yaffstone Posted December 5, 2004 Share Posted December 5, 2004 I just got a pair of la scalas in the UPS and they look a lot worse than they did on e-bay. Some deep scratches and water / unknown marks. How deep can one go with a cabinet scraper or sandpaper? Would bullseye orange shellac do the trick on birch for the final finish? Any tips would be appreciated. The one saving grace: The sound great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.4knee Posted December 5, 2004 Share Posted December 5, 2004 Welcome! The birch veneer is very thin maybe about 1/16 in. You can sand it but you have to be careful. Once you manage to sand out any imperfections you are left with the problem of how much wood filler it will require fill the sanded area. If it is too deep you will be left with a noticeable mark that no lacquer or poly will hide. I would first strip the finish and then assess whether you have a serious fill situation or not. You might be able to sand it to lessen the notice-ability of the scratch. Then any good polyurethane or lacquer will work. Or you could re-veneer them in whatever wood finish you like. I am by no means an expert on this topic but its my 2cents anyhow. What year are they? If they are fairly old you will want to consider updating /upgrading your crossover networks. Yes La Scalas do sound great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricktate Posted December 6, 2004 Share Posted December 6, 2004 If you could get a picture on here so we could see it would help....Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jarsranch Posted December 17, 2004 Share Posted December 17, 2004 ---------------- On 12/5/2004 7:44:52 PM yaffstone wrote: I just got a pair of la scalas in the UPS and they look a lot worse than they did on e-bay. Some deep scratches and water / unknown marks. How deep can one go with a cabinet scraper or sandpaper? Would bullseye orange shellac do the trick on birch for the final finish? Any tips would be appreciated. The one saving grace: The sound great! ---------------- If it were me I would use a urethane product in lieu of poly-urethane. The poly-urethane will yellow over time detracting from the true color of the wood or stain. The product I have used on very high end furniture for the last 20 yrs. is a urethane base product made and distributed by "Glidden". Since I prefer to hand rub all my finishes, I use the Glidden Satin No. 10. This product has all the durability of a poly without the yellow factor. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted December 17, 2004 Share Posted December 17, 2004 Wow, I sure thought LaScala's were too big for UPS to ship them! Shipping those bad boys is usually fairly inconvenient. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Travis In Austin Posted December 17, 2004 Moderators Share Posted December 17, 2004 ---------------- On 12/5/2004 8:01:09 PM J.4knee wrote: I would first strip the finish and then assess whether you have a serious fill situation or not. You might be able to sand it to lessen the “notice-ability” of the scratch. Then any good polyurethane or lacquer will work. Or you could re-veneer them in whatever wood finish you like. I am by no means an expert on this topic but it’s my 2cents anyhow. ---------------- What stripper (o.k. spare me the jokes, I am serious) would you reccomend to remove the original lacquer? Any particular brand/product that you have had good sucess with. I always cringe when I have a project that I know will require stripping off the original finish. Thanks, Travis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yaffstone Posted December 17, 2004 Author Share Posted December 17, 2004 Thanks for the tips. I've got the week between X-mas and new years off and I'm going to take a crack at this. There are spots on the top where the veneer is chipped off. Has anyone had luck with wood filler? I can't imagine this will end up looking good. I've built a violin so maybe some inlay would be in order but this would take real time. On the other hand, abalone inlay in previous gouges might be interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yaffstone Posted December 20, 2004 Author Share Posted December 20, 2004 I couldn't wait so I got out my scraper and worked over the tops. Took off the varnish down to bare wood and through the stains. Then I soaked the units with Watco Danish finishing oil. Really a huge improvement. I may add a layer of varnish later. As it is, they at least pass the wife test. Thanks everyone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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