Philco 49-1040 restoration
 

While the weather is still nice, I'm going to try and squeeze in a couple cabinet refinishings. Specifically, a Philco 49-1040 and a GE 810. The tops on both are badly damaged and need new veneer :tears:

Here's the original listing for the Philco at a local antique shop. My first thought was that the CRT was shot, but oh-no - that's all dirt!
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Arrival at my place
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This turned out to be the dirtiest set I've ever worked on. There was a thick layer of black soot and pine needles covering the insides. Maybe a nearby Christmas tree went up in smoke ?
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Here's the delightfully filthy chassis.
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Here's the equally filthy CRT. It really cleaned up nice, but all the DAG fell off :( More importantly, it tests good.
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First up, I'm going to tackle the cabinet. The chassis can wait until winter.

I noticed that the top was made up of several strips of veneer. So, my first thought was to just replace the bad ones.
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I was concerned that the new strips would stand out too much so took it all off. I tried heat and steam, but no luck and reverted to brute force.
I saved the large scraps to use as patches elsewhere.
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My next thought was to go old school and join the edges of my veneer strips with veneer tape and try to glue them down while maintaining a tight seam. Then I saw jeyurkon's Sylvania restoration project and the large sheet of veneer he used. I inquired and found out it came from veneersupplies.com. So I ordered up a nice 2' x 8' sheet of facecut veneer. More than enough for this set and my GE 810.

First, I had to patch up all the dings from my forceful top removal. I also tightened up some loose joints.
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Here I've cut a new piece with a 2" overhang all round.
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I'm going to use the technique I picked up from Reece of coating both surfaces with diluted wood glue and allowing to dry.
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I used some clothespins to make sure it was centered over the cabinet before using an iron to re-activate the glue.
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Finally, I carefully trimmed it down to size with a utility knife and small block plane.
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That left patching a few damaged areas. Here's the worst one. I cut away the damage until I had a clean edge. Then rubbed over it with the side of a pencil to make a template.
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I used that to cut a patch from some of the old veneer I saved from the top and glued it in place.
I brushed on a little clear shellac to seal the veneer. I'll be adding a few more layers and sanding down to fill the grain. I need to darken up that seam too.
I think it turned out well so far :)
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Now, how to deal with that control area :scratch2: Then on to some toner lacquer.

What species of wood did these sets take? Mahogany?

Yes, it's Mahogany. The legs, screen frame, and control area are solid and very pink when sanded.
The rest is veneer and lighter in color. I was concerned the new veneer wouldn't match well, but once I sanded the old veneer it was a good match.

Aww,man ! That's Bee-Yoo-Tee-Full !

You have done another excellent job on that cabinet, both the work itself and the documentation. I also have a 49-1040, and mine has a flip-down panel covering the controls below the screen. Does (or did) yours have one as well? I cannot see any hinge points in the pictures.

Thanks guys. Nope, no control door.
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It cleaned up fairly well with Howard's Mahogany Restore-a-Finish. I'll see what I can do about touching up the finish in this area to avoid refinishing.
I hope to preserve these decals.
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Now where am I gonna find a Philco dealer :scratch2:
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any youtube videos on it?

Not yet. I have about an hour of raw footage though. I'll try to edit it down to something interesting.

i like watching your youtubes. as motion pictures are worth a million words.

I'm just about done with grain filling and leveling. I'm using clear shellac and lots of sanding. Tedious and messy, but essential to get a smooth finish.
It looks like a splotchy mess right now, but a coat of lacquer sanding sealer will take care of that.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4090/...e1135ae7_z.jpg

The real challenge will be matching the new finish to the old.
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Here's the first two parts. Enjoy.

part 1

part 2

I finished grain filling and moved on to the lacquer. I thoroughly cleaned the control area and gave it a couple coats of Deft sanding sealer lacquer to protect it then masked it off.

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Finally, time for some toner.
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My plan was to use Mohawk Dark Red Mahogany, but only had 3/4 of a can left :sigh:
That was just enough for one even coat over the whole cabinet. One more coat would have been perfect!

Luckily, I had a couple cans of Red Mahogany / Cherry on hand :thmbsp: It's not as dark so I had to use about four more coats. It's not really that dark - the lighting is poor out on the back porch.
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Here it is in some better lighting.
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I think the new finish is a pretty good match for the old. I will be touching it up a bit then giving the whole cabinet 4-6 coats of clear gloss Deft.
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That leaves the screen frame. Piece of cake after that big heavy cabinet.
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Bandersen, your skills are impressive. Wish you were my next door neighbor - like to come over and learn from you. That old TV cabinet looks fantastic.

BTW, I really appreciate all the detailed photos and write up you presented here. If you do a video on cabinet refinishing, let us know.

Carl

Thanks. I think practice and patience is the key. It took hours to fill in the grain and sand it smooth. Now, I need to wait a few days to let the lacquer fully cure before rubbing it out.

As for the toner - you just need to practice on some scraps. Once you get the right distance, speed and spacing of your passes with the spray can, it's pretty easy.

I posted a couple videos on the project to my youtube channel. I'll put up part three soon.

A friend stopped by today and commented on the design of this set's four long legs. It hadn't occurred to me, but I guess this is a fairly unique design. Sort of a tabletop with it's own table built in :)

Were there other sets with long legs like this ?

That is some seriously impressive veneer work. I applaud your skills!

Another progress update
 

I've been slowly touching up the control area and working on the "picture frame".

The were many dings on the slats and around the control decals.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4113/...87165596_z.jpg

I used Howard's Restore-a-Finish to clean and work out the blemishes.
Then, I used a small brush and lacquer (clear or toned depending on the damage) to fill the dings in.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1151/...6405f2b7_z.jpg

Once dry, I sanded them flush being careful not to break through to the wood. It took several passed to fill the deeper ones.
A more traditional (and quicker!) method would be to melt a tinted shellac stick into the dings, but it's something I've never tried.
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Then, I clear coated it with several coats of semi-gloss lacquer.
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Loads of dings in the frame too. I used some mahogany wood filler on the larger ones and shellac on the smaller.
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I spruced up the front panel with some red mahogany minwax stain.
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That leaves one major task - mask off the frame and paint the inside bead metallic gold.
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WOW!!! :thmbsp:
Another amazing restoration!
jr

Sure, my Westinghouse H-181. Oh, wait -- the chassis is stamped Philco in the back!

Phil

http://antiqueradio.org/art/temp/WestinghouseH181An.gif

Animated GIF - very nice :D Are other Westinghouse models re-branded too ?
I've head these guys referred to as a "tabletop on stilts".
I'm a little surprised at how many variations of this set they cranked out. It seems like a somewhat primitive design for 1949 :scratch2:


Thanks! Of course, I still need to get it working :sigh:
The chassis is nasty looking, but I think it's in good shape underneath the gunk.

I'm pretty excited about this resto-I have seen a lot of these, but they are always trashed. We owned a pretty nice cabinet for one for a couple of years, before giving up on finding a chassis and dumping it. They seem to have been fairly popular, so perhaps they filled a niche for people that wanted a cheap floor model (possibly cost just a few dollars more than a table model).

Aw, that stinks! Once my GE810 is done, I think I'll tackle the Philco 60 I just picked up then jump into this chassis.
I fear it's going to take a while...

That is some incredible work Bob!
I think I'll go throw my Westinghouse cabinet away now, I know I can never do a job that good. :no:

As for a Philco connection to Westinghouse, the H-619 I'm restoring in another thread has the Philco style corners on the chassis, where Philco uses the rubber isolation mounts.
I don't know if it ever used them or not though, and since it was probably a patented Philco design I think possibly they built the chassis for WH, or at least did the metal stamping.

Excellent job, Bob, and great touch-up on the dial area. Whew!

Thanks guys! It all would have been a lot easier if I could have broken down the cabinet, but it's built like a tank. Lots of glue blocks and wood screws reinforcing the joints.

I finished off the picture frame this afternoon. I roughed up the lacquer that sprayed onto the inner lip so it would accept paint more readily.
Then masked it off and gave it a few light coats of Rustoleum Specialty Metallic Gold.
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Here it is with the safety glass temporarily reinstalled. Much classier looking now I think :)
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I'll touch up the inner screen surround with some "ivory bisque" AKA "off-white". They sure do have a lot of silly paint names these days.
That leaves one cosmetic task. The channel selector plate is in rough shape.
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I believe the dealer would pop in up to eight tuning strips for your particular area.
How strange that the first position is labeled "1-2" in 1949. Perhaps this plate was used in earlier Philco sets too :scratch2:
The rest of the sequence is 3, 4, 5-6, 7, 8-9, 10-11, 12-13.

I'm considering fabricating a new one from scratch or perhaps someone out there has a spare one in better condition ?

WOW! from a train wreck to a proud display set. I have three eye sores hidden in the basement, now i'm all guilt ridden.

I'ts a MUSEUM piece! With your restoration talents, you SHOULD quit your day job! Glad to have the likes of you and Phil Nelson around!

Joe L’Erario and Ed Feldman could really learn sumpin' from you!

Cheers,

Thanks! Don't feel guily though. It's a messy, nasty process. Lots of fumes too.

LOL "The Furniture Guys". I had to look those names up :o

I grew up watching Roy Underhill on the Woodwright's Shop. Probably why I rarely use power tools :)

I wish I could quit the three jobs I'm currently juggling. I just don't have the time to sling much solder right now.

On the other hand, my jobs involve sitting in front of a computer at all hours of the day and night so I get to post a lot and search for more treasures on ebay ;)

you almost need a DIY vented paint booth for that kind of work, that way you could do it all seasons.

Hi Bob,

Well, I picked a GE 810 and a Philco 49-1040 tonight. So I will continue to follow this thread and the GE 810 thread with great interest! Nice work so far. I hope I can do as well.

Yeah, a paint booth sure would be nice :)

I picked up some reproduction rubber corner mounts. I've used these in radios before and they work great but was wondering how well they would work on this heavy chassis.

Mystery solved as soon as I pried off one of the rock hard old ones. There are metal insert reinforcing them.
I slid these into the new mounts and they work great! The control shafts line up perfectly with the cabinet holes now.
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Next up, I'm cleaning the knobs. It's nice to have a complete set for a change.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4012/...d2ebed13_z.jpg

Note that this set has an aftermarket "channel adjuster" control added onto the contrast control
That's a potentiometer with a switch wired up like this.
http://www.bobandersen.com/images/ph...20adjuster.jpg

What does the Channel Adjuster control do?

Bob,

I have the same issue. Did only two of the rubber mounts have a metal piece in it? I only found two in mine (Don't know which locations) and who knows what has happened over the years.

While I won't be able to start work on mine, I did check the CRT and it is low emission. But that will be good for a start.

Fine tuning. Seems to have worked like a varactor diode somehow. I guess they figured owner's wouldn't need fine tuning originally.

All four had the metal shims. Maybe you can fabricate a substitute ?

Looks like an AFC circuit in an FM radio. This can only work if the TV set does not use the intercarrier trick (4.5MHz sound IF taken off the video detector diode).

Thanks Bob. I suspected that! And yes, should be easy with patience to make "New" ones! Great thread...

Right you are. It's a split carrier with a sound IF of 22.1 Mc.

I decided to repaint the metal outer knobs. Kona Brown was the closest paint I could find. I stripped them with some citrus stripper. Some of the ol dpaint was really stubborn so I just sanded them smooth. Then, primer, Kona Brown and a clear coat. I used Simichrome metal polish on the knobs.
I think they turned out pretty nice.
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