Chaps:ive been collecting for 25 years or so and ive never been able to get a showroom shine on bakelite,ive tryed most things thats been told to me over the years:ie,car polish, shoe polish,maveer,brasso,autosol, wet and dry paper(1000),all car type cleaner&polishers have been tryed over time I just cannot get it as nice as id like,so once and for all WHAT IS THE SECRET??.ron

I've not had a radio bad enough to need to use wet and dry. But have used brasso, then car polish, then vinyl reviver (or Mister Sheen furniture polish) type products.

Auto cut & polish might substitute for brasso.

If the finish is good vinyl reviver alone is enough and gives a good shine (but it makes the radio slippery).

The secret might be progressing from coarse to fine polishing media.

Bakelite originally has a sheen that once removed is difficult to reproduce. So I start as fine as possible.

I guess you've seen these articles but for those who haven't:

http://www.siliconchip.com.au/cms/A_101790/article.html

and here

http://www.radiomuseum.org/forum/vintage_radio_restoration_bakelite_radio_cabinets.html

Shine on Bakelite)))) hm ok well boot-polish is the go no doubt about that I don't think anything else gets close to it BUT I do have old polishing machine that I'm about set up again , with special compounds etc - I can bring them to a mirror shine .

I may get the service going again in a few weeks - all depends if its worthwhile doing it . takes time, and the compound grade polish sticks are not cheap you know.

See what happens, if you guys want a few polished il fire up the polish machine again, that has not been fired up since year 2000 .

to contact us you can find me here at
www.radiorevivalparts.com

steve

So far the best methods I know are:for brown bakelite,soak and clean case(with dialglass removed)autosol applyed as rub on rub off I do this twice, then gloss shoe polish,rub on polish off, but then you need to be careful of your fingerprints.For coloured bakelites,ive found same as brown steps 1&2, but to finish I find meguiars ultimate protectant dash and trim restorer seems to give me the best result,can anyone IMPROVE on this, regards ron

I've never tried boot polish so I don't know what the results are.

I usually scrub clean in piping hot water with a scourer, lots of dish soap and a hard toothbrush. After drying I use fine wet and dry to sand out scrapes and divots then rinse the cabinet again in piping hot water.

I leave the cabinet to dry and then get started with Kitten car polish or Brasso/Silvo.

Once a fairly good shine is showing I spray with ToneZone (It's like Mr Sheen but an Australian company makes it) and an orange polish cloth.

In my experience the hardest cabinets to get glossy are those made with asbestos fillers. The grains of asbestos show through where the original shiny 'top coat' once was and the effect isn't good. I have a burgundy AWA Radiolette from 1947 that shows this characteristic.

I have never had to sand a radio yet luckily, always scared to cut through the outer finish.
Most I have had to deal with require an intense clean as per Brads post & if still dull I use Autosol polishing by hand.

I have never had to sand a radio yet luckily, always scared to cut through

I've had to sand plastic with various grades of wet or dry, but would be too scared to sand bakelite, too.

I really surprised myself with how well I brought back the heat faded plastic case and opaque plastic dial "glass" of my Kriesler Duplex. Finished off with liquid Autosol and a ton of elbow grease.

Also, thanks to the greenies and what have we, the Brasso and Mr Sheen, etc, of today ain't the same formulas as the originals of yesteryear. I have a very old can of Mr Sheen which works (literally) brilliantly.