Help me understand refurbishing cabinets

[Loneshark]

I need some help deciding what I'm looking at and then the best way to proceed. I hope I write this in a way that you all can follow. The cabinets in question are Heresy's labeled HOL and I'm not sure if that meant oiled or lacquered- I believe that all of what I'm seeing is original from Klipsch. I got the speakers in rough shape and fixed the sonic bits so now I'm trying to deal with these cabinets. After sanding down all surfaces to remove what I could of dings, scratches, and marks, I noticed this white color showing up under what looks like the finish. Its worse at the edges than on the sides because almost all edges show this drastic difference in color and the troughs of the grain show the white I'm talking about. I'd also like to point out what looks like cracking of the finish in picture 1 (almost a fish scale look). The second picture shows the bottom of this cabinet - some percentage has a finish like the other sides of the cabinet and the rest has it missing. Both surfaces are smooth because of sanding but I didn't expect the finish to stick around after the sanding process. 

 

Now I'm really interested in what you guys know about cabinet making. Is this a lacquer that I can remove? If I can remove it, what am I left with when it is off - and is that what I'm calling the white? I'd like to remove it all so I can stain IF real wood exists beneath the finish. 

[Matthews]

Hi "Loneshark"

 

To my eyes, the "white" you are describing is the natural wood veneer with the varnish/lacquer removed.  The other darker areas, keep on sanding.  Be VERY careful though, you do not want to sand all the way through the veneer.  Take your time and don't use a super course grit.  I think you would be safe with 150 and some patience.  I always use an orbital, applying little to no pressure.  Let the machine do the work.

 

Matt ♪ ♫ ♪

[pat_in_dfw]

Keep sanding until all you can see is the "white". It is real wood....a veneer so it's fairly thin so you can sand through it if you're not careful.

[willland]

11 hours ago, Loneshark said:

The cabinets in question are Heresy's labeled HOL and I'm not sure if that meant oiled or lacquered

Heresy Oak Lacquered.

 

Good advice above.

 

Bill

[totalcomfort]

As said above keep sanding, easy does it. When you get it all white you will be ready to stain. I second the 150 grit paper, it will take a little while but best if you are just starting out.

[jorjen]

2 hours ago, totalcomfort said:

As said above keep sanding, easy does it. When you get it all white you will be ready to stain. I second the 150 grit paper, it will take a little while but best if you are just starting out.

I would start with 150 to get the rough stuff more quickly then back-off to 220. Very, very easy to go through the face especially at the edges. If you are using an orbital just go to the edge with the pad so you don't get any rollover or you will go through quickly.

[HDBRbuilder]

You can use a sanding block, too....ESPECIALLY when you get THROUGH that furniture laquer and the sealer underneath it  You never told us the serial number info, which would be helpful in determining two important things:  How thick the oak veneer on the cabinets is.....AND what TYPE of furniture laquer and sealer were being used at the time by Klipsch.

 

The veneers nowadays are thinner, and they are also applied to MDF.

 

Prior to Klipsch going to MDF substrate for the veneer, they used Poplar lumber-core plywood for all the mitered cabinets.

 

There MAY have been a time period BETWEEN the Poplar lumbercore and rolling into the MDF substrates where there was a very thin layer of a paper-like material UNDER the veneer/atop the substrate...this type of substrate layer was used when the wood companies went to THINNER veneer as an interim measure in order to be able to sand that very thin veneer, WITHOUT the plywood layer (which was cross-grained compared the the grain direction of the top veneer!) directly under that veneer causing the underlay of the plywood layer to show up if it was sanded too thin.  I have no idea if Klipsch used any of that stuff or not, because I was not working there anymore when that stuff came out....BUT the veneer layer on the Klipsch speakers today is considerably thinner than what was on the poplar lumbercore used in my day working there.