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Philco 640 Cabinet Refinishing Chronicles

Last night I taped off the top, sides, and bottom and stripped the Medium Brown Walnut off the front. I used straight lacquer thinner and paper towels. It came off very easily and the grain filler stayed in the pores. Unfortunately, after removing the tape there were some areas where the lacquer thinner leaked by and came in contact with the Extra Dark Walnut areas. I half expected this to happen. The areas were on the right column and you can see them in the pictures below. I lightly sanded the areas with 320 followed by #0000 steel wool in an attempt level the areas. I’m going to try and go back and see if I can touch up these areas with the Extra Dark Walnut. If it works then great, if not then I’ll do a total re-strip. Oh, well. Like I said, this is a learning experience for me.

But first I wanted to see what the Perfect Brown would look like on the front. I didn’t bother taping anything off and went over the front with one light coat. Just enough to barely get a wet look. After it dried I overnight I took these pictures…

Flash On:

[Image: http://antiqueradios.com/gallery/main.ph...alNumber=2]

Flash Off:

[Image: http://antiqueradios.com/gallery/main.ph...alNumber=2]

Flash On:

[Image: http://antiqueradios.com/gallery/main.ph...alNumber=2]

Flash Off:

[Image: http://antiqueradios.com/gallery/main.ph...alNumber=2]

For comparison, here is Medium Brown Walnut:

[Image: http://antiqueradios.com/gallery/main.ph...alNumber=2]

Here is a link to a side-by-side:

http://antiqueradios.com/gallery/main.ph...alNumber=1

Here is a link with the Medium Brown Walnut on the left, the original photo of the cabinet prior to refinishing in the middle, and Perfect Brown on the right:

http://antiqueradios.com/gallery/main.ph...alNumber=1

Call me crazy but I thought the Medium Brown Walnut looked more red than Perfect Brown. Ughh. Who knows, maybe I'm going color blind from sniffing too many lacquer fumes :-).

So lets get some feedback. Which one looks better???

- Geoff


Messages In This Thread
RE: Philco 640 Cabinet Refinishing Chronicles - by Geoff - 11-13-2013, 01:20 PM



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