# cabinet/enclosure finishes



## drf (Oct 22, 2006)

JCD has recently posted a pic of his new sub in the SWAMP, I thought it looked realy good and so got wondering what sort of finishes everyone is using on their projects so I thought I'd start this thread and hopefully people will post a small pic of their finishes (e.g piano finish, hammertone, veneer, etc) and a quick explanation of how they got it.

thanks all

Dr F


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## Anthony (Oct 5, 2006)

Great idea. If this gains some momentum, we may even make it a sticky. So post those pics and finishing techniques guys!


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## Darren (Apr 20, 2006)

My favorite recipes:

1. 50/50 Boiled Linseed Oil and Poly blend (5 -10 coats)
Use 0000 steel wool to rub in the blended finish. Wait about half an hour and with lint free towel wipe in any shiny or wet spots that remain. Wait for another 20 minutes and repeat. Do this as many times as necessary until you get the desired depth of finish. By applying the finish with the steel wool you will end up with a very smooth, satin sheen finish that is fool proof. Zero runs or drips and completely flat. If you desire a gloss finish then wait a day and rub it out with 2000 to 4000 grit sandpaper with a little soapy water. Finish with rotten stone polish.

















2. Sprayed Lacquer (10 coats)
This is one of my favorites. I often go up to 20 coats depending on the depth desired. Basically this is another fool proof finish because you can easily sand out lint, drips, runs etc... and re-coat until you get it right. You can leave the final coat nice and glossy without rubbing out or you can rub it out for a perfectly flat finish. You can generally spray a new coat every 20 minutes, it dries nice and fast.

















3. Tung oil or boiled linseed oil cut with naptha 
This is another great finish that is wonderful for furniture, gives it a nice satin feel and classic antiquie appearance with lots of depth to the wood grain. It's easy, just thin Tung oil or boiled linseed oil about 50/50 or 60/40 (60 Tung) and wipe the finish into the wood with a lint free cloth or with 0000 steel wool. I prefer steel wool as it knocks down the fibers for a velvety feel. Wait for half an hour and wipe in the wet spots. Repeat after dry as many times as you like but usually no less than 3 coats. I try for 10.











Darren


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## drf (Oct 22, 2006)

Very nice finishes. 

C'mon people, how do you do it? I was hopeing someone has found a way to DIY there own hamertone finish or maybe even a wavey smooth finnish.


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## Anthony (Oct 5, 2006)

So far my two speaker projects have been:

Black subwoofer (spray paint without primer on MDF, I learned the hard way)
Painted speakers (copper/blue crackle finish -- neat lightning/aged effect).

My best finishing project was my equipment rack. Still painted, but I did everything right:
Sanded mdf
Spray Zinsser BIN primer, three coats, overlap the edges quite a bit.
Light sanding
Sprayed diluted black acrylic enamel paint, two coats.
Sprayed water-based poly, two coats
Lightly rubbed finish.

The end result was great. I'll snap some pics. Sadly the lesson learned is that great finishes take time and patience!


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## JCD (Apr 20, 2006)

I figured I should go ahead and post a pic here too..










Both the sub and the speaker are skinned with a Lacewood veneer. The sub has three coats of a glossy polyeurothane, the speaker was coated by someone else, but I think it was just one coat of less glossy eurothane.

JCD


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## Anthony (Oct 5, 2006)

Great look to those. I love burled/birds-eye figure on woods. It's much better than all that boring straight grain and flat sawn stuff I use for everything else  

Sadly that's usually all that's in my budget.

Good work.


For everyone's info: if you are going to finish a lot of things (a whole run of speakers, cabinets, a kitchen table), I highly recommend an HVLP sprayer and air compressor. They start at $100 up through $1000. I have a PC pancake compressor (not designed for painting, but it works for small projects) and a conversion HVLP gun with different tips and nozzles. The compressor was $200 and the gun w/nozzles was $150. Totally worth it: sprayed finishes go on much smoother and dry faster (because of the thinner coatings). I will try and post some pics this weekend.


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## ktaillon (Apr 3, 2007)

Here is a MTM that I built a few years back, the enclosure was 3/4" mdf and I glued on 1/2" oak plywood. This time I tried using Tung oil, just wipe it on and off. I put on 4 coats. The corners are rounded over solid oak wood.


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## ktaillon (Apr 3, 2007)

Darren, What was the process of the sprayed Lacquer, they came out great? Was this done using a hvlp gun or just a spray can (buzz bomb) of clear lacquer? Also, did you sand between coats?


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## Darren (Apr 20, 2006)

ktaillon,

I used an HVLP gun and sanded between coats to elmininate high spots and fill the low spots. Just a lot of coats and patience


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## Brian Bunge (Apr 21, 2006)

Here are my current speakers. Figured cherry veneer with the same boiled linseed oil finish that Darren described above (Thanks Darren!) and then 8 coats of gloss wipe-on polyurethane. I paid someone else to do the gloss black lacquer finish.










Here's the finished speaker in my living room.


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## Mongrel714 (May 23, 2007)

Was just wondering, how smooth do you have to get the wood when applying wood veneer??


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## Scuba Diver (Sep 28, 2007)

They all look very nice. Nice work. For the first time I feel like building some speakers.


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## Anthony (Oct 5, 2006)

Mongrel,
Smooth is not as important as flat. 100 grit smooth would be more than enough, provided that there are no high spots and that any low spots are filled.

If you are going to be veneering a lot of panels, I advise you to get a vacuum press. They are not cheap $150 to over $300, but you can apply veneer to two sides at the same time and the glue sets evenly with no bubbles. That's the budget-no-option right way to do it.

You can certainly us a J roller and apply it yourself. I have seen speakers that used that fake vinyl veneer (self-stick) that looked great.

Good luck. 

I like this thread -- finishing is definitely the hardest thing to get right on a project and speakers are no exception.


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## Mongrel714 (May 23, 2007)

Anthony said:


> Mongrel,
> Smooth is not as important as flat. 100 grit smooth would be more than enough, provided that there are no high spots and that any low spots are filled.
> 
> If you are going to be veneering a lot of panels, I advise you to get a vacuum press. They are not cheap $150 to over $300, but you can apply veneer to two sides at the same time and the glue sets evenly with no bubbles. That's the budget-no-option right way to do it.
> ...


Thanks for the quick answer, I'm currently getting everything flat and filled, I will probably use some of the parts express wood veneer, light color as I want to use a black stain with a satin finish, A helper of mine sugested "poping" the wood before staining, which is using a sponge to dampen the wood with water to open up the grain to better absorb the stain, has anyone heard or tried this before? 
And man is that a fantastic speaker, beautifull finish and awesome design, very original.


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## Brian Bunge (Apr 21, 2006)

The PE veneer is a bit expensive, IMHO. I buy all of my veneer from Tape-Ease. They have great customer service and great prices.


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## Mongrel714 (May 23, 2007)

Wow been studying on veneering, alot to learn, lots of different opinions on contact cement also, any recomendations on cement??


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## Brian Bunge (Apr 21, 2006)

Re: Veneer glue

I use Titebond II wood glue spread on with a roller onto the cabinet and the veneer. Let the glue dry completely and then use an iron set to "Cotton" to iron it on. The heat reactivates the glue and gives you a hard glue line. The great thing about this is, NO FUMES! So I can veneer inside when it's 95 degrees outside!  I don't think I'll ever use contact cement again! 

There's a pretty simple step-by-step tutorial that I'll post if I can find it.


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## Giyan (Nov 13, 2007)

Anthony said:


> We have a winner. That is definitely the weirdest DIY speaker I have ever seen. And it is gorgeous!!!
> 
> Great job on the finishing.
> 
> ...


Yeah, those look awesome. Please describe the veneering and finishing process. I'd love to try the high gloss look with similar veneer.


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## Ricci (May 23, 2007)

dlneubec said:


> Hi Ricci,
> 
> Thanks! There is not anything I would change. They sound fantastic, IMO. The only way I know to improve them would be to use higher end mids, like scanspeak 4" or 5", which might allow you to cross higher to perhaps a ribbon tweeter. A ribbon might be an imp[rovment because ot the limited vertical dispersion, which could be a plus with this design, since it would have the potential to reduce the impact of diffraction from the front edges of the baffles for the up and down firing midwoofers.
> 
> I live in Bloomington.


By the campus eh? 

How many hours do you estimate that you have in those? Sorry to bombard you with questions. Great job on this finish and uniqueness. I would love to listen to them sometime.


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## dlneubec (Oct 9, 2006)

Giyan said:


> Yeah, those look awesome. Please describe the veneering and finishing process. I'd love to try the high gloss look with similar veneer.


The veneer is the 2ply, 10 mil Santos Rosewood from Tapeease.com, ordered with a color variation. I carefully picked ou the sections of the veneer so that matched vertically on the box before cutting them out. That's how I got the stripe to line up vertically up the front, for example. This is not book matched or special order veneer. I prepared the mdf by sanding and filling as need be to make a good flat surface and then applied a coat of Zinser sanding sealer (dewaxed shellac) to seal the surface a bit. Then sanded a bit with 240grit before applying standard contact cement for an adhesive, I believe it was one coat on the veneer and two to the mdf. I used wax paper in 2-3 pieces as a separator so the veneer could be moved and shifted into place (the stripe was aligned properly and therewas a little overlap along all sides). Then I removed the wax paper at one end to stick the veneer in place and worked from that end with a J roller to apply the veneer, removing wax paper as I went. Then I trimmed the veneer back with a router and flush trim bit and sanded a little as needed for a perfect match at the corners. Then the veneer was carefully sanded with 240-400-600 grit to prepare it for further finish.

For the veneer finish, I started with a coat of tung oil, because it sealed the grain, but didn't darken is as much as other materials. After that came about 4 layers of the Zinser Sanding sealer, sanded smooth with 240-400 grit sandpaper. Santos Rosewood is an oily wood, so it is a bit of a chore to seal in the oil. After that, I applied 2-4 coats of Old Master Poly with a painting pad. To get the flat smooth finish, I applied relatively thick coats, leaving the surface sitting horizontal for a couple hours after each application so it would dry flat, with not pad marks, as if it was sprayed on. I roughed up the surface between coats with either 600grit or super fine synthetic steel wool.

For the gloss black finish, I started by sanding the mdf as smooth as I could get it, especially the edges, with 120-240 grit. Then I applied a few coats of Zinser Sanding sealer to help seal the mdf, sanding in between, followed by several coats of Rustoleum professional primer, again lightly sanding in between. After a thourough dry time, next came the gloss black enamel Rustoleum Professional coats, 4-6 total, with 2 light coats on each application, allowing the paint to dry between one set of light coats and the next set. I aso sandded enough to rough the surface in between the pairs of light coats. You have to let everything dry by 3-4 times what the manufacturer suggests between major coats, in my experience, except where they are referring to the short time window between short light recoats. Once you are beyond the initial light recoat window, usually after about an hour, you have to let the paint dry a good 4-6 days, in my expereince, otherwise you can get checking in the paint with the next coat. I generally used the super fine synthetic steel wool pads to rough the surface between these coats. In some cases, I added a Rustoleum clear enamel over the gloss black to protect it, however, I found this last clear coat tended to add some roughness to the finish that the straight gloss black did not have, so I stopped doing that. All these coats take a long time to completely dry. I can tell you that as much as 2 weeks after the last coat, I could still get impressions in the paint if I set it down on something with a texture or put too much pressure on it.

The whole finishing process probably stretched out over 6-8 weeks!

I hope this all makes sense, because I'm too lazy to proof read this all over again.

Dan


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## dlneubec (Oct 9, 2006)

Ricci said:


> By the campus eh?
> 
> How many hours do you estimate that you have in those? Sorry to bombard you with questions. Great job on this finish and uniqueness. I would love to listen to them sometime.


I really can't guess how much time the whole project took, but the finish was the hardest and longest part, probably taking 6-8 weeks or so.

I live about 3 miles from campus. Let me know when you will be in town and we can try to work something out.

BTW, there are plans for a DIY meet in Lexington, KY a week from Sunday, and as of now, I plan to come and bring these. http://www.pesupport.com/cgi-bin/config.pl?read=383022

Dan


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## Giyan (Nov 13, 2007)

excellent, thanks. The clear poly looks really good. I was thinking of buying a sprayer, but may try otherwise.


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## Mongrel714 (May 23, 2007)

Brian Bunge said:


> The PE veneer is a bit expensive, IMHO. I buy all of my veneer from Tape-Ease. They have great customer service and great prices.


Wow you're not kidding, I can get enough veneer to do both my speakers from Tape ease cheaper than I can get a 2' x 4' sheet which won't cover one speaker, from PE. 

If I want to do a dark black, (where you can barely see the grain) should I use a wood like white ash, (my thoughts being it wouldnt color the outcome of the stain??) or a darker veneer?? I'm afraid if I use a brown tinted would it would discolor the pure black I want to achieve.


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## Brian Bunge (Apr 21, 2006)

I had typed up a response but it seems to have disappeared! 

Anyway, for black I just use red oak veneer and then use a flat black spray lacquer that you can buy under the Ace Hardware brand name. It comes in a spray can and actually gives you a pretty good finish. I usually do 2-3 coats and it results in a bit of an egg shell finish. It's not shiny, but has just enough sheen to not look flat.


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## Rodny Alvarez (Apr 25, 2006)

Hey Brian!!! 
how do you like the towers that you build (sound)?? 

They look awesome!!:T


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## Brian Bunge (Apr 21, 2006)

Rodney,

They have a very flat frequency response and the dynamics are just awesome! These are the first "audiophile" quality speakers I've ever heard that could also make you feel like you were watching Phantom of the Opera live on stage at the Fox Theater in Atlanta. Just truly a goosebump type of experience.


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## Rodny Alvarez (Apr 25, 2006)

How much it cost to build that setup??:bigsmile:

Thanks!!!


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## Brian Bunge (Apr 21, 2006)

I had about $1500 just in materials alone for the pair of speakers.


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## drf (Oct 22, 2006)

Although its not a speaker cabinet, I thought I'd post this finish as it can be applied to anything.

My dear loving wife wanted a wall unit/display unit, all I had on hand was a mismatch of Baltic pine, radiata pine, hoop pine, Tassie Oak and MDF. So after putting it all together I needed to find away to make it look uniform and semi-antique looking.
First thing was to find a paint that represented the lightest color of the timber grain you want to replicate. In this case it is a Wattyl color called Cane . One or two coats of this all over:








Then comes the finish, I had 500ml of Wattyls' "choc chip" (chocolate brown)made up, I mixed this 1:1:1 with water and some additive called scumble. With this wet mix I simply brushed it on then dry brushed a wood grain like finish. The scumble slows the drying time of the paint allowing you to do larger area's and come back if something doesn't quite look right. When I was happy with the finish I let it dry and then gave it one coat of Cabbot's polyurethane (the Cabbots stuff is strong enough for floor finishes). This gave it quite a gloss and should protect it for years to come. 
















Although for speakers you'd probably want a nice smooth finish, for funiture I found leaving dust and small lumps on the surface gave it a nice antiquey look. Each to their own though.:R


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