bigsled Posted October 27, 2021 Share Posted October 27, 2021 (edited) Hello I have a pair of new heresy III 's I bought 2 years ago . They are the raw unfinished Birchwood. I ended up just shooting them with a couple light coats of black latex paint. After seeing the East Indian special editions with the silver grills pictured I was wondering if I could get mine to look like that if I sanded off my light coat of spray paint? I don't know anything about wood and although the grain may not be quite the same it looks like Klipsch used some sort of dark walnut stain. I would want the grain to stand out like it does on these special editions. Next question Do I really need to remove the horns and woofers ? Couldn't I just tape them off and the backs to keep any dust from entering the cabinets ? Thank You Edited October 28, 2021 by bigsled 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave MacKay Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 Your question may not garner the answers you're seeking in this forum. I suggest that you repost it in either "General Klipsch Info" or "Technical/Modifications". My 2 cents worth ... Yes, you could sand off the spray paint. You should remove the horns and woofer, not just tape them off. You're likely not going to get the finish you want with a new coat of stain. I suspect that the speakers you're admiring have a veneer, not just stain on birch. However, adding and staining veneer isn't that hard a job. Local furniture refinishers might be able to help you. Good luck. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oicu812 Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 17 hours ago, bigsled said: Hello I have a pair of new heresy III 's I bought years ago . They are the raw unfinished Birchwood. I ended up just shooting them with a couple light coats of black latex paint. After seeing the East Indian special editions with the silver grills ( see attachment) I was wondering if I could get mine to look like that if I sanded off my light coat of spray paint? I don't know anything about wood and although the grain may not be quite the same it looks like Klipsch used some sort of dark walnut stain. I would want the grain to stand out like it does on the special editions. Next question Do I really need to remove the horns and woofers ? Couldn't I just tape them off and the backs too to keep any dust from entering the cabinets ? Thank You You really should remove all internals, woofers, horns, crossovers, etc. before doing any type of wood or finish work. You should consider using paint remover rather than trying to sand off the black paint. The paint gets down into the grain of the wood, and if you try only sanding you will have to remove a lot more veneer than necessary. Most paint strippers will "raise the grain", making it stand out and become fuzzy. A very light sanding will resolve this before you add stain. The resulting wood will be "in the white", having no real color. If you want that glow seen in your picture, you should follow the staining procedures used for antiques. First use a golden / yellow based stain for the first layer. I would suggest using a "Golden Oak" stain for the base layer. Make absolutely sure you are using a stain only product, not a stain / finish combo. If you use a combo you will fill the wood and no further color can be added. For the secondary / tertiary stain layers, I would use either a dark walnut for a mainly brown top color, or you can use something with a slight reddish cast if that is preferable to you. If you are going to use a lacquer finish, I would suggest using the appropriate sanding sealer in a couple of light coats with a light sanding between them. This will lock in your colors and fill the wood grain for a smoother top finish. If you have any further questions, please let me know. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigsled Posted October 28, 2021 Author Share Posted October 28, 2021 2 hours ago, Oicu812 said: You really should remove all internals, woofers, horns, crossovers, etc. before doing any type of wood or finish work. You should consider using paint remover rather than trying to sand off the black paint. The paint gets down into the grain of the wood, and if you try only sanding you will have to remove a lot more veneer than necessary. Most paint strippers will "raise the grain", making it stand out and become fuzzy. A very light sanding will resolve this before you add stain. The resulting wood will be "in the white", having no real color. If you want that glow seen in your picture, you should follow the staining procedures used for antiques. First use a golden / yellow based stain for the first layer. I would suggest using a "Golden Oak" stain for the base layer. Make absolutely sure you are using a stain only product, not a stain / finish combo. If you use a combo you will fill the wood and no further color can be added. For the secondary / tertiary stain layers, I would use either a dark walnut for a mainly brown top color, or you can use something with a slight reddish cast if that is preferable to you. If you are going to use a lacquer finish, I would suggest using the appropriate sanding sealer in a couple of light coats with a light sanding between them. This will lock in your colors and fill the wood grain for a smoother top finish. If you have any further questions, please let me know. How do you feel about the east Indian rosewood veneer Klipsch used ? Yes my grain will be different pattern but do you think it can stand out if I follow your instructions ? Golden will be the base and a dark walnut or rosewood stain will darken the grain pattern and make it stand out like the photos ? The reason I ask is because I don't know anything about how certain woods take stain. I know oak grain could stand out if you were trying to use paint on kitchen cabinets and make them not look smooth. I pretty sure mine are the standard birch veneer Klipsch uses its just that they were going to be used in a commercial setting when the lot of them were ordered from Klipsch so they didn't get stained. I think these special editions look absolutely stunning. Not sure if Klipsch will make the/ or I want to buy the silver grills but the black ones would go good too. I may pay for professional staining . Have to look into prices. I would also have to research how hard it would be to remove insides. Thanks much for your tips and I may take you up on more questions if I go down the "do it yourself route " Another shot with Klipsch description of the wood ( ones with silver grills only) https://www.klipsch.com/products/heresy-iii-special-edition 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigsled Posted October 28, 2021 Author Share Posted October 28, 2021 (edited) Dave, Thank You New to the forums Will try to move. Edited October 28, 2021 by bigsled rr 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oicu812 Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 1 hour ago, bigsled said: How do you feel about the east Indian rosewood veneer Klipsch used ? Yes my grain will be different pattern but do you think it can stand out if I follow your instructions ? Golden will be the base and a dark walnut or rosewood stain will darken the grain pattern and make it stand out like the photos ? The reason I ask is because I don't know anything about how certain woods take stain. I know oak grain could stand out if you were trying to use paint on kitchen cabinets and make them not look smooth. I pretty sure mine are the standard birch veneer Klipsch uses its just that they were going to be used in a commercial setting when the lot of them were ordered from Klipsch so they didn't get stained. I think these special editions look absolutely stunning. Not sure if Klipsch will make the/ or I want to buy the silver grills but the black ones would go good too. I may pay for professional staining . Have to look into prices. I would also have to research how hard it would be to remove insides. Thanks much for your tips and I may take you up on more questions if I go down the "do it yourself route " Another shot with Klipsch description of the wood ( ones with silver grills only) https://www.klipsch.com/products/heresy-iii-special-edition I like the Rosewood. Hell, I like all the veneers they used, the wilder the pattern the better IMHO. A treat for the eyes as well as the ears. Generally, the grain will take the darker stain and the smoother wood will take less of it. With practice you can achieve the look you want. Buy several cans of different stains and try them out on the back corners. Sometimes you can set a base gold, and then use multiple darker stains on top successfully. I've had to do that to match a repair patch to the older color and finish on antique pieces I was working on... I personally haven't finished / refinished a birch Klipsch set as of yet, so I don't know how your birch will take stain. One technique for darker grain is to apply darker stain with a small paintbrush and let it sit. Then you can take a rag barely moistened with stain to wipe it down and blend it in. This allows you to control how an area will take, using it more like a paint (almost). If you want something more pronounced than the birch, look at the veneer offerings online. They've got the technology down to the point where you can iron on your own veneer. Check it out, and make sure you also include the phrase "book match" in some of your searches. There are some incredible pieces available. My personal favorite is a birds-eye maple, with a light golden stain. Here's an identical chest to one I got at a flea market on the cheap because it was black. When refinished it looked exactly like this: Here are some random examples from the web: Feel free to ask any questions you like. In my past I've done antique restoration and custom finishes for clients. But there are people around with even more experience, maybe they will jump into the conversation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oicu812 Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 Okay @bigsled, here is a thread you need to read, if you want to see awesome refinishing of speakers. Simply amazing work! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oicu812 Posted October 29, 2021 Share Posted October 29, 2021 @Travis In Austin Would you like to move this thread to "Technical/Modifications" for us, please? Thank you in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigsled Posted November 1, 2021 Author Share Posted November 1, 2021 On 10/28/2021 at 5:25 PM, Oicu812 said: Okay @bigsled, here is a thread you need to read, if you want to see awesome refinishing of speakers. Simply amazing work! Thank You sir Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captainbeefheart Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 I have done exactly what you are inquiring about. Raw birch which was painted black, wanting to revert back to wood finish. Sorry to say but yes first you MUST remove all drivers. I used a paint stripper instead of sanding. Choose one that is safe for wood. I used New Generation Super Remover with great results. Once you have the paint off all you need to do is sand paper by hand. Start with 100 grit and end with a finish grit like 400 or above. I dislike polyurethane based stains and finishes so I used Tung-Oil finish which is both protective and looks great. Only problem is you want to clean and re-coat every couple of years to keep protection and appearance up. Depending on how deep the paint got into the grain you will get a slight exotic look as long as you do not have to aggressively sand to get a nice finish. After applying the oil finish coats (two coats was enough) I got a better appearance vs just plain raw birch. The extent of this is how much the wood has absorbed the black paint. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captainbeefheart Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 This is how it came out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason str Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 37 minutes ago, captainbeefheart said: I have done exactly what you are inquiring about. Raw birch which was painted black, wanting to revert back to wood finish. Sorry to say but yes first you MUST remove all drivers. I used a paint stripper instead of sanding. Choose one that is safe for wood. I used New Generation Super Remover with great results. Once you have the paint off all you need to do is sand paper by hand. Start with 100 grit and end with a finish grit like 400 or above. I dislike polyurethane based stains and finishes so I used Tung-Oil finish which is both protective and looks great. Only problem is you want to clean and re-coat every couple of years to keep protection and appearance up. Depending on how deep the paint got into the grain you will get a slight exotic look as long as you do not have to aggressively sand to get a nice finish. After applying the oil finish coats (two coats was enough) I got a better appearance vs just plain raw birch. The extent of this is how much the wood has absorbed the black paint. Good luck! Heresy III is veneer skinned not plywood. Veneer is thin, sanding should be kept to a minimum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captainbeefheart Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 19 minutes ago, jason str said: Heresy III is veneer skinned not plywood. Veneer is thin, sanding should be kept to a minimum. Very true, the furniture grade raw birch ply used on the La Scala has 2 outer very fine grade ply's which similar to veneered plywood you need to be careful not to sand too much to go through these ply's. I am not sure the exact thickness difference between the veneer and outer ply's, both are thin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason str Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 47 minutes ago, captainbeefheart said: Very true, the furniture grade raw birch ply used on the La Scala has 2 outer very fine grade ply's which similar to veneered plywood you need to be careful not to sand too much to go through these ply's. I am not sure the exact thickness difference between the veneer and outer ply's, both are thin. Wood veneer over MDF is a fraction of the thickness and easily sanded through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captainbeefheart Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 (edited) 27 minutes ago, jason str said: Wood veneer over MDF is a fraction of the thickness and easily sanded through. When I purchase veneer the choice of thickness is usually between .9mm-3mm. I am not exactly sure how thick Klipsch veneer is, I know it is thin so I am giving a guess of 1mm. Furniture grade Birch plywood's outer ply (face veneer) is on average 1.5mm. Both are technically "veneer". Edited November 1, 2021 by captainbeefheart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khornukopia Posted November 7, 2021 Share Posted November 7, 2021 On 10/28/2021 at 3:25 PM, Oicu812 said: Okay @bigsled, here is a thread you need to read, if you want to see awesome refinishing of speakers. Simply amazing work! Thanks for the compliment. Most of my Klipschorn pictures are of Klipsch factory finishes, which are fine furniture quality. I keep practicing, hoping to achieve something nearly as nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OO1 Posted November 8, 2021 Share Posted November 8, 2021 On 10/27/2021 at 6:19 PM, bigsled said: I was wondering if I could get mine to look like that if I sanded off my light coat of spray paint as @jason str mentioned , the birch veneer glued on MDF is thin - rather than sanding .......first remove the drivers , then use mineral spirits or Orange Citristrip to remove the paint , finally a 0000 steel wool and a bit of stripper will clean up any black paint residue -if needed , 400 grit sanding would get rid of any remaining black paint spots on the surface of the veneer - -Tinted raw birch wood grain cannot compare with the East Indian wood grain , you would have to re-veneer the speakers accordingly if this is what you want to achieve - Next --Watco danish oil can be applied to obtain a desired finish - https://www.rustoleum.com/en/product-catalog/consumer-brands/watco/danish-oil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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