Repairing/polishing Bakelite.

[crevicetool]

The choice of this forum is because this procedure can be applied to Vintage Bakelite agitators...

I was just gifted a Western Electric 302 (I love Lucy) telephone. I love the styling of this phone and it will have a place in my "faux vintage kitchen" when I get it built...

Anyway, thought you kids might want to see some before/after pictures of what Bakelite can look like if you want to restore it like new.

The base of the phone is not Bakelite and will require a different procedure when I get ready to do that but the handset is. You can see that is was rough and appeared "corroded". It felt rough and there was no shine to it. I don't know if that was because of it being handled (skin oils), or perhaps heat damage etc.

Here is a before picture:

 

[crevicetool]

Another before:

 

[crevicetool]

The procedure:

The first step in this case was to sand down the handset with 100 grit sandpaper to get rid of the "corrode". Wipe it down with a cloth moistened with water between each grit , (IMPORTANT: to remove sanding dust and bits of the previously used grit - do this each grit change), then do the same with 200 grit, 400, 600, 1000, and finally 2000 wet sanded. It's pretty smooth at this point and has almost returned to a shine - but that's not quite good enough.

I then hit it with a buffing wheel with a polishing stick for plastics (rouge).

 

[crevicetool]

After...

 

[crevicetool]

and another...

 

[crevicetool]

This is a 302...

 

[rp2813]

That's a very impressive transformation!  So many of the old bakelite handsets developed that dull rough finish.

 

I may have to try your method on a couple of my bakelite G1 handsets .  I really like the styling of the 302 but I prefer the flat spine of a G1 handset for cradling, so I've been using an early edition 500 model for my desk phone.  I love the solid sound of a heavy bakelite handset making contact with a soft plastic case when I hang up.

 

As for shining up the thermoplastic case, I've had great luck with plain old Brasso.

 

Have you opened up the phone to check its date of manufacture? 

 

[crevicetool]

It's important to smooth out the abrasion of each proceeding step, each step feeling and looking smoother and smoother. Your last step should feel like a a piece of ceramic tile (for instance) with no scratches, or dull spots. Luckily with Bakelite, if you miss an area - you can hit it again and bring it back up to a high gloss without destroying what you've done to other areas. Bakelite is a very forgiving material.

This handset is very shiny (pictures don't really do the job justice) and it is vary, very, smooth. Almost slippery.

 

[crevicetool]

Thanks Ralph, and yes I have: January 1942 is the date inside. I imagine there wasn't much time before switching to war-time production. I also have a 500 series which will be going in my "faux mid-century living room" - that too being on the "when I get it built" list. That phone was manufactured in 1956. I just think the 302's are just so dang cute.

 

[rp2813]

So Rick, having been manufactured barely a month after Pearl Harbor, does it have a metal case?  I don't see any paint missing on the cradle so I figured it was thermoplastic.

 

I don't know if Brasso would be the right thing to use on painted metal.

 

[crevicetool]

It's thermoplastic. It's got a few little dings and scratches that I'll be working on in the coming few days...

 

[jetcone]

Very impressive thank you

I have a few agitators that will be attended too as I just got my buffing wheel mounted out of the box!

 

Why do you think the base of that phone is not bakelite too?

 

 

[crevicetool]

Jon,

I have NO idea. I'm certainly not a phone expert at all. I only got interested when studying period "artifacts" as accessories for my other collections. I understand that this phone had a metal base originally that was painted black. It may be the first phone offered in colors too. But others more knowledgeable than I would have to chime in on that!

 

[rp2813]

All phone sets made by Western Electric had metal cases until WW II.  I don't know if the war triggered the switch to thermoplastic cases or if WECo was already planning the change and perhaps the war pushed up the launch.

 

Thermoplastic cases are commonly referred to as bakelite, but AFAIK WECo never produced bakelite cases.   Thermoplastic has a distinct smell, sort of like stinky cheese, which is easily detected if you open up the case.  Early 500 models, which only came in black, smell the same.  Later WECo started using a different type of plastic that didn't have this distinctive smell.

 

Rick's phone would have had a metal case originally.  Perhaps there was a practice related to the war effort that whenever a leased metal case phone was returned to WECo, that case was removed and replaced by thermoplastic as part of the testing/refurbishing process before the phone set was re-deployed.

 

The 302 was the first model to be offered with a choice of colors.  Colored models used a clear lucite finger wheel not unlike those on colored and later 500 models.   I think most of the F1 handsets on the colored 302 models were painted.  When you see colored ones turn up on ebay, there's often paint missing and black or brown bakelite exposed.

 

Here's a link to one of the better sites related to vintage rotary telephones:

Classic Rotary Phones Forum - Index

Classic Rotary Phones Forum - Index

www.classicrotaryphones.com