Hi All I just got a philco 42-355 and it has the photo finish on it on the cabinet edges, I am going to try my hand at replicating this like a few repair sites say you can do by staining wood prints , my question is where can you find some good wood grains that can be downloaded and printed out? Anyone out there tried this? how were the results?
Thanks
Elton

You can go to a good woodworking store and purchase attractive veneers. Scan these. Also, for hopeless radios that have a lot of bad photo finish, a more permanent repair is to veneer with a veneer that looks similar to the photo finish. Of course this will make the radio different, because all of the photo finishes for one radio model are identical.

Elton,
This is an interesting string. Even though I don't have much to offer as a solution, my wood work hobby may ultimately benefit from your research. I've found a lot of different patterns (wood like) in various PC applications ie Adobe, Print Master etc, but maybe not suitable for this application. What is the printed media, paper, fiber, clear plastic, and how is it applied to the underlying wood structure?

marv

:Hi All I just got a philco 42-355 and it has the photo finish on it on the cabinet edges, I am going to try my hand at replicating this like a few repair sites say you can do by staining wood prints , my question is where can you find some good wood grains that can be downloaded and printed out? Anyone out there tried this? how were the results?
:Thanks
:Elton

Hi Marv, I am not sure I was hoping someone on the forum could shed some light on this, Philco repair bench . com has a link to this process , but does not go into much detail on what type of paper or what to glue it with, in reply to Thomas I have used veneer before to replace paper finishes before , I just thougt it might be fun to give this a try.
also I would like to keep the cabinet as close to factory as possible.
E.
:Elton,
:This is an interesting string. Even though I don't have much to offer as a solution, my wood work hobby may ultimately benefit from your research. I've found a lot of different patterns (wood like) in various PC applications ie Adobe, Print Master etc, but maybe not suitable for this application. What is the printed media, paper, fiber, clear plastic, and how is it applied to the underlying wood structure?
:
:marv
:
::Hi All I just got a philco 42-355 and it has the photo finish on it on the cabinet edges, I am going to try my hand at replicating this like a few repair sites say you can do by staining wood prints , my question is where can you find some good wood grains that can be downloaded and printed out? Anyone out there tried this? how were the results?
::Thanks
::Elton

I have only seen a few photo finish radios in person. Some had paper as the backing for the photograph. I believe that some others used a clear substance as the foundation. I would not be surprised if some photo finishes were printed onto lacquer or varnish. If you ever want to try printing onto varnish, see if you can obtain a big sheet of that thick paper that's coated with slippery plastic, that stickers are put onto--you can peel them off really easily. Pour a thin and even layer of varnish onto this and let it dry. You might even consider finishing the piece of paper like you would a piece of furniture--sanding and re-coating so that the varnish is really smooth. You can then peel it off and use it. Perhaps you can print on it with it on the sheet, or maybe it'll work better if off of the sheet. Varnish remains flexible for quite some time, so it probably won't crack. You could also use a piece of glass, I guess, but as I recall, varnish on glass is difficult to remove. Maybe a cooking sheet coated with Teflon would work.

Radios that use a clear base for the photo finish are interesting, because they let whatever wood grain that is underneath to show through (usually nothing exciting, but something, none-the-less). A three dimentional effect might also take place, which might give the photo finish more realism.

Thomas

:Hi All I just got a philco 42-355 and it has the photo finish on it on the cabinet edges, I am going to try my hand at replicating this like a few repair sites say you can do by staining wood prints , my question is where can you find some good wood grains that can be downloaded and printed out? Anyone out there tried this? how were the results?
:Thanks
:Elton

Elton,
This is a decal process as used on the interior of lots of old cars, dash, window surrounds, etc. Go to detailmaster.com They sell it in various wood grain sheets for old car restoration.

Will

::Hi All I just got a philco 42-355 and it has the photo finish on it on the cabinet edges, I am going to try my hand at replicating this like a few repair sites say you can do by staining wood prints , my question is where can you find some good wood grains that can be downloaded and printed out? Anyone out there tried this? how were the results?
::Thanks
::Elton
:
:
:Elton,
:This is a decal process as used on the interior of lots of old cars, dash, window surrounds, etc. Go to detailmaster.com They sell it in various wood grain sheets for old car restoration.
:
:Will

The decals are not quite the thing, particularly since the photofinish usually had the impression of matched exotic veneers and inlay or crossbanding. The original photofinish was printed on varnish coated newsprint, which was then pasted printed surface down onto an neutral (usually birch)veneer substrate. The newsprint was then washed away with water, a. la the old 1970's hobby craft of Decoupage.