Refinishing wood veneer

[mrbigstuff]

I've got a pair of nice older speaker cabinets that have what I would call a thicker than average veneer. They are in decent condition, but I think that they'd look immensely better if I could sand and stain them.

What would you folks recommend for sanding and staining?

[cbelt3]

Pull the fabric covers and tape and paper cover the speakers and the backs. BEFORE you sand.

VERY light sanding... #000 steel wool or 600+ grit paper. Gently. If you've got scratches, you can fill them with wood putty of the same species of wood. Stain with whatever you want, finish with your favorite style finish. Yeah, Polyurethane is strong as heck, but may not give you the effect you want.

[Paul F.]

Depends a lot on the veneer...
I've sanded and stained veneer that was thick enough to get a little aggressive on the sanding. AND, I've also sanded right through other veneer.
Frustrating part is, it's hard to say how thick your veneer is until you've just sanded through it!

Sand with as fine a grit as you can get away with, as lightly as you can get away with. If the bottom of one speaker is veneered, try that first.

I like oil finishes like danish oil (very thin, not very protective), Tung Oil, or modified Linseed Oils, for a deeper richer finish. Or a stain, then a matte polyurethane finish.
Oil finishes will darken the wood, so go lighter than you think you want on the stain if you go the oil finish route.

[rgG]

Minwax has a product that will go over a polyurethane sealed surface, so if you want to stain over the existing finish, so you don't have to sand, you might give it a look.

https://www.minwax.com/wood-products/one...polyshades

[michael_s]

I'll agree with Paul on the technique. However, when it comes to finishing, I've grown very fond of Osmo Poly Oil.

Poly Oil

It looks great, goes only easily with a good quality paper towel and delivers a very nice finish in one or maybe two coats. It's expensive to purchase, but I finished two pieces recently and only used a very small amount. A little goes a long way. I had been using General Finishing Armor-seal. This is better, IMO, and easier to work with.

[S. Pupp]

Paul F. wrote:
Depends a lot on the veneer...
I've sanded and stained veneer that was thick enough to get a little aggressive on the sanding. AND, I've also sanded right through other veneer.
Frustrating part is, it's hard to say how thick your veneer is until you've just sanded through it!

Sand with as fine a grit as you can get away with, as lightly as you can get away with. If the bottom of one speaker is veneered, try that first.

I like oil finishes like danish oil (very thin, not very protective), Tung Oil, or modified Linseed Oils, for a deeper richer finish. Or a stain, then a matte polyurethane finish.
Oil finishes will darken the wood, so go lighter than you think you want on the stain if you go the oil finish route.

What do you think about butcher’s block oil/wax for this purpose? It’s what I have available to me, but I don’t want to make a mistake with my Celestion SL6S’s.

[mattkime]

>What do you think about butcher’s block oil/wax for this purpose?

I don't think they really adhere like you'd want for that purpose.

[Paul F.]

S. Pupp wrote:
[quote=Paul F.]
Depends a lot on the veneer...
I've sanded and stained veneer that was thick enough to get a little aggressive on the sanding. AND, I've also sanded right through other veneer.
Frustrating part is, it's hard to say how thick your veneer is until you've just sanded through it!

Sand with as fine a grit as you can get away with, as lightly as you can get away with. If the bottom of one speaker is veneered, try that first.

I like oil finishes like danish oil (very thin, not very protective), Tung Oil, or modified Linseed Oils, for a deeper richer finish. Or a stain, then a matte polyurethane finish.
Oil finishes will darken the wood, so go lighter than you think you want on the stain if you go the oil finish route.

What do you think about butcher’s block oil/wax for this purpose? It’s what I have available to me, but I don’t want to make a mistake with my Celestion SL6S’s.
That's not really a FINISH.... it's a wax to go over a finish. I'd go with an oil finish, and do a couple coats of a paste wax over it, if you want to go that route.

[lost in space]

I like Tru-oil. It gives a subtle luster and lets the real nature of the wood show. Touch-up is easy. Havent’t used it with stains, which I’m pretty curmudgeonly about. It’s popular for gunstocks.

[Paul F.]

lost in space wrote:
I like Tru-oil. It gives a subtle luster and lets the real nature of the wood show. Touch-up is easy. Havent’t used it with stains, which I’m pretty curmudgeonly about. It’s popular for gunstocks.

Tru-Oil makes a lovely finish. It's a modified linseed oil... rumor has it that there may be some tung oil in it too, but Birchwood-Casey is wishy washy about that.
It's a LOT of work to get a REALLY good finish with it, but six or seven coats with wet-sanding in between will make a finish you won't believe!