I'm Back, With A Phone! WE '55 Green 554

[WEBellSystemChristian]

Hey guys! It's been a little while since I posted anything phone-related. I've had some pretty life-altering stuff unfold over the last few months, and I'm just trying to get back to doing things that I love. I finally got the spirit today to start working on a phone I bought a couple months ago.

I found an auction for what looked like an early Green 554 on eBay, at a pretty low bid. Having a satin switchhook, I figured there was no chance that I was going to get it for the price I set the snipe bid to. Somehow, however, I won it for $33 plus shipping!

Other than the 1963 handset cord, everything is dated 1-56, and the housing is even dated 12-55! It's covered in lots of either smoke stains or grime, which should come out fairly easily.

The best part...the original dial card. I couldn't possibly think of a better exchange name than GReenleaf for a Green 554!

[TelePlay]

     Regular Member Post

Welcome back. I was thinking about you today when at Walmart.

I can smell the tar on the inside of that transmitter cup. And that's what may also be on housing. I've had some pretty disgusting smokers phones over the past few months and while I'm not squeamish, there is something about tar coated plastic that make me not want to touch them.

When will the after photos be added?

[Pourme]

You're gonna earn your praises with this one! It will look good when you finish...congrats on a great find!

[jsowers]

Wow! That one went under my radar for sure. Yes, it's a smoke victim. If the phone looks like that, imagine what the lungs of the former owners look like. The coil cord is so dirty that it almost looks like the dark gray cord it replaced. That number card is a real bonus and so are the early dates. When you get it finished, I'm sure it will look a whole lot better.

[.....]

Good catch. That would look good in my green collection, after you clean it up for me.

[LarryInMichigan]

That was a great catch.  I am sorry that I missed it.

BTW, I have found that soaking things, like the dirty plastics of this phone, is a solution of oxygen cleaner and water does wonders for dissolving the dirt.  I use this stuff: http://www.lastotallyawesome.com/shop/laundry/oxygen-orange-spot-remover/ which the Dollar Tree stores here carry, so it is very cheap.  Before soaking phone parts, I smear petroleum jelly over the printed dates to keep them from being dissolved.

Larry

[oldguy]

Great find Christian, can't wait to see the finished product.

[HarrySmith]

Welcome back! Looks like you have your work cut out for you. I am sure it will look great when you are done. Keep us updated on the progress.

[Dan/Panther]

Christian, glad to see you posting. take pictures as you progress with that 554.

D/P

[WEBellSystemChristian]

Thanks guys!

That brown stuff all over the housing isn't nicotine at all, but rather some sort of dried goo. In fact, it doesn't seem like the former owners smoked too much--all I see built up in the bottom of the housing is gray dust, no nicotine dust. I also didn't get that signature blast of nicotine smell when I opened the housing.

Whatever it is, it soaked into the housing a lot more than nicotine usually does. The brown film comes off pretty easily with Denatured Alcohol, but the underlying swirled brown is pretty deep. I'll try bleach to soak it out.

[Dan/Panther]

Quite possible the phone was in a kitchen where they cooked a lot of greasy food.

D/P

[WEBellSystemChristian]

Well, I still have no clue what that film was, but it sure came out better than I expected!

I discovered that it dissolved in Denatured Alchohol, so I combined the cleaning step with my usual chemical polishing step. After polishing, the plastic was still overall much browner than it should be. I tried sanding, but remnants of the caked on goo actually soaked into the plastic---a lot like nicotine, but much deeper. I decided to try straight bleach on the housing overnight and over the course of the next day. I didn't expect anything to happen, but I was wrong! 16 hours later, the color was perfect! Every trace of brown was gone. I tried the equally-brown bezel in bleach, and only 2 hours later, it was also perfect color. The handset and caps took even less time.

I thought the inside of the housing was perfect color originally, especially compared to the outside. Take a look at how brown it is where the petroleum jelly protected the date stamp, compared to the now-perfect color!

Very happy with this phone! I had no clue it would come out looking this nice!

[Pourme]

That's really nice...great results!...

You said pure bleach.....did you use straight bleach? Was that the first time you tried that?

[Doug Rose]

A really nice job Christian....I am very happy to see you are back my friend....Doug

[WEBellSystemChristian]

That's really nice...great results!...

You said pure bleach.....did you use straight bleach? Was that the first time you tried that?

Thanks!

I usually use bleach for nicotine staining on Tenite, but I usually water it down, ending up with about a 50/50 mix. However, I used straight bleach this time, or whatever the specific concentration is for the off-the-shelf gallon jugs. I might use straight bleach next time I have a nicotine victim--it seemed to work a lot faster than it would if it were diluted.