X-LS Build

DonJoe · « **on:** 20 Jul 2020, 01:17 am »

Hey All,

My son and I have been making progress. We used the flat pack from Peter and it was superb and a great guy to work with. Also, we watched his videos many times over to figure out our plan.

Our goal was to get the boxes assembled and veneered before the speaker parts came.

Now we are at a fork in the road. We veneered the speakers in Ribbon Mahogany/Sapele. So what process/finish would you recommend. We need the finish to have the darker hues to match what we have but that still leaves a ton of options. Everything from dyes, stains, filler, shelac, danish oil and so forth.

If you look closely at the photos you can see we are beginners. So any more or less full proof path to a great finish would be appreciated.

Thanks for any help!

Donjoe

Peter J · « **Reply #1 on:** 20 Jul 2020, 04:06 am »

Looking good! Do you have spray capability? Either cans or compressor and gun?

Here I did a dark finish on Mahogany, but did spray clear coats. Dye and then stain for color.

https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=100369.0

Did a quick search on YouTube for "hand applied finish Mahogany" and found this. Lots of elbow grease:

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

The Tung oil will make the ribbon stand out, but you'd have to add a stain step to the process to get dark like chair. That will tend to homogenize the striping in the Sapele.

I'll bet there are others on YouTube.

Sparkeysf · « **Reply #2 on:** 20 Jul 2020, 07:38 am »

Quote from: DonJoe on 20 Jul 2020, 01:17 am

Now we are at a fork in the road. We veneered the speakers in Ribbon Mahogany/Sapele. So what process/finish would you recommend. We need the finish to have the darker hues to match what we have but that still leaves a ton of options. Everything from dyes, stains, filler, shelac, dutch oil and so forth.

If you look closely at the photos you can see we are beginners. So any more or less full proof path to a great finish would be appreciated.

Thanks for any help!

Donjoe

Hey Donjoe,

Very nice work! I'm just a little behind you with my build. Interestingly, I also chose a ribbon mahogany, that I ordered just yesterday. I'm thinking of using a hand applied finish such as a Danish oil as I don't really have much space at home to set up any sort of spray booth. I'm hoping to have everything finished by the time my parts arrive from GR Research. I'll be watching your build with interest.

Cheers!

DonJoe · « **Reply #3 on:** 20 Jul 2020, 11:48 pm »

Thanks for the tips so far! I have read through them all and some nice ideas in there for sure.

It is too late now but the more I look at the speakers, the more I question my decision to run ribbon aligned to the front of the cabinets vs. the sides. In my head, having the tips and fronts ribbon aligned seemed like a good idea, but now I am thinking it might have been better to run the grain on top side to side vs. front to back...if that makes any sense whatsoever.

I have taken several scraps of veneer to try different finishes. I tried a couple oil based stains and oil based poly witch seems promising. I also tried dye that was completely dry under oil based poly. I am really trying to find the perfect combo that is darker but does not hide mask the ribbon grain. I will be happy to share what I learn as I go.

Any other ideas, I am all ears and in no hurry to get this right.

DonJoe · « **Reply #4 on:** 21 Jul 2020, 12:08 am »

The danish oil option here as #3 is pretty cool. Seems to darken the grain without masking the ribbon.
https://www.woodworkerssource.com/blog/woodworking-101/tips-tricks/3-ways-to-finish-sapele-that-makes-ribbon-stripe-figure-pop/

hawkeyejw · « **Reply #5 on:** 21 Jul 2020, 12:45 am »

Funny, seems like everyone is using ribbon mahogany. I just built x-static and x-voce using the same veneer. My wife wanted something darker so I did a dark walnut stain followed by a satin wipe-on poly. The pictures are sort of low res on here but they look nice in person.

DonJoe · « **Reply #6 on:** 21 Jul 2020, 12:48 am »

Those look great!

Ribbon Sapele. Well it looks exotic and is affordable and easy to work with. Seems perfect for DIY. Now lets shhhh so no others find out

Killian Smith · « **Reply #7 on:** 21 Jul 2020, 01:26 am »

I thought at first you had come into my house and taken the cabinets I’ve built recently! Haha. Looking good!

DonJoe · « **Reply #8 on:** 21 Jul 2020, 01:33 am »

Those look great! I see you went with a more natural finish which is beautiful. Great minds think alike!

Jmitchell3 · « **Reply #9 on:** 21 Jul 2020, 04:34 am »

Quote from: hawkeyejw on 21 Jul 2020, 12:45 am

Funny, seems like everyone is using ribbon mahogany. I just built x-static and x-voce using the same veneer. My wife wanted something darker so I did a dark walnut stain followed by a satin wipe-on poly. The pictures are sort of low res on here but they look nice in person.

Don’t mean to hijack the thread but I bought some av123 xstatiks and they are really really good.

Sparkeysf · « **Reply #10 on:** 21 Jul 2020, 05:23 am »

Quote from: hawkeyejw on 21 Jul 2020, 12:45 am

Funny, seems like everyone is using ribbon mahogany. I just built x-static and x-voce using the same veneer. My wife wanted something darker so I did a dark walnut stain followed by a satin wipe-on poly. The pictures are sort of low res on here but they look nice in person.

I spent two weeks looking at every variety of veneer available before deciding on ribbon mahogany. And, I thought I was the only one

Killian Smith · « **Reply #11 on:** 21 Jul 2020, 12:06 pm »

Since you’re considering different finishes let me post the two different finishes I did recently. Both were ribbon striped mahogany. Applied with general finishes satin. But the first is no dye and the second is Transtint reddish brown dye basically maxed out (about 12 drops per oz)

No dye

Reddish brown dye

DonJoe · « **Reply #12 on:** 12 Aug 2020, 02:42 am »

My boys and I appreciate the input from the kind members here. Lead with the headline: Quality stains and finishes matter. We have tried many finishes from the local hardware stores and left wanting. Either the stain obscured the natural wood or did not enhance it at best. (Caveat- we are beginners and a pro could probably get by with watercolors and some gesso but not us).

Fast forward to test veneer #7 & #8, we invested in some specialty stains/dies and finishes. Thanks to the kind suggestions of a member on this board, we bought Mohawk Radiant stain/dye copper and cherry. The finish was Sutherland Wells polymerized tung oil. The difference was profound for me and my boys. The grain popped but did not obscure the chatoyance(good vocabulary word for my 2 young sons). We voted tonight and decided to go for the copper Mohawk stain/dye.

Side note- we also tested a couple trans-tint dyes with top coats. The Mohawk/sutherland wells combo (to us newbies) was easier to apply and looked better for us.

Now we begin the finishing process and hopefully don't mess things up.

Side note- we have a couple bearing marks from the flush trim bit on the router that we need to resolve before we can finish. If you all have any tips, us boys (me and my 2 boys) can use to fix, we would appreciate the tips.

Thanks again to the group here that has helped us newbies along the way.

Donjoe

Hobbsmeerkat · « **Reply #13 on:** 12 Aug 2020, 03:10 am »

The stain is definitely my biggest fear with veneer. My plan is a color scheme based on Geddy Lee's early 90s Wal Mach II bass, featured on Roll the Bones that had a red stained quilted-maple face with mahogany core.. and i want to make my personal pair of NX Studio match that on the main side & rear panels, with the front panel being just a deep glossy black, and gold hardware to match the overal aesthetic. But i imagine it'll involve plenty of trial an error to get it right.

Peter J · « **Reply #14 on:** 12 Aug 2020, 03:17 am »

Quote from: DonJoe on 12 Aug 2020, 02:42 am

My boys and I appreciate the input from the kind members here. Lead with the headline: Quality stains and finishes matter. We have tried many finishes from the local hardware stores and left wanting. Either the stain obscured the natural wood or did not enhance it at best. (Caveat- we are beginners and a pro could probably get by with watercolors and some gesso but not us).

Fast forward to test veneer #7 & #8, we invested in some specialty stains/dies and finishes. Thanks to the kind suggestions of a member on this board, we bought Mohawk Radiant stain/dye copper and cherry. The finish was Sutherland Wells polymerized tung oil. The difference was profound for me and my boys. The grain popped but did not obscure the chatoyance(good vocabulary word for my 2 young sons). We voted tonight and decided to go for the copper Mohawk stain/dye.

Side note- we also tested a couple trans-tint dyes with top coats. The Mohawk/sutherland wells combo (to us newbies) was easier to apply and looked better for us.

Now we begin the finishing process and hopefully don't mess things up.

Side note- we have a couple bearing marks from the flush trim bit on the router that we need to resolve before we can finish. If you all have any tips, us boys (me and my 2 boys) can use to fix, we would appreciate the tips.

Thanks again to the group here that has helped us newbies along the way.

Donjoe

Typically those bearing marks could be sanded out, or maybe grain raised and then sanded, Joe. Can you post some photos so we can what you're up against?

DonJoe · « **Reply #15 on:** 12 Aug 2020, 03:30 am »

Hey Peter, it is only on one panel. We have not sanded at all yet so there should be some veneer to play with but this one area does look bad.

DonJoe · « **Reply #16 on:** 12 Aug 2020, 03:32 am »

I zoomed in so you could see it. If you scroll up to original photos it is barely visible in the speaker sitting in the chair. It looks far worse on the zoom than it really is.

Peter J · « **Reply #17 on:** 12 Aug 2020, 03:40 am »

I suspect that will come right off with a hand sanding block and 220 grit. The veneer grain was likely swelled a little by moisture in glue and then kinda squashed the fibers with the bearing.

Hey you've got a whopping .025 or so to play with!

DonJoe · « **Reply #18 on:** 12 Aug 2020, 04:51 am »

So you are saying we have nothing to worry about with all that veneer. Haha. I guess we will go slowly

DonJoe · « **Reply #19 on:** 15 Aug 2020, 09:28 pm »

My oldest boy stained our speakers by himself with Mohawk Radiant Copper. All that has been done is the staining process and we really like where the speaker is headed. He was very proud that he was able to do this and made for a fun day.

Cheers!