[Eliot Ness]

I'm glad the Constantine's is working out for you, I'm pretty sure that is what I had used in the past with pretty decent results. Doing a search it sounds like people either love CrystaLac or hate it. I had thought about trying some but based on your experience I just might stay away from it.

I've read about people using the concoction that Arran was talking about earlier, Elmer's Wood Putty (thinned), with some decent results. I've never tried thinning it to use as a wood filler, but it is one of my favorite wood putty's. Seems to be about 36 ways to skin a cat and you just have to find the method that works best for you.

[PhilcoJohn]

Nice job Ron...You have to have a lot of patients to redo a radio cabinet, especially a big console.. They look great keep up up to date on the progress!

[Ron Ramirez]

John (Eliot) - I think you're right, you have to find the method that works best for you and go with it.

PhilcoJohn - yes, this does take a lot of patience, and I'll be the first to admit that I don't have enough of that. But I will also say that I never would have thought three years ago that I could achieve these results with cabinets. I'm still a rank amateur at this but I'm satisfied with my work so far this year.

Speaking of which...

This morning, I masked off the 610T. I had bought one can of Extra Dark Walnut Ultra Classic with my latest supply of toners from the Wood Finishers Store, just to try it and discover the difference between it and the Extra Dark Walnut Tone Finish. The Ultra Classic version is different - in a good way, I think. Very dark, yet not quite as dark as the Tone Finish version. Plus, having dye instead of pigment, it allows any wood grain to show through.

I am now convinced that this is the type to use on those Philco cathedrals and tombstones that have large, very dark areas, where we have used Extra Dark Walnut and Van Dyke Brown Tone Finish in the past.

Check it out on the 610T:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...0007-3.jpg]

A very pleasing contrast, I think, without going overboard.

A tiny bit of blushing occurred on the left corner of the trim. A quick spritz of No Blush Plus took care of that.

Once I removed the paper and tape, I discovered the paper had reacted with the Medium Walnut in two tiny spots on the right side. Fortunately, I was able to lightly sand those small areas and spritz a tiny bit of Medium Walnut in those areas. Looks good now.

Next came the 42-22CL cabinet. I sanded it down with 320 grit while I was letting the 610T trim dry. After sanding, wiping down, and blowing it off with a can of compressed air, I applied two coats of Medium Walnut toner to it.

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...0008-2.jpg]

This cabinet is turning out quite well indeed; actually, better than I expected it to. I think the average person will not notice where the scratches were, or at least, they will not know how bad those scratches were. I can see a small bit of scarring, but then again, I know where they were so I will notice the area more.

In all, a very productive weekend. I am quite pleased.

[TA Forbes]

VERY nice, Ron!

I use Behlin medium walnut. It is dark, but can be rubbed out to lighten the overall color.

[Art Hoch]

Looks good to me Ron.

[Marsupial]

I am with Aran on the filler: I used Lepage when I couldn't find anything else, seems to be very similar to the Elmer filler, and is available around here. Seems to behave pretty much like in your pictures - which makes me more confident I didn't do too wrong using what was available.

Those cabinets look great, Ron. Being novice at woodworking doesn't mean you can't have good results: those are awesome. Don't you like the feeling you get when you take an aged, distressed cabinet and get something that looks as great as that when you're done with it?

[Arran]

That 42-22CL is coming along nicely, I can't even see where those deep scratches used to be. I found the steam iron technique very useful while fixing a burl or stump walnut veneer top on a Canadian G.E KL-500, it looked like someone stripped the top with a BBQ scraper. You can't win every battle this way but it does seem to improve the odds.
With regard to the LePage wood putty, or whatever it is called, yes it does look similar to the Elmers Wood Putty, except the LePage comes in these plastic toothpaste type tubes instead of a plastic tub. I haven't tried it myself but had thought of it at the time I was looking into grain fillers until I located the Elmers brand in Home Depot.
With the Elmers the only thing that concerns me is the colour, it's supposed to be walnut colour but it looks like a light greyish brown, it looks alright if you wet it with water but I don't know about lacquer. As I mentioned before I was experimenting on the cabinet for a battery set where I knew I was going to spray over it with toning lacquer anyhow.
Regards
arran

[Marsupial]

Well, the LePage seems to be very similar, but comes in a variety of colors (yes, in toothpaste tubes! - great for those like me who doesn't do too much cabinetry work)

When I worked on my kitchen table (hey, gotta use those radio repair skills as much as we can, don't we??) I accidentally got a "natural" colored tube instead of a dark wallnut one to match my stain. Well, they are right advertising on their tubes that this stuff can be stained, it takes it very well and gives a rather natural look once finished, its hard to tell where's the grain filler. But it does some shrinkage, that's something to keep in mind in the planning, making a 2nd application can be good for deeper groove filling.

[Ron Ramirez]

Progress report:

After not doing any cabinet work since Sunday, I took a few minutes yesterday to do the following:

* Gave the grille of the 42-22CL one coat of sanding sealer, sanded it, gave it a coat of clear lacquer, sanded it again, then one more coat of clear.

I returned to the cabinets this afternoon, and here's what was accomplished:

* Toned the 42-22CL grille with a couple coats of Medium Walnut, followed by a coat of clear Deft
* Wet sanded the 42-22CL and the 610T with 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper
* Wiped down the 42-22CL and 610T
* Gave both cabinets their first two "money coats" of clear lacquer
* After letting the 42-22CL dry a bit, reunited the grille with the cabinet, along with some Titebond II to hold the grille in place
* Applied the first coat of grain filler on both sides of the 38-2670B cabinet

Not bad for an afternoon's (and early evening's) work, I think. The 610T is looking very nice at this point, very smooth overall. The 42-22CL isn't too bad, either.

I need to apply the very dark lacquer inside the grille openings of the 610T, and then the PHILCO decal. I'll follow that up with a few more "money coats" of clear, and it will be finished.

I need to find a "B'DC'ST - POLICE" decal for the 42-22CL. I was quite dismayed to discover Radio Daze no longer carries decals with these two words in a straight line - all of theirs are curved now to match the contour of a knob.

Sometime next week, I hope to be applying lacquer to the 38-2670.

I'm going to go ahead and finish these three up, as much as I can given the 42-22CL decal dilemma I find myself in, and then turn to the other cabinets which need veneer repairs.

[Ron Ramirez]

More progress this afternoon...

I applied dark brown lacquer to the inner edges of the 610T grille openings, after which I gave it another light wet sanding, this time with 600 grit - except in the area where the PHILCO decal is placed. Then, I applied PHILCO decals on the 610T and 42-22CL cabinets. I let both dry in the sun a while. Then, I applied two good coats of clear Deft to the 610T cabinet.

Here's how the 610T looked after stripping, and after the first coat of grain filler:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...0001-5.jpg]

And here is how the 610T looks now:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...0001-7.jpg]

This 610T has turned out to have the best grain fill job I have ever managed to accomplish. It is very smooth and looks great. Oh, yes, it has imperfections - chiefly from where someone, probably a kid, drilled several indentations in the front panel. I filled all of those with Timber Mate wood filler. Somehow, I did not get two of them completely filled, but oh well...it still looks much better than it did before I began to work on it.

Now, let's take a look at the 42-22CL.

First, a "before" photo:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...2f5547.jpg]

Now, an "after" shot - not yet finished, but getting there:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...0002-6.jpg]

I still need to find that "B'DC'ST - POLICE" decal to go above the center shaft hole. Then I can dust it off and start applying final coats of lacquer.

Take a close look at the right front of the cabinet:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...0003-6.jpg]

Notice how the signs of the multiple deep scratches are mostly gone now?

I am very pleased with my progress. I've already accomplished more this year than I did all of last summer. (I have still not fully completed the 42-761EZ Tropic cabinet from last year - it needs decals. Fortunately, Radio Daze now carries the decals it needs so I need to make a decal order.)

[DeckApe]

Ron--

Is this the critter you're looking for? I'd be glad to donate it to the cause (I have two)...

[Image: http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii66/...Ldecal.jpg]

[Ron Ramirez]

Yes!! That is exactly what I need! I'll send you a PM, DeckApe. Thanks!

Good news and bad news on the cabinet front today...

I went out this morning and was rushing my work as I had to be away this afternoon. I sprayed what I thought would be final clear coats on the 610T, and stupidly left it in the sun. Result: Minor bubbles/blisters on the front panel, and a few serious ones on the bottom trim in front. I'm hoping I can save all of my hard work on that cabinet with some careful wet sanding. I feel the ones on the panel itself will be fairly easy to sand smooth; I'm not so sure about the ones on the bottom trim, but I will do the best that I can with it. Lesson learned - do not leave a freshly lacquered cabinet in the sun!

On the good news side, I did get the second coat of grain fill applied to the top and front of my 38-2670B cabinet. I did not have time to apply the grain filler to the sides, I will do that tomorrow if it isn't raining.

[Ron Ramirez]

OK, if anyone's still following along, here's a look at today's progress.

I carefully wet sanded the 610T cabinet with 400 grit wet/dry paper. I ended up having to mask off the cabinet and re-tone the bottom trim on front. Later, it received a few more coats of clear Deft. As far as I am concerned...it is done. Not quite as good as it would have been, but still pretty good. Photos later.

I also applied grain filler to both sides of the 38-2670B cabinet. It will be ready for lacquer this coming week.

[Paul Philco322]

Love the CL Radio cabinet, wish I had a complete one on my nightstand!

Paul

[Ron Ramirez]

Moving right along...

Yesterday, I began to sand down the 38-2670B cabinet in preparation for its first coats of lacquer. About 3/4 of the way through the job, though, it began to thunder outside, so I quit for the day.

This afternoon, I sanded the one side that did not get sanded yesterday. Wiped the cabinet down, sprayed it with compressed air, wiped it down again. Then, I gave it a coat of sealer followed by two coats of Medium Walnut toner.

The results:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum..._00001.jpg]

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum..._00002.jpg]

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum..._00003.jpg]

As usual, light spots you see are reflections from the work table. The cabinet is a uniform color of Medium Walnut now, save for the upper trim which will get a darker shade of toner anyway.

The next step is to carefully mask off most of the cabinet, leaving only the upper white wood trim and the bottom trim exposed. These areas will receive a couple coats of a darker color - Perfect Brown Ultra Classic. I only want some mild contrast, not too dark. After this, if all goes well, the entire cabinet will receive its first coats of clear Deft lacquer.