How do you buff out the wood on old TV cabinets?

[azguy1878]

I know theres a way to do it..like if the wood looks like its always dusty, theres a way to make it shine agian, does anyone know how to do this? Theres also a way to get rid of small scrathes and chips..probably the same method?

[Sandy G]

I've heard of some people trying 000 or even finer steel wool, but I've never tried anything like that myself...

[blue_lateral]

Sometimes Old English scratch remover polish can work wonders.

[Tubejunke]

A lot of old electronics get a good coat of nicotine if the item was in a confined area such as a hotel room or studio apartment where someone smoked heavily. I've seen a lot of cabinets that look kind of crappy and dont seem to polish right and that is the trouble. A good scrubdown with Murphy's Oil Soap or a similar cleaner that is safe for wood finishes will take this junk off. Use one of those SLIGHTLY abrasive dish sponges if you want. Your bucket of soap and water will turn brown. Rubber gloves never hurt as this is a nasty job.

After the cleaning you should be able to get a much better result with common furniture polish and a cotton cloth.

As far as scratches they sell liquid scratch cover. Its really nothing but oil stain. If you have some stain a dab of that straight on the scratch will at least hide the scratch. No shine of course. Also furniture stores have scratch cover pens for the delivery men to cover their mistakes. I don't know if they sell them or not.

Just some ideas.........

[azguy1878]

Thanks for the info, ive already cleaned the cabinet, took about an hour!!! I think whatever was on there had eaten away the varnish, mostly on the top. It almost looks like its just stained but no varnish :<

[merrylander]

You must realize that few if any TV cabinets were done with real (by this I mean walnut, mahogany, or cherry, etc.) wood veneers. Thus the finish is whatever color was in the spray on lacquer, and this can and will wear through.

Rob

[Phil Nelson]

Virtually all old wooden TV and radio cabinets were finished with lacquer, usually including a colored toning lacquer.

A couple of small scratches can be concealed with a Min-Wax stain pen or a Q-tip dipped in stain. Some people even use a brown colored marker. The local Home Depot here carries the stain pens.

If you have a lot of light scratches and scuffs, I have used the trick where you wipe the entire cabinet with stain, let it set up briefly, then briskly rub off the entire cabinet with a soft cloth. The stain will remain in the scratches and darken them, but be buffed off the rest, not darkening it too much. This method also has the effect of restoring some of the shine. Note that some kinds of stain can take a long time to dry in a humid climate.

If your finish is so badly worn that it lost its color, then the best solution is spray on fresh toning lacquer to color it, followed by one or more clear coats to protect it. Whether you strip the finish first, or just smooth it with #0000 steel wool and spray directly onto it, would depend on how far gone it is. If you strip it, you may need to apply grain filler before lacquering, to fill the pores in the wood.

You can buy Mohawk toning lacquer from Antique Electronic Supply and many woodworking suppliers.

Phil Nelson
http://antiqueradio.org/index.html

[ChuckA]

If the finish is still good and it is just tired, the best thing I have found is regular car wax. Rub it on just like on your car, it will remove the oxidized layer of the finish and buff out to a nice shine.

Chuck

[Kamakiri]

I use Goop handcleaner (the nonabrasive) and a toothbrush. You'd be absolutely amazed what that stuff can do :)

[bgadow]

I have also had good luck with goop or gojo. For one cabinet I used some citrus hand cleaner with an abrasive in it. It left the cabinet looking outstanding but the abrasive was a little too harsh. If you look close you can see light scratches it left.

Windex seems to do a good job of removing old wax. I'll spray it on, let it set for a few minutes, and repeat a few times.

[slow_jazz]

old english scratch remover. leave it on thick for a couple days and then wipe the excess off.