09-06-2011, 02:24 PM
Hi,
Many thanks Alan for your kind words; I'm pleased the cabinet came up to expectations and I'm sure had you placed your pot of tea upon it I would have been excused for committing justifiable homicide!! We both very much enjoyed your visit Alan and Bron says she hasn't laughed as much in years; you were a real tonic and are welcome any time.
All the veneers are now new on this cabinet and consist of inlaid panels; cross banding and stringing so I needed to proceed with a lot of caution. The inlaid panels didn’t require staining but the cross banding did.
As an experiment I did stain the cross banding before adding the stringing as the stringing groove gave a natural break preventing the stain from creeping onto the inlaid panels; that was the idea which in practice failed miserably. The stain didn’t creep and to protect the inlaid panels these were masked. The problem came after the stringing was glued into place and was brought down flush using a cabinet scraper. The scraper made a wonderful job of this but also removed a lot of the stain from the cross banding.
Staining the cross banding now became a huge problem; unsealed grain would drink up the stain and the stringing and inlaid panels would be contaminated so I did a bit of experimenting with scraps of veneer. I applied masking tape forming strips and applied stain only to see the stain creep uncontrollably under the tape. Staining the bare veneer was no longer an option.
I spent ages on this staining problem but eventually applied Blonde Shellac to the entire cabinet; many coats were needed before the grain was filled. The shellac was then cut back with abrasive paper lubricated with talc until the shellac was “mat” all over. Now I could take great care and mask using tape and paper ensuring the edges of the masking tape was in close contact with the shellac.
I had bought powdered dark oak pigment that dissolves in meths and used it to colour Garnet Shellac. The shellac looked very dark but applying a drop to a test piece it was OK. I was a nervous wreck as I used a new rubber and quickly wiped the shellac onto the cross banding; there was no going back and to hesitate would have left tide marks; it was all or nothing. At last the cross banding was finally coloured and the coloured shellac didn’t creep under the tape much to my relief. The masking paper and tape was very gently removed as I didn’t want to cause any damage.
I could now relax and enjoy the final stage of using a rubber to add the finishing layers of Blonde Shellac. The cabinet was placed in a warm place for a week to let the shellac fully harden then was burnished using Meguiars swirl remover followed by Meguiars car glaze bringing up a high gloss.
Finally after four months of total frustration working in dire conditions I could stand back and admire my handiwork. The cabinet now looks entirely different from what it would have looked when new. Over half the cabinet is in fact now new and none of the existing veneers remain. The old treacle finish has been replaced by French polish; the Sapele Pomelle inlaid panels have turned out extremely well and the home made stringing is perfect. I knew deep down that I had done my best and what a tremendous learning curve this turned out to be. I fully embraced the challenge and on the whole enjoyed the project but I did not enjoy doing the work in the worst winter ever recorded.
The chassis is on the workshop bench but it is still cold in the workshop and I’m too tight to pay even higher heating bills than we already do. A nice sunny climate would be wonderful but then I wouldn’t have anything to moan about.
I made a new baffle board and added new cloth and also bought and installed a new laminated glass safety screen; I’m undecided whether to add screening foil to the inside of the cabinet as the set won’t be used much at all; this completes the cabinet restoration and I wouldn’t have missed doing it for anything;
I’m now faced with a huge personal problem. When I started work on this cabinet I felt I still had a great deal to learn about cabinetwork and although I do enjoy woodwork I thought this cabinet might defeat me with it ending up in a skip. Now the cabinet is finished the problem is what can I follow such a project with; the condition of this cabinet was about as bad as it can get and I’ve not only restored it but highly customized it; learning all the new techniques the hard way was most interesting for me but now I know how to do such work do I really want to carry on restoring cabinet after cabinet? The pictures show what can be achieved with more determination than skill.
Kind regards, Col.
Many thanks Alan for your kind words; I'm pleased the cabinet came up to expectations and I'm sure had you placed your pot of tea upon it I would have been excused for committing justifiable homicide!! We both very much enjoyed your visit Alan and Bron says she hasn't laughed as much in years; you were a real tonic and are welcome any time.
All the veneers are now new on this cabinet and consist of inlaid panels; cross banding and stringing so I needed to proceed with a lot of caution. The inlaid panels didn’t require staining but the cross banding did.
As an experiment I did stain the cross banding before adding the stringing as the stringing groove gave a natural break preventing the stain from creeping onto the inlaid panels; that was the idea which in practice failed miserably. The stain didn’t creep and to protect the inlaid panels these were masked. The problem came after the stringing was glued into place and was brought down flush using a cabinet scraper. The scraper made a wonderful job of this but also removed a lot of the stain from the cross banding.
Staining the cross banding now became a huge problem; unsealed grain would drink up the stain and the stringing and inlaid panels would be contaminated so I did a bit of experimenting with scraps of veneer. I applied masking tape forming strips and applied stain only to see the stain creep uncontrollably under the tape. Staining the bare veneer was no longer an option.
I spent ages on this staining problem but eventually applied Blonde Shellac to the entire cabinet; many coats were needed before the grain was filled. The shellac was then cut back with abrasive paper lubricated with talc until the shellac was “mat” all over. Now I could take great care and mask using tape and paper ensuring the edges of the masking tape was in close contact with the shellac.
I had bought powdered dark oak pigment that dissolves in meths and used it to colour Garnet Shellac. The shellac looked very dark but applying a drop to a test piece it was OK. I was a nervous wreck as I used a new rubber and quickly wiped the shellac onto the cross banding; there was no going back and to hesitate would have left tide marks; it was all or nothing. At last the cross banding was finally coloured and the coloured shellac didn’t creep under the tape much to my relief. The masking paper and tape was very gently removed as I didn’t want to cause any damage.
I could now relax and enjoy the final stage of using a rubber to add the finishing layers of Blonde Shellac. The cabinet was placed in a warm place for a week to let the shellac fully harden then was burnished using Meguiars swirl remover followed by Meguiars car glaze bringing up a high gloss.
Finally after four months of total frustration working in dire conditions I could stand back and admire my handiwork. The cabinet now looks entirely different from what it would have looked when new. Over half the cabinet is in fact now new and none of the existing veneers remain. The old treacle finish has been replaced by French polish; the Sapele Pomelle inlaid panels have turned out extremely well and the home made stringing is perfect. I knew deep down that I had done my best and what a tremendous learning curve this turned out to be. I fully embraced the challenge and on the whole enjoyed the project but I did not enjoy doing the work in the worst winter ever recorded.
The chassis is on the workshop bench but it is still cold in the workshop and I’m too tight to pay even higher heating bills than we already do. A nice sunny climate would be wonderful but then I wouldn’t have anything to moan about.
I made a new baffle board and added new cloth and also bought and installed a new laminated glass safety screen; I’m undecided whether to add screening foil to the inside of the cabinet as the set won’t be used much at all; this completes the cabinet restoration and I wouldn’t have missed doing it for anything;
I’m now faced with a huge personal problem. When I started work on this cabinet I felt I still had a great deal to learn about cabinetwork and although I do enjoy woodwork I thought this cabinet might defeat me with it ending up in a skip. Now the cabinet is finished the problem is what can I follow such a project with; the condition of this cabinet was about as bad as it can get and I’ve not only restored it but highly customized it; learning all the new techniques the hard way was most interesting for me but now I know how to do such work do I really want to carry on restoring cabinet after cabinet? The pictures show what can be achieved with more determination than skill.
Kind regards, Col.
