More Cabinet Work

Work on the Zenith continues, and I'll detail that in the future.  For now, I thought I'd take a diversion and go through the steps of refinishing something less ambitious: A derilict Philco 42-327T that's been in my way since the spring.

Unfortunately, I didn't start the project with the intention of "blogging" about it, so I didn't take any "before" pics, nor any of it being stripped.  I think I can describe that, though:

The finish on the cabinet was quite rough, appearing as though it had been left out in the rain and then dragged, face down, across concrete.  Fortunately, the grille bars took most of the damage and the veneer was largely spared; other than a few chips and a bubble or two, it was pretty much intact.

So, to start, I carefully removed the grille bars, stripped them, then sanded the damaged sections while trying to maintain their original radius.  At the same time, I chemically stripped the cabinet, patched the damaged veneer and glued-up a couple of loose joints, clamping everything and allowing it to dry overnight.

This morning, I gave everything a "scuff" with 220 grit paper, then took it out to the garage and shot it with sanding sealer.  The pic below shows the cabinet and grille bars with the sealer just starting to dry.  The white portions are where I shot the sealer thicker than I should have, some of which was intentional.  These will become transparent as the sealer cures.

I'll let this dry overnight.  Tomorrow I'll tackle the fun-filled process of filling the pores in the wood and prepping for it's lacquer finish, which, once completed, will be as near to glass-smooth as I can make it.

Part II: Filling the grain

Well, normally I'd have let the sealer dry overnight, but with the temperature in the garage hovering around 100 degrees F, it dried very quickly and was ready for the next step in just a few hours.

At this point, the grain and pores have been sealed, which basically means that the wood isn't going to drink the lacquer that I'll eventually be applying, but the wood still is far from smooth, and if the top coat were applied at this point, each pore would "sparkle" as light reflected from the tiny pond of lacquer within it, making the surface appear rougher than it actually is.  The easiest way to avoid this is to use a commercial grain filler.

Now, grain filler is NOT the same as the wood filler sold at the big box stores - that stuff is to patch gouges and larger blemishes.  Grain filler is a bit different, it has a consistency that's a bit thicker than pancake batter, and is actually rubbed into the surface of the wood rather than brushed on to it.  Generally, you apply it against the grain with a plastic scraper, I find old credit cards work great for this.  Some people will rub it in with something like burlap.  I don't know about you, but I'm not exactly swimming in burlap, but have a seemingly endless supply of expired charge cards.  Like they say in amateur racing: Run what'cha brung.

Before I apply the grain filler, though, I sand the cabinet again using 220 grit to remove any excess sealer.  Since we're ONLY sanding the sealer and not the wood, I usually go across the grain at this point; I think it works better, but your mileage may vary.

After sanding across the grain with 220 grit.

After sanding, I scoop a glop of the grain filler from the container and push it across the grain with the aforementioned credit card.  In this case, I used a Discover that expired in 2005, but I don't think that matters.  What does matter is making sure that you actually press the filler into the pores rather than dragging it across them.  Think of buttering toast, where you're not so much spreading it across the surface as filling the voids with artery-clogging goodness.  Same basic idea, but with one difference: You don't want to leave any excess - the stuff dries like iron - so the motion is  a push and a scrape... Hard to describe, easy to do.

After filling the grain.  Notice that the surface has become reflective, it'll be more so after I wet sand it later.  The tub in the foreground is the grain filler, and, of course, my long expired Discover card.

A couple of comments about grain filler:  There are basically two types: Oil based and water based.  Some folks say that oil based is easier to work with due to it's longer drying time, but I've used both and haven't noticed a difference.  Expirement.  Also, I'm using a transparent filler here (Acqua Coat), but I've also used tinted and tinted my own to suit the type of wood I'm working with.  Again, expirement and see what works for you.

Also, I can't mention enough that you want to scrape off as much excess as possible before the filler dries. We're not going to be using any more coarse sandpaper, and you can develop tendonitis trying to sand smooth filler boogers with 400 grit...

So, now we're back to the exciting practice of waiting for stuff to dry.  Don't rush this step, else you'll have a mess on your hands when you start wet sanding, which is the next step.  Riveting stuff.  Stay tuned!