Picked finish on red oak

[NickNC]

Hello all, it’s been a long, long while since I’ve been here.
When I purchased my home, it was built as a spec house. It has cheap red oak cabinets and handrails with a pickled finish. The last 15 years has put a beating on things, and the finish has worn off in spots on several cabinets and the handrails. Looking to sell, I had a cleaning company come in and do a full wash down and they managed to even wash more of it off down to bare wood. This finish is clearly not poly (did I mention the word cheap?) or a stain/penetrating finish and I can’t seem to find any similar thing on the market to repair this. Anyone have any ideas about what’s on them and how I can repair/restore them? I don’t mind putting in the work, but really don’t want to go the paint-over-with-white route. A while back I remember a Rust Oleum cabinet transformation kit, but can't find that now.
Thanks for any help.

[Paul K. Murphy]

If by pickled finish you mean that look where you can see the wood grain, but it has a whitish material wiped on, I did lots of that back in the 80's. The company I started with did this type of thing, and I later did it for my own business.
At the time we were using nitrocellulose lacquer.
To make the whitewash we used UTC colors mixed in paint thinner. We could used this as a stain on bare wood. It was more common for us to use it as a glaze over the sealer coat. The topcoats would seal it in. We could spread it around and distribute it into the cracks, etc., which was popular for that look.
The UTC color we used was titanium dioxide.

[jteneyck]

If it was cheap and the white is not down in the pores of the wood it was probably just sprayed lacquer with some white pigment in it, or it could have been done as Paul described - sealer, glaze, topcoat. In either case, I don't know how to repair it other than to strip it off and start over. The good news is it will strip off really easily if it's lacquer, about as fast as you can apply the stripper. If there is a local pro stripping service you could take the doors, drawer fronts, and railings to them if it seems too daunting and just strip the face frames yourself. Once it's all stripped you can finish them any way you want.

John

[Trusty Rusty]

If you are looking to sell I would definitely go with the white paint option.
White is classic and pretty hot right now plus it covers a lot of sins.
Nothing is going to date it more than a pickled finish, unless you went golden oak!
Plus it's probably the easiest option.
My 2 cents
Rusty

[NickNC]

I think you’ve hit it on the head with the cheap tinted lacquer John, given how easily it come off. The color is called Natural Pickled Oak which is in my shade blind eyes is merely beige with about a 10% transparency like below. At first I thought it was a gelcoat. Guess I’ll have to try my hand at lacquer tinting.
The reason I don't want to go the paint it white option is the whole house is filled with these cabinets (2.5 baths + kitchen) and only about 6-8% of the surfaces are messed up. If I were staying, I'd replace most of them.
Linky

[jteneyck]

Your photo looks pretty close to the finish on this cabinet I made a few years ago:



I had to match the finish of the trim (which you can see around the door) and vanity where this cabinet went. I'm sure the finish on them was some kind of colored lacquer, but I took a slightly different approach. I used Zar Coastal Boards OB stain on the red oak, and then sprayed GF's HP Poly over that after it had dried for about 4 days. The color match and look were very, very close. Today, I would probably use GF's Enduro Clear Poly as the topcoat.

I tried a WB stain by Minwax, but just couldn't get the same look.

John

[NickNC]

Yeah John, that’s pretty much what I’m looking for. The photo’s not my house, but it seems this finish was pretty popular when mine was built (’95) because it shows up in a lot of ugly house photos. Minwax does have a pickled gelcoat, but it’s white. I may try tinting that down or as I said start trying my hand at lacquer. What’s on there now definitely isn’t stain. Luckily most of the wear is to the base cabinets, and I can swap out panels enough to where I may only need to strip and refinish a dozen panels. Heck, if the weather warms up around here I might just strip them and go with your Zar and Enduro recipe. That looks pretty close. Thanks guys for all your help!

[Cooler]

Consumers Reports tested the Rustoleum kit. Their recommendation: Buy a good brand of paint.

I am about to paint my red oak cabinets. I've settled on General Finishes' Milk paint for color and a clear poly topcoat.

My reason for the GF milk paint (imitation milk paint) is that when brushed on there were absolutely no brush marks or sags or any typical brushing blemishes. Two light coats gave good (perfect) coverage. Something I could not achieve with Sherwin Williams best offering). So it is two coats of GF milk paint + 3 coats of clear. Lots of painting. Spraying would be faster, but I don't have spray equipment.

If you have never tried the G-F milk paint you will be amazed how evenly it applies. It self-levels better than any paint I've ever tried.

I am about 2 weeks away from doing the first cabinets. I will post my observations.

[NickNC]

Thanks Cooler, that might explain why I can’t find the Rustoleum kit.
Let us know how that project goes. I’ve used GF paints before and love them, just not the milk paint.
As for sprayers, I have a Wagner 355E powerpainter I’d let go of

[Cooler]

NickNC said:

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Thanks Cooler, that might explain why I can’t find the Rustoleum kit.
Let us know how that project goes. I’ve used GF paints before and love them, just not the milk paint.
As for sprayers, I have a Wagner 355E powerpainter I’d let go of

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The milk paint from G-F is not real milk paint but rather a modern formulation designed to mimic milk paint. It offers a nice matte finish.

But like all matte finishes it will show scuffs and dirt quickly. That is why I will be top coating.

From my experience top coating over matte latex works wonderfully well. I will probably use Minwax oil semi-gloss over the black finish; but a water-clear waterbased poly over the white cabinets. I will make tests first. I have experience with the Minwax oil base and I get uniformly excellent results (experience counts). I will have a learning curve on the waterbased stuff.