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Posted by Walter R. on March 19, 2007, 1:06 pm
Thanks for your good tips, Malcolm. I will take them to heart.
--
Walter
www.rationality.net
-
>>My kitchen cabinets need to be refinished. Originally, they were stained
>>in
>>dark oak, with what appears to be a lacquer finish.
>>
>>The stain and finish has worn off in spots and the cabinets need to be
>>re-stained and refinished. While I am at it, can I lighten the previous
>>finish, somehow, maybe bleach it with Clorox? The cabinets would look
>>better
>>with a lighter finish, like light oak.
>>
>>The cabinets are also very dull (almost no sheen). Do most people use
>>semi-gloss on their kitchen cabinets. Is lacquer a good kitchen cabinet
>>finish?
>
> Making a lighter finish is not easy to accomplish. I'd start
> by sanding and try to remove most of the stain that way.
> Clearly, some stain will have penetrated the wood but simple
> sanding might give a result you're happy with.
>
> Bleaching is tricky to do well. If you're determined to try,
> I'd suggest a visit to your local library -- study at least
> a couple of different books.
>
> For finishing kitchen cabinets, my personal recipe is:
>
> * 4 coats of full gloss, oil based poly. Apply thin even
> coats with a good foam brush (Wooster's available from
> Lowes highly recommended).
>
> * Lightly sand with 400 grit between coats
>
> * After a couple of days, remove the plasticy looking
> gloss by rubbing with 0000 steel wool and some wax.
>
> I refinished my oak kitchen cabs last year using this
> process and have been delighted with the results. Aside
> from the sanding (a pain in the ass) it was remarkably
> easy to get a very professional finish.
>
> I took off some medium oak stain with the sanding and
> this did lighten the color but only slightly. However,
> the sanding also removed that "dead looking" layer and
> the wood looks very much more "alive" -- much brighter,
> even though the color only changed a couple of shades.
>
> Of course, you're other option is refacing. Refinishing
> is just so labor intensive, it's not economically viable
> in most cases unless you have the enthusiasm and skills
> to tackle it yourself. If you really want light oak,
> refacing may be worth considering.
>
> --
> |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
> | Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
> | malch@malch.com Gary Player. |
> | http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| 
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