[don'tdomelikethat]

While I'm celebrating the fact that my rebuilt Philco 116 chassis is up and running, my thoughts are turning towards restoring the cabinet. Here it is at present:
[Image: http://i795.photobucket.com/albums/yy239...116cab.jpg]
As you can see, it no longer has the 2-tone colors of the shouldered Philcos of the day. To the best of my eyes, it looks like the cabinet was stripped, EXCEPT for the front panel. The reason I think the front panel was left alone is because the original Philco decal is still there. What I need to do is restore the original dark color to the top, sides, and the columns in front. My problem is I don't know what a previous owner used for the refinish job you see in the picture. My worry is that whatever type of finish is on there now ( it looks like a "hand rub" type of finish-not sprayed or brushed on, and it's not very thick looking-it matches the gloss of the front panel) will not be good for the Mohawk toner I'll use. I don't really want to strip this cabinet because the front panel where the dial, knobs, and decal are is in nice shape, and I don't want to chance messing it up with stripper.
My question is this. Can I cover the front panel well, and seal the rest of the cabinet with several coats of shellac, not knowing if the shellac will react with whatever the finish is on there now, and use the Mohawk toner on top of the dried shellac? Will the shellac be a good barrier coat to keep whatever is on there now away from the Mohawk toner?

[Alan Douglas]

I'd try the toner directly on whatever is there now. A wipedown with lacquer thinner wouldn't be a bad idea. If it doesn't work, you haven't lost anything except some time.

[Ron Ramirez]

Ditto what Alan said.

I've discussed these 1936 Philco cabinets with a few people, and a few of us have wondered if Philco used wood with some impurities during that time period, or a cheaper formulation of dark tinted lacquer, that caused the toner to come off over the decades. It's really odd that the 1936 model shouldered tombstones all have a tendency to lose the extra dark walnut toner on the top, sides, and front trim.

I have a 116B that was like yours when I bought it...all of the dark toner was gone. I cleaned it up as Alan suggested and sprayed new toner on it. Looks pretty good now...not perfect, but much better than it did with no toner. It's been two years now and so far, so good.

Correction: My early version 116B still had some toner when I bought it in 2008, but a lot was missing. Before and after photos to follow.

[Ron Ramirez]

How my 116B looked when I bought it:

[Image: http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k420/...f/1163.jpg]

And how it looked after a cleanup and application of new Extra Dark Walnut toner:

[Image: http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k420/...116aft.jpg]

I must be getting old...I had forgotten the procedure I used to take care of mine. I first scraped off the remaining original toner while leaving the front panel alone. I then sealed the cabinet with shellac in case there were any impurities in the wood. This was followed by Behlens Extra Dark Walnut toner, with the front panel covered with newspaper and masking tape. Then the tape and paper were removed, and the entire cabinet received a few coats of clear Deft.

More details here in this thread from 2008:
http://philcoradio.com/phorum/showthread.php?tid=1053

BTW, it's been more than two years and I still haven't touched the chassis yet.

[Arran]

I would try the lacquer on the side first in a test area, like Mr. Douglas mentioned, see if anything bubbles or whether it sticks or not, my guess is that they used some sort of paste varnish over top of hardware store oil stain. Knowing from experience you will likely need to strip the sides and top, I haven't had much luck spraying lacquer over anything but lacquer and sometimes shellac. It would be fairly simple to cover the front panel, polyethylene vapor barrier (6 mill) held on by a double layer of masking tape around the edges. When using the stripper use an artist's brush and a razor blade to strip it around the edges of the front panel so you can control where the stripper goes. When you have finished stripping use a hair dryer to warm up the tape before removing it so it doesn't pull the finish off the front panel.
With regard to the flaking finishes on the tops and sides of these set there could be any number of reasons for it. The bulk of the cabinet appears to be made out of one piece of laminated poplar, what's more the grain of the top layer runs from back to front so expansion and contraction could be a culprit, if the wood was contaminated there would be one production run with the flaking finish but not the majority. I'm thinking that it must have been a poor quality brand of shaded lacquer, the previous arched model 16B cabinets and many of the consoles seem to have this same flaking problem on the shaded portions; or it could have been a poor quality sealer, early 90's G.M cars had a problem with a bad batch of primer causing flaking paint.
Best Regards
Arran

[don'tdomelikethat]

Ron,
Do you remember how many cans of toner it took to do your cabinet? I'm ready to order my extra dark walnut, but need to know how many cans to order...I'm cheap, and don't want to order 2 when only one is necessary.

[Ron Ramirez]

One will be enough if this is the only cabinet you plan to spray.

[Jayce]

Refinishing and eventually putting correct cords on my Philcos will be something I'll try and tackle one of these years myself. Usually we replace the old cloth cords with rubber ones that are available and most of my Philcos show thier use finish-wise.

[Alan Douglas]

It took half a can, maybe less, to do mine. (And I still haven't done anything my my chassis either).

As found (a gift from a co-worker) it had some problems:

[Image: http://antiqueradios.com/gallery/d/12278...6CABNT.JPG]

Aside from the nice red varnish, and the painted-over-bondo inlay strips, the previous restorer had stapled the grill cloth into the cabinet but forgot to check the length of the staples:

[Image: http://antiqueradios.com/gallery/d/12277...6DAMAG.JPG]

I imagine he was pretty pissed, and just abandoned the project.

This is how it looks now:

[Image: http://antiqueradios.com/gallery/d/12277...esized.jpg]

It will never be perfect but it was fun trying.

[Ron Ramirez]

That is a great save, Alan. You did an excellent job of bringing that one back.

The "before" photo reminds me of the first tombstone I ever owned, an RCA 5T1. It had been painted orange, yuck. This was back around 1976 or so. It turned out to be the first cabinet I ever refinished, also. If I had known then what I know now...I was young and did not know then that polyurethane was not the proper finish for an old radio cabinet.

[Music in a bottle]

That is a great save, Alan. You did an excellent job of bringing that one back.

The "before" photo reminds me of the first tombstone I ever owned, an RCA 5T1. It had been painted orange, yuck. This was back around 1976 or so. It turned out to be the first cabinet I ever refinished, also. If I had known then what I know now...I was young and did not know then that polyurethane was not the proper finish for an old radio cabinet.

Do you still have it these days Ron?

[Ron Ramirez]

No, that 5T1 is long gone. I don't have any of the radios I had way back then.

I guess the radio in my collection now that I have owned the longest is a 16B cathedral that is in bad shape. I bought it at Radiofest; I don't remember what year, it's been that long.

[Music in a bottle]

Sort of makes a person flinch seeing those staple ends on the face! Ouch! Nice turn around though, I must admit. From building homes and running nail guns, the first thing you learn if the nail length is questionable, is to angle the projectile, rather than firing straight in. Oh well, makes for a great laugh I suppose.

[Music in a bottle]

No, that 5T1 is long gone. I don't have any of the radios I had way back then.

I guess the radio in my collection now that I have owned the longest is a 16B cathedral that is in bad shape. I bought it at Radiofest; I don't remember what year, it's been that long.

I always liked those 16B's. Do you plan to do anything with it, or just going to part it out?

[Ron Ramirez]

Music, I'll fix my 16B up one of these days. I simply do not have the right "round tuit" yet.