I started out by investigating the best way to remove this lacquer finish. I really don't want to sand down the shell or use anything to aggressive which might harm the wood.

I found this site which has some great tips on dealing with lacquer.

http://tlc.howstuffw...n-furniture.htm

Before you use paint and varnish remover on a piece of furniture, take a minute to test the finish with denatured alcohol and lacquer thinner. Older furniture often has a shellac or lacquer finish, but it's hard to know what the finish is just by looking. Shellac and lacquer are clear finishes, like varnish, but they're much easier to remove. The time you spend to test the finish could save you hours of work. Test the finish first with denatured alcohol. If the finish liquefies, it's shellac; if it gets soft but doesn't dissolve, it's a mixture of shellac and lacquer. Test the surface again with lacquer thinner; if it liquefies, it's lacquer. Shellac can be removed with denatured alcohol, lacquer with lacquer thinner, and a shellac-lacquer combination with a 50-50 mixture of denatured alcohol and lacquer thinner. Stripping with chemical compounds is not necessary to remove these finishes. Apply the appropriate solvent to a section of the piece of furniture, using an old or throwaway brush. Let the alcohol or thinner work for 5 to 10 seconds, and then wipe it off with a rough cloth or with steel wool. If the finish comes off easily, you can remove the entire finish with the alcohol or thinner; paint and varnish remover isn't necessary. Work quickly -- alcohol and lacquer thinner evaporate fast. Clean small sections at a time, and change cloths frequently to keep the old finish from being reapplied to the furniture. When the finish is off, go over the entire piece with a scraper to remove any remaining traces of finish. A furniture scraper is best, or use steel wool dipped in thinner. Always scrape with the wood grain, and be careful not to dig into the wood. If necessary, sand the wood smooth. No neutralizing is necessary. After sanding, the piece of furniture is ready to be sealed, bleached, stained, or finished.

Love playing my clubbies.

Lacquer thinner did a great job of removing the finish on the rack tom. So easy, took about 30 minutes and a whole bunch of paper towels. Lacquer thinner evaporates quickly, so the shell was not wet for too long like it would have been with a chemical stripper.

Here's the bare rack tom. It is very clean and smooth and i haven't even sanded it yet!

That tom looks nice. So, your spraying them piano black, correct?

Jeff C

Yes, piano black. The guy I bought the BD from has done this before. He suggested Duplicolor Sandable Primer and Duplicolor Lacquer. I like the look of hand rubbed lacquer, like this drum which has the original finish from?

It might be tough to tell from the picture, but the grain is slightly visible and the lacquer is not too shiny. If you have any thoughts about how to achieve these results, I'd sure like to know.

Thanks

Sounds like your on the right path. Its funny how you can paint wood with solid colors and still see the grain underneath the paint. This happens all the time with our painted cabinets. No one ever notices it, so its very fine. I think what we are seeing here is the texture of the grain, its not actually bleeding through. Thats why we use hard maple for painted cabinets, it has very fine grain, unlike oak which looks terrible painted because of the course grain. The only thing I might suggest is to take it easy on the primer, dont build it up and fill in the grain. If I were using my products it would be clear lacquer tinted to the piano black. It is self sealing, so no primer needed. Most of our painted cabinets are white or off white (too bad I know) and for that we use a primer and a pigmented lacquer top coat and you can still make out the grain if you look close. I like it, I think it looks cool. Good luck, keep the pics coming!

Jeff C

Found some time to continue the project. This duco floor tom had a very thick paint job. Much heavier than the rack tom. It was not possible to rub/wipe the lacquer off. Instead I laid several paper towels on the shell, then poured on the lacquer thinner. This method prevented the lacquer thinner from running down the shell onto the ground. After waiting only 10 or 15 seconds, much of the finish came off with a plastic scraper. It was getting dark by the time I wrapped up for the night, so I gave up and will wipe them clean later. I seriously doubt the shell will look super clean like the rack tom. There goes all hope for a clear finish...

Sorry for multiple posts. Still unable to attach more than one photo....

No way this floor tom will come clean like the racj tom.