My new toy...

[leadlike]

Thanks for all of the suggestions! I'll probably do a light sanding/buffing followed up by a lacquer overspray. Any tips on what I should use to clean and prep the cabinet? I've heard of using mineral spirits but have no experience in using it for this purpose.

This should be fun. It's unbelievably nice to have a workable finish for once. So many of the cabinets that I find have had the lacquer flaking off in huge chunks, or turned a sickly green-I'm guessing from too much sun exposure?

[Phil Nelson]

I have used mineral spirits (paint thinner) to clean an existing lacquer finish, then oversprayed with lacquer.

If your finish is not seriously damaged, I wouldn't go nuts sanding or steel-wooling it, which may do more harm than good. In most cases, the guys at the original factory did a better job than we can do at home. Don't erase their work and start over unless you are forced to.

As someone else suggested, if the finish isn't badly damaged, maybe a good polishing is all it needs. Or if it only has a few little boo-boos here and there, maybe something like Howard's Restor-a-Finish would do. I used to scoff at that stuff, but I tried it on an antique table whose legs were a little scuffed, and it turned out great.

Phil Nelson