Furniture, you pervs.

Anyway, my father had this old cabinet in his wood shop and when he passed, I knew I wanted it. Well, I got into fly tying and knew this cabinet was perfect.


Problem is, as you can see, it doesn't look great. Now, this isn't going to be some show piece, so instead of spending hundreds of dollars to get it refinished, I decided to do it myself. So, I still spent a chunk of change on the materials, but not as much as letting a pro do it, and spent today stripping it.


Now, the front didn't turn out too well. I think the liquid stripper I used just didn't stay on the narrow surfaces long enough to really do its thing. I need to figure out what direction to go with that, next. The rest of it, though, turned out pretty well.






Anyone else done this kind of work? Any ideas on how to handle the front of this thing? I haven't touched the drawers, yet, I know they will be a pain.

It might need a little elbow grease. Maybe some sanding? What are you doing for finish? It looks kind of cool the way it is, if you are putting it in a shop or garage. I wouldn't paint it. Maybe a clear finish. Just my opinion.

(04-27-2020, 01:22 AM)sandwedge Wrote: It might need a little elbow grease. Maybe some sanding? What are you doing for finish? It looks kind of cool the way it is, if you are putting it in a shop or garage. I wouldn't paint it. Maybe a clear finish. Just my opinion.

It'll be in my home office, sitting right next to my desk so when I want to take a break from the monotony of working from home I can just reach over and tie a couple of flies before getting back to it. I haven't decided on painting it or leaving the wood visible, as of yet. It really all depends on how well I can get it stripped.

(04-27-2020, 09:33 AM)Belsnickel Wrote: It'll be in my home office, sitting right next to my desk so when I want to take a break from the monotony of working from home I can just reach over and tie a couple of flies before getting back to it. I haven't decided on painting it or leaving the wood visible, as of yet. It really all depends on how well I can get it stripped.

I haven't seen this mentioned but if you lay the cabinet on its back, the vertical surface becomes a horizontal one and your liquid stripper can do its thing.

I once bought an elaborate cherry window seat/coat tree kind of thing for ten bucks.  It was painted a hideous green.  I stripped off the ugly paint.

Once I got to the bare wood, I painted on black paint with a rag, like you would apply stain.  I then sanded it all, leaving the black paint only on the grain.  This works beautifully with most any wood.

Cherry, when exposed to a month or two of sunlight, darkens from a pinkish color to a vibrant red.  I put it in a room where the sun came in several hours a day and it did darken.

Then I used clear varnish for the finish coat.  The final look was striking--red with bold black grain.  It was a show piece.  I took it to a little flea market nearby and left it in the back of my truck and sold it for $500 in about ten minutes and I probably could have gotten a lot more if I really tried.

There are also colored stains on the market that allow you to have a painted type color but still have visible grain.  I've used this several times and it creates a really cool look.  It's my wife's favorite, as a matter of fact. 

My parents did a few projects like this.  They had real stiff wire brushes to strip out the crevices and detail work.

If the liquid stripper is running off the front too quickly lay the piece on its back.

Also I enjoy this work much more when doing it in a small room with all of the windows closed.

If you get it in real good shape new handles for the drawers can make a big difference in the appearance.

But those wooden knobs look fine on a rustic piece. And you can just repaint them instaed of doing all the work stripping them.

(04-27-2020, 10:41 AM)fredtoast Wrote: My parents did a few projects like this.  They had real stiff wire brushes to strip out the crevices and detail work.

If the liquid stripper is running off the front too quickly lay the piece on its back.

Also I enjoy this work much more when doing it in a small room with all of the windows closed.

LOL.  That explains a whole lot.

(04-27-2020, 10:39 AM)McC Wrote: I haven't seen this mentioned but if you lay the cabinet on its back, the vertical surface becomes a horizontal one and your liquid stripper can do its thing.

This dude strips.  ^^^ 

(04-27-2020, 10:39 AM)McC Wrote: I haven't seen this mentioned but if you lay the cabinet on its back, the vertical surface becomes a horizontal one and your liquid stripper can do its thing.

(04-27-2020, 10:41 AM)fredtoast Wrote: If the liquid stripper is running off the front too quickly lay the piece on its back.

I was doing one side at a time and was always working with the side being parallel to the ground so I had a horizontal surface. The issue is that the shelves for the drawers are around 1/4 inch thick and the stripping chemical would mostly run down the sides. This is why I'm thinking if I get a quart tub of the paste and use it on those shelves it would work out better.

(04-27-2020, 10:39 AM)McC Wrote: There are also colored stains on the market that allow you to have a painted type color but still have visible grain.  I've used this several times and it creates a really cool look.  It's my wife's favorite, as a matter of fact. 

That might be the way I go. I was thinking of painting it a green with some navy blue accents, but if I can get all the paint removed and find a colored stain, I'd be all over that.

Back when I smoked a pipe, this was my favorite one that I had:


The burl still looked fantastic and the green was very cool. But I'm a big fan of the color green in general.

(04-27-2020, 10:46 AM)fredtoast Wrote: If you get it in real good shape new handles for the drawers can make a big difference in the appearance.

But those wooden knobs look fine on a rustic piece. And you can just repaint them instaed of doing all the work stripping them.

It all depends on how I end up refinishing it. I will probably put the knobs back on, at least for now, but I plan on replacing them over time with different ones I find that I may like that have a fishing theme. I can find knobs shaped like fish, with flies on them, I'l even go with other wildlife. It's going to be an interesting cabinet, for sure.

I've also got a ton of fishing related stickers, and one thought I had if I ended up painting it was to use those to help in the decoration of it. But that is still undecided as of yet.

(04-27-2020, 10:39 AM)McC Wrote: I haven't seen this mentioned but if you lay the cabinet on its back, the vertical surface becomes a horizontal one and your liquid stripper can do its thing.

I once bought an elaborate cherry window seat/coat tree kind of thing for ten bucks.  It was painted a hideous green.  I stripped off the ugly paint.

Once I got to the bare wood, I painted on black paint with a rag, like you would apply stain.  I then sanded it all, leaving the black paint only on the grain.  This works beautifully with most any wood.

Cherry, when exposed to a month or two of sunlight, darkens from a pinkish color to a vibrant red.  I put it in a room where the sun came in several hours a day and it did darken.

Then I used clear varnish for the finish coat.  The final look was striking--red with bold black grain.  It was a show piece.  I took it to a little flea market nearby and left it in the back of my truck and sold it for $500 in about ten minutes and I probably could have gotten a lot more if I really tried.

There are also colored stains on the market that allow you to have a painted type color but still have visible grain.  I've used this several times and it creates a really cool look.  It's my wife's favorite, as a matter of fact. 

I used that color stain on the handrail going up to the second floor in the house my ex and I bought 3 years ago. I had remodeled the entire downstairs, kitchen, dining and both living rooms and when friends would come over, it was pretty much the stair handrail that aught everyone's eye.