It’s been awhile since I have blogged about any current DIY Projects, so I figured I would share/give you a glimpse of what I’ve been restoring.

Here are your hints: It’s vintage, it was my grandpa’s and it’s in the photo below.

(ps. That’s my mum in the picture on Christmas morning!)

I won’t get into full details because…

• a. I have been working on this project since last summer (this was embarrassing to type)
• b. I seemed to have misplaced my high-res photos from the beginning of this project (this was equally embarrassing to type)
• c. It’s taking awhile to complete and I don’t have a final photo for you of a completed piece

Have you guessed what it is?

Ta Da! Broadcast diy: My grandpa’s radio!

I have attached a few sneak peeks of what I’ve been rambling on about.

This is beautiful Hudson’s Bay Company, Baycrest “Radio-Phonograph Combination” model B-627A (Purchased at the Winnipeg Hudson’s Bay Store) was rescued from being thrown in the dump, given to me.
Hurray, my own Golden family treasure!

Of course, it’s old. I am guessing late 1930s early 1940s… side note: finding any information on a Canadian made radio seems impossible.

This is somewhat how my first experience went with my newly acquired radio.

Me: “Ma, why did Grandpa stop listening to this amazing radio?”

Mum: “Umm, I can’t really remember?”

*Meanwhile my dad is puttering, plugging in the radio*

Mum: “I think it started to smell funny… kind of like burning.”

This is about the point where all at once, not only could we smell burning, a small fire developed.
SUPER!

After the small fire was extinguished, my dad concluded that not only were the tubes finished, so was the transformer.
SUPER!

Just a few minor setbacks.

HOWEVER, I am an eternal optimist and my dad has an electrical background… and he has already thought of a way to “fix/restore” this small blazing problem.

As of right now, I have it scraped and sanded (it looks pretty amazing). I’ve picked a pretty dark cherry stain, and have already recovered the speaker covers.

Stay tuned! (Ha ha, this actually is punny) my next post will be the finished product.