Got a Northern Electric 302 today and spent 3 hours taking paint off handset.

[1954NE500]

I just picked up a Northern Electric 302 today that I've just started restoring and spent the better part of 3 hours today taking ugly brown and orange paint off of the F1 handset and it was messy. I now have to find a 302 ringer and proper line cord for this phone as those are both missing. I also have to repaint the black paint the dial finger wheel and number card ring as well as who ever had this phone last took all the original black paint off of the dial finger wheel and card retainer. At least this phone was not made into a lamp or other junk. There's later neoprene triangular screw-on feet on this NE 302 as well and the elements in the receiver date to 1954. I also got to polish up the bakelite F1 receiver as well.

[LarryInMichigan]

I have mentioned here before that I have been using 3M "Safest Stripper" (which has been in my basement for years) to remove paint from bakelite and metal.  It does a great job without much effort or much of a smell.  I have had to unpaint at least four or five phones which were badly painted black over black bakelite and looked terrible as they were.  Don't use the stripper on tenite though, because it will dissolve it.

If your finger wheel and retainer are brass, you might want to just strip the paint and polish them.  It won't look authentic, but it will look nice.

Larry

[Dan/Panther]

1954NE500;

Here is a thread about my first 302 that was painted silver.
D/P

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=218.0

[1954NE500]

The handset looks pretty good on my 302 now, just needs some polishing. I just opened up the 302 and found November, 1949 dates on the base and case. I imagine this 302 was repaired/refurbished in 1954 and again in about 1959-60 with a later neoprene curly handset cord and neoprene triangular feet. Northern Electric 302's were pretty active in circulation in the Bell Canada network well into the 1960's, even 1969-70 before Bell Canada started retiring and scrapping 302's with a reasonable some still surviving to the present day.
That was an awesome job done restoring that Western Electric 302 that was painted silver when I thought my painted handset was pretty bad on my 302. Excellent job of bringing that WE 302 back to it's former 1940's/1950's glory.
Even the swede feet turned out great too:-)
Now, to repaint the finger wheel and number card ring black and find a 302 ringer and I'll be all set, also add in a black line cord as well.

[Dan/Panther]

1954NE500;
Here is a thread about the feet.
Thanks to Dennis for the tips on proper suede, and an easier procedure to complete them.
D/P

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=822.0

[1954NE500]

That's quite an interesting thread on recovering the swede feet on a 302. I've always wondering how they put the swede on 302 feet from 1937 to about 1954. I can also see why they eventually switched to the neoprene feet as well in late 1958 on all Western Electric phones as well. I can just imagine the work and skill mass-producing the swede feet for 302's and early 500's. There would be dedicated workers who have had a lot of practice putting the swede covering on thousands of 302 feet a day in Western Electric and Northern Electric factories. That would be very dedicated job indeed versus just molding neoprene feet.

[Jim Stettler]

Regarding the silver 302 I have seen gold 302's and 5302's that were painted Ivory and then over coated w/ gold spray paint. I beleive these were a local Bell refurb option.

Just an observation,
Jim

[1954NE500]

Update on my new 302, I have done more restoration work including a proper and original straight handset cord for the handset to change out the neoprene curly cord to the original 1950's straight handset cord as well as a nice new set of swede/leather feet to change out the neoprene replacement feet back to the original swede feet it had in the 1950's. I also installed an original 1950's 302 ringer as well. The parts came from a no-dial 302 with a broken handset that was glued back together and badly cracked case. This no-dial 302 is now a future restoration project for which I will need a 1950's 302 dial to convert it to a late 1950's dial refurb as well as a ringer, a Northern Electric F1 handset and hopefully, if anyone has a good thermoplastic 302 shell as well. Will be very much appreciated in the future-thanks. Now, I just need to repaint the dial finger wheel black and also a proper, 1950's 302 line cord as well.

[Greg G.]

I just picked up a Northern Electric 302 today that I've just started restoring and spent the better part of 3 hours today taking ugly brown and orange paint off of the F1 handset and it was messy.

I'm always interested in different people's techniques they use for this type of work.  Care to elaborate?  Before and after pics are good too.

[1954NE500]

When I first picked up the Northern Electric 302 last week, the F1 handset had brown paint which covered an even uglier orange paint underneath. Thankfully, this paint was water-based and came off in about 3 hours including cleaning out inside where the receiver and transmitter elements go. Next was finding a ringer which I found one in another no-dial 302 which had a broken handset glued back together and badly cracked case. That's also where I got the proper, straight handset cord and swede/leather feet as well. I installed the ringer, changed the handset cord and changed the feet back to the swede feet this past Thursday evening. The no-dial 302 I got these parts from will now become a future project for which I will use the other handset cord, neoprene feet and curly cord and make into a late-1950's Bell Canada refurb and install a 5-H dial and ringer as well. For the Northern Electric 302 I got last week, I got the black spray paint and just have to paint the finger wheel on the dial black which will be this coming week and find that line cord. The rest of the Northern Electric 302 I got last week just needs to polished and cleaned as thankfully, the rest of the phone was original and left alone. Now, for the other no-dial 302, I'm wondering what's the best way to repair cracked thermoplastic and repolish the original shine. I heard novus was really good. Just wondering-thanks.

[HarrySmith]

Sounds like a real good job! Nothing like taking a piece of dirt "frankenphone" and returning it to it's former glory! As far as repair and polishing, I use epoxy from the inside to fix a crack, work it into the crack with a toothpick, build a little line over the crack inside, apply pressure or weight to hold it tight and wipe any excess off the outside. I find this will keep a smooth surface on the outside and be a srtong bond. For cleaning and polishing I use Novus, great stuff!

[1954NE500]

Thanks:-), will use epoxy to fix that 302 case and pick up some Novus sometime as well-Thanks:-)