Bob's Antique Radios & Electronics has 8' cords in black or brown, non-polorized for $1.95 each. Still checking on cloth covered cord spools.
Check here:
http://www.radioantiques.com/supplies.html
Doug
I bought either 9 or 12 foot brown cords at Home Depot for about 2 dollars each just a few weeks ago.
:Hi all....In my years (ok maybe thats pushing it)...In restoring old radios that originally have the old cloth cord...I like to replace it with simmular. I am aware of the places like Radiodaze and A.E. supply ..but they charge a arm and a leg for a few feet.. I would like to buy a spool...Any good outlet or supply stores have it cheaper?? Plus 9 foot brown modern cords...any place where I could buy them in bulk ?? (You can buy 5' cords at local stores for $0.98..but they seem a bit two short when all said and done)
Ive found that Home Depot has sales every so often on table lamp extention cords where you can pick up a couple. Its cheaper than buying the wire and plug, actually a lot cheaper. My son is in pool maintenance biz and for the pump motor cords I buy the 50' 14 awg extension cord and get one free plug plus a number of motor leads that I have to buy plugs for. 50' of the same wire only goes for almost double the price.
At any rate, though the prices AES and Radio Daze charge are quite respectable for a retailer selling custom cords of much more complicated construction than Chinese made plastic cords, www.sundialwire.com may have cheaper prices. Sundialwire.com has an amazing assortment of cords, and their twisted cotton 18 gauge cords look great on fans (don't get thinner cords for fans--looks out of scale). Goldmann's Department Store here in Milwaukee used to sell regular cloth lamp cord at 30c a foot, but that wouldn't interest any of you since you can't order from them, and they're out of business now, anyway.
Please be aware that Radio Daze's cloth cord is nothing more than the shoe string version--a modern cord with a cloth covering. I wouldn't bother with it, though the do-it-yourself shoe string idea is a good one. You are better off buying cloth cords of any size from either AES or Sundial Wire.
Personally my favorite for radios is AES's larger diameter cloth cord. Looks great on my Majestic 180 (Grigsby Grunow), as well as on sets that once had a curtain burner cord that has now gone bad. The cord AES sells is not only thick and attractive, but the wire strands are thinner and more plentiful than in ordinary lamp cord, and so even though the primary insulation is typical vinyl (or whatever they use these days), the cord is remarkably flexible just like the old rubber cords found on 1930s and 40s radios. Whatever a cord may be made of, I much prefer a supple cord over a stiff one. (If you decide to add another meaning to that, it is your own problem.)
T.
This one that Doug suggested is kind of interesting. It isn't for cloth cords, but these cords look somewhat like the rubber cords found in the 1930s and 40s. Unfortunately the cords themselves aren't thick enough. Ideal thickness is what is usually found on modern 15 ampere extension cords. I usually chop up an extension cord and put the original rubber plug on that if it is in good condition.
I haven't given it time, but it'd be great to mold the Belden plug that was so typical in the 1930s and 40s. It has a rubber plug in the middle that keeps the prongs spread apart. Another one is the rubber plug that's on my Zenith 5-G-500. It's a rather attractive plug. Thankfully I was able to save it and give it another brown rubber cord.
Hardware stores sell a tool handle rubberizer that comes in many colors. The brown might be good for this project.
Here is the link:
http://www.surplussales.com/Electrical/ElecCords-1.html
Terry F
:For those of you who missed that, he is looking for inexpensive cloth cords, not cords from Home Depot. Home Depot can't seem to even stock brown switches, so I doubt that they would bother with cloth cord. I have told them time and again that brown switches, especially in older houses (which have more class anyway), are classier than garrish white switches. ....But that's another story. I boycott them for many reasons.
:
:At any rate, though the prices AES and Radio Daze charge are quite respectable for a retailer selling custom cords of much more complicated construction than Chinese made plastic cords, www.sundialwire.com may have cheaper prices. Sundialwire.com has an amazing assortment of cords, and their twisted cotton 18 gauge cords look great on fans (don't get thinner cords for fans--looks out of scale). Goldmann's Department Store here in Milwaukee used to sell regular cloth lamp cord at 30c a foot, but that wouldn't interest any of you since you can't order from them, and they're out of business now, anyway.
:
:Please be aware that Radio Daze's cloth cord is nothing more than the shoe string version--a modern cord with a cloth covering. I wouldn't bother with it, though the do-it-yourself shoe string idea is a good one. You are better off buying cloth cords of any size from either AES or Sundial Wire.
:
:Personally my favorite for radios is AES's larger diameter cloth cord. Looks great on my Majestic 180 (Grigsby Grunow), as well as on sets that once had a curtain burner cord that has now gone bad. The cord AES sells is not only thick and attractive, but the wire strands are thinner and more plentiful than in ordinary lamp cord, and so even though the primary insulation is typical vinyl (or whatever they use these days), the cord is remarkably flexible just like the old rubber cords found on 1930s and 40s radios. Whatever a cord may be made of, I much prefer a supple cord over a stiff one. (If you decide to add another meaning to that, it is your own problem.)
:
:T.
:I just had to comment on your reply...The last sentence in your reply...LOL ur funny....HA!!
:
::For those of you who missed that, he is looking for inexpensive cloth cords, not cords from Home Depot. Home Depot can't seem to even stock brown switches, so I doubt that they would bother with cloth cord. I have told them time and again that brown switches, especially in older houses (which have more class anyway), are classier than garrish white switches. ....But that's another story. I boycott them for many reasons.
::
::At any rate, though the prices AES and Radio Daze charge are quite respectable for a retailer selling custom cords of much more complicated construction than Chinese made plastic cords, www.sundialwire.com may have cheaper prices. Sundialwire.com has an amazing assortment of cords, and their twisted cotton 18 gauge cords look great on fans (don't get thinner cords for fans--looks out of scale). Goldmann's Department Store here in Milwaukee used to sell regular cloth lamp cord at 30c a foot, but that wouldn't interest any of you since you can't order from them, and they're out of business now, anyway.
::
::Please be aware that Radio Daze's cloth cord is nothing more than the shoe string version--a modern cord with a cloth covering. I wouldn't bother with it, though the do-it-yourself shoe string idea is a good one. You are better off buying cloth cords of any size from either AES or Sundial Wire.
::
::Personally my favorite for radios is AES's larger diameter cloth cord. Looks great on my Majestic 180 (Grigsby Grunow), as well as on sets that once had a curtain burner cord that has now gone bad. The cord AES sells is not only thick and attractive, but the wire strands are thinner and more plentiful than in ordinary lamp cord, and so even though the primary insulation is typical vinyl (or whatever they use these days), the cord is remarkably flexible just like the old rubber cords found on 1930s and 40s radios. Whatever a cord may be made of, I much prefer a supple cord over a stiff one. (If you decide to add another meaning to that, it is your own problem.)
::
::T.