Hey, hey. Seeing as how there is no way to do any kind of a full refinishing on this cabinet here, and the finish appears to be surface flaking more than anything else, I've decided to go with the Howards Restor-A-Finish and Feed-N-Wax. I've seen and read about various degrees of success with this stuff; hopefully it will perk the old finish back up some, and figure I can re-wax every few months as needed. Never used this product before, and got dark walnut, as opposed to regular walnut, as this cabinet appears pretty dark to begin with. Before I open the can, I would like to know if this will be too dark? I can still exchange it. Thanks.
Well, I dragged the cabinet out to the balcony a couple of days ago to see what could be done with the ancient refinish job. Someone in the past re-did the top, or rather, applied some kind of stain of a darker color- pretty sure it wasn't toner, or I'm not exactly sure what was used, but the coating on the top was insanely thick (thicker than any coating I've ever seen, aside from polyurethane bar tops) and scraped almost down to the wood in spots- fortunately not to the veneer itself- and was about as hard as a rock. The rest of the cabinet had a "wash" of the darker stuff, to match the top, but in a very light coat. Had to take it down in layers, finding an old ring in the original finish near the bottom (probably why they coated it so thick) and wound up sanding it pretty much down to the wood. Time for grain filler, toner lacquer, clear coat, waxing, buffing etc...right? WRONG!!! I decided that I'm not laying down any more money for more "products". Just can't do another 50-$100+, nor do I have the facilities here, SO, I went with what I had... Howards' Walnut Restor-a-Finish and Feed & Wax. I first applied the muck as per the instructions. HAHAHA. Didn't seem to do anything at all. Spent a few hours applying and wiping, repeating over and over till it got dark outside, with nearly no results. The wind that day was strong and steady, and increasingly so towards the night. This would either work, or the whole project would come to a standstill. The directions clearly state: DO NOT POUR DIRECTLY ONTO SURFACE. Having not much to lose, I dumped about 1/2 the can directly on the top, and paddled it on, taking care to make sure it didn't run down the sides. Temps that night were in the low-mid 50's with a constant 10-20 mph winds, and gusts. I really didn't want to leave it out there overnight, but the humidity was low, and I took a chance. Next morning, I was surprised and pleased to see that it appeared to take the pigment, and was virtually dry. Did about a hour touch up and waxed it. The results went far above my expectations of the day before... Pictures to come
Here are a couple of "after" shots with the Howards'. Need a new patch cord to put remaining 77 pictures from the old phone onto the co1]mputer; those have the cabinet spruce up process. This thing is by no stretch of the imagination "professionally" done, but it actually looks better in person than the pics show... It has a very nice presence about it, and all that view it are kind of taken aback!
One thing that should be kept in mind, if you start rubbing wax over a finish where there are sections that have flaked off, when you actually do get around to stripping and refinishing the cabinet you will have to make absolutely sure that the wax is removed completely before you try to put a new finish over it. The finish on that 38-1 is pretty much dead, a cabinet scraper will take whatever is still on there right off at this point.
Regards
Arran
Hey, Art- That's a Phine looking Philco!!! Is that the original grille cloth? the lighting makes it look like a '37 pattern. Doesn't seem to be a whole lot of info on the 38-1 out there. How does yours perform? This baby plays solid and strong for hours on end with absolutely no surprises. Comes on every time at 15 seconds without fail, running on a 1 amp panel mount fuse. And I know what you mean about the wavy grain, as mine shone through with a lot of elbow grease and a crude re-do of the top. This is as good as it's going to get for the moment, but carries its' own weight in eye appeal (I am giving this thing to my brother, and it may hang around long enough for me to revisit and properly restore the cabinet and some iffy electrical items that are bothersome to me-probably to no one else- if my financial situation improves).
And thanks Arran for the info/advise, but I carefully weighed all of the options available to me and realized that the cabinet needed a complete strip down and refinish to begin with, in which case it didn't matter what I did to it; neither good nor bad. The cabinet is very presentable as is. It'll be perfectly swell. For the moment. Perhaps if I sink another $200-$300 into it, I could get my asking price of $159.50 out of it...
Electro:
The original grille cloth was badly stained (see what I mean?) underneath a white "canvas-like" cover-up. I tried to treat it but it was IMPOSSIBLE to remove the ugliness on the original.
At the time I could not find a chevron cloth so used the one shown. Plays wonderfully well.
How horribly tragic about that cloth, Art! What was it about women putting potted plants that required copious amounts of water on top of electrical devices??? My old (previously replaced) grille cloth looked almost identical to your old replacement from afar (faded white). Your set REALLY looks awesome!!! These are powerful performing radios and well worth the effort to restore! I think I really have acquired a passion for these Philco sets as of late, and thus far have rejuvenated 2 consoles and have given one to my sister, now this one to my brother. 2 down and 6 more to go for the rest of my siblings (and myself)... This may take awhile...
Perhaps if I sink another $200-$300 into it, I could get my asking price of $159.50 out of it... 
What was it about women putting potted plants that required copious amounts of water on top of electrical devices??? My old (previously replaced) grille cloth looked almost identical to your old replacement from afar (faded white). Your set REALLY looks awesome!!! These are powerful performing radios and well worth the effort to restore! I think I really have acquired a passion for these Philco sets as of late, and thus far have rejuvenated 2 consoles and have given one to my sister, now this one to my brother. 2 down and 6 more to go for the rest of my siblings (and myself)... This may take awhile... 
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