Hi,
I just got offered a job I don’t usually do, but it’s been slow..
It’s a renish job of some red oak cabinets. Mystery finish on them now, old from the 70’s but nice solid wood that is flat and square-no deatils. It’s a sorta natural leaning towards redish but age has as much to do as anything with current look.
So I’m imagining to do a good job I need to 100% strip the old finish off. I could use some product ( advice please) but would also need to sand as well due I’m sure. Or I could just sand them down (advice please). Thankfully I have a Festool sander and vacuum that’s quite effective!
I’m leaning towards a Minwax (advice please) one or 2 coat (advice please) color in PU. Possibly a Minwax stain/sealer followed by several coats of wipe on PU (advice please).
I’m also unsure of what to charge. My Means has no pricing for refinishing I can find. Several pricings lean towards a linear foot for cleaning and painting.
Thanks,
10saw
Replies
are you wanting to just renew the finish or change colors? my attitude is in the time it takes to strip a door x labor per hour,i can have new oak door built and ready to go for a avg 40.00 a door. i can easily spend 1-2 hours stripping a door and get it ready for stain. the face frames i just take a ro sander with 100 grit and they will clean up pretty quickly. as far as a bid on stripping i'd go so much a hour and i'll let you know after i have stripped a couple what your looking at. larry
hand me the chainsaw, i need to trim the casing just a hair.
more than likely its a laquer finish. thats what they used in the 70's. I would wet a rag with some laq thinner rub it on to see if it takes the finish off.
Now what to stain and refinish it with well thats up to exactly what the HO wants
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If you want to make this simple, just do a face-lift sort of thing. I did just this for a client about a year ago. These were white oak cabinets in fair condition with some water damage to the finish only around the sinks. I'm not a refinisher..... I don't like the work and don't go looking for it. I make custom furniture. But this client is a good one and asked me to offer advice because the guys in that trade all wanted to re-make the entire kitchen. So I said I'd do for her what I'd do if it were mine...... just give it a fresh look.
I sanded everything lightly after first wiping it down with naptha to get rid of surface grease. Then I applied several coats of Minwax Wipe-On Poly, satin finish. I needed to do a bit of color correction where the sanding got heavier at the water damaged areas. I used alcohol based analine dyes, light coats. Then more of the Minwax over the dye to protect it. The job went very quickly. Most of the time was in the shop where I worked on all the removed doors and drawer fronts. The mess in the kitchen was minimal. She was very pleased with the job.
Stripping them down would probably be more work than the customer is willing to pay.
Here's what I would recommend trying (the back of one of the doors will be enough to experiment). This technique works very well if you are going to use the same restain with the same stain color (or darker):
1) First, make sure you thoroughly clean off any accumulated grease/dirt. Soilax is better than the more commonly available TSP, since it doesn't have to be rinsed as much with clean water.
2) Then lightly sand the surface; the purpose is to abraid the finish, rather than remove it.
3) Wash coat it with the color stain of your choice. For this kind of thing, I prefer a gel stain, and Woodkote makes a very good one.
4) Then, apply an oil based poly. A brush-on will work better than a wipe-on over the gel stain.
If you prefer to use a water-based poly, seal the stain first with Seal Coat (a dewaxed shellac made by Zinsser).
As an alternative, Ron is probably right that the existing finish is lacquer. Try rubbing the test surface with some lacquer thinner -- and you can do this before you wash the surface with Soilax. If it is lacquer, the thinner will partially dissolve the top finish, and you can keep rubbing with the thinner. Some of the finish will come off, and your goal is to reconstitute it until the area you are working.
Once the finish has been "reconstituted" you can proceed with the steps I outlined above.
If you like, I can give you more detailed info. There are several ways to skin this kind of cat.................
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"It is what we learn after we think we know it all, that counts."
John Wooden 1910-