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.

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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