Radio Rises from the Dead

It's hard enough to keep myself from bringing home old furniture, tools, radios, etc. when those things are for sale, but put an antique radio out with your trash and it will inevitably wind up in our basement. Sure, if it's been stripped down to bare wood and had its parts thrown in several bags it might take me several drive-bys before I decide. But oh yeah, it's mine.

Such was the case with this Silvertone console radio, model 7046. I had just brought home the Wurlitzer, a project that is still on the to-do list, when I saw this around the corner. I could see from the car that it had been someone else's work in-progress, but they must of got fed up with it sitting in their basement, mocking them with blaring incompleteness. Lucky for me that person did a passable job removing the old finish, and carefully put all the little bits in a plastic bag. If I hadn't seen those little knobs and screws I might have left the old thing for the trashman. Still, with little Keiran around it took me until recently to get to this project. He's reached the point where he only requires 94% of my attention, instead of the full 100, so for about 30-minutes a night I was able to glue, apply wood-fill and some little pieces of veneer, and refinish the cabinet. Some smoking and sputtering capacitors were replaced with brand new ones , and the speaker and grill cloth (the only missing parts) were replaced. All-in-all it came together nicely, and served as good practice for the Wurlitzer, too. Click here for more before and after pictures.

I sold the radio this week. It feels good to have one less project going on, and now I'm re-energized to start back on the jukebox.

Tool Cache

A new acquisition to the basement workshop came last week in the form of two vintage Craftsman toolboxes and their contents. The little one has an antique set of sockets and two sets of speed wrenches. The big box is called a top box, and was meant to go on the top of a rolling tool chest. It's got a flip-up front and pull out drawers on the inside. This must have weighed about fifty pounds with all of the old tools in it, but for 20-bucks you can't go wrong.

Almost all of the tools are rusty, apparently from sitting in a damp garage for so long. But I discovered an old trick: soaking them overnight in vinegar. It eats at the rust and makes it easy to clean off with a wire brush. A little coat of oil and they stay rust-free. Check out the clean half of the tin snips in the picture compared to the rusty handles.

The boxes are another story. Those can be used as-is, but I think when the weather is nice I'll sandblast them and give them a fresh coat of paint. Look for updates on those and the clean pile of tools in the future.