Hey all, I have to restain some kitchen cabinets on a kitchen remodel I am doing. The question is, do any of you have a kick
product you swear by that minimizing sanding. I’m not really happy with liquid sandpaper and I’m even less happy about having to use an orbital sander.&
#160; The cabinets are red oak, with a golden oakish stain currently. Polyeurethane finish, and are about 15 years old. The new color is going to be a cabernet, a little less red. Any suggestions before I break out the sanders and elbow grease?
Replies
If I understand correctly, you're planning on stripping the poly and then removing the current stain so you can re-stain.
Liquid sandpaper is a deglosser that prepares a painted/poly'd finish for re-finishing. It's not meant to actually remove the finish which is what you need to do. You'll need paint stripper for that... or lots of sandpaper.
Removing the current stain, which is certainly embedded well into the wood (especially an open grain wood like oak) is going to be your big challenge. I don't know how to do that, but I'm trying to clarify what you're asking because maybe someone will come along who's done this.
It might work in this SPECIFIC case.Liquid sandpaper is for deglossing slick finishes and not limited to paint. I have used it many times on varnished woodwork that is being painted.Now he wants to go from a light stain to darker one.It would be worth it to try a test sample. Degloss and then use a gell stain and then varnish..
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
Edited 10/27/2008 7:21 pm by BillHartmann
Short answer NO!
Can't be done affordably! (Unless you are willing to work for 50 cents an hour or so)
suggest paint..
I hope you are just sanding the face frames, as you'll never get the doors and drawers sanded uniformly enough to take a stain and not look like a blotchy mess.
Yep, Just face frames, doors, and drawer fronts...sides of finished end cabinets etc... Not looking forward to it! But Yeah, bill, more or less lighter to darker...more like lighter to redder. But is liquid sandpaper the only product that will degloss? If so, do I just do one application of it, then try polyshades or a similar product to adjust the tint
Do a face lift with new factory finish doors and fronts. quicker and cheaper.
Don't use Polyshades. That has potential for disaster since it is very hard to apply evenly without overlap streaks.
If the old finish has signs of wear it would have to be stripped with a chemical paint stripper. Sanding doesn't evenly remove the old finish, especially with red oak where the stain and finish may have penetrated quite deeply. This is a very time consuming, expensive job that would only be worth it on very high end cabinets with architectural distinction. Otherwise you could likely reface the kitchen with veneer and new doors and drawer fronts for a lot less money.
Bill is probably advocating the best bang for the buck method.
Prep your test sample and go with gel or tinted poly product and keep adding coats to get close to your desired finish color.
The idea is to add color with the poly (like a transparent paint) not to actually stain the wood.
There are several products out there that will tint finishes. Aniline dyes for example could be used to tint water based lacquers and poly's
Spraying the finish would be a nice way to go too.
I think that you're heading for a train wreck with this.
To get a decent color, you're going to have to remove all of the old poly - or whatever finish was used. Unless the wood was sealed before staining, the stain (and finish) was pulled deeply into the oak grain and will make it difficult to get your darker stain to "take".
If you really gotta try this, do a small door, or drawer front, and see how it comes out. I'm betting that you'll decide that it's way more of a PITA than it's worth.
yep it was a PITA! I talked them into paint. Bin primer and two coats of BM Satin Impervo alkyd Missisipi mud color. Looks great and only took 3 days
Thanks for the update. I've done that same job except that I used an alkyd primer. And yeah, it does take more time than the area would make it seem.