my new cab: retro polished timber cocktail

[destr0y]

G'day all,

My new cocktail cabinet is finally reaching some semblance of completion.  Am just waiting on some parts to arrive now (black buttons + a few odds & ends)
More pics & the epic build saga (not really) are online here


Cheers,
Brett

[spacies]

Man, that is looking nice.


 

[notaburger]

i must ask, what technique, brand stain, and brand/style polyurethane did you use to get that gorgeous even color?

[bfauska]

Your cabinet looks like it's turning out nice.  Congratulations on the living room cabinet location, most guys don't get to pull that one off.

[leapinlew]

Looks good - where does the sound come out?

I always wonder what front end people are using to handle flipping mode and a 3 sides cabinet. What are you using?

[destr0y]

i must ask, what technique, brand stain, and brand/style polyurethane did you use to get that gorgeous even color?

Its definitely all in the technique, but I've got the wife to blame/thank for that.  The stain was a Cabots Cedar one, for whatever its worth.    Make sure you sand your wood first, a nice smooth surface helps with the next stages..

The key is definitely going the whole length of the wood in a single stroke, and overlap each stroke as you go.   I applied the stain with a paintbrush, then rubbed it in with a "stain ball"..  basically, you take a bunch of cotton balls, and bunch them up in bit of cloth (in this case,  a sleeve cut off from one of my old (as in previous company) work shirts.), and tie it off with a bit of string, a rubber band or hair band so the ball is nice and tight/solid.   You use the stain ball to rub it in (hard) before it gets a chance to soak into the timber.  The stain ball acts by a) rubbing it in evenly into the grain, and b) by soaking up & redistributing any excess stain.. 

Note: the cloth around the stain ball will probably perish before you're done staining all your bits..  (you're dragging it across timber after all)..  so be prepared to make another one before you're done...

Once you're happy with the stain, varnish/wait/sand/varnish/wait/sand/varnish/wait/sand.   (ie, 3 coats of clear varnish, with a very light sand with wet&dry in between coats)

Its seriously a pain in the arse (and the upper arms), but worth the effort in the end..  just.

Cheers,
Brett

[destr0y]

Looks good - where does the sound come out?

At the moment, through the vents   I've not done any permanent speaker mounting yet, because I'm not happy with the speakers I've got.   I''ve just bought a set of those new TDK tremor flat speakers to experiment with (haven't got much to report either way yet).. 

I always wonder what front end people are using to handle flipping mode and a 3 sides cabinet. What are you using?

GameEx..  to be honest though, I've not tested any of the horizontal/vertical stuff yet.  Will document what I do, when I do it though.

[notaburger]

i used an old t shirt to apply mine and while it turned out better than i imagined, it still has a few streaks

i haven't applied the varnish yet, so i'll probably just start from scratch

i am good to just belt sand the whole thing and start over...right?

for the record, it's a very light stain and my wood is pine

i wish my girl knew how to stain like that...i'd be making entertainment centers and bookcases all the time

...happy birthday ma...have a shelf

[Zebidee]

Its seriously a pain in the arse (and the upper arms), but worth the effort in the end..  just.

Cheers,
Brett

From the look of your Avatar, all that works on your arms has paid off!

[destr0y]

i used an old t shirt to apply mine and while it turned out better than i imagined, it still has a few streaks

i haven't applied the varnish yet, so i'll probably just start from scratch

i am good to just belt sand the whole thing and start over...right?

You can do that, for sure..  (I freely admit I did the same thing with one of the control panel pieces when I wasn't happy with how it turned out.)..  something else to consider is to be selective with your sanding...  depends on the stain and timber you're using, but sometimes, if you have dark patches in your stain (this sentence isn't coming out right...), you can lightly sand back the darker area..  with some stains, and some timbers, it can give it a stressed / antique look & feel. 

If you do sand, the most important things:
- use continuous strokes from top to bottom of the timber, ALONG THE GRAIN.
- Use a stain ball to evenly distribute the stain...  just using a cloth (ala old shirt) doesn't cut it because the stain can accumulate in the cloth (whereas with a stain ball the cotton balls can soak it up)

Like I said, I'm no expert with staining, I'm sure there are better ways of doing it... but the tips the wife gave me speak for themselves.. 

Cheers,
Brett

[DaOld Man]

Hey man that is a cool project!
Great work.
I like the way your website is laid out too..
 

[patrickl]

Wow, that's really nice. Love the stain work.

[metahacker]

These things are sweeeeet. I have a few concerns that the silver might not match my cabinet, so as a backup plan, I’ve also bought 8 of the clips Arcade Depot sells, which are black anodised stainless. No big loss though, whichever set don’t suit this table, will be used on the next one I make.

i would think you may be right about the silver.

here is one way to approach the problem:

you can paint the pieces with flat black.  then you can take a contrasting color that you like... and mix it with some thinner.  take something like a rag that wont lint it up too much, and wipe it into the engravings...or alternatively, paint it into the engravings ... either way, once you do that, and before it dries, wipe it with thinner.. it will leave some deposits in the engravings.. 

that's how i got the timing marks (and logo) on this crank pulley to show up (silver on grey).


it might also be interesting to see if you can flat black the thing and somehow get a gloss black to take on the engravings.  altho the technique is nice when you can have a contrasting color.  and especially nice if you use heavily thinned flat black and u have an object u want to give a more '3D' look.

at the same time, design wise... i tend to think the plain black brackets may be best bet considering how CLASSY your cocktail has turned out.
the other brackets are really cool but a bit too much 'fun'

[destr0y]

These things are sweeeeet. I have a few concerns that the silver might not match my cabinet, so as a backup plan, I’ve also bought 8 of the clips Arcade Depot sells, which are black anodised stainless. No big loss though, whichever set don’t suit this table, will be used on the next one I make.

i would think you may be right about the silver.

here is one way to approach the problem:

you can paint the pieces with flat black.  then you can take a contrasting color that you like... and mix it with some thinner.  take something like a rag that wont lint it up too much, and wipe it into the engravings...or alternatively, paint it into the engravings ... either way, once you do that, and before it dries, wipe it with thinner.. it will leave some deposits in the engravings.. 

that's how i got the timing marks (and logo) on this crank pulley to show up (silver on grey).


it might also be interesting to see if you can flat black the thing and somehow get a gloss black to take on the engravings.  altho the technique is nice when you can have a contrasting color.  and especially nice if you use heavily thinned flat black and u have an object u want to give a more '3D' look.

at the same time, design wise... i tend to think the plain black brackets may be best bet considering how CLASSY your cocktail has turned out.
the other brackets are really cool but a bit too much 'fun'

Excellent idea mate, I love the gloss vs flat black concept.  I'll definitely give that a shot.  Thanks for the kind words too!

Cheers,
Brett

[bleargh]

you can paint the pieces with flat black.  then you can take a contrasting color that you like... and mix it with some thinner.  take something like a rag that wont lint it up too much, and wipe it into the engravings...or alternatively, paint it into the engravings ... either way, once you do that, and before it dries, wipe it with thinner.. it will leave some deposits in the engravings.. 

Sounds just like how you'd get colour in your D&D dice (except we were rubbing in crayon into the depressions and wiping off the excess).

[AlexKidd]

JACKSON!!! JACKSON!!!

*cough* er great lookin cab  Love the vents on the sides, much nicer then a fan grill.