[adamrobertg]

I thought I'd post about this project I'm working on.  I decided to put the slightly daunting re-wiring of my Philco 39-40 on hold for poorer weather, and since it's finally spring, try and figure out how to refinish cabinets.  

I got a model 38-8 for free not long ago, and it... looked like it spent the past 50 years in a damp basement.  The veneer was all present and in good shape, but the finish had mostly peeled off.  I'm also missing the center tuning knob unfortunately.  It's a very small console- and I figured since it's not particularly desirable, it could be a good place to start.

So far I've mostly got the old finish off with lacquer thinner, but ran out of both it and steel wool and still need to take the finish off the grill bars.  It was a pleasant surprise to see the nice inlay down the front of the cabinet.  I'm assuming walnut veneer?  I started sanding the front panel with 600 grit sandpaper, but... it started not looking so great so I stopped.  I might go back over that a bit more lightly with finer sandpaper...  I also have some grain filler on order right now.

It appears that the trim- grill bars, and around the top and bottom of the cabinet, were a darker brown than the rest of the cabinet.  I am debating using the same extra dark walnut color toner as for the sides and top of my Philco 640 (which is my next cabinet project), on this trim on the 38-8.  Probably darker than original, but it might look nice?

For replacement grill cloth, I know Radio Daze sells a reproduction of the tan chevron cloth... but I saw a darker reproduction for sale on eBay.  I was thinking of using this instead.  Link is here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-Radio-Sp...XQxKxSDb-j

Yes, my radio and my preference and all that... but... kind of was hoping for other opinions as well.  Part of me wants to keep it 'just like' the original, but I also feel like it's not a rare or valuable radio so I should 'make it my own' to an extent.

I know this is the cabinet section, but I briefly looked at the chassis, and tested the transformer windings, shadow meter and audio transformer and everything seemed ok.  All but one resistors are still ok.  Speaker looks new.  There's one capacitor partially disconnected (which I can't seem to find on the schematic- that's a question for the electronic restoration section here!), so I bet that came off way back when and someone put it in the basement to 'fix it someday'.  I'm hoping if I can get it working, performance will be similar to my 610- I only have a 3ft antenna on it and there isn't a blank spot on the dial!