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Old 21st Mar 2018, 12:28 pm   #8
Stuart R
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Join Date: May 2011
Location: Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire, UK.
Posts: 690
Default Re: Wooden cabinet re-finishing

Apologies for the long gap. I'm hoping not to take attention away from Dick's concurrent thread on the same topic. Something here may be useful....

After tripping over this cabinet for the last 5 years, I took on board some very helpful advice offered by David (G4EBT) on cabinet re-finishing. In it he discussed the various methods involving oil based stains vs water based and also the excellent, yet time consuming French polishing route.

David said he'd used water based stain and clear aerosol lacquer and so based on his experience, I thought I'd try the same. I have a few radios with scratched and damage cabinets, so pushed the boat out and bought a variety of 250ml bottles of "Liberon palette" wood dye, some sponge applicators and cloths.

For the Murphy A242, I chose Yew for the main cabinet and Golden Pine for the recessed woodwork around the front panel. The dark streaks that I mentioned back in 2013 didn't look so pronounced now, there are still darker patches in the wood which may have been there originally.

The instructions state you should apply the stain quickly - along the grain - and wipe off any excess before it dries with a clean, dry cotton cloth. This is the really tricky part;

The first time I tried this, I was a bit too vigorous with the cloth and ended up wiping most of the dye off again.

The second time, I left the dye a bit too long. It looked a good coating when wet, but a little opaque in some patches where laid on a bit thick. Leave it too long and these opaque patches dry leaving darker 'toffee apple' streaks in the finish.

I noticed at this point that my cheap masking tape, when removed. lifted the colour off of the lighter section I'd done previously. I decided that the dye must still be sitting on the surface of the wood, so used a fine bit of sandpaper to remove the worst of the toffee apple streaks.

Third attempt was on the darker front surround. The grain runs along the shorter dimension only about 25 mm wide, so that's lots of small sponge strokes, where you can soon see a build-up of dye collecting at the edges. I used a cloth again to even-up the coating, gently rubbing until no more wet patches can be seen. I was pleased with the look at first, but still, once dry, you could still make out 5mm darker portion where the dye had concentrated at each end.

Fourth attempt and back to the top of the cabinet. I tried one more coat with a different method. working in a small corner at a time, I rubbed the dye on with a cloth. It gave a nice, even result on the first patch, but became difficult after working on the adjacent patch and the two edges wouldn't blend very well. Being nervous about another sanding session, I gave the top of the cabinet a wipe over with a water-dampened cloth. This did seem to even things out.

Fifth attempt this morning, I've just tried the side. I made three nice passes with the 1 inch sponge. Wiped the excess off with a cloth and carried on to cover the rest of that side. By the time I get to the other end, I can already see some dark patches that I feel are going to spoil the appearance. Some I can even out with the cloth and others are too dry. I rubbed a little harder and they lighten. That's no good, so I add a dab more stain. For some reason that now leaves a lighter patch which can't be evened out. To save another sanding session, I've given that side a wipe over with a damp cloth and will have another go later.....

I'm going to keep plodding on with this, the top of the cabinet still looks a lot nicer than it did 5 years ago, I think there is hope.

I suppose this is just a cautionary tale. I know there are plenty of you out there who have done this before and know all the pitfalls and have offered excellent advice. I hadn't appreciated how difficult this part of restoration can be.

A top tip that I will pass on is to do this in an even light, the recent overcast days give a good light on my kitchen table. Once the sun comes through the window in the afternoon, it's very hard to pick out the errors in my dye application with all other shadows flickering through the window,

SR
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