olde telephones ... again

[fletty]

I had trouble (lost 3 drafts!) adding to the following older thread and so have started a new one


https://www.woodworkforums.com/f173/y...ephone-138141/

I am also restoring on olde phone and I have been working on it for EXACTLY the same time Wheelinround has been restoring the same lady's Hebridean spinning wheel! The lady who owns it is like others on this forum and remembers it in daily use in her family country home. When I went to last weekend's Sturt Workshop Hand Tool Extravaganza I called into an antique shop in Mittagong that had exactly the same phone for sale except it had a GHASTLY keypad set into the notepad shelf but it did have an original looking brass and timber handpiece. It sold for $975!
The restoration has come along well and other than a bit of cleaning and polishing, the main work was done by Howards Restora Finish which quickly removed many years of household smoke residue and other grime. This surprised me a little as the curved front is actually sheet steel painted with a timber grain pattern and labelled with a metallic ink transfer. A test label inside states that it passed test on 15th June, 1910! That makes it older than Claw Hama and possibly as old as Scribbly Gum!
I just need to fix a few other hooks and knobs and it is finished.

fletty

PS, there is a company that restores old phones and, I believe, supplies bits and pieces. contact details are www.pmgtechnology.com.au, I haven't used them myself and have no connection with them,

[wheelinround]

Poor lady eh she'll be bored silly nothing to spin on and no phone calls to sit and chat away the hours with.

I guess neither of us being in the shed which is what we would rather be doing or have been doing. We had other things to do during that period for other people as well as family and love jobs always get shoved to the back.

Ok now I see what you mean regarding the hook and ear piece some of them had a brass piece which had a round eyelet so you could hook that onto and hang it.

In looking at the one below the receiver on your resto one is more modern.

Kaikorai and the early years - Old Telephones.

photo is form eleswhere



Hope this helps Fletty.


Edited added..... What happened to photos of spare parts left over?????

[wheelinround]

As for Scribbly and Claw surely they have 50 yrs start on it

[Christos]

The phone that sold for $975 were you bidding on it?

[fletty]

The phone that sold for $975 were you bidding on it?

I was actually hoping only to photograph it to make a replica handpiece. Since then I have heard of another for sale much closer to home at $425. I'll check that one out tomorrow.

by the way ........ CONGRATULATIONS!

fletty

[rogerjenkins]

Hi Guys, IF anyone is seeking almost anything about the history of almost any type of old phone here in Australia, there's, " Big Mick, " down at Yorketown,- get him talking telephones, and their history, and you will have him talking for, " yonks, " on the subject, as, " Big Mick, " is an old PMG Technician from days gone by, - still works for Telstra, as a Technicial. Collects old Phones, etc., - even has a complete old manual Telephone Exchange in his back shed, along with several ancient Phone boxes, along with an assortment of old Telephone line Insulators, including some originals from the old North-South Central Australian Telephone Line, and all sorts of interesting telephone things..
When, " Big Mick, ( real name;- Michael Klau ), retires in a few years, he is planning to set up a Telephone Museum at Yorketown, Southern Yorke Peninsula, S.A.
His phone No. ( 08 ) 8852 1595 ;
Address;- Micheal Klau, 25 Anderson Terrace, Yorketown, S.A. 5576
( Yes, he has a Mob No., & an email addy too, but when I want it,- it can't be found !! - it's here somewhere in my collection of odds, and sods,- but where ??? )
Roger

[Claw Hama]

Ha, I'm not that old, I'm a spring chicken, without the spring. I do remember when you had to wind the handle to get the exchange though, probebly not good for my side of the argument. My Aunty worked in Newcastle exchange/post office (the one that sits rotting at the top of town in Newcastle) around 1964, she brought an old exchange phone home for me to play with. It had a three pin plug just like a 240 outlet. Me being a real fiddle finggers and in training to make stuff when I got older wanted to plug said phone into the power point. Oddly enough I wasn't alowed to. So I set about making my own arrangements, I got my self a screwdriver placed an old cane armchair under a light switch (the old twist, clang on, twist again, clang off type) removed the two screws, cover and at some point made contact with the 240 volts. After they picked me up off the floor and I recieved a piece of barley sugar to stop me from crying everything was ok. I never did try to plug the phone in again I was about 4 at the time still not unusual for me to get a boot now and then

Oh nice phone Fletty, I have bell envy I think.