Need a woodworking/refinishing expert

[arceeguy]

How do I determine what kind of finish a wood surface has? I have some cabinets that I want to re-coat with lacquer or urethane but I don't know what was originally applied. I am told that I cannot put a polyurethane finish over a lacquer finish, but I do not know how to tell what is already on there. I don't want to strip the old finish off and re-stain the wood, I just want to spruce them up a little. Any suggestions?

[Julmer]

MinWax makes a great little finishing paste that will bring a nice little shine to them. It's called MINWAX Paste: Finishing wax. If they're old cabinets it's more than likely a lacquer finish.

I'd still use the paste, because nothing is worse then finding nice old wood that has 12 coats of clear coat on it. Then when you do want to strip them down, it's nearly impossible.

You could also rub a coat of Danish oil on them. That's all I use to finish wood, it's 100% better than stain. Add a coat of paste wax after the danish oil and it'll really shine.

[gdes]

You can do a solvent test to determine the finish:
Finish - Solvent
Wax - turpentine or mineral spirits
Shellac - denatured alcohol
Lacquer or shellac - lacquer thinner (acetone)
Water based polyurethane - Xylene (xylol)
Oil based polyurethane will require a nasty solvent to disolve it like MEK (bad stuff).

Just put on a drop or two in a hidden spot and wait a minute or so then wipe the spot, if the finish is gone, gooey or hazy then you have probably identified it. Unfortunatly wax or oil (lemon, almond or other) applied to a finish may make things a bit more confusing, so you may want to clean the surface with mineral spirits (will strip wax) first. Other finishes like tung or danish oil are more difficult to determine since they penetrate the wool, but they can have lacquer or polyurethane applied over them wil no ill effect if the surface has been cleaned.

[arceeguy]

Thanks guys!

They have a clear lacquer finish according to the solvent test. Of course, I need to special order lacquer because the hardware store doesn't stock anything buy polyurethane finishes now.

[arceeguy]

Another question.....

So I drive a bit to a hardware store that has lacquer finishes in stock. The guy says I should be sure that the surface is lacquer and not a varnish finish, but doesn't know how to test. He seems to believe that the acetone will make varnish tacky too. Would it be okay to put lacquer over varnish - or will bad things happen.

I knew I should have paid more attention in woodworking class!

[sawdusty]

You shoud'nt have been day dreaming about the girls back then and know it's come back to haunt you.

[arceeguy]

Originally posted by sawdusty
You shoud'nt have been day dreaming about the girls back then and know it's come back to haunt you.

I probably could have been like Bill Gates if I actually applied myself 100% in school. But I guess this is true of just about anyone. Note to self for next life: Be a geek, make millions, then you'll have NO problems getting a date.

Hey - with a name like sawdusty, do you know anything about refinishing furniture/floors?

[Julmer]

I would still give them a good waxing before I put another coat of anything more.. permanat over it. It really does give it a nice shine and spruces things up a bit.

[arceeguy]

I tried some Johnson's Butchers Wax on part of it today, you can see the difference - but my wife wants them "refreshed" or "replaced". I'm thinking "refreshing" is going to be cheaper.

Now she's looking into "refreshing" the wood floors. We're ripping up all the carpeting (allergies) and the floors could use some work. Don't want to go as far as sanding off the existing surface and re-finishing the floors, but if I could just sand them a little and give it a few coats of lacquer or poly I'd be happy. But here we go again - I need to determine what kind of finish already exists before I coat them again. grrrrrrrrrr

So far, the only thing I like about this new house is that the yard is pretty big (by NJ standards), so I have plenty of room to run my RC trucks. The T-Maxxes have been getting a serious workout the past few days because my 8 year old son and his best friend have been running them around for hours at a time while I paint the rooms. One of these days I'll actually move in!

[sawdusty]

Originally posted by arceeguy




Hey - with a name like sawdusty, do you know anything about refinishing furniture/floors?

Sorry arcee when it comes to refinishing I hire it done, I didn't pay att. in that class either.

[Julmer]

Stripping the floors down isn't that hard to do with the new sanders that alot of places rent out. I just did the upstairs floors in my house. They have nice dust collectors that get about 99% of the dust.

I did a natural dutch oil, then 3 coats of clear poly. Nothing looks better than 100 year old oak floors..(when it comes to floors and my personal opinion)

[gdes]

Yea I think pure acetone will make a varnish tacky also, but I don't think it will disolve it as readily as lacquer thinner. Lacquer thinner is generally composed of toluene, methenol, naptha and acetone.

I think I slept through that day at class also or maybe it was the fumes (paint and perfume). Any way I did a little searching and here is what I found http://mmd.foxtail.com/Archives/Dige....11.20.11.html

My knowledge on the subject is exhausted and the only advise I can offer is to take it slowly (better safe than sorry) and good luck.