Sanding The Cabinet

After thinking about sanding the cabinet down in the basement with little ventilation, I decided that probably wouldn't be one of my best ideas so i decided to move the cabinet out to my backyard patio to do the work where I wouldn't be inhaling a quart of smurf blood mixed with bondo. I started out using an old electric Makita Rotating sander but within 3 minutes the rubber parts of the spindle started flying off and after getting nailed in the back of the head I was sure it was time to just but that away and do it by hand :( 90 Degrees under the sun, my first burn of the summer.

I sanded the front first working on the bottom edge to flatten it out and get rid of the excess bondo and I'm pretty happy with the end result though not as "perfect" as I wanted, It will no longer be noticeable. The rest of the front went by good and no need for a second application for bondo to fill in those mysterious gaps that form when sanding it.

I next moved on to the top of the cabinet. This I knew would be a challenge for the sheer amount of bondo on it when trying to fill all the gaps from missing plys and the amount of time it took the bondo was not smooth as it was hardening as I was still applying so this part took awhile. I didn't care if the top was perfect, to clarify I didn't want any obvious signs a bad job was done but had somebody dragged their hand along the top and feel slight elevation differences that were not noticeable from 5 feet away I was fine. After all this was the top and will rarely ever be seen. It did in fact end up taking some time to get it sanded down, and required a 2nd application of bondo to fill in all the dips but the end result turned out better than i thought it would and there is now only one place i feel difference in height and that's in the middle of the large patch.

The back of the cabinet was really messed up from where the lock used latch behind at, it almost just seems as if they forgot to drop the latch on the cam and tried slamming it shut several times or some other abuse I'm unsure of. The bondo straightened it out though and with allot of sanding it turned out even across the entire back. You may notice a weird glob of bondo at the top left part that looks uneven and you would be correct! I had no idea that was even there till looking at the photos myself and have no clue what it is doing there, nothing needed patching in that spot so I suppose a little more sanding left.

The base of the cabinet is in good shape for the most part though there is a pretty good chunk out of one of the corners and could certainly use a little TLC but to me there really is no point as this is how the cabinet is moved and sits no matter how much effort i put into making it look new it will just get messed up again so I just did a moderate sand to the outer edges and the bottom stripping off the paint enough to apply primer and getting rid of the jagged edges and splinters of wood as in the end you will never see any of it anyway aside from a freshly painted base that still looks better than what was there previously.

So the Sides being the last were the most important to me and a friend came over to help me with them. It is very crucial that the surface remains even and the bondo is sanded down completely as not only are the sides the most notable it is where your side art is placed and any discrepancies will show through the side art from certain angles. In the end I think it turned out looking really good especially on the side where I had to create the false portion of the board that was missing. with as much shit the cabinet picked up over the last 30 some years I think it looks better dulled out with bondo spots than it before i started, I had to ensure the "Glossy" part of the Formica was sanded on every part leaving the dull scratched look giving the primer something to adhere to as if I were to just paint without sanding the paint would easily chip off and look like crap.

In the end things went pretty successful turned out to be a 5 hour job, next time i will have a power sander that works. I did mess up my pinky finger a bit when it slid off the sandpaper and caught about 10 slivers deep into the skin i have yet to remove and honestly not sure how I am going to at this point. I moved the cabinet back down to the basement and will be prepping the cabinet for painting as that is next!