After another long break, I'm pleased to report some progress. I wanted the set ready for Christmas and was fed up with the space taken up by separate cabinet and chassis.
I failed to get it ready for Christmas, but managed to spend a bit more time on this during some of the milder days in November & December.
I was still struggling to get a uniform finish, so many efforts were removed the following day with a wipe-over with a damp cloth.
I was aware that the join between the veneers on the side of the cabinet was feeling a bit more pronounced when I ran my hand over it, so I don't think these damp wipe-overs could be continued forever, In addition, the patches of wood filler I'd used to fill the various bits of missing veneer were also feeling more rough, I had sanded them super-smooth when first applied.
I had finally got an acceptable finish when accidentally dripped some water on the cabinet, this removed the colour instantly. I managed to make a fairly good repair by smearing around the tiniest amount of partially dry stain with a cotton bud.
As mentioned by others before, Wood Filler is not a great base for wood stain. Once happy with the appearance of the overall cabinet, I'd apply a bit of extra stain by brush to the filled section, but mostly this application would lift the previous coat. I had some furniture repair crayons, but didn't want to add any wax to the surface, so tried colouring pencils and felt tip pen with no luck. I tried laying the stain on a bit thicker to get a better colour match, using the half-dried stain congealed around the top of the tin. It still didn't look quite right, so I also added a bit more stain in-between coats of the spray lacquer, I think its now acceptable, considering the bodgery beneath.
Sadly more bodgery was needed when the cabinet slipped on the Workmate, resulting in a chunk of veneer coming away from the back corner of the cabinet. I'd run out of wood filler, so after masking up the corner, dribbled-in some PVA glue mixed with wood stain. It looked good to start with but the downfall with this plan is that the glue shrinks when dry, so has left a slightly concave repair. I had forgotten all about this until reviewing my photographs!
I used 2 400ml spray cans of Jenkins 'Clear Gloss' PC2 90% Lacquer to get around 8 coats. Spraying out doors was required and any breeze affected the coverage. I encountered two problems with this method; If I slowed down and laid things on a bit thick, easily done in the corners, the dried finish looked a bit milky and required a lot of buffing to restore the clear look. Secondly the spray nozzles do seem to block fairly quickly, this would result in a bubbly sound from the spray and some very concentrated shiny streaks across the cabinet.
After a couple of coats, I would gently use a bit of (wet) wet and dry paper, followed by a buff with a soft cloth. I could get quite a shine but the surface was and is still lacking that hard, smooth finish.
- Removing the colour when trying a second coat of stain on wood filler
- Milky finish from too much lacquer
- Very Glossy streaks from partially blocked nozzle
- Half way through Lacquer - a shiny finish that has now gone!