Dumont RA-103 Project Redux

[Chris K]

Added red toner to the finish after lightening up the stain but it's still too brown. I'm not going to sand it clean (don't want to risk sand throughs) but I'll remove the majority of the brown off so the lighter mahogany striping in the grain takes in primarily the red color. Bob, you're right, I should have sealed it with shellac first to control the depth of the staining. The stain soaked in like a dry sponge soaks up water and made it too dark and too brown.

[bandersen]

Yep either pre-stain conditioner or sealer.

[Chris K]

I think I got the color right. This is the one pic I took that shows the red highlights best. Lousy light in this corner of the shop.

[Chris K]

My finishing materials showed up yesterday. I'm only posting this to provide information about an available product that solved a finishing dilemma for me. The wonderful advantages in quality and ease of application of nitrocellulose are, for me, more than offset by the issues around its use. I have a dedicated spray booth I use for spraying finishes on my guitars but it is not vented to the outdoors. It is a particulate filter and doesn't address the solvent fumes that come with spraying traditional lacquers. Besides quick drying and the grain enhancing characteristics of nitro, it has what's called "burn in" meaning each coat sprayed on melts the previous coats and becomes one solid finish. Shellac does this too but if you need to spray water based finishes like I do, burn in isn't a property they have had. It's an issue for any finish that gets wet sanded and rubbed out to a high gloss because when multiple, individual layers of a finish are sanded through, the layers show in the form of "witness marks".

About 10-15 years ago, due primarily to tightening VOC restrictions, waterborne finish manufacturers started to step up their game. The finishes got clearer, harder and popped grain better but they still went on a surface as distinct layers. Some products claimed burn it if recoated during a limited window but I found none of them satisfactory,

Target Coatings was a small startup company around this time and they developed a line of waterborne finishes including a lacquer claiming burn in if recoated within 48 hours, a time window considerably longer than the open recoat time for products like Resisthane, another claimant of burn in and water based. I tried their product line and I have never used anything else since. Their custom formula EM 6000 product is as close to nitrocellulose as you can get in a low VOC product. It is amazing. It cures rock hard, clear and has 100% burn in.



I only mention this because I struggled with finishing schedules, solvent fumes and other issues for years. This single product solved all of that. Every bit as good as nitrocellulose with the same properties but no solvents. It can be sprayed indoors with little concern. Of course, you need spray equipment. It's not a finish in a can. HVLP, self contained units are available. Instead of a compressor, they essentially use a fan to provide air flow and they are very good for spraying water based finishes.

[Chris K]

Got the finish sealed with dewaxed shellac, put on the decals and sealed them in and then applied the lacquer. Starting working on the knobs as well.

[ChrisW6ATV]

That looks very nice!

[Alex KL-1]

Wow, excellent!

[Chris K]

Thank you both!

[Chris K]

I need to pull the chassis because I need to tweak a few more things but once the cabinet was done, I had to see what it all looked like.

[old_tv_nut]

Beautiful!