The tiny url doesn't offer a good enlargement of the close up. First of all you state that you have an "an actual antique Japanese lacquer cabinet", what does the term "Antique" mean to you. In the US the only legal use of the term "Antique", is for customs on items that are over 100 years old. Are you saying your actual antique can be certified to have been made in japan before 1914? The term lacquer is often used for any kind of shiny finish. True Chinese (or Japanese) lacquer is made from sumac sap, and because of it's poisonous content, the liquid lacquer is illegal in the US. Because of the high cost of true lacquer, much of the furniture made in the 20th century may have a single layer of lacquer applied over a composite base. (that would be the blue undercoat). But it is much more common for the 'lacquer' to be black paint and regular varnish applied over a composite base: what was once called "Japanning." Because this piece might have some sumac constituents, I would advise extreme caution if you file or sand it, or if you lose more chips, like you would with removal of asbestos. For that reason, a complete sanding and refinishing is not advised, also true lacquer, after being sanded, may not take well to modern chemical varnishes applied on top. If this piece were mine, I would first infill the crack with spackle, using a scrubbing sponge after it had dried to remove the excess from the edges, and to slightly reduce the height of the divot. The idea behind the spackle is that it would be easily reversible with water. On top of the spackle you may want a base coat of something, watered down acrylic craft paint would do well to seal the porous nature of the spackle, but so would a thin coat of Elmer's glue. Then, like you suggested, a black finger nail polish, with maybe a clear coat polish after it dried. Like you said, this wouldn't 'blend in' completely, but would not be so jarring as the blue or white chips. A museum might be able to get a variance on importing real lacquer from sumac for repairing their treasures, and I do know of one person who smuggled in a small can of lacquer, but you can't expect a restorer in the US to use real lacquer for a repair. I would guess a professional repair would be similar to what I suggested, with adjustments for the materials, perhaps only using water base materials that could easily be removed at a later time if you wanted it. What one puts into this kind of repair should reflect the value of the piece. I could imagine someone just taking a sharpie to it and saying "done". If I understand what you mean by "feathering" it is the little blue lines? That is a result of the lower strata of japanning (black) shrinking more then the over varnish, it cracks and shows the blue composite below. I doubt this was how the piece looked when it was brand new. Considering that the finish on this cabinet is showing this kind of deterioration, we might expect more of the same, and like I mentioned, I would be careful to look for and remove dust and chips from the piece on a weekly basis, just in case, before children or pets get to it, or before I breath it in. This post was edited by Lilylore on Mon, Nov 24, 14 at 23:40

ok, I no longer think the stains are from red wine. Yesterday I gave the cabinets a very close inspection and cleaned every spot I found. Last night no one drank any red wine. This morning I found another stain from something settled on the rail of one of the 5 piece drawer fronts. I think it's from the Sparkle glass cleaner that I've been using to clean the granite and quartz counters. The granite fabricator recommended Sparkle to me on the granite because it's ammonia free unlike Windex. And I've been using it with beautiful results. In my other rooms I have quartz and been using up my windex in those rooms. But the kitchen I use the Sparkle. Those of you not familiar with Sparkle it has a purple tint to it. I think some errant sprays are getting on the cabinets and staining as they dry. That is what i suspect...I have not run a test on it as why would I want to add another stain to my cabinet fronts? anyways. I'm going to remove the sparkle for a week or so and see if I continue finding new stains or not.

I just had custom shaker full overlay white lacquer cabinets installed. The wood cabinet doors look like they have a striping effect to them - "blue white" with "whiter white" in a vertical strip, as if the finish spray was not overlapped enough. My cabinet maker explains it as "seeing the wood paneling (?) through the lacquer because it is not a lacquer and not a painted finish". I'm a newbie here and have no idea but the end result doesn't seem right to me. Why would a solid wood door have panel strips? Is that how doors are made? Why would enough of a coat of white lacquer still what'sallow underneath to show through? Can someone help explain if this is "normal" for a white lacquer finish or if I should insist it should be corrected?

Breakthrough and Waterborne Proclassic are good choices. Another option is BM Advance. I would not use the oil option. Yes, it will yellow. Actually, Waterborne Alkyds I believe will also yellow slightly. If you want minimal yellowing, use a pigmented lacquer or conversion varnish (CV.) Lacquer has become a generic term. Ask what type of lacquer they want to use. Traditional nitrocellulose lacquer is not as durable for kitchen cabinets. Some newer waterborne "lacquers" pass KCMA testing standards. Make sure if you use lacquer that it passes KCMA. I have a post somewhere here of some cabinets I did were I used BM Advance in "Dover White" and then topcoated with WB lacquer. From a durability standpoint, CV is the most durable. CV is probably what your cabinets were finished with. I hope this helps.