Removing smoke smell from old radio

I got a real stinker fifty year old table radio on my hands. I've cleaned the chassis as carefully as possible, the wood both inside and out and carefully blotted the speaker cloth. When the radio arrived just putting it in a room would make it smell as if someone had lit a cigar. It's down to about 10% of the original potency and it now smells "sweet" smoky the way the air does twenty yards from a smoke shop. My question: Anyone have any favorite tricks for getting rid of that last 10% smoke smell? Or is it so deep into the wood and wires that its hopeless?

[Chad Hauris]

Perhaps spraying an odor neutralizer like Febreeze inside the cabinet would help? I know what you mean...have had TV's and electronic organs that had a heavy nictotine deposit on chassis and would make the entire room reek of smoke.

[Fisherdude]

I have had excellent results with a combination of a good cleaning and a little patience.

I've purchased several radios (and a rtr tape deck) that had heavy cigarette smoke deposits. I gave them a good (well, as good as I could do) cleaning using either a spray cleaner like 409 or Windex, or mild soap solution if there was any risk of damage to dial glass, etc. Then I let them dry and air out for a few days. The smell was 95% gone within 2-3 days of drying out, and then it continued to fade away until it was completely gone. Can't smell a thing anymore, even if I stick my nose inside the case.

If you have a wooden cased radio, which probably also has some cloth insulated wiring inside, you may not be able to do quite that thorough of a cleaning without some risk of having moisture soak into the inside surfaces of the cabinet. I would give it a try, and then lightly spray one of those odor eliminator sprays on the inside of the cabinet, then wait a week or two. I'm guessing you'll be very satisfied with the result.

[Markus111]

I'm with fisherdude on this one. If you cleaned it so 90% of it is gone, the last 10% will fade over time. It helps if there is moving air around the set. If I have a real stinker, I'll put it outside on my covered patio when the weather is nice. This trick works even faster if you leave the chassis out of the radio, so maximum airflow can get inside.

Mark

[mg196]

I know this has been discussed at length before...just cant find the thread. Clean it as best you can then allow it to sit in the sun for a day (powered on if possible). You'd be surprised what 100% fresh air can do!

Thanks for all the suggestions. It's getting better, slowly but surely. Left it outside for two days and now its sitting in the garage awaiting further work on the wood and the speaker grill cloth. Anyone have luck with Westley's bleche white on off-white/neutral speaker grill cloth? I would think it may be harsh, but this off-white is stained mostly yellowish and short of replacing the whole cloth, which is otherwise perfect and which I don't want to do, I'm wondering if anyone has tried this or any other harsher cleaners with any rate of success?

Thanks again for all the info. May your tubes be burning brightly and the signal undistorted even when the volume knob is turned all the way up.

[Fisherdude]

Bleche-White would not be the first thing I would try on the grill cloth. I think it would work all right...too well. You would probably end up with a white grill cloth.

Try soaking it in laundry detergent and warm, not hot, water. Rinse well, but be careful not to twist or stretch it. Let it dry, and see how much of the yellowing is gone when it's completely dry. If that doesn't work, then it would be worth it to try something harsher, like the Bleche-White.

A couple of tricks in removing bad smells from wood radio cabinets:

1. Go to Home Depot or Lowes and purchase a small box of cedar
squares. Put the cedar and the cabinet into a plastic bag and seal
it for a few days - really takes the stick away and leaves a nice
cedar smell - I normally keep a few small cedar chips in the cabinets
and change them out every couple of months to keep that musty
smell away -

2. Again with the sealed plastic bag, this time, just open a box
of baking powder and let it absord the smells - same theory as to
why we put an open box of baking powder in the refrig !

[holmesuser01]

I agree with the others. Over time, the smell will go away. Sitting it outside where the air can get at it is also another good idea.

I used to get TV sets that looked like they had been through a house fire. The owners were smokers, obviously. After I repaired them, they stank up my shop until the owner came back. I remember helping a guy get his smoky TV in his car. His windows were brown, too. I cant imagine that much smoking. My dad smoked for 60 years, and his cars NEVER looked like that.

I just aquired a Philco 41-XXXX console. It smells like Lucky Strikes. Thats what the previous owner told me his mom smoked. It has bad caps. It will run again.

[Mark W.]

I collect cameras as well and we run into this a lot.

The best ideas we have come up with:

Qtips and Alcohol as a first cleaner

Light wipe down with Freebreez Order reducer

Placing in a baggie with a number of dryer sheets

Placing in a baggie with a pan of baking soda (the larger surface area helps speed things up)

And Grandmas favorite way A nice spring breeze another words hours in the open air (JUST remember to bring it in at night)

Only thing I haven't been able to pull out of a camera with this was Cat Piss. And I really burned me having to throw a $50.00 motor drive away. But I saved the cameras and lenses (ebay purchase)

My dad smoked so much in his office that his hunting trophies look like they are made from carmel Killed me to have to toss his antelope and deer head mounts BUT damn they stunk and the taxidermist told us they could never be cleaned properly. None of us three boys wives would let them near our houses.

Luckily Dad kept his Heathkit Mohican reciever in a different room for most of it's life. A quick cleaning and new batteries and all the world comes blasting through.

[gyusher]

Smoke Eliminator (car freshener) and a big fan blowing across it. . .A couple days will get-r-done. . .

Fresh Air and a fan do wonders. . . :loser:

Oh right. . . after cleaning of course. . . .