[Ron Ramirez]

I decided to take some photos of the 40-155 I am now working on, to help illustrate what we have been talking about here.

Let us begin by taking a look at the patient.

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum/ARF/5.jpg]

As you can see, it was coated with what appears to be one or two thin coats of lacquer (fortunately, it isn't polyurethane!). The "PHILCO" name and the lettering around the knobs looks like dry transfer lettering instead of decals. The grille cloth is all wrong, as are the 1932-1936 Philco speaker screws.

I had previously repainted the escutcheon. The 1940 escutcheons are painted steel, by the way, not brass.

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum/ARF/6.jpg]

A close-up of the escutcheon, dial glass, and the odd "PHILCO" lettering above the dial. You can easily see open pores in the wood here.

The goal here is to fill those pores, properly refinish the cabinet with Medium Walnut overall, and apply a darker tone on the left and right edges as well as the two "feet" at lower front.

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum/ARF/1.jpg]

And so it begins, after the cabinet was thoroughly wet sanded and dried off. As you can see, I am applying grain filler with a brush, brushing with the grain. The grain filler is the consistency of a gel, or of honey if you prefer.

I forgot to take a photo as I rubbed the filler into the pores with a piece of T-shirt material. But, hey, it's hard to use a camera with your left hand when you are right-handed anyway...

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum/ARF/2.jpg]

After 10-15 minutes, having allowed the filler to "flash" or begin to set up, I started scraping away the excess with an old credit card. Unlike my experiences with the 38-14 and 39-7 cabinets, the filler seemed to really fill the pores this time and stayed in place as I scraped away the excess.

After repeating this process in sections until the cabinet was completely scraped, I found a problem...

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum/ARF/3.jpg]

Yes, the top left side was pulling free from the top.

So, I brought out the heavy artillery...some Titebond II wood glue and two long clamps.

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum/ARF/4.jpg]

I'll remove the clamps tomorrow, by which time the cabinet will be ready for sanding, followed by the first coats of lacquer.