Hi again,

I am once again tapping the collective wisdom of the phone phorum here about methods of displaying phones. I am thinking about something that I can either use as a permanent display in a "phone museum" or take on the road to display phones at a show.

One Idea that I have been toying with is taking two precut yellow pine stair forms (sold at Lowe's) and using those as the base for making a three stair display that the phones would sit on. I would use oak veneer ply on the "risers" of the "stairs" and bisqueted red oak lumber as the "treads" of the stairs, and enclose the frame with nice plywood. Then I would use a variety of four prong outlets and hard wired outlets on the stair risers.

The only problem with this is that the cords will have to be wound up or they will become messy looking. I hate to wind cords as I am afraid that at their age, they may take a "set".

Any ideas would be most welcome!

Thank you in advance.

Best,

Joe Herdler

Drill a hole at each display position on the tread and drop the cord loop down in there. That way, only the few inches necessary will be exposed at the jack.

Hi Ed,

Thank you!

I think that you solved the problem here!

Best,

Joe

Those stair forms are going to make your display quite heavy so if you plan on making this mobile, I would look at something a little lighter. Depending on how many phones you wish to display, 1/2 to 3/4 inch plywood could make you some nice shelves. Hold it all together with some pocket holes to hide the fasteners and do your own veneer job on the exposed plywood sides. I was also thinking along the same lines as Ed with hiding your cords, that way you can coil the excess in large loops so as not to damage them.

And if you don't want to see the holes you can get the grommets that are in desk tops to thread telephone / PC cables through. There are plastic ones or wood ones like this that you can stain to match your top.

https://www.leevalley.com/US/hardware/page.aspx?p=32487&cat=3,40894,41369

Great advice!

Thanks everyone! I have already started to modify my plans.

Best,

Joe

I have a shelf that doesn't go right to the back of the case, ie supported at the ends only. The phone cords drop down behind the shelf.

The shelf below has a false back so the cords can't be seen.

Soft hook-and-loop tape tidies up cords without cutting in like elastic bands or sticking like tape.