Cleaning & restoring old cabinet
 

I've been reading the tutorials from "Glenn" and figured out that the finish on my old cabinet is shellac. Now, I
'm confused about what constitutes "cleaning" and what constitutes "refinishing" . Do I use his cleaning solutions #1 and #2 to REMOVE the shellac and get down to the "original" or is there some step I'm missing? Once the shellac is gone and I'm down to the "original" wood, then what? I have Howard's Restore-a-Finish and the Feed & Wax. I tried the Restore a Finish but it doesn't look like it removes the "damaged" shellac. Does that come into the process AFTER the cleaning solutions?

Thank you for your help!

IMO, Restore a Finish is more of a bandaid for antique stores to flip furniture. It's not a long term quality solution. Refinishing with shellac is authentic, or if you go to a Woodcraft store or online, (or other places) you can find old style varnishes that aren't polyurethane. (Poly is hard, but hard to remove also). Clear lacquer is also another option, harder than shellac, and a little more resistant to water and alcohol rings, but still easy to remove. Any waxes, will have to be removed before any other finish is applied. Glenn or Rodney, probably knows more about this stuff than I do, I refer to an OLD book I have, "The Furniture Doctor" which gives great info on all of the old refinishing arts.

that's my opinion too!

I guess I need to step back and start at the beginning. How do I remove the shellac? Can I just use denatured alcohol and 0000steel wool or do I mix up Glenn's recipes? Will removing the shellac damage/remove the "Singer" decal on the front of the case? How can I preserve the decal?

it will definitely damage the Singer decal. what i will do is cover it with tape.

show us a pic of the cabinet you're trying to rehab/refinish. that way we can tell you exactly what to use and how to do it. for one, never use minwax polyshades. it's so unforgiving. i learned this the hard way. it's ok to use on smaller project but for bigger one, like cabinet refinishing, it's not the best.

what i always do is to strip it with paint stripper (i use Citristrip), lots of sanding, wipe it clean with mineral spirits, use minwax stain and Minwax Polycrylic Protective Finish.

Most tape and decals do not tend to play nice. There is a firm tha makes very goog reproductions of that case decal also.

My cabinet lid was splitting on both sides when I got it. Right or wrong, I steamed with it with a wet towel and my iron. With a thin putty knife and a small hammer, I worked loose the veneer, stripping it all off. Then I sanded the wood smooth underneath the veneer and finally applied with a cloth brown paste shoe polish to both sides. It blends with the rest of the cabinet. I am very pleased with it.

I refinished my grandma's treadle years ago. Took it down to the bare wood and replaced a piece of veneer as well. The veneer application was a job. I like dwoods fix but think I would have used a stain/sealer.... But if it worked that's what counts

Thank you for the advice about covering the decal up! I don't have the thumb drive with me with the photos of the case but I'll post them next week. I posted a lot of photos in an earlier thread: the case is in pretty good shape (veneer OK on the bentwood top, bottom intact) but the finish has dried and flaked off in places and there is what looks like some water marks -- it just looks kinda ratty. I started by just using Denatured alcohol and steel wool on a spot on the heavy wooden base the machine sets in and on one place on the lid: the old coats of shellac are coming off and the wood underneath looks great. I just want to do the simplest sort of protective finish after getting the old shellac off and cleaning it up since this machine is for my personal use as a backup at my "country place" in New Mexico. In my case, "less" is good!

Thanks again for everyone's continuing interest in this project.....you folks are terrific!

You shouldn't need to get the old shellac off. Just sand lightly to "feather" the old finish in. Basically you don't want any ridges where the old finish ends. After that just cover with more shellac.
Rodney