I am refinishing my cabinet and have sanded it down to bare wood. I'm going to be using Mohawk toner lacquer medium walnut. My question is
what prep work I should be using. Should I use a sanding sealer or wood filler? Or should I just use thinned down shellac instead before I apply
the toner lacquer? Also should I be using a dye based lacquer or pigment based lacquer? Or both? I've been trying to research this stuff, especially
the wood filler, sanding sealer or thinned down clear shellac. I'm still confused.
I could really use some tips and suggestions from someone that
is knowledgeable in woodworking and refinishing. Some might say that I should have left the old finish on and just clean it, but it's too late for that
now, and I want it to really look nice like new. I just finished restoring the radio chassis and added an Alexa interface to listen to the old music and
it sounds wonderful.
Thanks, Fred Martin
When sanding to remove the old finish you have to be very careful not to sand thru the veneer as it is very thin. Can also change the contour of the wood if sanded too much. Most prefer using a chemical stripper.
Personally I like using sanding sealer it gives you a good idea of what it's going to look like as you go along. Wood filler is for filling in small dings, dents, and small chips of missing veneer. You may have it mixed up w/ grain filler which used to fill in the grain in wood that has porous grain like mahogany or walnut.
Toned lacquers are the the easiest as they are available in aerosol cans. Mohawk is a popular supplier for all of these refinishing supplies
I did have it mixed up with grain filler,that is what I was talking about. I am only sanding enough to remove the old finish . My confusion was whether to
apply grain filler, or sanding sealer, or just shellac mixed 50-50 with DN alcohol. I also have Mohawk dye based lacquer and pigment based lacquer. I want the
beautiful grain lines to really show especially on the zebra wood strips.
Thanks for your input.
Fred
Don't know anybody that uses shellac. I prefer to apply the sanding sealer first and then the grain filler. Just so you know sanding sealer doesn't fill the grain so you will need to do both. Grain filling is my least favorite task to do. W/oil base your need some time for it to dry before removing the excess maybe a day or two don't try to rush it.
What Terry said.
I used to use shellac until I read that that was not such a good idea; I've used lacquer-based sanding sealer ever since. Grain filler is applied after sanding sealer. Again, as Terry said, take your time. Patience is a virtue.
Realistically you can do it either way filler first and then sanding sealer or the other way round but my thinking is this. The filler is very dark and stains the wood if there is no sealer on the wood. That's ok but if the use the sealer first it blocks the filler from staining the wood and just fills the pores (after you wipe it down). This will give you much more contrast between the pours and the areas that are not porous.
...exactly why I will not apply filler without applying sealer first...the staining aspect of grain filler is not desirable...
Thanks for all the information. It's starting to make sense now.
Fred
Just a follow up on my radio restoration, I just finished it up and it proudly sits in my liveng room. My wife just loves it.
A big thanks to fellow member for their advice and info. The radio sounds awesome and I wired in an aux input that I
use to connect to an Amazon Echo Input with a DPDT swich on the back. I can now tell Alexa to play 40s big band music.
Now I need to find another project...
Fred Martin
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That looks showroom new, Fred! I've got one of those 40-180's waiting in the wings. Hope it ends up looking like yours in the end. Take care and BE HEALTHY! Gary
Lookin’ good!
Thank you,
Very nice indeed.