Alrighty then - you asked for it
Cabinet refinishing take two.
I finished stripping off the cracked lacquer and filled the grain with shellac again.
I'm going to use some Mohawk toner this time.
Here's a couple coats of toner. I used it sparingly, but it's pretty dark stuff.
Here it is after three coats of clear gloss. It's a tad darker than I'd intended, but no cracks
I also took care of the metal back cover.
I used Naval Jelly to remove the rust, rinsed it off well, dried it immediately with a blow drier and applied two coats of clear lacquer.
You really don't want to leave raw steel exposed to air for long after using a rust remover or else a film of corrosion will return.
Now for the rest of the cabinet. Once that's done, I'm going to try rubbing out that lacquer with some pumice and rottenstone.