Refinishing Walnut veneer speaker

[sapwood]

Decided to sand out scratches and refinish veneer on a pair of speakers. So I hand sanded (220 grit) trying to avoid sanding through veneer. I was going to use Watco Danish Oil (walnut or dark walnut), but now I'm wondering if that will even out the color.

Will the Danish Oil even out the light patches?
Should I reconsider and use a dye to make the color even?
Was it totally stupid to sand veneer



Any and all advice appreciated
Roger

[BumoutBob]

Might be good to sand over the whole surface now---lightly ---with a random orbit sander. use and old worn 220 disk. Then finish. The result should be more uniform.
That box doesn't look very big. How about paint and varnish remover. That would remove the old finish and you could refinish with stain and any good varnish or wipe-on poly.

[Bas]

Black paint is very fashionable on speakers

I tried finishing veneered speakers once. It did not come out well. I used a light stain to touch up some areas, but it was very blotchy. Sanded through the veneer in a couple of spots as well. Finally did what Bob suggested: sanded the whole piece lightly, diluted the stain, and applied several coats. Looked reasonable after some poly.

I suppose you could use the bottom of the speaker to experiment, but it's not a lot of room. Worst case, you could always put another veneer on top. But, that turns it from an afternoon project into a weekend project

[Joe Scharle]

Will the Danish Oil even out the light patches? NO
Should I reconsider and use a dye to make the color even? Maybe
Was it totally stupid to sand veneer? I tried it once!

My best sucess with veneer has been with Formby's. Evens the finish out where you can re-stain or just top coat. At this point though, you may need to sand to 320-400 to blend the scratches.

But I agree with Bas; I'd spray it black.

[newtonc]

You can wipe it with thinner to see where it will go (color wise) when wet.
It will evaporate and not leave a residue to interfere with whatever you do end up doing.

[sapwood]

Nope, not going to paint my vintage KLH Model 20 speakers black.

Although it appears I will be doing more sanding.
Time to bring out the ROS
For some reason, I never liked stain. But in this case, it may be the way go.

Appreciatively,
Roger

[sapwood]

Mike,
Henry Kloss designed these, so although I want to spruce up their appearance, I am unlikely to improve their quality. Some KLH models of the era (1956-67) had solid walnut boxes. Henry Kloss sold KLH in 1967 and founded Advent. If you happen to run across a pair of Model 17s or Model 6s at a flea market/yard sale . . . buy them. I found these at Habitat Store for $20. They have amazing sound quality and a nostalgic value for me.

Hopefully, I will get back to sanding tomorrow

Thanks,
Roger

[jmauldin]

Couple of suggestions. 1. Sand entire box with 220 to get more uniform color. There appeared to be some dark spots, which I assume was original finish. Try to sand all original finish off. Then apply a gel stain color of your choice, seal with shellac, and apply finish of your choice. 2. Wash entire box down with lac. thinner and 0000 steel wool to remove all existing finish. (Use gloves, of course).That will work like Formby's, and its cheaper. Then sand lightly, stain, and finish.
Jim in Mayberry

[Tarhead]

Roger I would try some Walnut Transtint dye and mix up some small batches in 1/4, 1/2 and full strength. Start with the weakest and move up in strength until the sanded areas are close. Follow with a walnut stain to even out everything and finish with an Danish oil just like the original. I had some of those speakers back in 70 something. My brother in Mebane still has them unless he's donated them and didn't tell me. The drivers will probably need to be re-coned. I'm sure there's someone in the Triangle that refurbs speakers but in just in case there's a guy in Charlotte (Speaker Dr.) who did my Allison speakers a while back. They never sounded better. He's on Independence just west of the Albemarle Rd. intersection. If you come for the WW show you'll go right by there.

Now all you need now is a MacIntosh receiver, Akai Reel to Reel, a Dual turntable with a Sure cartridge and a good copy of Sgt. Pepper's. You yungins sure missed a good time! Glad I survived!

[Bryan S]

Roger we refinished a pair of 3-way speakers with the Bose Acoustimass 5 speaker system, you wouldn't believe the differecnce it made.

I couldn't resist, my old speakers werent KLH's either. No sugestions outside of whats been said but a few sound promising. Let us see how they turn out.

Originally Posted by sapwood

Nope, not going to paint my vintage KLH Model 20 speakers black.

Although it appears I will be doing more sanding.
Time to bring out the ROS
For some reason, I never liked stain. But in this case, it may be the way go.

Appreciatively,
Roger

Stain - just say NO. Your concerned about sanding through the veneer now, just imagine all that oil soaking into what the veneer is covering. Seems to me oil may just find away to weaken the veneer glue over time and talking about a mess then. This is a very common mistake people make when refinishing old hide glue pieces, looks great for awhile then the veneer starts to rise.

[sapwood]

Originally Posted by Tarhead

. . . .
Now all you need now is a MacIntosh receiver, Akai Reel to Reel, a Dual turntable with a Sure cartridge and a good copy of Sgt. Pepper's. You yungins sure missed a good time! Glad I survived!

Don't have the MacIntosh, but I do have my original Pioneer SX-750 receiver, couple of turntables, Pioneer tape deck, and Sgt. Peppers vinyl
Guess I'm stuck in the 60s and 70s. I consider that to be the golden era for audio equipment.

Thanks for the tip on Speaker Dr. The woofers and tweeters are ok, but I would like to have the capacitors replaced and reseal the woofer.

Jeff, good point about the stain. Particle board doesn't like stain, oil, or water

Roger