the dark over it improves the quality of the dark.

Exactly. This is how I have been handling two-tone cabinets so far.

[Radioguy52]

Ron: Nice work.. There is a pretty good youtube on grain filler 3 parts
Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQfm0nLXJ...sults_main
Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVWQr-8GdkA
Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMul2m5TgvY

I have a couple of questions regarding the entire process sequence on a Philco cabinet. After stripping the cabinet I have base stain on the vaneer providing color and on the trim no color. Most of the filler techniques suggest staining 1st, but if there is already dark tone such as the vaneer on your 42-761EZ , what makes sense?

Comments on the order of restoration techniques?
1) Spray sealer
2) Apply grain filler
3) Add Toner Laquer? --possibly mask off vaneer so it does not pick up more color,
4) add multiple toner laquer to the trim areas for darkness, and
5) then clear laquer layers on entire cabinebt

[Arran]

I have a couple of questions regarding the entire process sequence on a Philco cabinet. After stripping the cabinet I have base stain on the veneer providing color and on the trim no color. Most of the filler techniques suggest staining 1st, but if there is already dark tone such as the veneer on your 42-761EZ , what makes sense?

No stain on the veneer, the only area I would use a stain, or rather a wood dye, is on the grainless solid wood parts. The stain they sell at the hardware store is crap, to be frank, it's a muddy pigment suspended in oil or some other solvent, it obscures the grain in the veneered panels and doesn't penetrate the solid wood parts. Mixing a dye or some sort of pigment into the grain filler is sometimes necessary if the filler is light in colour to start with, or you are using plaster for grain filler which is white.
Regards
Arran

[Ron Ramirez]

Radioguy52

+1 what Arran said.

With toning lacquer, there is no need for stain. Plus, stains were not used at the factory, they used tinted (toning) lacquer to achieve the colors they wanted. You will never get the same depth, uniformity, and richness of color from stain as you will from toning lacquer.

You have your order of things correctly - just leave out the stain. Use spray sealer, apply grain filler, lightly sand with extra fine (300 grit or higher), apply toner, apply a coat or two of clear, add decals as needed, apply another coat or two of clear, lightly wet sand with 600 to 1000 grit wet/dry sandpaper, apply a couple more coats of clear.

[Ron Ramirez]

OK, folks.

The bottom line is, my friends: I cannot recommend Behlen water-based grain filler.

After adding lots of dye, the stuff became quite runny instead of the thick paste it was originally, and it dried to a medium gray color in the pores.

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum..._00001.jpg]

As an attempt to salvage this mess, I am going to try Steve's suggestion of wiping some stain on the top in the hopes of darkening the grain filler (only). I did apply sanding sealer before grain fill this time, just in case I had to do this. If even the stain doesn't darken the grain filler...I'll have to get out the acetone and start over (again). Yes, I know...I should be experimenting on scrap wood instead of my 42-761EZ cabinet.

So, unless I find something better, I'll have to stick with CrystaLac.

But, of course, I have not yet tried the Timber Mate stuff...

[Ron Ramirez]

Hey, Steve (Davis)! Success!

I was away from home most of the day today, and while out and about, I picked up the smallest can of dark walnut stain that I could find.

After getting home, I wiped it on top of the 42-761EZ...and all the gray pores turned very dark brown, nearly black!

Since I had sprayed sanding sealer on the cabinet before applying grain filler, the stain darkened the filler only - it could not penetrate the wood because of the sealer. So it was a simple matter of wiping the stain on, and immediately wiping the excess off.

Now I'll let it sit for a few days to let the oil stain completely dry before proceeding. I'll have to finish filling the grain on top since the thinned-down Behlen stuff did not do the job, plus I still have to fill the grain on the front and sides. I'll use CrystaLac for the remainder of the work. At least I know CrystaLac won't dry to some odd color!

Thanks, Steve, for the great idea! I should have tried that the first time around...

[Steve Davis]

Ah, good save. I'm happy it worked out.

Steve