Sunday, March 16, 2014

Radio Cabinet Restore

 Jen's parents owned an antique Philco radio cabinet that had not worked for quite some time and were generous enough to let us take it home and see if we could breathe some new life into it.  When we got it home we could not resist plugging it in to see what would happen and as soon as we did the radio protested by showering us both with sparks.  Needless to say we unplugged it right away and agreed all of the original electronics needed to be replaced.

Before Shot -
The Original Radio Electronics
Before Shot - Doesn't Look Too Bad, But
Definitely in Need of a Refresh
























The condition of the original finish was not too shabby outside of some fading and bare spots where the finish had flaked off.  After experimenting with paint stripper and sand paper we found the sand paper worked the best and we decided to try to keep the portions of the original finish that were still in good shape, mainly the slats on the front that conceal the speaker.   After the sanding was complete we wiped the cabinet down and applied a fresh coat of pure linseed oil (yet another thank you to harold and Viena Harr) which gave the cabinet a very nice cherry color.

Post-Finish Application, Pre-Radio Install
Out With the Old...






















With the new finish completed the last step was to install a new set of speakers and radio.  After some research we elected to go with a touch screen car stereo to give the cabinet a sleeker look. Car stereos are made to run off of car batteries and use direct current.  To make the stereo work with a wall outlet we had to re-purpose a power adapter from an old game console which ran off the same type of power.  The switch shown below the radio in the picture is what powers on and off the adapter.

After Shot.  We Love the Look of it in Front of the Pallet Wood