[Paul Philco322]

Lookin' good kid, hope the weather holds....

Paul 

[Ron Ramirez]

Kid??? How old are you anyway, Paul? Are you 200 years old like me yet?

Anyway...

Progress:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum/37610_024.jpg]

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum/37610_025.jpg]

I noticed as I was applying the last coat of Extra Dark Walnut toner that an area of the tape was coming loose at the bottom left, just under the front panel where the side begins to curve upward.

Fortunately, only a tiny bit of Extra Dark Walnut managed to get onto the Medium Walnut and was easily removed. Unfortunately, that took the Medium Walnut with it. But I'll be able to touch it up with some Medium Walnut sprayed into a spray can lid, and a small brush. No big deal.

Now I need to see if I have a proper PHILCO decal... (Edit: Just checked...and I do!)

[Ron Ramirez]

Tonight's progress:

I decided to try something different. Previously when I have refinished cabinets, I applied the PHILCO decal before the final two coats of clear.

This time, I applied the decal before I began to spray on the clear coats.

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum/37610_026.jpg]

Pardon the poor photo, sorry, too much glare from the lamp over my workbench.

The next job was to begin applying clear lacquer.

I sprayed on three coats of Deft.

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum/37610_027.jpg]

Unfortunately, my camera decided to focus on the test equipment in the background rather than the radio.

Two more (and better) photos:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum/37610_028.jpg]

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum/37610_029.jpg]

The cabinet is really starting to look good now, in spite of the flaws it has. The finish is nice, shiny and deep.

Speaking of flaws: I managed to get a minor run on the left edge of the large grille opening. I think I will be able to make that go away with some careful sanding, though.

I'm glad I applied the decal after toner and before clear. I think it is going to look much better this way, and I think I will do this with all cabinets I refinish henceforth.

The grain is completely filled now!

Next, I plan to wet sand with 400 or 600 grit wet/dry paper, then give it a couple more thin coats. Following that, I will wet sand again with 1000 grit wet/dry paper, spray on two thin final coats, let it cure, then rub the cabinet down with rottenstone.

[KCMike]

 Looking real nice. You brought that one back.

[PhilcoPhan1936]

...Hey, Jeff (PhilcoPhan1936) - didn't your cabinet come with a 38-623 or 38-624 chassis?

Hey Ron! I'm reading your post with great interest!   The bullet cabinet I just restored was a 37-610 with the chassis layout label, which also had a blue 38-610 label below it. I have a 37-610 tombstone cabinet I picked up almost a year ago that had a 38-624 chassis in it. The goal eventually is to put the 37-610 chassis from the bullet into the tombstone, and once the 38-624 chassis is restored, drop it into the restored bullet cabinet. 

Nice work on the patches!  Maybe someday with practice, I'll get as good at it.

[PhilcoPhan1936]

Looks great so far. The new Philco decal looks like it blended well! I was able to salvage the original on mine. It lost some of it's sharpness on the edges, but it still looks good.

[PhilcoJohn]

WOW!! A nice out come of the radio cabinet .... Ron A super nice cabinet. Hope the radio when complete comes out great!   

[Ron Ramirez]

Thanks, guys!

I took Thursday and Friday evenings off from cabinet work.

Today, I went back to the workbench and painted the edges of the grille openings with brown nail polish. After that dried, I wet sanded the entire cabinet with 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper. This gave the cabinet a very smooth surface and prepared it for two more coats of clear lacquer.

I'm completely out of gloss Deft, and only have a can and a half of semi-gloss Deft remaining in my lacquer inventory. Last night when we were out making our once a month pilgrimage to Wally World (a place we both despise, but unfortunately, they carry many items not found in other local establishments), I noticed some cans of Watco lacquer.

I had never used Watco before, but I have noticed that some of the guys on the other forum have used it, with no complaints that I saw.

Wally World had four cans of gloss...and I bought all four cans. The previous three coats of clear on the 38-624T cabinet were done with semi-gloss Deft as that is all I had at the time.

So today, I tried Watco for the first time.

I applied two coats of it, and so far, it looks just fine.

No photos as the cabinet's appearance has not really changed other than the clear being a bit deeper...and smoother.

Tomorrow, I plan to wet sand the cabinet again, using 1000 grit wet/dry paper, followed by a final two coats of Watco clear gloss lacquer.

[Steve Davis]

I don't use aerosol lacquer so I can't say, but I have been using Watco lacquer in gallon cans for the past couple of years. I 'm quite happy with it.

Ron, your cabinet is looking very good

Steve

[Ron Ramirez]

Wow, thanks, Steve...coming from one of the true master craftsmen of radio cabinets, that is quite a compliment. Thank you.

Today:

Wet sanded the 38-624T with 1000 grit wet/dry sandpaper.

Applied two more coats of clear Watco glossy lacquer.

Managed to get a small run on the top. It flattened out and is almost not noticeable. But you know what I will do...I'll probably sand that area again and hit it again with a bit more clear (with the cabinet right side up this time, not on its back) to get it as perfect as I can.

I won't be applying any more lacquer to the front or sides. The next step (after correcting the slight run) is to set it aside for a couple weeks to let it cure before final rubdown and waxing.

I found a grille cloth backing board from an early version 37-610T I had junked some time back. I will replace the cloth and will be using this in the 38-624T cabinet.

[Ron Ramirez]

Twenty days ago...when last I reported on this cabinet...I had wet sanded and applied the final two coats of lacquer.

I decided against doing anything to the small run on top as it was practically not noticeable.

My next move was to make a backing board for the grille cloth.

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum/37610_030.jpg]

I used an old 37-610 early version backing board as a template, but before I cut the holes, I placed the new one behind the grille of the cabinet and then traced the outline of the cutouts so they would match the grille.

Then I cut out the holes...

and was left with this:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum/37610_031.jpg]

This is backing board for picture frames, which is dull black on one side but white on the other, so the white side had to be painted black. I used Krylon Satin Black.

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum/37610_032.jpg]

After the application of two coats of paint, I let it dry. While the paint was drying, I went into my extremely limited supply of grille cloth from Radio Grille Cloth Headquarters and cut out a piece of Philco "Ribbed" cloth, enough to cover the new board. I tried my best to iron out the crease, but could not get it 100% ironed out, so I let it go as "good enough".

Then, I sprayed some Super 77 on the newly painted surface of the backing board, let it sit for about 15 minutes, and then applied the cloth to the board. It turned out well. Sorry, no photo.

more...

[Ron Ramirez]

So...after almost three weeks of curing...I decided today that it was time to rub the cabinet down with rottenstone and then give it a coat of wax.

I had previously purchased some rottenstone, a felt pad, and some "Wool-Lube" (what the guy behind the counter said I needed for a lubricant) for this purpose.

Bear in mind that I had never done the rottenstone process before...so I watched one of Bob Andersen's videos on how to do this. I noticed the only thing he had different than me was generic mineral oil instead of Wool-Lube.

Wool-Lube is more of a gel than a liquid. I think that the next time I do this sort of work that I will purchase mineral oil and use it instead.

But anyway...the rottenstone process seemed to work well; any remaining slight roughness on the finish was gone after the rubdown.

I then wiped the cabinet down with a clean rag.

Next, I began to wax the cabinet.

I have a very old can of Minwax wood wax. Old, and harder than heck to polish out...but it leaves a good wax coating.

Finally, after lots of elbow grease, I had a nicely waxed cabinet.

I installed the speaker screws (which I had lacquered a week or so ago), the grille cloth/backing board, and the escutcheon.

The final result:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum/37610_033.jpg]

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum/37610_034.jpg]

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum/37610_035.jpg]

Overall...not bad, I think. Not perfect...but not bad. The grain is filled and the surface is super smooth. Those were my main two goals.

Next up:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum/37610_036.jpg]

To clean up and attempt to restore this 37-640 chassis, for use in this cabinet. But that is a story for another thread.

So...that is it for this 38-624T cabinet.

[klondike98]

Lookin' Good!

[sam]

ron
looks great

sam

[NostalgiaRadioTime]

She's a beaut, Ron!