Restoring a Laquer Finish?

[pfschgo]

Hi gents,
I have a very nice cube zenith with a super original finish...except for the top. Is there a way to re finish the existing without stripping?
Is it as simple as reapplying the lacquer?
Thanks for any help,
Paul

[gary rabbitt]

Hi Paul,
How bad is the finish?

Is it only slightly checked, or is it checked so bad it is dry and flaking off? Is it faded?

Others will chime in here, but the only one I have doine was not too bad, and just sprayed a light coat of thinned lacquer clear on. It wasn't perfectly smooth, but it helped the flaking pieces lay down a bit better.

Some may say to sand lightly, but if you sand, you are taking color off.


If you try to refolw the finish and you get it too wet, you could get runs, and if the original finish runs, so does the color.

I have never used the 0000 steel wool and furniture juice, or other liquid. To me, using any kind of steel wool would tent to make a flaking finish flake off worse.

[pfschgo]

HI Gary,
Just slightly checked..looks as tho a medium to "melt" and blend to the original finish would do it.
Its a very good finish...and really only an issue on the top.
Not flaking, not falling off, just dry with ridges along the grain lines.
Love to save it if I could. Rest of the radio is really nice.
Thanks for the reply,
Paul

[TexMac]

Those with good color and good adhesion are real good candidates for padding lacquer. It is sort of like a vigorous final buffing with a tightly wadded cotton pad moistened (but not wet) with padding lacquer. The pad must not be touching the surface at the start or the finish of the stroke. That is my usual method of refreshing an old, dried finish that is otherwise good. You might be able to find some more ideas of the technique by searching "French polishing". That is really a labor intensive finishing method from scratch usually using shellac, but the methodology is the same and generally used by good furniture restorers to finish minor repairs.
_________________
Ron Mc/

** There's no such thing as a change for the better. **

[k9uwa]

[gary rabbitt]

Yep, that's the thing about melting the old finish. If it is touched, or starts to run, your color will drip off too.

Getting it too wet might cause some of the finish to pool together, and cause a dark spot.

If you use a brush to apply lacquer and retarder, brush only once, because of the next stroke can wipe off the finish
I'd apply using a spray gun, if possible.

The padding technique sounds ok, but be careful not to dissolve the old finish too deep.

[sofaslug]

The other thing you can do is to spray clear lacquer onto the horizontal surface, and sand and repeat. Each time you do this the lacquer will partilally fill the cracks and areas where the original clear finish has been lost. Each time you sand, you abrade away whatever lacquer landed on the areas that retained the original finish, and eventually everything will become level. This assumes that it was clear lacquer had worn away rather than toned lacquer. This is usually the case on the surfaces with high-quality veneer. (On the other hand, trim is often toned rather than stained.) If you want to see what something will look like after clear lacquer has been applied, just apply some naphtha or mineral spirits and check the appearance of the surface before it dries.

Bob

[pfschgo]

Gents, thanks again for the help.
Since the cube is curved, I think I will try Bobs method.
And , by the way, this guy is shiny...sort of puts that argument to bed for me. Not Larry shiny gloss, but definitely glossy. On a a par with console finishes.
Thanks for the help!
Paul