Kellogg Candlestick with dial

[wds]

I ran across a Kellogg Candlestick which had been converted for dial.  The phone had been painted, and didn't look like much, so I bought for parts.  After stripping off the paint, I uncovered some nice nickel plating, so I've decided to restore it.  The brass is starting to come through on the baseplate, so I might strip the nickel off and polish the brass for a two tone look.  My problem is that the hookswitch is a local battery, one contact type switch.  How in the world do you wire a dial to that type of switch?  Does anyone else have one of these converted candlesticks?

[Doug Rose]

I ran across a Kellogg Candlestick which had been converted for dial.  The phone had been painted, and didn't look like much, so I bought for parts.  After stripping off the paint, I uncovered some nice nickel plating, so I've decided to restore it.  The brass is starting to come through on the baseplate, so I might strip the nickel off and polish the brass for a two tone look.  My problem is that the hookswitch is a local battery, one contact type switch.  How in the world do you wire a dial to that type of switch?  Does anyone else have one of these converted candlesticks?

How do you strip off nickel plating? I have never been able to budge it once its on. I found a nickel plated B1 that the nickel was beyond hope, but it looked good underneath. I couldn't move that nickel, I was amazed that there were any bare areas. How do you remove it?...Doug

[wds]

I've removed nickel a couple different ways.  First was just by using a power buffer.  I use a #3, or #4 polishing compound with my bench grinder/buffer, and usually I can buff the nickel off of the brass.  Another method for the more stubborn nickel, was either sand off with steel wool, or use the grinder.  After grinding, the brass is a little rough, but polishing with the compound and the bench polisher brings the brass back to a gold like shine.  Caswell has a chemical stripper, but I haven't tried it yet.

[wds]

Caswell has the nickel stripper, but they also say to use a muriatic acid based chemical, commonly known as concrete cleaner and available at a hardware store.

[rdelius]

At COT we used a low voltage  reverse plating process to strip off nickel or chrome .The bath was duluted  sulferic acid .Used a lead cathode.
Robby

[AE_Collector]

Must have been one of the AE dial conversion kits. Came with a nice Merceded dial!!

Hey Dave, what is the picture in your Avatar? I tried saving it and blowing it up but all I can read is the word "Point" and I think it might say "Southernmost" above "Point".

Terry

[dencins]

I use the Caswell B929 Nickel stripper and it works very well.  I mixed it with distilled water in a stainless steel pot.  I heat it to 140 degrees F on a hot plate and aerate with an aquarium pump.  It takes about 30 minutes to strip all the nickel.  I then rinse off any residue in water.

Dennis

[wds]

That's the Southernmost Point in the USA.  Key West - 90 miles to Cuba.  I made a few trips down there a couple years ago - great place to visit, but not to live. The dial wasn't "nice" when I got it.  The seller "misrepresented" the condition of the dial (is that the politically correct way to say it?), so Steve Hilsz fixed it up proper for me.  

[wds]

I think I found the correct wiring schematic for the old style switch.  If anyone has any other ideas, I'm all ears.

[wds]

I have also been intrigued with coming up with a method to remove nickel from some brass parts on some of my phones.  On this Dean Candlestick, the base was mostly nickel, with brass showing through in several areas, and also had some bad staining on the brass.  Black spots that wouldn't polish off.  So I tried two different methods to remove the nickel.  First I soaked the base in Acetone for a couple hours.  After removing from the soaking, I scrubbed the base down with steel wool, and was able to remove a lot of the nickel.  However, being the impatient guy that I am, I moved on to Muriatic Acid.  I dipped my steel wool into straight solution and started scrubbing and was able to remove about 95% of the nickel.  The muriatic acid completely removed the bad spotting also.  There are still a couple spots that need work, but I'm afraid to scrub any more for fear of damaging the leather ring on the bottom of the base.  So, below is a before and after picture.  I may try to scrub a little more later on.  I have a couple smaller parts that I'm going to soak in the Acetone overnight and see how that works. 

[Doug Rose]

Dave....beautiful job. I wish I had known about Muriatic Acid before I gave up on a badly nickel plated B1. Where do you buy it? Heavy rubber gloves I assume using the acid in steel wool?....thanks....Doug

[wds]

Zettlers, Home Depot, etc.  Steel wool, definitely rubber gloves, and only work outside because of the toxic fumes.  If you get any on your skin, stop what your doing and rinse it off!  You might want to dilute the Acid down about 50%, but I used it straight.  I don't think you want to soak anything for a long period in the acid - it might damage the brass or steel underneath.  The Acetone would be better for long soakings.  I would try both and see which one works best for you.  The acid was pretty cheap - $3 for a qt I think.  If my base melts down overnight from the acid, I'll make a post first thing in the morning to warn you!

I had a rental property way out in the country once, and the well water had so much iron in it that it turned all the china fixtures brown.  I used to squirt muriatic acid in the toilets, all around the bowl, and within minutes the china was as white as my dentists bleached teeth.  No scrubbing necessary.

 

[Phonesrfun]

Dave:

Getting off topic here, but I live in a house outside the city limits with a well for water.  There is a lot of minerals in the water, and the toilet bowl is always a royal pain to clean where the water line is, so I would like to find a better way.

I have tried to stay away from things that would mess up the septic tank.  Will muriatic acid damage the little bacteria in the septic tank that digest all the you-know what in it?

[wds]

I doubt it.  Drain the water from the toilet before applying, then after cleaning, just flush.  Once diluted with the water, it becomes pretty harmless.  Come to think of it, the whole time I used it to clean the fixtures I don't think I ever heard those microbes and bacteria complain even once!  Muriatic Acid is used as a cleaning agent - we used it everyday in powerwashers to clean masonary, and we never lost a bush or plant from the overspray.  Just be careful when using it undiluted.  The fumes can be pretty bad.