Restoring a WECo White 1554

cihensley@aol.com · January 22, 2011, 02:03:20 PM

White I am waiting for the recovering of feet on the 500U (a different thread), I am restoring a Western Electric white 1554 I purchased from Vern Potter. The first picture is the set as received. The second picture show the first pass at the set with 360 grit. I have not yet cleaned the embossing area with the oscillating tool. Notice in the second picture, the handset is whiter than the shell. I suspect the handset is newer than the shell. My experience with restoring white sets is that the underlying plastic undergoes a slight darkening as the set ages. No matter how much material is sanded off it never becomes white white.

Chuck

Dennis Markham · January 22, 2011, 02:30:59 PM

Looking good, Chuck. Did Vern mention that he was looking for one in Ivory??

cihensley@aol.com · January 22, 2011, 03:42:24 PM

Dennis:

Yes. I think he has been looking for nearly two years. I have an ivory 2554, but based on Vern's experience I don't think I will ever have the 1554 in ivory. Because he has been looking so long, if I ever see one I will give him first crack at it.

Chuck

Jim Stettler · January 22, 2011, 09:28:25 PM

Quote from: cihensley@aol.com on January 22, 2011, 03:42:24 PM
Dennis:

Yes. I think he has been looking for nearly two years. I have an ivory 2554, but based on Vern's experience I don't think I will ever have the 1554 in ivory. Because he has been looking so long, if I ever see one I will give him first crack at it.

Chuck

I think he has been looking for an ivory for more than 5 years (could eaisily be closer to 10 ).

Jim S.

cihensley@aol.com · January 24, 2011, 05:30:12 PM

Here is the completed 1554.

Chuck

Craig T · January 24, 2011, 06:36:36 PM

Beautiful Chuck and amazing turn around time too!

Kenny C · January 24, 2011, 06:53:24 PM

GREAT WORK!!!!!!!!!!!

Adam · January 24, 2011, 07:06:45 PM

Yes, beautiful! The 1554 is striking in that color! Good work!

Doug Rose · January 24, 2011, 07:49:39 PM

Chuck....its amazing, what a transformation....Doug

Dennis Markham · January 24, 2011, 08:26:53 PM

Great job, Chuck. That's a very nice phone now thanks to your work.

JorgeAmely · January 24, 2011, 10:45:28 PM

Chuck, excellent restoration on a rare 10 button phone. Did you use the polisher you showed pictures of long time ago?

AE_Collector · January 24, 2011, 11:02:19 PM

Quote from: Dennis Markham on January 22, 2011, 02:30:59 PM
Did Vern mention that he was looking for one in Ivory??

You crack me up (and probably everyone else who has seen any number of Vern's postings)! I know very little about these phones so every time I see Vern "reminding" us that he still needs an Ivory 1554 I can't help thinking that Ivory would be most common color out there next maybe to black.

Nice job on the restoration Chuck!

Terry

News:

Restoring a WECo White 1554