Has anyone ever tried to remove the piano finish off a Sierra? Or refinished a pair?

[GirgleMirt]

Has anyone ever thought or removed the piano finish off a sierra? Any idea if 100% 'natural' unfinished bamboo cabinets would look decent?

I'm thinking doing so on mine could be an option... Long ago, during an NRT upgrade, a bit of the piano finish had flaked off next to the woofer (woofer was extremely tight in cabinet) and also after human error and some storage issues, there's some new scratches on the side of the piano finish.

So I'm thinking, Sierras are sold as 'natural', so it must not look bad... But what kind of 'finish' should one expect if you just flaked off the entire finish? :confused: Would just flaking it all off 'work' and not expose the wood to damage via moisture or whatever, or would you need to apply a lacquer at minimum so that it looks decent?

Thanks!

[doctors11]

I would think sanding properly to bare bamboo followed by some clear coats. Have you done any wood refinishing?

[billy p]

I hope that Dave can give u some advice on this topic. I don't know how much stain bled into the actual bamboo...getting back to a natural surface.

In theory it sounds like fun and easy to do project...but I always underestimate the difficulty...in most things I undertake...lol.

[GirgleMirt]

doctors11: Yeah a little bit, but I was somehow hoping that re-sanding and refinishing wouldn't be necessary, but now I'm thinking that flaking off the entire finish would likely not be as simple as it sounds, as there will more than likely be some bits of the paint stuck on to the wood and yeah besides sanding, I'd probably not be able to remove it all, not without slightly scratching/damaging the surface of the wood anyway... :\

Which reminds me, when I ordered new tweeter & crossover for the NRT upgrade, I also ordered extra woofers and built an extra MDF cabinet, which I just wrapped in carbon fiber wrapping, which worked well, but after like 10 years & storage, could also use a refinish. And this came out not so long ago: https://www.parts-express.com/promo/new_exohyde_products

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0NyldBK0so

which someone mentioned in youtube comments is a "duratex copy". Wonder how that would look... Hmm... Could do both pairs at the same time, wouldn't require any sanding. Maybe I should be looking into other DIY solutions... Maybe even just looking around for some automotive paint spray or something, although that could end up pricy... Hmm hmm hmm...

[GirgleMirt]

billy p: Yeah the flaking it all off was more of a quick & simple solution, but now I doubt it would go that way, and I'm starting to doubt it would look 'nice'... The coat (varnish? Stain? Clear coat?) which Ascend applies is likely what makes the natural look great, bit just removing the piano finish, even if it all flaked off perfectly, would look more like... hmm... like sanded but unfinished wood maybe...? Although it is not 'pure' bamboo wood, it's laminated so... Maybe not?! :confused:

[curtis]

GirgleMirt!! Where have you been??

[doctors11]

I don't know how you would "flake off" all the paint. It should be bonded to the bamboo.

[doctors11]

I believe the clear coat is lacquer. You would have to recoat it with something similar to protect it.

[GirgleMirt]

GirgleMirt!! Where have you been??

Hey Curtis!! :D Wow yeah been a while! Going quite good! Especially relative to all the craziness going on all around the world these days... It was strange to recognize old names like yours, billy's, etc.! How are things are your ends? I really hope all is good for for everyone... I'm lucky to be in the tech industry and just continued working but from home, but Montreal was hit hard by covid, soo... Way more time indoors at home, but hey, somehow haven't got any cases in my friends/family, so really can't complain!


I don't know how you would "flake off" all the paint. It should be bonded to the bamboo.
Yeah I'm not sure either! I wanted to use the new woofers with new tweeters, but maybe one of the cabinet's routing was within spec but on the lower range of the tolerance and the new woofer was maybe just a tiny bit on the high side, making it a really tight fit... So while screwing/inserting (don't remember details) 2 bits really flaked off! But I was able to retrieve the flakes, and just glued them back on. So it wasn't as noticeable as wood vs black finish, but definitely noticeable as the border of the flake is noticeable.

The way it flaked actually reminded me of guitar lacquer. In some relic vids you can see bits flaking off, and looking for some relic vid with the flakes, looks like you can remove some type of finish at least with a heat gun, not sure if it would work for Sierra!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3zzzu6ybvo

Here for instance you can see how it seems to flake off, he's also using a heat gun..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqFIew_ZM80

But from the way it flaked off previously on mine, I'm thinking it might pretty much behave the same way. I'm really not sure though if I'll go through with it... Turns out most of what seemed to be scratches turned out to be just surface dirt and could be removed, so they're actually not bad... (someone stacked them on their side, with just cardboard between them, not even plastic bag or anything, with some more stuff on top.. *facepalm*)

But yeah applying wood finish afterwards, I think it should turn out maybe not as nice as natural naturals, but they would truly be unique sierras... lol And even sanding wouldn't be too bad, yeah just a bit of effort, there's plenty of guides on wood finishing, staining, etc.. Hmm...

[davef]

Has anyone ever thought or removed the piano finish off a sierra? Any idea if 100% 'natural' unfinished bamboo cabinets would look decent?

I'm thinking doing so on mine could be an option... Long ago, during an NRT upgrade, a bit of the piano finish had flaked off next to the woofer (woofer was extremely tight in cabinet) and also after human error and some storage issues, there's some new scratches on the side of the piano finish.

So I'm thinking, Sierras are sold as 'natural', so it must not look bad... But what kind of 'finish' should one expect if you just flaked off the entire finish? :confused: Would just flaking it all off 'work' and not expose the wood to damage via moisture or whatever, or would you need to apply a lacquer at minimum so that it looks decent?

Thanks!

Hey GirgleMirt - welcome back!

Removing the piano black finish is nearly impossible. There are 7 layers of polyester (PY) epoxy clear coat. You would have to use a specialized solvent gel for this and it only breaks down a few layers at a time so you would need multiple treatments, and it is very messy and caustic. This in itself would take a few days and once removed, you would then need to fully sand down the cabinet.

I don't recommend even attempting this but if you do, here is the product we had success with. Please keep in mind it is highly toxic.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Jasco-1-Gallon-Extra-strength-Stripper-Semi-paste/1001079480

[GirgleMirt]

Ha... Thanks for the info!