Hi folks,

Another hobby/part time job of mine is woodworking. I had this old Philco that was pretty much scrap (rusty chassis - speaker NG, etc..), so in the interest of furthering my cabinet repair skills (which need lots of "furthering"...), I decided to redo the cabinet, then sell it cheap or give it to someone who needs one. So, here's how far I've progressed (I hope you're not too bored by this amateur stuff).

For those of you who are wondering, the pics make the cabinet look pretty good "before" the rework. It wasn't....it was ready to fall apart, and the veneer was full of voids, cracks and loose areas:

1) Cabinet as bought by me 30+ years ago



2) Gently sanding the old veneer to produce a glue ready surface:



3) The cabinet falling apart as I suspected it would...



4) All the first sanding done - body filler in where needed prior to glue - loose nails removed etc...:



5) Gluing the cabinet back together :



6) First chunk of poly backed Beech veneer glued, cabinet glued, ready for joining:



7) Top/LHS veneer on and , front and RHS sanded ready for veneer:



All veneer on, flush trimmed, ready for cleanup sanding:



9) Cutouts done, some finish sanding to do before routering for inlay stripes:



10) Choice of stains - going to go with the Cherry and do a double coat, one before maple inlay stripes, then another after for contrast:



cheers for now - hopefully more later as inlays and staining proceeds.

John

Hello John,
Well I got to hand it to you that is fine job that your doing so far.
So how was it bending that veneer around those corners.


My project for this Sumer hopefuly is Building A Cabinet For my howard 99t Tombstone from scratch .

I have Philco chassis in need of a cabinet .
Forget off had what the chassis is right now your Cabinet looks to be a Philco 38-9t.

Sincerely Rich

Well John...if you're an amateur...I'm a tad pole!

Wonderful job, and please post pictures when complete!

I'm watching with great interest John.
EXCELLENT so far.

Hello John,
Did you use a trim router to clean up the edges of that veneer .
Sincerely Rich

Thanks for the kind words guys. I am having fun learning about this stuff.

The trimming was done with a laminate trim router (Porter Cable 7310) using a flush cut bit with a bearing. That gets the veneer "almost" flush, and the final cleanup was done using a random orbital sander, making sure that the rotation of the disc is always "toward" the cabinet in order to avoid splintering.

Making the slots for the maple inlay stripes will be a challenge. I hope I don't mess it up!

cheers

John

Oh... I see...

big fancy Power tools... lol

that's why I hate watching the New Yankee Workshop.

If you have an infinite number of top quality power tools you can do anything.

So a guy with a few typical hand tools is stuck.

I'd like TV Shows to demonstrate how to make reasonable projects with reasonable everyday average guy tools... y'know?

Of course if you have "everything" certainly you can make "anything".. DUH ....lol

Why don't they have a similarly useless type TV Program called:
"Make your Own Car"
Then take you to the GM assembly line factory and say : " See? See how easy it is"?

Hehehe, I have to admit that I chuckled pretty hard at your post Peter (grin) Yes, I have access to almost anything that I need in power tools, both in my own shop and at work, but I also gotta' say that as a part time (old retired guy) junior employee in the cabinet shop, I am daily in awe of the creations, skill, design abilities, and just the overall craftsmanship of my employer and co-worker, both of whom have been in cabinetmaking for 2+ decades.

This work could just as well be done with a sharp knife, a sanding block, a cabinet scraper, and some thought. I just "use what I got".

Right now I'm at a block that tools won't cure......the final finish needs to be a certain colour, and the inlaid stripes need to be a snug fit with no gaps, so I spent today doing test pieces of both inlay and stain. These require two things I don't have - a steady hand and an eye for colour. I wish I had "badrestorers" artistic skills....

cheers

John

Power tools are nice, but not mandatory to get excellent results. I have all of one power tool in my shop, and it's not even been opened from its package yet. All hand tools and manual saws.

A bastard file will easily take place of a router. Just make sure you work from the good side in pushing, not pulling.

Hello John,
Well I have been thinking of buying that Porter Cable 7310.
Right now I don't own a trim router.
Far as my routers go I've 4 routers my bigest is a 3 1/2 portercable
that I use in my router table .

Hey John, I was also going to pile on about the power tools but I'll hold back. I find it much easier (and less risky) to cut out the veneer with an exacto knife.

And double ditto for the inlays.

As for coloring. I'm not good with that either. Take some pictures of your samples in indoor vs outdoor vs flash light (I know you do photography!) and the tints will often jump out at you when they are wrong.

Then there's the po'boy's way of adding some toner on your first finish coat after you get it all close. That really helps to make it all match.

Thanks Slamned:
Well that's nice to know.. but how can I tell if I have a "bastard" file or not?
Is it very different looking from all others?
I wouldn't really know it from any other one I have.
So right now I just grab any other son-of-a-b**** file laying on my bench that looks like it'll work.

To be honest, I don't know the difference in files, besides some cut more than others. Before my local owned hardware store closed, they actually had them labeled as bastard files.

Most files will work, as long as it isn't too coarse. It takes a little practice, but a file works wonders. I haven't used a router to trim veneer or formica since I was 18. Started with a router, and went with a file since a file never needs adjustment to work.

A bastard file is just a mill file, one that is a single-cut type. Looking at the face of the file, there are just one set of angled lines. Removes a lot of material fast, leaves a rough surface, used on metals a lot.Bastard=single
A double-cut has has the cutting edges forming a vee, twice the cutting, leaves a finer surface, takes more time, though.
If you want to move a lot of wood, use a rasp, big teeth, leaves it really rough though.
Thanks to Mr.Woods, my metal shop teacher

Ok......it took a while - I was busy, and I waited until we were doing a clear spray in the shop. I can do my own lacquer spray, but I do it so rarely that I get out of practice, so I figured I'd just wait until the boss was spraying - he's good at it.

First of all I had to do the 1/4" inlay strips. I ripped them from a sheet of poly backed Maple veneer:



Then I set up the trim router with a 1/4" straight cutting bit and a short bushing so that the bit would cut the same depth all along the inlay channel and wouldn't be following the warping on the cabinet:



Then I set up the guide so that the channels would be cut in the correct places:



Here's the channels routed:



I glued on the base trim (Maple veneer), masked the inlay channels and stained the Beech veneer and Maple base veneer to make them darker than the trim:



Then I glued in the Maple trim inlay:



I then did one more coat of stain to complete the toning:



The last step was a 20% gloss, precatylised lacquer, two coats, NOT rubbed out yet (sorry about the dust - I missed it..). I'm not sure I'll rub it out glossy - I kind of like it like this:





The original veneer was Mahogany with Maple inlays. The original selection of veneers would give the finisher the ability to spray a lacquer coat without having the stain the cabinet and yet still end up with the correct colouring and toning. I didn't have any Mahogany veneer lying around, and I didn't feel like buying a sheet just for this experiment, so that's why I did the staining. If this was for a restoration and not just a learning exercise, I'd have done it as it was done originally.

That's it folks ..... thanks for following along!

cheers

John Bartley

Very nice John. That turned out sweet indeed. Sure makes one want to dive in, so to speak...Course it always looks easy when it's some one else doing the work.

Never enough pictures that's for sure...A thousand words and all.

And, from the world famous Norm A. " You can never have enough clamps " So true So true.

Hello John

A great result. I have a router with a fence but I dont think I'm skillful enough to hold it steady for the inlay particularly around the curve!

What is "poly veneer"? please

Seems you put it over the old venneer patched up with filler? In my experience this is a no good. However well fixed the old stuff is it eventually, couple of years maybe, wrestles with the new stuff and cracks appear in the new... Any comments appreciated

thanks Gary

Hello John,
I agree with you about the Sheen .
To me those old Philcos look better with less glossy sheen .

That's why on my Philco 610 I choose Satin .

I do have one question Far as when you applied the veneer .
don't you normaly put the veneer on the sides,

before putting the top on so that the top veneer would overhang the sides.

I never done any veneering yet maybe I'm wrong.

The only thing I've done is aplying Formica counter top

Sincerely Rich
P.S. Wow that cabinet is sure looking great so far John

Hi John,

What a splendid job you've made of this cabinet. Exemplary work indeed.

A friend sent me the link and I was so impressed decided to join the forum.

I like cabinet work but here in the UK veneer is very expensive to buy especially the nice burrs.

I like your comment about gently sanding whilst using a brute of a belt sander. I gave my belt sander away many years ago because I did more harm than good using it.

For an amateur your work is outstanding but I must agree with Radio fixer in regard to applying new veneer over the old veneer with the grain in the same direction as this is unreliable; may I suggest in future a better method is to totally remove the original outer veneer then apply the new; doing it this way the repair will stand up well for many years to come without the worry of splits appearing.

How did you apply the veneer around the curved section and secure it until the adhesive set?

Lovely job and I'm impressed. Col.

Whoa, baby!
So here I am, stumbling through this cabinet forum that I so seldom visit anymore....
John!.....VERY impressed here. VERY.....
After seeing that piece of craftsmanship, I have to "strap on a pair" myself and finish that Meersburg cabinet.
Congrats!