GE Wellington coffee table, model RC 4842-A

[TC Chris]

Try some shellac over it. Adding a finish seems to bring things alive.

Chris Campbell

[TC Chris]

Also--on the boats I use filler stain over the dyed wood. It fills the grain for a smooth surface and also adds color. It's the equivalent of the video guy using a glaze over shellac. But his glaze doesn't fill grain; maybe he uses more finish coats of lacquer & sanding to do that.

Chris Campbell

[stbasil]

Well guys, I'm still just an amateur at wood finishing, even though I've refinished many pieces over my lifetime. I've always preferred the more natural look, and feel, of the wood. For me, the texture of the grain is part of that, part of its beauty, so I've just never done grain filling. And of course, lucky for me, it happens to be less work and less chance for error!

I'm zeroing in on the stain choice, hope to have some pictures before long. Thanks for all the advice!

[stbasil]

Well, after weeks of not posting about this project, here's an update. After prepping the veneer surface, and using the chemical stain, it looked great, but the mahogany veneer grain was pretty deep.

So maybe a grain filler is in order. I've never used filler before, but in searching the net I found a number of references to a water-based, clear filler called Aqua Coat. Most people said it was easy to apply and gave good results, so I ordered some and followed the instructions closely. But, after three applications on the top surface of the cabinet, I was bummed to see that the grain actually ended up with a white filling to it! Well, I thought perhaps if I applied additional walnut oil-based stain over it, it would tint the white portions and everything would be okay. But, that was not to be the case.You can see the difference in the grain in the photo below with a piece of scrap mahogany veneer. The grain detail was also significantly muted.

It seemed the only way to correct this issue was to sand everything off and start over on the finish. But, I was afraid that if I did that, I would end up sanding through the veneer that I had applied. So, I resolved to roughen up the surface and apply new veneer over it and start over. I was happy to see however, that as I sanded the surface down to prepare for another layer of veneer, it started looking really good! The sanding with 120 grit took off all of the old finish and the nasty looking white deposits in the grain. After that, I sanded with 320 grit and applied the chemical stain again. After that dried, I applied the walnut stain to the top. Now it's looking great and I will apply a washcoat of dewaxed shellac and then poly on top of that.

[William]

I really love the look of your unit in front of your VW. I think some kind of a natural finish to highlight the natural beauty of the wood is what I would do. But, maybe in person it looks different that the photo. Either way, I am sure once you have it complete and up and playing it will be beautiful and sound great.

Bill

[TC Chris]

Filler-stains are available from marine suppliers. Try Defender Marine, West Marine, or Hamilton Marine. They're made by Pettit and Interlux. Long ago I had bought a can of grain filler at a surplus store. I finally used it on a Phillipine mahogany door--same experience: white tone in the grain. I lived with it since the door was fairly light and unstained anyway. But the marine versions work very well.

Chris Campbell

[stbasil]

I had also used the aqua coat on the front of the newly veneered rotating changer enclosure, but only one coat, and it looks great so it didn't require sanding down. The manufacturer should warn the user about this issue....

[stbasil]

Finally. The wife loves it, so we'll replace our existing coffee table with this one! Here's several shots of the completed project, no more early American look. I took these pics in the garage (wife's car in the shop), but the lighting is poor. Interesting how the grain direction and lighting influences the look of the top panels--they are uniform when viewing straight down.

More pictures later...

Front

Front, control door open

Back

Emblem

[electra225]

Very nice!

It looks fantastic!

[TC Chris]

Wow, a completely successful makeover! Your work was rewarded with a really handsome device.

Chris Campbell

[William]

Beautiful, and the color walnut I love. How does it sound?

Bill

[electra225]

I think it would be fair to say that this is THE nicest GE cabinet on the face of the planet.

[stbasil]

Thank you, guys, for your kind words. I learned a lot about veneering since every visible piece of wood is veneered!

It sounds pretty good, not like my Moto SK-111 of course. I've also added Bluetooth via a selector switch, I'll post some additional pics on that soon.

[TC Chris]

Maybe share some thoughts & tips about veneering?

Chris Campbell

[stbasil]

My novice advice re veneering project

I watched lots of videos on YouTube, one was especially helpful for a beginner like me, with zero veneer experience:

https://youtu.be/Tpus_MULatI?si=s6cnkr2nL7Sr6Bc1

I bought the 2' x 8' veneer from home Depot, it comes rolled up in a cardboard box. Mahogany was the cheapest and I like mahogany. It's backed with 10 mil paper, some higher priced veneer is 20 mil backed. I used weldwood contact cement, applied with a foam brush straight from the can. I later read that contact cement is not recommended for 10 mil backing, but I had no serious issues. I used a sanded edge of a short plank of engineered wood flooring for my scraper.

For cutting and trimming I used a Votrek utility knife from Amazon instead of my ancient gray Stanley, much sturdier and more comfortable to hold. A sharp blade is important, so change it more often than you would when cutting boxes!

My finishing steps after veneering:
-320 grit hand sand
-Wet surfaces to raise grain
-overnight dry then 320 grit very light hand sand
-Chemical stain
-320 grit very light hand sand with dust mask and HEPA vac
-Overnight dry and walnut oil stain
-Overnight dry and about 1lb cut dewaxed shellac wash
-Overnight dry and light 320 grit hand sand
-Polyurethane, as many coats as you want
-320 hand sand between coats, no sand final
(I used minwax satin, 2 coats)

I re-veneered over the front skirt and legs that looked horrible due to the grain filler issue described above, sanding that off just didn't work. I think poor lighting kept me from seeing the problem areas sooner, so next project I'll improve the lighting before I start!!

[TC Chris]

I have an "ancient gray Stanley" hanging in my shop. We have been through a lot together. I have a special fondness for those old familiar tools that are the first ones I reach for. I still have a bit of grief remembering the little box of "travel tools" that got stolen out of my Datsun about 40 years ago.

Chris Campbell

[stbasil]

Installed and working! It looks great, but I'm not entirely satisfied with the sound, seems a little "boomy" so I might look into that later with a signal generator to see what's going on, maybe fiddle with the crossover caps.

The box next to the changer is the selector for phono or Bluetooth, I put the series caps for the Bluetooth (discussed earlier) inside it, the Bluetooth receiver is mounted under the changer panel, its power adapter is under the control escutcheon where the am/fm receiver would be "if so equipped".

One problem is the power cord routing. To eliminate a trip hazard, I cut a small slit in the rug and cut a gap in the pad underneath to run the zip cord out to the edge of the rug, then a 90 along and under the rug edge to an outlet under a couch which is to the left of the photo.

[William]

It looks beautiful, nice job and well worth all of the work. Having a coffee table stereo is a problem when it comes to where to plug it in. Most homes do not have an outlet in the middle of there living room floors.

Bill