What's the best way to care for Raw Birch

[wlg235]

I just picked up pair of Heresy HD-BR’s that look like they
just left the factory (s/n 30P985 & 986). The cabinets look absolutely
amazing, and I'd like to try to keep them that way if possible. Any suggestions
on how to care for the unfinished panels? Thanks in adavnce...

[]

[HDBRbuilder]

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

I just picked up pair of Heresy HD-BR’s that look like they just left the factory (s/n 30P985 & 986). The cabinets look absolutely amazing, and I'd like to try to keep them that way if possible. Any suggestions on how to care for the unfinished panels? Thanks in adavnce...

You may NOT want to hear this, but the best way to preserve raw birch is to put a finish on it...always has been!

After removing all the internals and the grille-coth panels, I would ensure all voids in plys of the plywood which are to be finished are filled and sanded smooth, then very lightly sand the speaker cabinets with 220 grit and a sanding block, use compressed air to blow off any residual sanding dust, apply one thin coat of urethane finish of your choice and use that as your sealer and lightly sand it to ensure it is smooth, remove residual dust again and continue applying thin coats with a light sanding between them if needed to keep things smooth. I personally do NOT prefer clear GLOSS finishes, nowadays, but a semi-gloss or mat gloss works out well for me, aesthetically

-Andy.

-Andy

[Beenwaitinfortyyears]

I like oil if you want to keep the birch color, stain if you wish a color change.

[mustang guy]

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

I just picked up pair of Heresy HD-BR’s that look like they just left the factory (s/n 30P985 & 986). The cabinets look absolutely amazing, and I'd like to try to keep them that way if possible. Any suggestions on how to care for the unfinished panels? Thanks in adavnce...

You may NOT want to hear this, but the best way to preserve raw birch is to put a finish on it...always has been!

After removing all the internals and the grille-coth panels, I would ensure all voids in plys of the plywood which are to be finished are filled and sanded smooth, then very lightly sand the speaker cabinets with 220 grit and a sanding block, use compressed air to blow off any residual sanding dust, apply one thin coat of urethane finish of your choice and use that as your sealer and lightly sand it to ensure it is smooth, remove residual dust again and continue applying thin coats with a light sanding between them if needed to keep things smooth. I personally do NOT prefer clear GLOSS finishes, nowadays, but a semi-gloss or mat gloss works out well for me, aesthetically

-Andy.

-Andy

You seem like you have done this before. []

[wlg235]

[wlg235]

Temporary home until I swap out the caps and regasket the backs. The old Ohm's make nice stands...at least for the moment... []

[Schu]

if you want to preserve them... DON'T TOUCH THEM!

certainly do not cover them in finish. just dust with a damp cloth.

[WMcD]

I've talked about it enough to make everyone sick. But I'll say it again.

A wipe on finish works best. You can find Minwax wipe on poly, satin at HD. It will darken birch a bit but I think anything except lacquer will also. You can also find other wipe ons including ones with the words Tung Oil, but they only have a bit of tung oil unless you find the real stuff, which is un-necessary.

Patience is an absolute necessity. Plan to do this in a week and spend one hour each day to build seven thin coats. Do not put it on so thick that it drips. Buy a box of latex gloves and cut up a clean (but used) tee-shirt into seven (or eight) pieces. One for each application.

I'd say to sand with a block in the first two coats and then switch to Scotch-brite no scratch pads also at HD between coats. You will have to remove dust. If you don't have a compressor, a tack rag (also at HD) will be fine. A Swiffer duster should work well also, but I've not tried it in this application.

Seven days of one hour work should give you spectacular results.

If you have doubts, start by doing this on just the bottom hatch. It will take about 10 minutes per day or just over one hour total.

WMcD

[HDBRbuilder]

I have used semi-gloss urethane finishes on raw birch-veneered plywood, and the results are great! But, I always brush the finish on, not spray it. Why? Because brushing the finish on works it into the wood grain better and will keep it from cracking and flaking off later on. Successive thin coats is what I do...one coat per day for 4-6 days. With semi-gloss, you need to keep it stirred well, so that the silica in it will not settle out of solution, otherwise, you will get results you are not wanting: streakiness of gloss and semigloss interspersed.

I like to be able to recognize the "feel" of the wood under the finish, so...even though the finish is smooth to the touch, the wood beneath it seems to be without any finish over it.

Birch-veneered plywood has its own issues, and one of those issues is that the veneer will soak up any kind of oils it comes in contact with...often giving the raw wood a dirty appearance. Wood soaps are really designed for darker veneers and solids, so they often don't help much in cleaning raw birch, especially if the birch is relatively blonde in color.

Some here have said not to apply a finish, and then said to just oil them. OIL IS A FINISH! The downside to using oil is that you have to strip the oil if you later decide to put on a different kind of finish, such as urethane. Besides, oils always darken the wood somewhat, some moreso than others. And oil is also hard on the glue between the plys of the plywood, which will also be getting oiled if that is the finish selected...and the plys can start to separate as they swell from absorbing the oil application. Remember, these are the butt-jointed raw birch Heresys...NOT the miter-jointed ones.

Besides, the original intent of the HDBR was for the consumer to apply a finish or paint of his/her choice...same as on the HBR model which followed it in production.

And, yes...I have had a bit of experience with both of these models.

-Andy

[Marvel]

If the first coat is thinned 50/50 with solvent, it will penetrate more. The other coats will adhere fine and be beautiful. I have used this technique before and still have a red oak desk that I finished over 20 years ago. You can feel /see the grain in the wood, yet it is sealed and can take spills, etc.

Bruce

[wlg235]

I really appreciate everybodies input, and I'm still trying to get my head around the whole finish process. It'd be great to get some product names that have been used, just to better familiarize myself with any nuances (read: what to be careful about) to be aware of. The thought of potentially screwing up these cabinets makes me sick...

[wlg235]

If
you have doubts, start by doing this on just the bottom hatch. It will
take about 10 minutes per day or just over one hour total.

WMcD

This makes the most sense. One thing I have a concern with, is that there are irregular cuts in the motor boards of each cabinet. I'm thinking that any "finish" would make these more apparent, wouldn't it?

[HDBRbuilder]

If

you have doubts, start by doing this on just the bottom hatch. It will

take about 10 minutes per day or just over one hour total.

WMcD

This makes the most sense. One thing I have a concern with, is that there are irregular cuts in the motor boards of each cabinet. I'm thinking that any "finish" would make these more apparent, wouldn't it?

You just take a foot-long piece of dowel, wrap a piece of peel-n-stick sandpaper (80-grit) around one end of it and smooth out those "chatter" bumps...then finish it off with a final sanding using 120 or 180 grit peel-n-stick for a nice finish-ready smoothness. Be careful not to overdo the sanding and make dips and such in the cuts. This is relatively easy.

The chatter bumps were caused by the motorboard not fitting snugly into the router template form while its openings were being routed. This issue ended while I was doing the routing, because I used masking tape to build up the inner edges on the forms so that everything fitted snugly. I started doing most of the routing in fall 1976...pretty much until I left in 1983. Your speakers were built before I got there.

Not only were loose fiting parts in router template forms causing crappy cuts, but it was DANGEROUS, because if the part isn't held snugly in the form, then it can pop out while the routing is happening and injure the operator in a number of unpleasant ways...can you say missing a hand????

The overhead industrial router CAN BE very dangerous if the operator is not ensuring maximum safety in its operation. We used 1/2" shank 3/8" round cutter single-edged industrial bits that were sharp as a new scalpel when installed!

-Andy

[WMcD]

For names, I already mentioned Minwax. Homer Formby has a "Tung Oil" version. I believe this is just a little Tung oil and Homer is just capitalizing on the historic following of real Tung oil. Minwax has some water based wipe on but most of what I've read says it is bit difficult. If you're in California, this might be all you find on the shelf.

After a lot of reading: "Oil" is a very commonly used term which applies to a lot of things.

The lemon furniture oil at the grocery is just motor oil with a lemon perfume, probably to hide the smell of petroleum. This does not build a finish, but like most things, increases the contrast of the grain and gives some water protection. Eventually it evaporates.

"Building a finish" means that it is some liquid you can put on which hardens to a somewhat clear finish. This is the overall project, of course. So we have shellac and lacquer too, to accomplish this end. If it includes little particles of color, it is called paint.

The only way to tell if you're using soemething which builds a finish is to put a finger wipe of it on a sheet of glass and see what happens.

Watco is processed linseed oil, sometimes with pigments to give color. There is a fire hazard with drying rags.

"Oil" other than the lemon scented stuff very generally is used to refer to a thinned out varnish, of some type.

Years ago, flat varnishes had very fine sand in it. You'd have stir up the can to get it in suspension. When it dries, the sand causes a rough (if fine) surface. Now there is some chemical which causes very fine crinkling. I've read you can use "gloss" for all but the last coat.

Even wipe on gloss is not that glossy or "hot." One technique is to use gloss, then use very fine Scotch-brite (some say steel wool but it is not a good idea with speaker magnets) on the final coat and add a coat of Butcher's wax.

I think you will find that just about any finish, except maybe lacquer, that the end grain sandwich of the plywood will darken at the end grain.

Again, I say, practice on the bottom hatch. It is part of the learning curve. The first try at anything is at the bottom of learning curve. The second time, is much higher on the curve.

WMcD

[WMcD]

Yeah, more.

http://community.klipsch.com/forums/p/147298/1514948.aspx#1514948

But the article is about putting a magnificent finish on dark wood. It is more than you need and gets too complicated. You don't need to polish it. I think you don't have to use a brush on the first coat. The raw wood will absorb it quickly and there is no need to thin out the wipe on varnish for the first coat.

I'll be quiet for a while.

WMcD

[wlg235]

http://community.klipsch.com/forums/p/147298/1514948.aspx#1514948

So I haven't posted for a couple of days. I really appreciate the added details and I never would have put 2 & 2 together regarding the HDBRbuilder member name, Andy. I tore into these yesterday to swap out the caps and gasketing. Surprise...no sealing gasket used on the back's...so I technically didn't have to install "new" gasketing. Completely different than my 81 Heresy's. Metal horns, the eariler K-77's and K-22 EF's. Overall...these sounded "cleaner" after everything was done. I'm probably going to opt to do any finsh work on the cabinets when the warmer weather comes back around. I'm in an apartment at the moment, and I'm not sure that I'm ready to keep the windows open for a week right now. I might get ambitous though, and just close off one room if I can't incorporate these into my existing HT easily. I wiped the cabinets down with a damp rag as somebody suggested above, and was happy enough with that for the time being.

Walt

[HDBRbuilder]

Well, if you decide to go the urethane route, keep in mind that polyurethane is like a dust magnet as it dries, so try to do the application in an environment that is not conducive to having lots of dust particles suspended in the air. I have actually done urethane finishes in CARPETED living rooms, but I did the application at night after the occupants had gone to bed and and no heavy walking done to stir up the dust in the carpet. So...it CAn be done with great results in a NON-sterile environment!

-Andy

[lucky5115]

I have a pair of 1983 corn's raw birch. The cabs are mint. I will not refinish them. Part of the beauty is the look as the wood ages. You can sand them lightly with 400 or 600 grade sandpaper. Keep'm dry and out of the sun, no smoke etc.

Ron

[Tin Turtle]

If you want to keep them exactly as they are, you can get them as clean as possible and use Renaissance Micro-Crystalline Wax with a soft cloth. Be advised though that you have zero protection. Not a problem if you never put anything on it (ie a glass, plant etc) that would leak water or cause a water ring. And never clean them with anything but a clean damp cloth and rewax every so often.

For a bit more durability (not much) but some nicer color you can use Tung Oil, or boiled linseed oil and then the wax.

Finally, if you want some decent durability and good color you can use General Finishes Arm-R-Seal Satin for like two to three coats, sand with 800 and use the wwax. It will give you a killer finish, but it will be darker than the natural birch you see now. Best to just get a piece of birch ply cheap and experiment if you want to be sure.

If it was me and I wanted that finish (which is kind of cool) I would probably test shoot a piece with Chemcraft Varicure laquer. It is awesome stuff, great durability and virtually no color change. But virtually no is not the same thing as none, so you would have to see if it was what you wanted. And you need either a HVLP gun or get a cabinet shop to shoot it for you. I don't think it would be very expensive to have done if you pull the components and prep.