New computer desk.

[Retired]

Hi,

Many thanks breatheasy for your kind comments.

When I retired in 2000 I knew extremely little of radio but I needed a hobby for the winter months and was introduced to valve radio's. This was totally new to me both the electronic side and the wooden cabinets opened up a whole new world to explore so in effect I started from scratch on electronics but had plenty of general woodworking experience to fall back upon although I had never attempted cabinet restoration previously.

I started off with scrap vintage radios knowing I could not damage them further then over the next ten years or so built on each success all the while working on my own and spending lots of time reading and experimenting. I've fully restored in excess of 100 sets but it was always the cabinets which I favoured. I'm not the sharpest tool in the kit by any means so what I can do can easily be done by anyone else; I joined a vintage radio forum and subscribed to a vintage radio publication. My radio collection grew to over 70 sets and my workshop ended up virtually bursting with all the radios and test gear which was accumulated.

I enjoyed my time restoring all these sets and many are well described as restoration stories on forums and I also had quite a few articles published but even now as I type I still know very little about vintage radio but I enjoy sharing my stories and my new experiences with like minded people. I picked up lots of new techniques such as veneering using hot hide glue; French polishing and even progressed into winding my own transformers starting with small radio output transformers then eventually I wound a really big transformer which still supplies 3 phase 415V into my garage. I believe anyone who genuinely wants to tackle any job can do so with patience and practice learning from the many mistakes as I have done. I no longer do any radio work because I feel I've reached the stage that I know for certain I can restore any vintage radio from basket case to showroom finish so for me the interest has now faded; I don't want to restore anything unless it poses a real challenge; at the moment I'm still setting up my garage as garage/workshop and restoring a number of machines; once I'm happy with all my kit I'll start on projects both in metal and wood. I'm about to make a start on a pantorouter or floating router and 'll post details as work in progress. Yesterday I bought and collected a rather nice Hydrovane 6 air compressor so I've another machine to play with; this will replace my deafening 3hp direct drive compressor; at the moment I have four compressors and four lathes; big boys and their toys etc? I ramble on but I do like to share information and I'm always keen to learn new techniques from my superiors.

Here are a few pictures of one of the cabinets I restored which I finished in French polish (Shellac). Around 36 years ago I made a sideboard and wanted to French polish it; I bought a book by the author Charles Hayward on French polishing and this book virtually put me off French polishing forever because it was so complicated and I ended up varnishing the sideboard. Once again I was drawn to French polishing when I started to restore the radio cabinets but this time I did not read the same book again which by the way I still have. I simply bought some French polish and experimented and amazingly even my first attempt the finish was acceptable. Obviously with practice things do become much easier and quicker but now I feel I could apply the French polish with a sweeping brush and still make a decent job of it; it's not so complicated after all but it is time consuming and any mistakes are easily sorted by allowing the polish to sit for an hour to dry out. I can now control the amount of shine from matte to mirror finish; the previous cabinet is matte this one is mirror finish. French polish has a shelf life once mixed so now I mix my own from shellac flakes and use either 100% alcohol or meths.

This radio I considered to be the ugliest radio I had ever seen and paid a tenner for it because it was going to be broken for its valves; I restored it just for something to do during winter; I've now cleared out most of my radios and electronic kit bit I still have the memories.

As I say I'm no one special just a guy enjoying learning new techniques and sharing my stories.

Kind regards, Col.

Radio as bought.

As bought..JPG (79.52 KiB) Viewed 2331 times

What a shine.

What a shine (1).JPG (207.03 KiB) Viewed 2331 times

Fully restored cabinet.

Completed 2..JPG (216.57 KiB) Viewed 2331 times

[DIY_Johnny]

Looks great. It must be an interesting hobby actually as you have to get up to speed with electrics.

I am always the type to embrace new technology and ditch the old stuff but I think its sad in a way. My late grandmother had a windup gramophone which she got in the 1920's for a 21st birthday present as far as I'm aware. Its just sitting it a in a shed somewhere in my uncles house. Still works (kindof), but needs a restoration. We had it out for her 100th birthday

[Retired]

Hi,

Thanks DIY_Johnny. Restoring vintage radios is indeed a very interesting hobby embracing many skills. I'm hopelessly colour blind so kept away from electrics but once I started to play around with old radio chassis I found I could get around not recognizing colours. Electricity doesn't care what colour the cable insulation is so one problem solved? Resistors are colour coded and as resistors age they go out of spec especially the old style of resistor which gradually changed spec even whilst sitting in a box so this at first puzzled me but I got around this by obtaining thousands of radio circuit diagrams then all I had to do was trace the resistors and check with a multi-meter; each resistor is checked with one end disconnected from the circuit to give a true reading; there are usually a number of ways to resolve a problem. For important wiring where safety is an issue then I ask Bron to kindly identify colours for me. I must stress that working on old vintage valve mains radios is very dangerous as it is working on any electrical item at mains voltage; electricity seldom rewards a mistake with a second chance so I always did voltage tests before touching anything; lots of this radio chassis work is done with a chassis plugged in and switched on to allow voltage and current readings to be taken; large capacitors will quickly catch a novice out if they remain fully charged even with the chassis isolated from the supply; it's all good fun though and I enjoyed my time working on these old sets.

You could always have a go at restoring your late grandmothers wind-up gram because there won't be any dangerous electrical considerations and it would make a nice project in its own right. One thing worth mentioning is that restoring these old radios is a labour of love because profit is rare; I sold around 22 of my assorted vintage valve radios as a job lot and they only fetched £300 which was nothing compared to the hundreds of hours work put in and the cost of valves and spares but I did it as a hobby so it was well worth it. When I packed in my radio hobby I had a workshop crammed with radios and test gear; I sold the decent stuff but then I couldn't give the rest away so I dumped it all eight car loads at our recycling center; it just wasn't worth the time and effort to put on eBay.

Kind regards, Col.

[royaloakcarpentry]

Like that, nice job.

[Timllfixit]

The radio is a gem of a piece

OOOhh, a Barker 88! Push pull 6V6's?

What's that second radio Col? It looks sort of Ekco-ey.

I too have a soft spot for vintage radios, but I must admit I spend more time doing the insides!
See you on the other forum! Look how deliciously off topic we are. One would never get away with that over there!

That desk is fab too. Not really to my taste, but a great job all the same.

[Retired]

Hi,

Thanks roc; I'm pleased you like it.

Well spotted Timllfixit; I think the set you refer to is the white one which is a Ferranti M55 if my memory is correct. The Barker was a gift from my chum "Yorkie" on the other forum and he had restored the chassis so in this respect I don't know in depth what the chassis consists of other than it works well; you mention the other forum and yes to wander off topic so much would have us instantly banned? I always enjoyed restoring vintage radio cabinets rather than sorting the electronics and have added many threads on the other forums covering my endeavours. I've not done any vintage radio work for over two years having now reverted to my favourite hobbies of woodworking and metalworking including restoring a number of my machines; as long as I'm interested in a project I'm happy. My background is mechanical engineering and I always shunned electrics because I'm hopelessly colour blind but found this didn't matter whilst working on these vintage radios where I could use any colour wiring I liked; however I had to resort to using the circuit diagrams in order to identify resistors which as you know are colour coded otherwise my lovely Bron would sort the colours for me. I can highly recommend restoring vintage radio's as an interesting and rewarding hobby having spent around ten years restoring many such radios learning totally from scratch; where else can we play with electronics; woodworking; veneering and French polishing all in one hobby bringing all these skills together? At one point I had over 70 vintage radios but recently I had a good clearout selling many of them whilst clearing out my wireless shack to make way for woodworking. It would be virtually impossible to make any money from restoring vintage radios; having spent many hundreds of hours restoring lots of my sets I sold a job lot of around 22 sets for £300 as an indication of just how little vintage radios sell for; such an hobby is done solely for the love of it. Below is a picture of my wireless workshop which became very tight for space as did our front spare bedroom. When I retired I knew nothing of valve radios but quickly picked up the basics and joined The British Vintage Wireless Society where later I had over ten articles published and was honoured with an award for best restoration in 2009. I've said many times that I'm just an ordinary guy enjoying his hobbies and that anything I do anyone else can also do.

Because vintage radios can be bought so cheaply and spares/components are cheap this hobby costs very little indeed even when buying associated kit like a multimeter and soldering iron etc. A word of caution though because these vintage radios can kill many having a "live chassis" and also many tests are carried out with the power switched on; electricity doesn't like to give second chances and these sets can bite even when switched off because of large electrolytic capacitors remaining fully charged just waiting for someone to touch them. As I became more proficient I started to buy the roughest sets possible these being basket cases just for the challenge of restoring them. Once a set was fully restored then I lost interest in it.

http://www.bvws.org.uk/

The computer desk was an interesting project and I wanted mine to be "different" hence I gave the design a lot of thought; adding the power sockets to the rear of the desk to tidy the wires works well; a lot of thought went into this at the design stage; it looks so easy now its completed. This is my desk but individual desks can be designed in many styles; sizes and materials to please anyone. Ideally I would have liked to use genuine Burr Walnut for the panel inlays but the cost would be enormous and simply unjustified in my case; I could have very easily stained the desk because both Bron and I prefer dark timber but I was thinking long term as to how the front section by the keyboard would stand up to constant use; would the finish and stain eventually fail revealing lighter timber? One thing is certain I've made a unique desk and anyone can do likewise implementing their own design?

Kind regards, Col.

My wireless shack..JPG (264.2 KiB) Viewed 2091 times