Western Electric 302 - Purple Chromium Powder Coat

[Jim Stettler]

I need to get one of these kits for doing small parts like bells and terminals for wood wall phones.

-MM

Collector Steven Brink plated a WE #10 with one of these kits (long ago). I saw it in person. It came out great. There is an article in one of the club newsletters about it.
It did takes lots of prep work to get a nice finish.

Many of the plating kits are listed as gun plating kits.
Jim

[Dan/Panther]

I need to get one of these kits for doing small parts like bells and terminals for wood wall phones.

-MM

I use the kits for small parts, and I also restore vintage toy trains. It works great for items like those.

OK MATT, it's time to post a detailed procedure for sanding and polishing the Bakelite handsets. I have had limited success with Bakelite radio cases, maybe a few pointers would fill the gaps.

D/P

[mazda_matt]

I use the kits for small parts, and I also restore vintage toy trains. It works great for items like those.

OK MATT, it's time to post a detailed procedure for sanding and polishing the Bakelite handsets. I have had limited success with Bakelite radio cases, maybe a few pointers would fill the gaps.

D/P

Haha, Here is our process. Each handset you come across is made up of different fillers so YMMV in this process.

We pre-soak the handset in hot soapy water to remove the heavy dirt, debris or adhesive from stickers. Wipe down with a sponge.

Next we put it in an ultrasonic cleaner. Similar to something a jewelry store would use to clean up a ring. Except ours is massive, we can fit a whole phone in there no problem. I use Crystal Clear cleaning solution. This will remove any embedded dirt that the soapy water couldn't get.

Back into the hot soapy water and begin the sanding process.

Wet sand the Bakelite starting with 400 grit. Then moving to 800, 1000 and finally 2000 grit.

Inspect the pieces between each sanding to ensure all the scratches are gone.

We use a rotary table top buffer to polish the Bakelite.

Start by using the black compound meant for cutting on a sewn cotton wheel.

Move over to another sewn cotton wheel with blue buffing compound.

Finally move over to a loose cotton wheel with no compound in order to give the handset a polished high gloss finish.

The high gloss finish will last a few weeks before it begins to dull again. For the handset in the photos, I take the pictures, give it a wipe down with a special glass cleaning cloth (I think its designed for cleaning eye wear) and bag it right away.

I have had this handset looking this way for a few years now without repeating the sanding/buffing process above. Occasionally, I will use some Novus 1 to hand polish it again.

Hope that helps someone. But to be honest, it really comes down to choosing the right handset. Western and Northern used truly awful Bakelite for their handsets, so its rare to get one looking like this. I find the the best Bakelite is the stuff used by Kellogg, shines up so well.

-MM