atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Other TDM Phone Systems Antique Telephones Old wooden wall phone

So far I have the whole phone taken apart, wiped it down, stripped the finish off and cleaned it with TSP and water. I will be sanding it down tomorrow or the day after and putting new finish on it.

Since you will be refinishing, avoid polyurethane. Remember, when restoring, "less" is often more (i.e. better). You want to keep this baby looking original (old) and not like a reproduction!

kinda hard not to make it look repro now...give it 50-75 years and the patina will come back .

So much for TTT's suggestions..... :bang:

Jeff, did you even try Murphy's. You realize you have cut the value of that phone, otherwise untouched, in half, by stripping the finish. May not be important to you, and it IS your phone, but there are probably some antique lovers that are imagining their hands slowly tightening around your windpipe. And in 20 years you might wish you hadn't spiffed it all up so nicely.

Oh trust me, there is still plenty of finish left...a lot of it was just dirt.
If it looks like a repro, oh well. It's just going to hang on the wall

I have no idea what its value is but I can say this: stripped and refinished it will have far less value in the eye of a collector. They absolutely cherish the aged effect on antiques. Making it look like it is brand new simply makes it look like it is a reproduction. You could take a new one, bury it for 20 years and it would look like a new phone that was buried for 20 years. You cannot duplicate 100 years of age.

I read an article about people trying to fake that 150 year old 'patina'. One guy, trying to fake an antique pine chair, used an assortment of objects to apply 'dings and dents'. (I should say that the chair was handmade with appropriate tools, so that at least 'mechanically' it looked 'old') Then he literally smoked the chair for several days over a smoky fire that had an assortment of dirt and garbage tossed on the fire. More 'dings and dents'. Left out on the windy seashore, protected from direct rain for several months, more smoke, more dings, more seashore. Did this for 2 years. Showed it to another 'expert' who declared it to be a legitimate piece from the early 1800's. Other experts had mixed opinions. So, if you are REALLY dishonest, it IS possible to fool the 'experts', if you have enough time and patience.

Well guys...the phone is just about done. Got it looking pretty nice and all it needs is a replacement switch hook because the part that the handset hanger mounts to has corroded off over the years, somehow I did not catch that at first.

Nice job Jeff