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Dynaco A25 refinished in 2 hours, ok maybe 3!

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Nope. Sanded off the old finish completely, walnut stained and MinWax oil finish. The water stains were very deep. I did not do any filling of chipped corners but did get most of the scratches out.
 
Nice work. What did you use? I have a pair of CAbasse speakers with similar water damage on the top of one that Howard's Feed n' Wax wouldn't tackle.

EDIT:..ah, nice work. You filled in the details while i was typing.
 
I just wanted to make these good enough for me, not a show piece. I can put up with a few blemishes but those water marks drive me nuts.
 
Thanks! :)

However the other one is not quite as good. Getting the deep water mark out I over sanded a bit and started to go through the top veneer a touch. It is still pretty nice overall though.
 
Well, I don't recommend it but I used a belt sander at first. I then switched to an orbital which you can see in the pic below. It should have been just the orbital.

The belt is too agressive and hard to keep flat on the surface without "chuffing" and digging in. I am pretty good with it but I still got a bit of that effect on the other speaker.

I did the edges with a sanding sponge, though handheld paper would have been fine too. I blew and wiped away the dust, and used a tack cloth before the stain.


Dynaco A25 2 by Buhduh, on Flickr
 
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Nice job. Coincidentally I have been finishing wood in my garage/shop listening to a pair of Dynaco A25 that need refinishing.

I just finished the wood for an open stair going in the living room and working on door/window cedar trim. So I am inspired to move on to the speakers.

I only use a belt sander on really big jobs. On the speakers I will start with the Bosch random orbital. I do successive sanding with finer and finer ending with 320 grit the finest that fits the sander, then I have to do 400gr by hand, then fine steel wool.

I got the A25 specifically for the shop. they are just right.
 
^ What he said.

That's a better overall technique and will end up with a finer finish, depending on what you do with stain/varnish/oil or whatever. I just wanted to take something that looked like crap and make it acceptable.

Oh, and I just threw them on some stands, hooked up and they sound great! :music:


Dynaco A25 7 by Buhduh, on Flickr
 
JohnVF said:
Nice work. What did you use? I have a pair of CAbasse speakers with similar water damage on the top of one that Howard's Feed n' Wax wouldn't tackle.

EDIT:..ah, nice work. You filled in the details while i was typing.
Click to expand...

IME, Feed N Wax is the last step. Try some Restor-A-Finish instead rubbed in with 000 or 0000 steel wool.

Montycat said:
^ What he said.

That's a better overall technique and will end up with a finer finish, depending on what you do with stain/varnish/oil or whatever. I just wanted to take something that looked like crap and make it acceptable.

Oh, and I just threw them on some stands, hooked up and they sound great! :music:


Dynaco A25 7 by Buhduh, on Flickr
Click to expand...

Look great! Sanding is always the tricky part and a belt sander just has too much power plus must stay level to really do the job. The orbital is slower, but when working with wood, patience seems to be the key.
 
I just did a pair with the Feed-n-Wax and am very happy with the finish.

The before shots are in BT and I have not taken after shots, yet, but will.

I've been very happy with F-n-W for an oiled wood finish. It can clean up the wood and re-oil it in one application.

Like your speakers, they are nice enough for me and good enough for most. We can really fix all the things that can damage the speaker and have to live with a ding or two with 40+ year old speakers. Yours look great with just the grilles to do.
 
Awesome job, I absolutely love my Dynaco's. I just refurbed a pair with Howards, they look super now.
 
The XYL brought home some fabric today for the grill covers. It's a lot whiter and has less texture than the original linen.

I have only done one so far and at first I did not like it but it is growing on me. I have a couple of small wrinkles in it but have lots of extra and will do better on the other one I am sure. I bet I can steam out the wrinkles too.


Dynaco A25 8 by Buhduh, on Flickr
 
Looks great Andrew! I have all the aforementioned tools but I'm a hand sander myself.

Remember those O5's you gave me? Whipped up some super quick covers. Pic looks funny for some reason but you get the idea. I've had a hard time finding linen out my way. Any good sources in the city?

mixed 826.jpg
 
Those look much better than when I last saw them Mike. Did you get the spinning woofer screws dealt with?

I am going to look around a bit for linen but no definitive source yet. I don't like the stretchiness of this synthetic stuff... I will let you know if I find it.
 
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