The process George is .
1 look at the grain filler , take note of its colour and the stain colour of the top ,," record it "
2 mask up with polish and blue tape .
3 lay cabinet on its back.
4 strip it with kgb stripper , leaving it on for 2 or 3 minutes and then take it off with metho and 000 steel wool.
5 when its all off , wipe it down with metho to neutralise it.
6 buy timber mate grain filler in the colour you need.
7 mix it with water until it is like runny mud and rub it into the wood filling the grains,
8 before it dries scrap it off , leaving the filler in the pore holes. Use a bank card or a soft plastic scrapper,, no sharp corners on the scraper
9 lightly sand with 320 dry sand paper.
10 buy craftsman stain in the colour you want in a pigment stain.
11 wipe it on ,then wipe it off.
12 when the colour appears to be dark enough and not needing any more stain ,,,,leave it over night.
13 very lightly just scuff down with 320 grit.
14 put your shellac on !
For a fjrst timer I would recomend just pollishing it on
To do this , just make a soft cotton pad . Just pollish it on building up your coats until it looks right, nice and level and one tone
Pete
I am concerned about you getting stripper on the cabinet so if feel this will be an issue, put metal tape ontop of the masking tape,,,but make sure the cabinet has car pollish under that masking tape.
Metal tape,,hmm repco , auto 1 , etc etc , its like foil

Thanks Pete, for clear and detailed process here, I think I will be ok to do this and understand your caution with the masking tape, the Polish is a great idea to protect the front and sides.
I hope to get a chance to do this on the weekend.

Just a thought, I did use the Howard's also in the Top when I did the cabinet this would not have created a protective barrier preventing the acetone for reacting with the nitro?

Hello George,
No, nothing to do with Howards.
It was common to repair a ,nitro or shellac, cabinet with a oil varnish top during its life time due to cracking or fading and cup and vase marks on the original finish etc etc, the other reason was many workshops did not have spray guns and compressors in the 30s 40s 50s in Australia so they would do it in Varnish . Ever an electric drill was a very expensive item to buy in the 50s so a buying a compressor was pipe dream for many workshops

Pete
Tape tips, use pollish, dont leave the tape on long, , oil varnish can react with the tape glue.
If its cold , warm it up with a hair dryer before removing the tape,
Pull tape off from corner in 45 degree to lesson the risk of pulling the finish off.

Hi Pete,
Could not track down KGB paint stripper in two paint shops in my area. Do you have any other brands that are similar.
I removed the the base on this cabinet and put some of the lacquer thiner on a cloth and rubbed with the grain was able to get a smooth and consistent glassy finish. I gather these were not vanish and were nitro as per the orginal test I did was in the rear of the base.

I also went back to the top and soaked the pad with lacquer thiner over small area and left it for a few minutes and this did soften the surface but it was difficult to smooth over enough to cover the area where the top had cracks or top layer removed completely, though stain did spread around but not enough to give me confidence that it would look good enough, so still believe the top will need to be stripped.
So some suggestions on where to get the best stripper, the KGM website was under development and google search did not help me find a seller of this stripper.
Thank George

KGB
Varnish Tops common George.
Go see the Greek at John's paint shop Hornsby, he has tons of it,
He is a nice bloke the Greek , Ive known him a long time, have a chat to him about buying a shellac brush and try that out too. I suggest polishing it on for a beginner, but have a go at shellac brush too.
Pete

Nitro can be re Activated , if you want to do this after the top ,,we can chat, but get use to using a pad first

I notice my mistake in my post, I had been trying to source KGB not KGM, I will try to get out to Hornsby.
Thanks

Hello George,
Unfortunately modern Hardwares are hopless regarding this type of thing and so paint shops is where to head for.
The reason I suggest to people to buy KGB stripper is because ive never seen it burn or damage a veneer.
Other strippers ,,ive seen completely stuff veneers by burning them or changing its colour.
There would be other brands of paint and varnish remover that may be fine ,but you wont find them at the hardware,,,paint shops are the go for this type of thing.
Pete