Supplies are items that you gradually use up and must replace from time to time.

Here are the supplies that I consider essential:

• Solder - I use .028" 60% tin Ersin Multicore - any good, small rosin-core solder should do.

• Desoldering braid - US #4 or European BB size is my favorite.  Radio Shack's braid is fine.

• Tip cleaning sponge - don't try to cut down a supermarket sponge - your soldering iron may melt or burn it if it is made from the wrong material.  Buy one from an electronics supplier.

• Control cleaner, aka tuner tonic - buy a good brand that uses silicone as a lubricant - the cheap stuff uses mineral oil and gums up with age.  It can be used to clean dirty potentiometers and switches.

• Electrical tape - a good vinyl tape is a must.  Cheap tape will unwind, not stick well, leak gooey adhesive and generally be a pain.  I suggest Scotch (3M) 33 or 88.

• Paper towels, pipe cleaners, Q-Tips and cotton balls with an assortment of solvents - you will be amazed at the gunk in an old chassis and what you have to do to clean it up.  The best solvents to start with are 90% Isopropyl rubbing alcohol from the drugstore or supermarket (70% is too weak), lighter fluid (naptha) and the universal solvent - water.  WARNING!!! Use the first two solvents only in a well ventilated area or outdoors and avoid breathing their fumes.

• Pocket oiler and small tube of lithium grease (available at hobby shops).

• Steel wool (0000 - the finest type) and Scotchbrite (also the finest type) for heavy cleaning of chassis and large parts (sold by hardware stores and home centers).  I usually use Scotchbrite to avoid little bits of steel wool getting all over the shop.

• Duster - pretty much just a can of compressed air with a nozzle that you can use to blow dust out of nooks and crannies.  Stores like Wal-Mart and K-Mart have them near the computer supplies.  Very useful for cleaning out the debris left by steel wool and Scotchbrite.

• Wire - what you need depends on what sets you are working on and what type of wire they use.  Some early '40s chassis used a rubber covered wire that is shedding its hardened, cracked insulation - all wire with deteriorated insulation should be replaced.  '20s and '30s sets usually used cloth-covered rubber-insulated wire that has held up much better.  Cloth-covered wire is hard to find and expensive.  Modern PVC (plastic) insulated wire works fine.  Be sure that the wire you use is the same gauge (size) as the original wire.  I always use wire that matches the original in size and color, as far as possible.  The best place to buy wire is at an electronic supply company or by mail.  Avoid the sets of red, green and black spools of wire at Radio Shack - it is not tinned and overall a pain to work with.

• Two-part epoxy cement.

• Duco cement - found at some hardware stores.

• Elmer's Glue-All and rubber cement - for speaker repairs.

Here are some other useful items:

• Advanced solvents include denatured alcohol, turpentine, acetone, xylene and toluene, all sold by harware stores and home centers.  WARNING!!! Use these solvents only in a well ventilated area or outdoors and avoid breathing their fumes.

• Small tube of moly (Molybdenum) grease - sold at hobby shops.

• Flux remover - cleans up excess rosin flux.

• Sharpie markers - black and red.

• Radio-TV service cement, service cement solvent and magnetic cement - all from GC Electronics and sold at suppliers and by mail.  The magnetic cement is used to repair brokem ferrite cores.

• Loctite - locks machine screws and nuts.  Use the blue type, not the red.

• Electronic cleaning chemicals - many brands are available.  I use products from Caig Laboratories.