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Create distressed oak look of Forte IIIs


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Thank you all for the suggestions. I'll give it a go this weekend doing the following:

 

Use turpentine to strip the oil

Use a gray stain to create a weathered look

I won't use the speaker bottoms for my test, instead I'll use an oiled oak KV2 I have no use for at the moment.

I'll check out the fabric choices mentioned.

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  • 11 months later...

There's some stain my wife tested on some wood for that distressed gray look that she had, at first, wanted to do on some wood stuff in our new house.  It looks cool but not really the right look.  I'll look at it later and see what it was.  She had some stuff from a place that call the stain something like a "milk stain"?  No clue...but will look.

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On ‎9‎/‎13‎/‎2017 at 9:16 PM, Maximus89 said:

i wonder if the hex heads are too fat and protrude from the horn oddly.  Do they make flatter ones?

 

Button head hex head screws are what you want, I think:

 

https://www.albanycountyfasteners.com/Button-Socket-Head-Screw-6-32-Black-Oxide-Stainles-p/12080000.htm?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI7tvCpde_3QIVCqZpCh1cNAZOEAQYAiABEgJiDfD_BwE

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 9/14/2018 at 11:26 AM, Anneliz702 said:

Did you complete your project?  I am going to try this with some Forte II speakers and was wondering if you had any success.  Thanks!

I have not. Below, Moray James posted about the vinegar and steel wool method. That is what I tried testing a month or so ago. I bought a thin piece of oak at Home Depot, sectioned it off, and tried various methods using the solution to try from barn wood grey all the way to black. I bought some wine tannins to create a solution to brush on the wood to make the reaction produce a darker stain. I'll take a photo of my test plank.

 

Then I took a pair of old, oiled oak KG4 risers and attempted to duplicate the results. It didn't work. What I haven't taken the time to do, and this is my next step, is to really sand down the oak veneer before applying the solution. Obviously, I'll be careful not to go through the veneer.

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  • 2 weeks later...

it would be a good idea to chemically strip your cabinets prior to any sanding to remove as much of what is there first. The chemical strip will not only lift finish off the flats of the wood surface but also out of the grain of the wood especially if you use a stiff brush. Then if needed you can sand off what little is left and have a clean substrate to stain. The advantage of a chemical strip is that it will not touch the patina of the wood which sanding will remove so if you don't have to sand don't. Any material left in the wood pours will block the stain at that point from absorbing into the wood and your finish will be non uniform. Stripping solutions with lots of methylene chloride is what you want to use it heavy so the heaviest can of stripper is the one you want it as it will contain the most methylene chloride, it is also very toxic and especially dangerous if you have a heart condition so use it outside or in a very well ventilated work area.

   The less material you have to sand off on a veneered surface the better.

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you should have added these golden screws on the woofer ,  I really like the effect  WOW - NOT BAD , now if you added 4  speakers bronze clamps , as well , this would be superb

What do you mean by 4 bronze clamps?

They’re all black now but I still want to try out a bronze paint on all the magnets. I think that’d look neat!


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Thanks. I didn’t use anything special on the horns. I think it was rustoleum canyon black-flat. With speakers up there in age the black horns and motor boards tend to get faded and end up looking dull. The original grill cloth as well. Maybe that’s just how they were. It wasn’t nearly black enough

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

I finally took some action using a beat up pair of KG4 as the tests.

 

I used old masters furniture restorer to prepare the surface.

 

I sanded to get out water stains and other damage, working towards 220 grit.

 

I prepared a weathering solution using steel wool and vinegar.

 

I applied said solution and what I got can be seen in the pictures. As you can see it did not penetrate into the open grain of the oak. So, I have gray on top and brown in the grain. 

 

In one picture you can see a riser which is a lighter gray. This is the same as above, but I finished by applying liming wax. This filled in the grain and made it white and lightened the overall look.

 

My wife likes the gray and brown more than the gray and liming wax. I'm undecided.

 

What do those on the board think?

 

My intent is to replace the grill cloth with something appropriate for a gray finish and sell cheaply just to move them out of the house.

 

As for the Forte II that started the thread, I'm going to veneer those with figured walnut.

1544323272419776.jpg

1544323272783300.jpg

1544323272605923.jpg

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I like the grey riser better but I think you should have and still can do the method that finebokeh used.

 

“I used Minwax wood finish penetrating stain, a coat of Weathered Oak 270 followed by a coat of Classic Gray 271. Given a second chance I would experiment by mixing the two stains together in different proportions rather than using two separate applications. It is finished with Polycrylic clear satin.”

https://community.klipsch.com/uploads/monthly_2017_10/klipsch1.jpg.7f3c6cf1b18c4627f5f30cb4a9df3698.jpg

 

Should be cheap and easy to do right over what you’ve currently done and it looks spot on to the distressed oak forte III

 

 

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You also have a lot of raised grain. You should remove the speaker components, and use some mineral spirits to clean the cabinet and raise the grain and then sand them down before using the minwax weathered oak and classic gray stain mix

 

I’m personally interested bc my Douglas Fir Klipschorns need to be restored and I think veneering such a large cabinet is too big of a move for my first veneer work so I was thinking of repairing damaged veneer/filling in and then sanding down and using the weathered oak and classic grey stain to create a distressed oak look and get lambswool grill fabric. A project for when the weather gets warmer

 

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  • 4 months later...
On 12/9/2018 at 12:31 AM, Maximus89 said:

You also have a lot of raised grain. You should remove the speaker components, and use some mineral spirits to clean the cabinet and raise the grain and then sand them down before using the minwax weathered oak and classic gray stain mix

 

I tried what you suggested and it didn't work. the grain was less raised and more open. Very deep fissures and I couldn't get anything to get down in there and affect the color. After playing around a bit, including trying to get a diluted dye down in there, I gave up and moved forward with the waxing.

 

Here is the final output for these two speakers. I've redone the grill cover since the picture was taken so it is tighter now. This is the look I wanted, so I'm pleased. 

 

However, this has taken so long that I have sold the Forte II that I was originally testing all of this for. 

 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/9BAm1nfPNPvkwRbQ9

 

I have a KV2 in oak as well, but the finish was different. It didn't respond well to the same treatment with the weathering solution. I tried the varathane weather grey on it and that didn't work well either. I settled upon the diluted die, a mix of grey and worn navy, and then the briwax. I'll post a picture later.

 

 

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