I will never use Polyurethane clear coat again..

Kingdaddy

Member
It took some time, but in the end they absolutely ruined my main speakers that I had slaved so long and hard on, the speakers had to be completely stripped down and refinished to correct this hideous ambering effect.

Never use a Polyurethane clear over anything you dont want to be Yellow after some ageing!
 
I must say you do absolutely incredible work. By the way, what are you using for levelers on the stands?
 
Real bummer about the yellowing. I have to agree your work is stunning !
 
Thanks Ward, very kind comment, most of my good work is more perseverance than craftsmanship I believe. The levelers are home made from some 1/4-20 thumb screws (Granger) and some Parts Express spikes, the articulating legs are just plain aluminum bar stock the had been glued to a channel cut into the bottom staves
 
Fantastic job!

Your story kind of reminds me when I refinished my fireplace mantle using one of those stain and finish all-in-one combos. So vile, I had to sand it all off and start over.

I've always been told that all poly will yellow if you don't use a water-based product.

I've used the water-based stuff on a couple of floors--including one that was black & white checkboard--and it seems to work very well. Plus it dries in only a couple of hours so you can get more than one coat in a day.

Now whether it's good enough for fine furniture like you're building...
 
Kingdaddy, Beautiful work! Don't say you glued your aluminum levelling legs together. Get them welded(TIG). I believe.

greg
 
WOW! Man those look nice. They weren't that bad even yellowed. Amazing stuff.
 
Bolly:

The articulating extension arms are fastened with 1/4-20 countersink screws, then the spanner bars (shown connecting the short extension legs) are glued flush into a channel routed into the wood planks at the bottom, and here I used Polyurethane Glue which is great for bonding metal to wood.


BTW this time I asked a pro and this was recommended.
 
Kingdaddy...The speakers (as always) look great! Very nice job. How long has it been since you started the first set? That sub is a bit larger than I thought. You can get an idea of size in the picture above.


As for the yellowing. From what I understand...All finishes will yellow in time...it's just a matter of how much time before the one you use yellows. Here's a FAQ link where they're talking about water-white lacquers and Cellulose Acetate Butyrate Lacquers. Something like this may be your best bet to fight the yellowing over time.

But if you want something that's light colored to start off white...and stay white. Well, you may be just as successful trying to keep Cherry wood from darkening when exposed to the sunlight. :dunno:

The two best finishing guys I can think of are BillM and BillE. Maybe they'll chime in too.


keep up the good work!
 
Originally posted by gonefishin
Kingdaddy...The speakers (as always) look great! Very nice job. How long has it been since you started the first set? That sub is a bit larger than I thought. You can get an idea of size in the picture above.


As for the yellowing. From what I understand...All finishes will yellow in time...it's just a matter of how much time before the one you use yellows. [


Thanks Fish, the sub project was started almost a year ago (end of Feb 2003) and I just finished last month, the SST-8 monitors took about 6 months but nearly three times the hours to complete since I built many different prototypes. The Sonosub is a 24" dia tube at about 240L with a 8" port tuned to 18.5Hz.

I'm no expert on finishes but to me any clear coat that hazes and distorts the clarity and contrast of the grain and yellows unevenly is simply unacceptable. Maybe this is just the Minwax spray on Poly that does this, but I'm told that any oil based clear coat will amber gently over several years, however this clear coat ambered severely over just a few months and was very uneven and blotchy. it looked like it was molting or something. I cant imagine this is a desirable effect on any surface as it hazes the grain pattern. Anyway, to whom it may concern I would think long and hard about what kind of top coat to use before you apply, this wasted almost 2-weeks of hard work and a lot of expensive paint that’s now in flakes stuck to my garage floor.
 
Kingdaddy...Too bad you wont be at the AK Fest later this month ...I would Love to hear those...

As for the yellowing finish...I had the same problem on my antique Harmony Archtop guitar That I rebuilt...not that it yellowed as time went by ...no ..it yellowed as it was aplied...wich is unfortunate..because the beautiful wood that was covered up with the paint that was originally aplied...was just wonderful and lite colored...almost white raw Maple...and the sound was fantastic..but as soon as I aplied the satin finish ureathane...the color changed and the sound was deadend...but I had to...the oils from my hands were turning the wood black...and that was unacceptable....know what I'm sayin'???

your set-up is Killer.... just wish I could hear it!!!!:thmbsp:

heres a link to the pict of the guitar..the one on the far left....

http://www.audiokarma.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1031&size=big&password=&sort=1&cat=502
 
Reel 2 Reel:

Thanks for the compliment, this setup is just too complicated to travel anyway, too many adjustments and being all active it takes 2 Marchand crossovers and 6 ch of amplifiers to run. Nice Guitar’s though, I have seen some pretty cool DIY Guitar kits in my Grizzly catalog and have thought about trying one just for the fun even though I don’t play. Sorry to hear about your problems with the finish I can surly relate, it’s a terrible feeling to spend so much time perfecting a project only to have it ruined on the last step.
 
Ever since I posted to this thread..I have been contemplatin' re-striping and tryin a paste wax finish...the only thing I can think about being a problem is ...if it dont work...the wax is on there forever!!!! we cant have that now!!!!
 
Very nice job. I don't think that I could ever make something that creative.
What was this piece originally a planter, light fixture?
What is it made of ceramic, PVC, ceramic?
Do you have any photo's of other projects that you have done?
:D
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by hottyson
What was this piece originally a planter, light fixture?
What is it made of ceramic, PVC, ceramic?
Do you have any photo's of other projects that you have done?
:D


The construction was 8 separate ¾ MDF staves assembled in a jig that I made, then there is a layer of Oil based Tar compound then another layer of ¾ MDF, although the front baffle was solid MDF then the backside was bowled out by hand. My newly updated web page has a newer project pictures but most of my old projects I haven’t put on any page yet.

Here is a picture of an old project I did around 1996.

New Web Page.

http://www.geocities.com/kingdaddykeith/Kingdaddys_DIY_Projects.html?1078331805978
 
That is a very nice job on that one as well. Thanks for the picture and the link to more photos.

That is just mind bogling to me that you made those yourself. Nice work!
 
I second the motion on the Polyshades. I redid a buffet table with that stuff and the final color, once I was all done, was really nice but I can't emphasize enough the painintheassedness of working with the stuff.

What model is that Harmony? I got a Monterey archtop with a similar body shape and tailpiece, but it has a dark fingerboard that looks like rosewood but may be 'ebonized hardwood' - probly stained birch. Mine has a red - black sunburst with phony flame maple stripes painted on the top. What kind of finish di you strip off yours?
 
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