[Jamie]

   

This is from inside the cabinet. The front of this cabinet is 3/8" plywood, covered with veneer. The delamination is the back layer of the plywood. It swelled up and bent the wrong way. It's not a big deal and it's less than 1/16" thick, but the grill cloth lays up against it, so we gotta fix it ASAP...

[Jamie]

   
   

I repaired it by slitting each piece and removing a 1/16" slice, straight across. Then I glued each one, and clamped them with trash bag twisties.... They aren't really weight bearing structures, but each bit of wood adds stability to the grill. Plus, I want them flat when I install the grill cloth.

... and now we gotta let it all dry. We'll see how it comes out tomorrow..

[GarySP]

That's the great thing about this phorum....toss out a situation and several possibilities will come forth from other members. Glad the end result is a reconstructed cabinet. Minor delamination is just a pain in the rump, not the end of the line! Take care, Gary.

[Jamie]

Gary, I think we were both posting at the same time. I didn't see your suggestion until after I'd clamped it down. I think the soup pot idea is a good one, and I have filed it away for future use.

Now I just gotta come up with a story for Mrs Puhpow - "Honey, why are you cooking a radio?" ...

[Arran]

I would not try the soup pot idea, the reason being is that it may cause the solid wood parts to cup or curl. What may have happened on this G.E is that because the outside is stripped and the inside still sort of sealed, is that the outside of the solid wood sections would have absorbed more moisture then the inside and swelled up causing them to warp.
Regards
Arran

[TimC]

"No Soup for you!"
LOL

[KCMike]

Nice work PuhPow. I see you use citrastrip. Was you able to get the cabinet stripped in one application? BTH My wife gave me the head shake and left the room when she looked in a pot on the stove one day and saw a bakelite block. Look foward to rest of your posts.

[Jamie]

I use Citristrip because we own a condo and I try to respect the neighbors as much as possible. It's water soluable, odorless and cleans up easy. If we lived elsewhere, I would never use Citristrip. Other strippers are better. I apply Citristrip, let is soak for about 30 minutes, then scrape off what it removed. I follow up with #0000 steel wool dipped in Citristrip, then clean it all up with odorless mineral spirits.

I'll be removing the clamps in a few minutes. The cabinet has been clamped for about 18 hours, so I'm hoping it holds.

[Jamie]

   

Clamps off. Everything looks fine as far as our repairs go. I do see some issues to correct. I refinished one of these same radios before, and noticed some things with the grain in the veneer. Somehow, over the years, the grain in this wood swells and becomes uneven. On this cabinet, the colors are also uneven. Maybe the water I used caused some staining, or maybe because the radio was in the mud?. .. I dunno.

My camera washes out certain colors, and brightens them up, so you cannot see it well.

   

My solution was to lightly sand the entire cabinet. Normally, I never sand an entire cabinet prior to refinishing. This is an exception. I want to highlight the color differences in the two veneers, and I don't want to worry about trying to hide discoloration. Anyhow, light sanding with 220 solved both problems. The veneer is now evenly colored and smooth. Next step is grain filling...

[BrendaAnnD]

Looking good. Wish I had your talent and patience.

[Jamie]

   

Thanks Brenda! I wish I had your talent for chassis work. I read some of your posts and it might as well be written in Russian. I keep hoping if I read enough of them, it will make sense...

Anyways, back to work here..

I've got the cabinet slathered in grain filler. I used two colors - Dark Oak and Dark Walnut. Both by Constantines. Again, the end goal is to emphasize the colors of the two different veneers on this cabinet.

Now for some opinionation...(is that a word?)
I think a radio like this was a cheap radio back in 1938. I don't think GE or Philco or any manufacturer used grain filler on cheap sets. So normally, I don't either. It's just a personal thing with me. I want them to be like they were when they were new. Keep that in mind if you use my techniques on your cabinet. I'm not going for perfection.

This radio gets different treatment for two reasons - It spent time outdoors, so the wood was in worse shape then when new.. and... this particular set has become valuable, so I want to make it look better than new.

I'll scrape off that grain filler now, and put it back in the can. Then rub down the cabinet with burlap. Then it'll need to dry all night. ..

...so, I'm gonna go work on the chassis..

[Jamie]

   

One more pic... here it is after using the burlap cloth and a dental pick.

Yup.. I said dental pick.. Sometimes little things get overlooked on forums because it's hard to post each little step. If you are doing this for the first time, you will find that grain filler gets into every crack, crevice and joint. Once the cabinet is clean, and I mean really clean... you gotta go over it with a dental pick (or similar tool) and clean out all of the corners and crevices that need to be sharp. The only place grain filler needs to be is in the grain... Now it needs to dry overnight..

[KCMike]

I started stripping on the 144 philco yesterday eve and worked on it most of today. I don't think I could of ever appreciated the amount of cracks, crevices and little details that went into the cabinet design. Its how I try not to rush the job by thinking about all the little details that went into the construction of the cabinet and the people that worked on it.

[Jamie]

Mike it always amazes me how much detail the manufacturers put into these cabinets. Even the cheap sets. I'm sure they had some sort of assembly line set up, but I just can't imagine how they managed to do it at an affordable price. You just don't see this kind of quality in today's items. For me, the best part is the beauty of the cabinet when it's finally finished. Each one is a work of art and I can't wait to start on the next one. I wish you'd post some photos of your work. Everyone does things a little differently and it's fun to watch the process.

[KCMike]

I'am going to try to later. I have most of the cabinet stripped but keep in mind this is a first for me and I hope to get advise and critique as I proceed. Reading and watching you and Ron Ramirezs' step by step process made me decide to try it.