Sandblasting Kitchen Cabinets

[frazdogg]

I am looking at refinshing my kitchen cabinets (dark wood ==> lighter stain) by means of sandblasting. I plan on using a blasting cabinet large enough to accomodate the kitchen cabinet doors and drawers.

What type of media should I use to remove the dark stain?

Is it feasable to sandblast indoors? I would tape off the entire kitchen from the other rooms!(The entire kitchen is being remodled) What type a hardware would I need to blast the remaining wood in the kitchen (the non-removable fixed cabinet pieces).

Thanks

 

[ImportTuner]

Wouldn't it be easier just to sand down the cabinets ...?

 

[invader]

It's not recommended for wood.. Stain doesn't sit on top of the wood like paint does, but is set deep in the wood. The top coat (polyurethane, lacquer, shellac) sits on top. Belt sander and a random orbit to finish after using a stripper to remove poly / laqcuer is the preferred method. Detail sanding may be a pain if you have raised panels, but a mouse sander helps there.

There is a real chance of damaging the underlying wood with the blaster, as you will be removing layers of wood.

 

[MXtras]

Sandblasting and wood do not mix. You will destroy your cabinets.

Scott

 

[shopforeman]

First off I would say that sandblasting will result in having to purchase new cabinets. I don't know how you would keep the surfaces "true" when using a blaster to remove stain or any finish from wood. The panels are bound to end up with all kinds of high/low spots and I can't imagine the wood being at all smooth when you finished blasting so sanding would be necessary anyway. I don't care how tightly you seal your kitchen you will fill your house with dust!

Sandblasting works well with metal because the media can remove paint and rust etc. without removing good metal. I'm sure that will not be the case with sandblasting wood. Stick with using strippers and sanding as already mentioned. I just ran your idea past the BOSS in my kitchen...she says...

 

[frazdogg]

Sanding is okay for the flat pieces, the moulded panels and tight corners are what I am worried about. All I really want to do is remove the top layer of stain revealing a light wood color while the grain is highlighted by the old dark stain.

Is this a bad idea?

 

[Sundowner]

if you sandblast the wood, then the harder parts of the grain will stay wile the softer parts erode. they'll end up looking like driftwood.
we had very dark (Almost black) oak cabinets that my wife wanted to save. I told her she was nuts, but she took a palm orbital sander and knocked 1/32 off of the face of every cabinet and cabinet face. they were raised panel cabinets, so she painted the ogee edge of the doors and the recessed areas with the same green enamel I used for the crown molding. Then she poly'd it clear without stain. it looks amazing and you'd never know.

now this process took her about 10 weeks of weekends. the EASIER solution would have been to buy a bench top planer and run the cabinet doors through it. But she was happier saving the $300 upfront and spending $150 on sandpaper and two burnt out palm sanders. to each thier own.

I'll see if I can post some pics.

 

[shopforeman]

It's not a bad idea by itself. Just the idea of using a blaster is bad. Start by using a chemical stripper to remove the finish. Once that is done see what you have. If you want less color start sanding until you are happy. If you sand too much stain again. Staining by applying stain and quickly wiping it off again may give you the desired effect. There are detail sanders, mouse sanders and flexible sanding blocks, pads and cords available to help with sanding the contoured surfaces. It's a lot of hand sanding sometimes but it's the only way.

 

[Franz©]

My name is Franz. I have survived 3 episodes of inside the house wood refinishing, with LN, and I assure all readers there will not be a 4th. I am probably older than the reader. Inside the house wood refinishing does NOT lead to domestic tranquility. It may well lead to manslaughter, womanslaughter or even homocide depending on the DA's mood.

Nobody will come away from the situation happy!

WE have done it her way. 9 months later finding sanding dust at the other end of the house wasn't difficult. Refinishing is NOT a winter activity.

WE have done it my way. Air driven DA sanders DO work inside the house, so do industrial dust collectors discharging out the window (posie patch damage does occurr) and manhole blowers will carry off most remaining dust the dust collector didn't catch with the 4" hose. A small woman can womanipulate a 4" collector hose inside a kitchen. Doors are far easier to sand out in the yard on sawhorses. Rain is a factor in finish quality.
Removing stain from the cat generally involves waiting for the new coat to come in.

WE have refinished hardwood floors. Underwater with Skotchbrite is an excellent way to remove old varnish. Industrial wet vacs work well to pick up the scum layer. Skotchbrite makes wonderful products for the process. Hardwood floors can handle water. Cats and canines do NOT understand the concept of floor refinishing. Polyeurothane finishes need to be washed off paws. Pawwashing on a cat is NOT a joyful experience. Clipping varnished hair from the cat's paw ain't easy.

The cost of Pscyciatric care to convince a woman that the color of the cabinets she picked out is much lower than the cost of refinishing. The cost of new cabinets is probably lower than the overall cost of refinishing.
Refinishing will NOT bring you closer together.

I will be long dead before the next refinishing project in this house begins!

 

[Sundowner]

you know, come to think of it, in 11 years of dating/marriage, the only two real knock-down, drag-out fights I had with my S/O were related to cabinet refinishing projects...

 

[tony p]

Going off on a bit of a tangent here, but I once 'converted' the bathroom of my apartment into a spraying room in order to paint a new set of shockers - the bodies of which didn't come in quite the shade I wanted... Acres of slit-open garbage can liners, strips of masking tape and a temporary spray booth made out of big cardboard boxes... The bathroom never quite recovered.

I won't be doing it again.

 

[W-Cummins]

People sand blast wood all the time, Having said that you will not want to do that to your cabinets. It works really nice and I'm sure you have see projects that have been blasted, lots of signs are made that way. You use a resist mask and cut out your letters and then blast around them and you get a nice raised lettering effect when it eats away the unprotected wood away...

William...

 

[frazdogg]

Thanks everyone, looks Like I'll be stripping and sanding.

 

[ddawg16]

I'm lucky in that my wife is an artist and interior designer who is also almost as good with the power tools as I am....in fact, has bought about half my power tools for me.

Dust is the most under estimated obstical in any project....

Listen to Franz....ever hear the phrase "you learn by your mistakes"....well, I would say he is a pretty smart man by now....

According to my wife, it is overall cheaper to buy new cabinets than to try and strip and re-stain. Think of how long it will take you to do each cabinet...then think of how much money you can make working overtime...

Then there is the issue of quality....have a good look at those cabinets....what are they made of? Most likely plywood on the sides and if you lucky, real wood for the doors. There is not a whole lot of veneer on the plywood....it will be real easy to go too deep.

Do some checking around....a lot of cabinet makers can make you custom cabinets for about $200 or less per section...depending on what you do for doors....and chances are, it would look a lot better....and the down time in the kitchen would be a lot shorter.

We made our own cabinets....so if we don't like something, we make a new one....but would I change colors? NO...I'd just build a new one.

 

[dps]

I sell finishing DVD's. Did it for years professionally. Going dark to light is not worth it, the stain is too far into the wood. For a single, simple, flat, table top of solid wood (most veneers aren't thick enough), maybe. For a kitchen full of doors, drawers, and cabinets it will be an endless pain. Try to like a painted finish; much easier, though still plenty of work. Best, though perhaps easier said than done: buy new.