Refininshing walnut desk advice

[Ryan Gustafson]

Hello-

Refinishing an antique walnut cylinder desk. I have it stripped and am about ready to finish. Looking for advice on the best way to fill the "cracks", how to stabilize the wood on the cylinder as it is cracking, and the best way to finish.

Cracks, thankfully they are on one side. The crack shown with the penny was an old fix and is deep. The white is some filler that was there before. It's solid and rests below the surface. The other one is between a piece I made on the toe kick. It was the closest match I could get with new wood. Try to fill before or after finishing? What to use? How difficult?

The cylinder/barrel part that opens has the veneer cracking due to the wood that is applied on cracked. I don't want to replace and re-veneer. How do I stabilize the back of it so won't continue to crack and has support? It is curved.

Finishing. Looking for a nice finish. Something that doesn't look like I just slapped some poly/lacquer/shellac on it. Please keep in mind that there are corners and a detailed shelf on top. I read an article where it said a person had to be perfect not to overlap when brushing the finishing on or it will be very noticeable. There is no way I can be that perfect on some of the pieces.

I have done some searching on these topics but there is so much information out there it gets confusing. My past finishing experience is essentially using a can of Minwax and a can of poly. A look I do not want for this desk. Any advice is appreciated.


Thanks, Ryan302921302922302923

[John TenEyck]

I'll try to offer some advise where I can. For the crack with the white filler, I think you would be best off replacing that whole piece of wood, or routing off the whole piece of veneer (if that's what I'm seeing) and just replacing it, whichever is easier. For the toe kick where you added the new veneer, you should be able to dye it closely match the old wood. I use Transtint dyes, and you can match almost any color with them by blending two or more colors and making samples on scrap until you are satisfied. I don't understand what I'm looking at in the third picture so I can't comment.

What was the desk finished with originally? That might be the most appropriate finish to use. Spraying sounds like the easiest way to deal with the detailed sections you describe. If you don't have spray equipment you could use rattle can shellac, lacquer, etc. If you don't want to do that, a wiping varnish might work well. It's much easier to deal with in corners than trying to use a brush.

John

[Stan Calow]

I have had some luck replacing pieces of old walnut veneer and matching color by adding the transtint to the shellac, and brushing on. Easy to remove and try again if not close.