[Nathan Slingerland]

Progress update!

Front Panel Refinish

The grain is really fine on the 'myrtle burl' wood - I ended up just applying several coats of clear lacquer and sanding:

[Image: https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4311/3549...be6d_z.jpg]

Next: two light coats of Mohawk Ultra Classic 'Light Golden Oak' (M100-0415) which brought the appearance closer to other examples of the MX cabinets that I've seen:

[Image: https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4291/3613...86b6_z.jpg]

A few more steps:

• Mask off the center strip - just a hair wider than the lighter strip of veneer.
  
• Two coats of gloss black toner lacquer (Mohawk M104G224).
  
• Philco decal
  
• Several coats of gloss lacquer. Sanded in between twice - first with 400 grit, then with 600 grit before the final coat.
  

[Image: https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4422/3554...3f8d_z.jpg]

The final result is that the bonus hole is no more!

[Image: https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4418/3554...35ed_z.jpg]

In a couple of weeks I'll rub out the finish - that should help give it a nice smooth and original looking finish.

Side panel veneer

As I mentioned earlier, I decided on 'pre-catalyzed resin' for applying the replacement veneer. From what I learned this is a good choice for thick veneer (1/16") - especially raw veneer (not backed by paper). The glue dries very rigid.

I ordered the glue from Peachtree Woodworking Supply.

[Image: https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4383/3633...3fe0_z.jpg]

The glue is a powder that you mix 2:1 powder to water by weight. I used a drill stirring attachment to mix it well:

[Image: https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4336/3620...6219_z.jpg]

I used a foam roller to apply the glue - it did a good job of applying it at a good thickness:

[Image: https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4349/3556...414b_z.jpg]

[Image: https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4372/3598...ee1d_z.jpg]

It ended up that there were still a few lumps in the cake batter! I removed those and smoothed things out again.

I then carefully placed the sheet of veneer on top and clamped it down:

[Image: https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4403/3637...234f_z.jpg]

The glue sticks fast pretty quickly - but I had a minute or so to shift things around.

The result:

[Image: https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4385/3556...cd61_z.jpg]

It came out nice and flat.  

I then trimmed the excess using a veneer trimming tool (helpful on nice square edges like this):

[Image: https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4391/3637...15dc_z.jpg]

But now for the part that didn't go as planned.  
The veneer I ordered ended up being about 1/16" short. I should have ordered it slightly larger of course - entirely my fault. I didn't want to reorder veneer as it's not cheap. I applied it as is, and plan to pad the slight gap with Timbermate or epoxy wood filler. It should be possible to obscure this small area using tone finish toner. Alternatively I could leave the gap as is - we'll see.

[Image: https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4442/3556...21ea_z.jpg]