Discolored WE Princess TT - Help

[Dewdrop]

Hello all, just registered today, but have been reading the forum about a week. I came across this Western Electric Princess touch tone (works) at a garage sale for $2 a week ago. It had a buildup of dirt and I have only cleaned the housing & handset with warm soapy water using Dawn.

Telephone information...bottom of phone white label: 2702BM 1-80WN; date on touch pad: 35AD4A 8-79; date on handset receiver: 2 80 (stamped in red); molded inside the housing: 1B, NP inside a box and a C over 79 in a circle.

Photos of the telephone were taken outside. From the photos you can see the problem "DISCOLORATION". What advice can any of you experts past along to me to get the housing back to its original color (blue) or as close to it as possible? This is one of my most recent additions to my collection. I have about 18 rotary telephones, 4 touch tones, a couple of rotary wall telephones that friends are searching for at their parent's homes and one coming next week through ebay. Hope I wasn't too wordy. Thanks, Debbie

[Dan]

Welcome. The peroxide method will not work on this. The best way is to sand the phone or use a product called Novus 1 followed by novus two. There are a few sanding experts who can chime in and help you. Nice phone. This is an aqua blue and dates to 1979.

[Dennis Markham]

Welcome to the Forum Debbie.

The sanding that Dan mentioned is a progressive method of using a rough grit sandpaper and then working upward to a finer grit to remove the marks the sandpaper leaves.  Sanding the top layer of plastic will often remove the yellowing.  That Princess looks pretty stained and will require some work.

Sanding has it's drawbacks.  One it is very time consuming and hard work.  Secondly ridges can be sanded off the housing giving it a rounded look.  It is very difficult to sand those Princess phones because of the indentation along the front.  The upside is there are no Western Electric logos to worry about...at least unless you sand the handset too.

There are several posts on the Forum about sanding and if you use the search feature you should find some.  If you have questions then just ask.

With regard to the Novus, #1 is actually the finish polish.  It is a fine liquid and in a pump spray bottle.  #3 is the most "gritty" polish, with #2 in the middle of the pack.  It seems strange that they numbered them in this manner but that's the way it is.  #1 should be the gritty polish, followed by the medium grit and finally the fine polish, but it's the opposite.

[Dan]

Thanks for straightening me out on the Novus, Dennis. I have the bottles right here in front of me and the order is 3, 2, and 1 

[Phonesrfun]

Dan:

I made exactly the same error in another post last week.  The more intuitive order would be in the order that they are used, and not the reverse.  From now on when I post a reference to the Novus series, I guess I need to go look at the platstic bottles.

[Dennis Markham]

I hope my information didn't come off wrong (in correcting you guys).  I made the same mistake when I first bought the series of Novus polishes.  It just seems to make more sense if it were the other way around.

After purchasing an 8oz bottle of all three I have never purchased #1 or #3 again.  I use a LOT of #2 and buy it in the half gallon bottle which will often last me a year or more.  I just refill the 8oz bottle.  I did use all my bottle of #3 but never bought more so I guess I don't need it.  The #1 spray bottle is nearly full and I rarely find a use for it.  In fact it seems to leave a film on the phone after I use it after finishing the job with #2.  I think the Turtle Wax F21 with UV protectant does the same job.  Be careful though after using the F21.  The phones get slippery!

[Phonesrfun]

Dennis:

Dennis:

I did not take the correction wrong at all.  I welcome correction.  A lot of times before I post something, I try to do my homework and look up schematics and other things to make sure my memory is correct about a lot of things.  But sometimes, I know I just start writing without thinking that even the simple things sometimes need to be verified before I hit that "post" button.

Like you, I think I use the #2 the most.  #3 seems to be just a little finer than the Turtle Wax polishing compound that I use extensively, but after the polishing compound, I do not get much change by using the Novus #3.

#1 on the other hand is like furniture polish.  Pledge probably would work just as well.

When I first bought my Novus product, I was pretty new to polishing phones and I did not know what to expect.

By the way, this darned thing is starting to jump again when I make long postings that go over the initial allotted size of the text box.  Is there a setting in the forum software to set the size of the box?

THe way I get by it is to write my replies in MS Word and then copy and paste into the forum message box.

[Dewdrop]

Thanks Dan about the peroxide method information and Dennis about sanding.

Dennis, this will be my first attempt in sanding a phone. Pretty much clueless. What is the exact phase should I search for on this forum for the steps to sand out the yellow from my aqua blue Princess phone?

Thanks Debbie

[McHeath]

Here is the link to my sanding experience with my aqua Western Electric 1500 earlier this year:

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=566.0

It was a lot of work, and gave me only so-so results as the phone was terribly stained and yellowed.  The Princess phone has a thin shell so be careful.  I'd start with 400 grit, wet sanding, and then do 800, 1000, and a final of 2000.  Then polish, then wax.  You will have to do the handset as well if you want it all to match, and scrubbing the cord may work for it, though I had to buy a new one from OldPhoneWorks.com. 

Welcome to the forum. 

[Jester]

Dewdrop,
Before starting with the heavy sanding, I'd start with trying a chemical treatment first.  The easiest thing to try would be a bleach mixture.  The best "recipe" I've found is to mix 1 part bleach with 2 parts water.  On something the size of your Princess cover, 1 Qt. bleach to 1/2 gallon water should be enough to cover its surface.  Set your container in a sunny spot & check frequently.  Don't leave anything in solution more than 6 hours-- if it is working but not where you would like it colorwise, simply set it back in your solution the next day.  Don't use any container that you suspect is made of soft PVC plastic-- i.e. white plastic.  My first attempt was mixed in an old cat litter container, & the solution lifted small amounts of the inside of the container & deposited them onto my cover.  Stainless would be preferable for this, but the gray PVC should also stand up to your solution.

[Phonesrfun]

Jester:

My bleaching on this exact same color with the exact amount of discoloration was not good, but I used the peroxide bleach method, and your method seems to be common household bleach, which I havent tried.  With the peopxide treatment, which is a whole lot chemically potent than household bleach, I had blotchy places and the phone cover itself lightened considerably, but the brownish discoloration never went all the way away.  I guess I'll have to try the regular bleach method sometime.

[Jester]

Bill,
I've used both methods so far & have made great improvements to the things I've treated.  Both methods need to be carefully watched, as they are chemicals, but careful mixing and a weather eye on the pot as things are "cooking" will usually get you the results you want without causing damage to the parts.

[bwanna]

don't know how i missed this thread

anyway.....welcome, debbie

did you start sanding your princess?  if not you may be interested in briny's newly discovered oxy clean method. here's the link....

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=1590.0

[Dewdrop]

Thanks for the welcome Donna,

I didn't do any sanding. Tried the 1 part bleach with 2 parts water. Left the housing in the solution in the sun for about 3 1/2 hours. Then chickened out on leaving it in any longer. Didn't think I would come across any of the Novus products in my little town. I thought for sure I would have to order it. Then I thought to ask my boss about Novus. He and his wife own a business that sells merchandise to bikers. He said sure he had some and I had #1 and #2 Novus the next day. The WE Princess does look better. Just looked over the phone again and you can still see the discoloration. I've since purchased a matching handset cord.
Debbie

[jsowers]

Dewdrop, it's great to see more female collectors in here. Welcome aboard!

I think you're on the right road with the bleaching Jester wrote about. Try another several hours of bleach bath in the sun and keep an eye on it. It does sometimes darken a little after you get it out of the bath, and you have one of the hardest colors to bleach back to normal--aqua blue. You may have to settle for close to the original color. One thing I also do is rinse the bleach water off with some clear water and dry thoroughly. As Jester said, you can repeat the process. I've had good luck with a plain everyday dishpan.

Good luck and please post a picture of the finished product. Also, you need a 6-volt AC transformer to make this phone light if you want that feature. They made modular transformers and you can find them on eBay every once in a while.