We have been slowly making progress on refinishing the built-in cabinets in the living room. I decided to dis-assemble the doors to refinish them, as I did not want to accidentally break the leaded glass during sanding. It took about 10 minutes to dis-assemble the four doors.
I then sanded (60, 80 and 120 grit), stained (oil-based) and finished (oil-based semi-gloss polyurethane) the wood pieces, which took about five hours spread out over four nights. The sanding was a bit faster with everything disassembled, and I did not have to tape off the glass when applying the stain/polyurethane. Once everything was dry, I re-assembled the cabinets with 18 gauge 3/4" finish nails, and filled the nail holes with wood putty to match the stain. This re-assembly process took about one televised hockey game (translation: 2.5 hours), including cleaning both sides of the glass.
All four doors are now waiting patiently to be re-installed.
