Refinish KG4 Oak Oil

[bwilbur]

I am refinishing a pair of KG4 and am looking for some advice. I am keeping them oak oil but when I got them, there was some white paint splattered on them. I was able to remove 99.9% of the paint with steel wool and then mineral spirits/brass brush for the grooves of the wood. I am sanding them down now so that they will be even toned when I apply the Watco Danish Oil (not sure whether to go with golden oak or natural). So my main questions have to do with the degree of sanding and also the remnants within the grooves:

1. Is it necessary to clean the old oil build-up from these grooves? I suspect not, but a second opinion would be comforting.

2. Is it necessary to sand until all signs of the original finish is removed from the smooth sections of the veneer?

3. What is the best way to remove the sanding dust from the grooves? A wipe down with mineral spirits seems to work but then the wood seems raised.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Brian

[bwilbur]

In case it is not clear, I am referring to the grain of the wood when I say grooves.

[WMcD]

I am refinishing a pair of KG4 and am looking for some advice. I am keeping them oak oil but when I got them, there was some white paint splattered on them. I was able to remove 99.9% of the paint with steel wool and then mineral spirits/brass brush for the grooves of the wood. I am sanding them down now so that they will be even toned when I apply the Watco Danish Oil (not sure whether to go with golden oak or natural). So my main questions have to do with the degree of sanding and also the remnants within the grooves:

1. Is it necessary to clean the old oil build-up from these grooves? I suspect not, but a second opinion would be comforting.

If these are oiled oak, it is my thought that there probably is not much of the wipe on oil which came from the factory. But in any case, I believe that it will not interfer with Watco.

2. Is it necessary to sand until all signs of the original finish is removed from the smooth sections of the veneer?

Hard to say but I suspect that there is no oil there, but there may be some stain, but I don't know what the factory does. So you may be seeing some lightening because you've sanded through the stained cells.

3. What is the best way to remove the sanding dust from the grooves? A wipe down with mineral spirits seems to work but then the wood seems raised.

Again not sure. Oak tends to have pores and the solution is to use a grain filler. Maybe you have that in the grooves from the factory. My overall thought is that you're being fairly agressive and expecting a clean looking smooth surface. It might not be possible.

The typical advice in wood finishing is to experiment, experiment, experiment, in order to gain experience. My observation is that with most of us, every project is a prototype. We're doing things for the first time.

In the present situation I think you should stop where you are and focus efforts on the bottom of the speaker where you can experiment a bit. Have you done the same work there and taken off the riser?

The point is that you can there do some experimentation. One technique is to put down a sanding sealer to toughen up the wood. That is usually a shellac. But I believe the first coat of Watco will serve as well. There may well be some nigglies but these can be flattened out with a "no scratch" Scotchbrite pad and clean with spirits or a vacuum. Then apply another coat of Watco and hit it with Scotchbrite again. I think you'll be impressed. Move to a third coat. If this goes well on the bottom surface you can move back to the top and sides.

I'm a fan of wipe on varnish and Watco, if I understand correctly, does not have quite the same amount of material to turn to a solid. So it is slower to build a finish.

My experience is the same as the wisdom of the ages back to the Chinese using real tung oil in times long ago. Wipe on finishes give great results. (Brush on or spray on can build a finish in one or two coats in a Saturday and Sunday but the is the risk of sags and drips of the great amount of material being appled in one coat.)

I had geat results with a Bartley Collection piece in cherry and wipe on varnish. It was a matter of doing 20 minutes of work every day for a week. A bit more than two hours overall but you need patience. Smile.

WMcD

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Brian

[bwilbur]

Thanks William. I actually found these KG4s on the side of the road with some white paint on them, so in a way I do consider this a freebie experiment. There were no risers when I found them. I think I'll give a try on the bottoms as you suggested and see what happens. If worse comes to worse, then this can be my first practice with new veneers also. Regards, Brian

[sthomas12321]

I would just buy two of these. Some day I might do all of my KLF speakers in this. Bet it would look fantastic

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=260-050&FTR=cherry%20veneer

[jacksonbart]

I would rather be staked out on an ant hill naked

[bwilbur]

I would just buy two of these. Some day I might do all of my KLF speakers in this. Bet it would look fantastic

Not a bad idea - cherry looks great but I would really like to get the oak oil practice/experiment done first.

[DanD]

bwilbur- I'm curious if you went with the natural or the golden oak Watco? Also, how did this turn out?