WUF#01 - Enclosure Finishing

Veneering

After the long stretch in building the enclosure, I am re-considering how extensive an effort to invest in the finishing. The most important fact is that the sound quality will be largely unaffected. It is a matter of physical effort and cost vs personal satisfaction. for one, I am dropping the idea of bird-eye veneer - too ex and a waste as I already bought the maple veneer.

But for the time being, I am putting the decision in the back burner while I enjoy the stereo pair... revisit scheduled for July 2005 ...

15 June 2005:
Apparently after my visit to a fellow Diy-er to appreciate his hard work [see his handy work here], I decided to get this project over and done with much earlier than planned.

Started to cut the veneer on the weekend of 11th June 2005. Was short of one length and had to dropped by the supplier. After much contemplating, finally decided to use contact adhesive.. the poisonous type that can kill you!! Even before work began I had a major decision on hand... Due to the exceptional depth, a single length (1 foot width) would be insufficient. If I use two pieces for the sides, it really makes veneering the front baffle difficult... the critical decision make is how to strategically place joint points such that it is aesthetically pleasant.

In the end I decided to start the veneer at the mid-point of the baffle. Wrap it through the rounded edge and make the joint at the side panel. Thus it took 4 pieces to complete the front and 2 sides excluding the back. Here are the pics:

The create the smooth corner and edges, trim the veneer after about 30min of contact. Use a very sharp and thin knife, such as those retractable handicraft pen-knife. Leave about 1mm or less overhand. I use grid 100 sand paper to trim it level. Sand in the direction IN towards the enclosure, i.e. instead of away which may cause the veneer to peel. Make sure all glue residue is removed. I finished off with a grid 240 sandpaper.

Notice the less than ideal joint between the two veneer pieces [left]. This was the 1st attempt and the gap is quite noticaeble though from the pic it looks rather acceptable. I'd probably have to sand off the glue and fill-up the gap with wood filler. My joining skill improved [right].... the trick is to make the joint 0.5mm nearer. The raised edge can then be FORCED level giving the almost seamless joint!

And here are the naked and dressed version.

I reckon that it would take me another weekend to finish up the veneering.. just ran out of glue! I also noticed that the eyes gets a little itchy if prolong exposure to the evaporating fumes... arhhh!! Never anticipate such health risk in my audio pursuit!

Staining & Laquering

Unfortunately I did not take any pics in between the staining... too much hassle in that. Above pic shows a fully stained veneer - I used Ronseal Redwood stain with satin finish. Suppose to have a 5 years guarantee. I was debating should I laquer or just leave it as it is... in the end, I went for the laquer option. Though stain leaves a satin finish, it is not smooth to touch... I need to sand down to get a nice smooth feel... thus, by laquering, I may get what I orginally wanted - a piano gloss finish.

The wood grain are no more as you may have noticed...Compare these to the earlier pic in the Veneering section. I tried to tone down the stain using thinner... very bad idea. Had to take recovery steps on those test spots. Guess I've to settle for the stripe stain lines.

The finish with 1-2 coat of lacquer. I bought Kangaroo brand clear laquer.. code on the can is 722. It is very very thick... I have to thin is with thinner with ratio about 1:1.5

Staining notes:

• The stains direct from the can is rather thick.
• Thin using 30% water to get a better flow [depends on the stain base].
• Use cloth rather than brush to apply... result is more even.
• Do not over soak the cloth.. will result in blotches and stripes.
• I applied about 4-5 layers to get above result.
• Leave to dry min 4 hours in btw layers [very important]

Laquering notes:

• Similar to staining.. thin the laquer as much as possible. This is to ensure easy application.
• Use appropriate brush.. the 'Chinese brush' type is ideal for such work. Using the std paint brush would probably leave very obvious bristle marks.
• Watch out for loose bristle, remove them with a sharp pen knife asap. Be very very careful not to scrape off the stain.#1
• Best apply on horizontal surface... this will allow the lacquer to even-out (make sure it is not too thick else it will not spread). #2
• Beware of residue flakes (white in color) on the brush. When applying subsequent layers I got streaks of white marks... very ugly. Be sure to clean the brush thouroughly in water. Clean them again with thinner before use... if the cleaning thinner turn white... rinse the brush until it clears.

A close-up on a stucked paint brush bristle. It was discovered after the lacquer had hardened, I could not remove it without damaging the stain even after 'softening' it with thinner. Good thing it is hardly noticeable without close inspection. From my listening position - no way you can detect this.

After a week of toxic fume exposure, I decided to increase pace and use a normal paint brush and thicker lacquer.. managed to build up the thickness but resulted in rather rough surface... rectification work too extensive... near my physical limit, decided to call it a day and settle with existing finish.

See FINAL PRODUCT.

#1 Double whammy here if things goes wrong.
#2 I cheated in this due to time constraint - simply whack be it horizontal or vertical surface.