My Crites center speaker shipped today!

[Verdinut]

I like the wipe-on type polyurethane finish. If this is newer water based product performs just as well as the oil based one which I used on some furniture many years ago, that should really be interesting:

Water Based Wipe-On Poly - Clear Polyurethane Finish | Minwax®

Minwax® Water Based Wipe-On Polyurethane finish is a clear finish topcoat for your furniture that provides durability with a hand rubbed look.

www.minwax.com

 

[highfigh]

Yes, there are now lots of water based lacquers, or varnishes if you like. If Crites are a larger operation then they will be forced to use water based products by the EPA. That is why your auto finishes are now water/latex based and not oil.

I think oil is better, but latex varnishes can give good results as long as you seal the wood with an oil based product first. If you don't then the water makes the grain 'pick-up' and you never get a smooth finish.

For his purposes 600 grit will be perfect. Home Depot no longer stock it, but I have found that Walmart do. For furniture finishes I recommend 600 grit for most woods.

Just make sure you remove the drivers before doing ANY cabinet re-finishing.

He does need to know what product was used.

Water based and Latex are two different things- Latex is for paint, clear coats aren't Latex, but they can be water-based and even then, there is some solvent content.

Manufacturers can use finishes with high VOC content, but they need to follow EPA rules, or the fines are huge. Fender uses Nitrocellulose, and they have a very expensive water curtain spay booth system than collects the particulates in filters, then the VOCs are gathered by the water curtain and the VOCs are burned off or neutralized in some other way.

Rockler stores carry the sandpaper with the extremely fine grit I was referring to , but it can be purchased on Amazon and other sites. If he wants more sheen, 600 won't get him there but it would be a step toward perfecting a fresh finish that needs it- his finish should be good, it just needs to be polished and that's one of the reasons for practice- there's no way I would recommend a first timer doing this to something that's a completely finished product.

Boat dealers and stores that sell boating supplies have all kinds of sanding and polishing supplies and Harbor Freight even has 2000 grit. IIRC, I used 1200 and 1500 grit on the McIntosh cabinet, which is finished with Shellac. After the 'spiriting off' stage, it was just too glossy, so I knocked the sheen down and rubbed it with paper towels before giving it a few coats of Johnson' Paste Wax, which is now discontinued.

 

[Squishman]

This is all such terrific info for a guy who doesn't know woodworking. I can follow instructions though. Appreciate it a lot! At the moment, I have a couple other plates spinning.
I purchased a tv wall mount. That big center HAS to move back! Looks terrible out in front for one thing, and it throws out so much sound, of course it should go back towards the wall. Ports are in front, so I can go back all the way I imagine. It'll be a cleaner looking set-up and likely sound better. I have to see if I have appropriate tables, shelving and/or rackage.

 

[highfigh]

I like the wipe-on type polyurethane finish. If this is newer water based product performs just as well as the oil based one which I used on some furniture many years ago, that should really be interesting:

Water Based Wipe-On Poly - Clear Polyurethane Finish | Minwax®

Minwax® Water Based Wipe-On Polyurethane finish is a clear finish topcoat for your furniture that provides durability with a hand rubbed look.

www.minwax.com

Ever rub a clear finish into the wood with ScotchBrite? It creates a slurry of fine wooden dust, carried by the finish and acts as a grain filler. It also creates heat through friction and even Minwax poly will dry faster- it will definitely let you know when it's starting to go off. I did a test piece with White Oak flooring and when it was dry, it had a silky smooth feel and if I had continued, the grain would have been completely filled, but that's not what I was going for. Never tried it with a closed grain wood, but it should work just as well for removing the raised fibers after wet sanding.

I like wipe on when it's a smaller piece, but with larger pieces and cabinetry, I prefer to spray. The Mac tuner was wiped on in a traditional French Polishing technique and it's a great way to get a flat, smooth, glossy finish, but the gloss can be reduced by wet sanding and polishing to whatever sheen is desired. The same people have a Mac power amp in a different system and I sprayed the shellac on that one.

I have used Minwax for many years and all of it has come out extremely well. The floor poly is a bit more durable than their other finishes and I used it because I had it- even though the temperature in my garage was a bit on the low side, the cabinets turned out very nicely- if they hadn't, I would have sanded and recoated them but I really didn't have the time.

 

[Squishman]

Who owns Crites Speakers? Did Bob have employees?

Michael Crites is the owner. Bob's son. I don't know how many people Bob employed. His wife works there now with Michael plus some employees. I do not know how big of an operation it is, but my guess is a handful of employees.

I just got this info

from Crites:

 

[highfigh]

This is all such terrific info for a guy who doesn't know woodworking. I can follow instructions though. Appreciate it a lot! At the moment, I have a couple other plates spinning.
I purchased a tv wall mount. That big center HAS to move back! Looks terrible out in front for one thing, and it throws out so much sound, of course it should go back towards the wall. Ports are in front, so I can go back all the way I imagine. It'll be a cleaner looking set-up and likely sound better. I have to see if I have appropriate tables, shelving and/or rackage.

I have been woodworking since I was about 7 and I used to absolutely hate finishing, but when I was rehabbing a rental property, it needed to be done and I was the one who had to do it, so I decided that I might as well do it right and enjoy the results, even if I didn't enjoy the process and in that process, I really got into more types of finishes and techniques than I ever thought I would.

I also went to the Woodworking Shows several times and watched demos live, on the DIY network and YouTube- I have a book by Jeff Jewitt, who's a well-respected finisher and that has a lot of good info. I think that's the book where I read about French Polishing first, then found more info online, including the Zinsser site (they make Killz and various colors of shellac.

 

[highfigh]

Michael Crites is the owner. Bob's son. I don't know how many people Bob employed. His wife works there now with Michael plus some employees. I do not know how big of an operation it is, but my guess is a handful of employees.

I just got this infoView attachment 60769 from Crites:

I needed to replace the tweeter diaphragms in a pair of '70s Heresey's and got to talk with Bob for about 45 minutes; that was a great conversation and it's too bad he's gone- very nice guy.

 

[highfigh]

Michael Crites is the owner. Bob's son. I don't know how many people Bob employed. His wife works there now with Michael plus some employees. I do not know how big of an operation it is, but my guess is a handful of employees.

I just got this infoView attachment 60769 from Crites:

The photos I posted before came from their Chat- I didn't really expect them to respond as quickly as they did- if it was a few minutes, that would be a lot.

 

[Squishman]

I needed to replace the tweeter diaphragms in a pair of '70s Heresey's and got to talk with Bob for about 45 minutes; that was a great conversation and it's too bad he's gone- very nice guy.

Yeah. Very good with customer relations. I talked to him a time or two also.

 

[Squishman]

This is all such terrific info for a guy who doesn't know woodworking. I can follow instructions though. Appreciate it a lot! At the moment, I have a couple other plates spinning.
I purchased a tv wall mount. That big center HAS to move back! Looks terrible out in front for one thing, and it throws out so much sound, of course it should go back towards the wall. Ports are in front, so I can go back all the way I imagine. It'll be a cleaner looking set-up and likely sound better. I have to see if I have appropriate tables, shelving and/or rackage.

This got buried with the refinishing posts. I wanted to mention it if that's cool.

 

[MrBoat]

Only bad thing about oil based poly (basically modified varnish) is that it takes so long to dry that it is a dust magnet. I use it for a burnished satin finish with 0000 steel wool after because otherwise, I have to coat them outdoors after wetting the yard down the night before to lock down the dust and then of course the only moth for a mile will end up doing the backstroke thru it, guaranteed.

 

[Squishman]

Need some feedback here. I have the layout penciled in with the center all the way back to the wall and the TV is now on the wall. Only thing is that the TV is just a tad higher than I planned. The bottom of the TV is about 4.5" from the top of the center. Good enough? Or actually better than good? I'll leave it if so. If I moved it, I'd probably go only say 3" down.

 

[Squishman]

Need some feedback here. I have the layout penciled in with the center all the way back to the wall and the TV is now on the wall. Only thing is that the TV is just a tad higher than I planned. The bottom of the TV is about 4.5" from the top of the center. Good enough? Or actually better than good? I'll leave it if so. If I moved it, I'd probably go only say 3" down.

Never mind. It's close enough! Gonna be a much, much nicer set up. Plus, tailoring these wires too.

 

[Eppie]

Never mind. It's close enough! Gonna be a much, much nicer set up. Plus, tailoring these wires too.

I have my TV just slightly above my centre and while I can see the picture ok the IR receiver on the TV gets blocked by the centre speaker. I have to raise the TV remote into the air for line of sight. That's something people sometimes overlook. Glad to hear that it's working out so far.

 

[Squishman]

I have my TV just slightly above my centre and while I can see the picture ok the IR receiver on the TV gets blocked by the centre speaker. I have to raise the TV remote into the air for line of sight. That's something people sometimes overlook. Glad to hear that it's working out so far.

I haven't finished the new set-up yet. Been too busy this week with work and taking care of my friend's two dogs (that makes four with my two!), so I was only dabbling in it a little here and there. But I marked the top of the center on the wall with masking tape. The height is fine. I'll post a photo probably tomorrow morning of the finished product.