I have two walnut oil Cornwall IIs that are a little dry and one is a little faded.  I have read quite a few threads on the forum and decided to try the boiled linseed oil (BLO).  I did my first application today after washing with Murphy's oil soap.  I can tell the sun faded area of the one speaker is not darkening enough to look nice.  I'm wondering if I should add a little walnut stain to the BLO for the second application and use this mix in the faded area carefully.  Then use the plain BLO (without stain) on the rest of the wood.

If so, does anybody have a suggestion as to what type and / or brand of stain should be used?  About how much should I mix in?

If you have any other suggestions, I'm open to hearing them!  Thanks.  See pic below.  The pictures look like the speakers have a lot of light on one portion, this is actually the faded area.  The left top of the speaker is faded and the right top of the side.

You could try some Watco medium walnut danish oil. You want be very careful with a stain unless you lightly sand and prep the surface. Reason is that since it s "oiled", as likely as not the oil is no longer "even" and an application of stain may darken the veneer unevenly. 

I would recommend that you wipe the speakers down with some "laquer thinner", changing cloth between each panel. Then wipe them down several times with mineral spirits. This generally will "lift" virtually most of the old oil out.

You can use a random orbital sander with a 600 grit pad (you will need 8 pads total), and very lightly sand (more of a polishing...) each panel. You can do it by hand, but the results will not be as even and it will take a considerable length of time. Using a random ordbiatl is not difficult, and if you have no experience, you can experiment with some scrap plywood, etc. The key is to break, or expose the surface of the wood to allow for the lifting of the residual oil.

Wipe them down with a mineral spirits damp cloth to remove any residue. Keep wiping them in this fashion until the cloth is clean and no (or very little) residue comes off. You will need a pack of cotton shop towels for that. At that point, you can more safely experiment with some stain. You should find that the panels are now a more consistent hue.

I recommend Minwax "Special Walnut", as it is similar to what a vintage factory hue will appear like now. The factory did not "stain" them, but applied a BLO based oil which naturally darkens over time.

Mix it about 50/50 with mineral spirits to start with. Wear gloves (which you should wear when handling any oils or stains..), and using a rolled up 6" wide (about 12" long) piece of cotton cloth, wipe the mixture on, let sit for about two minutes, and wipe any excess off. Check your results. Do it again, etc. until you achieve the hue desired. After the staining, let them dry for at least 24 hours. Then apply the Watco danish, BLO, etc. When I stain first, I use a non tinted Watco, or Watco Danish Teak which is very, very light.

Look at: http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/t/117315.aspx

Hope that is of some assistance.

 

I have had excellent results with Formby's furniture Cleaner. Easy to use , with good results.........

YEMV (Your efforts may vary).

Bill H.:

I have had excellent results with Formby's furniture Cleaner. Easy to use , with good results.........

YEMV (Your efforts may vary).

Formby's is basically 50% denatured alcohol and 50% lacquer thinner. If you use a 00 steel wool dipped in that mixture, it will take off the finish slowly allowing you to leave as much of the patina as possible. After that you can use either the Watco that Groom recommends or if you want to get adventurous you can go with a shellac finish, which is available in blonde, orange or amber tones. Finish off the shellac with several coats of beeswax for a finish that will be a smooth as a baby's bottom!

Enjoy!

H 

OK, After the 3rd daily application of BLO, I must not have wiped the excess well enough.  I rubbed the BLO in with my hand and wiped them down with cheesecloth after 15 mins.  In some of the hard to reach areas I now have little gummy "rubber balls" forming when I wipe over the veneer.  Do I just wipe this off and all is well; or do I need to do anything more drastic?  I'm guessing since I have a little extra buildup now, I'll quit the daily applications and wait a week before apply the BLO again.  Since these are new to me I have no idea if the previous owner oil them or not.  They do look good.  The sun faded area is better, but not matching.  For now I'm content to listen to them!  If the faded area still bothers me this summer, I'll wipe them down and start fresh as suggested above when I can open windows and get some ventilation or do it in the garage.  Getting cold in Iowa!

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