Part 11

_Number of Coats Needed._--The number of coats of varnish required vary with the character of the work. What is known as piano finish requires from three to seven under coats of good elastic rubbing varnish, each well hardened and rubbed down to give under surfaces more even than the best brushing can give. In addition to these under coats a final finish coat is needed to give brilliancy and lustre.

_How to Rub Down Varnish._--Rubbing down varnish is a unique and important part in the process of finishing. The beginning of the operation consists of long and persistent rubbing with pulverized pumice stone mixed with oil or with water, if the work is such that water would have no chance to soak into the pores of the wood. Whichever liquid is used, a rubbing pad will be found necessary. This is a block about 4 inches square, made of thick, loose cloth like felt or hair cloth. In use it is first moistened in the oil or water and then dipped into a box containing a quantity of powdered pumice. With this the varnished surface is rubbed vigorously, giving a circular movement to the pad in rubbing down the broad surfaces. As the smoothing progresses, less and less of the pumice powder is used. Near the end of the process enough will be found on the surface or adhering to the rubbing pad. What remains on the surface is finally all wiped off carefully with chamois skin, when it will be found that the surface has been levelled down but that it is covered with fine scratches due to the grains of the pumice. These are removed by a second rubbing in rotten stone and oil or water.

_Dull Finish and Flat Varnish._--For many purposes good finishing requires but one under coat rubbed down and covered with a finish coat; and this finish coat is often not allowed to retain its natural lustre. For furniture a dull finish is much to be preferred. It is more durable, it harmonizes better with its surroundings, and it is more in keeping with the idea of simplicity and usefulness. In working for a dull finish it is not so essential to secure depth and evenness of surface as it is when a high lustre is required, and therefore fewer coats are necessary. In fact, a dull finish may be given to furniture without any varnish at all. Two or three coats of shellac, each well rubbed down, give a very satisfactory result. Wax finish, to be described later, gives beautiful effects. There are varnishes known as flat varnishes which give a dull finish without rubbing. They are made by dissolving beeswax in turpentine in the proportion of two ounces of the solid to a pint of the liquid, using moderate heat and mixing the wax solution while warm with four times the quantity of warm varnish. What is known as the old Dutch finish is obtained by using over the proper stain one coat of wax varnish. But there is no kind of dull finish so durable as that given by several coats of high-grade varnish, each well rubbed down.

WAX FINISH

_How to Prepare and Apply Finishing Wax._--The simplest and at the same time one of the most attractive methods of finishing woodwork is rubbing it with finishing wax. This is one of the old processes which has of late years been revived by the arts and crafts societies and is becoming deservedly popular. Finishing wax may be purchased ready for use or it may be made by dissolving yellow beeswax in turpentine in the proportion of two parts wax and one of turpentine. To do this the wax should be cut into small pieces or shavings, placed in a dish, and covered with the liquid. The solution may be hastened by heating in a water bath; but, if a gas flame be used for heating the water, care should be exercised to extinguish the flame before bringing the turpentine near, on account of the inflammable character of turpentine vapor. This mixture, which is too thick to spread with a brush, may be applied either hot or cold by means of a piece of soft cloth. Soft cloths, like clean cheese cloth, should be used also in rubbing. The rubbing should be continued for a considerable time, but it is by no means so tedious a process as the rubbing down of the several coats of varnish. Less rubbing is required if the wax is applied hot. One of the greatest advantages of the wax finish is that it may be quickly applied and immediately rubbed down, after which the furniture is ready for use. Filling and finishing are accomplished together. It is also easy to apply a fresh coat of wax at any time. In fact, it is desirable to re-finish new pieces of furniture in this way several times during the first few months of their use, and after that about once a year.

STAINING

_Object of Staining._--Up to this point the processes of finishing considered have assumed that the wood treated is to retain its natural colour, excepting that it may darken with age. But it is often desirable to give artificial colours to woodwork--_i. e._, to dye or stain it. This is done for a variety of purposes--to reduce to one tone the different shades of the natural colour often found in the same kind of wood, to bring out the natural beauty of the grain and texture, to give an entirely new colour to the cheaper kinds of wood in imitation of the more expensive kinds, and to produce tones that will harmonize with various colour schemes. To accomplish this great variety of results, scores of different kind of wood dyes or stains have been put upon the market in almost countless shades and tints, but they are all easily classified under three heads. They are oil stains, water stains, or alcohol stains.

_A Perfect Stain._--A perfect stain, if it could be obtained, would be a clear, limpid liquid, free from all solid particles or specks of colouring matter that might clog the pores of the wood and interfere with the absorption of the filler--so clear and transparent that it would in no way obscure the grain of the wood, which in many varieties is the chief element of beauty--so limpid that it would easily soak deep into the pores of the wood, carrying to a considerable depth below the surface an artificial colour which will not fade on exposure.

_Water, Alcohol, and Oil Stains Compared._--The water and alcohol stains on the whole meet these requirements better than the oil stains do. They are clear, and without body, and they have great penetration. But they are not free from faults. Many of the water stains are made from aniline dyes which are not durable. The alcohol stains, however, are generally permanent. Both the water stains and the alcohol stains raise the grain of the wood and are liable to show darker in corners and on end grains and to show laps from re-brushing. The oil stains, on the other hand, are free from these faults. They spread easily and evenly, they do not raise the grain, they do not double up or show laps or streaks, and they do not fade; but they have a few defects which overbalance these good qualities. They have considerable body which prevents them from penetrating equally all parts of the surface, so that they do not carry in the colouring as either the water or the alcohol stains do. Their oily nature causes them partly to close up the filaments of the wood and thus interfere with the subsequent process of filling. This is so bad a defect that oil stains are not to be recommended for open-grained woods, the fine finish of which depends so much on correct filling. They are more successful with the close-grained woods, which need only to be surfaced with shellac or the ordinary liquid filler.

_How Stain is Applied._--If furniture or any kind of woodwork is to be artificially coloured, staining is the first of the finishing operations to be attended to. The stain should be spread upon well-cleaned surfaces by means of a brush, a cloth, or a sponge, and allowed to stand for a few minutes so that it may penetrate well into the wood. The surfaces should then be carefully wiped off with clean, soft cloths or cotton waste to remove any stain that may not have soaked into the wood, and thus prevent a streaked or painted effect. After the stained surface is thoroughly dry, a filler, coloured to match the stain, should be applied and rubbed well into the pores, as already explained in the section on natural finish. The beginner will need to be cautioned again and again not to rub the filler all off or draw it out of the grain, but to rub it in as much as possible. He will also need to be on his guard against the presence of moisture or grease, which will interfere with good results.

Excellent prepared stains in great variety may be easily obtained of dealers in painters' supplies. They will not always produce the effects claimed for them, but with a little experimenting it is possible to find prepared stains that will give almost any desired result. They are somewhat expensive, however, and the amateur finisher may prefer to develop his own stain. Following are some suggestions along this line:

_Asphaltum and Golden Oak Stain._--A good chocolate brown stain may be produced on almost any light-coloured wood by a very thin varnish made by colouring turpentine with asphaltum and applying with a brush. A considerable quantity of asphaltum should be used, but not enough to make a sticky liquid. This will need to be finished with shellac or finishing varnish. When applied to quartered oak it produces the beautiful effect known as golden oak. It may also be used on white wood to give an imitation of black walnut; and Georgia pine under this stain takes on a very attractive tone without obscuring the natural figure of the wood.

_Mahogany._--A clever imitation of mahogany may be made by staining birch of the right grain with logwood stain. The stain is made by boiling together equal parts of logwood chips and water for about three hours. While the mixture is hot, chloride of tin is added gradually until the right shade of colour is produced. The stain should be allowed to cool before it is applied, and then several coats may be needed to secure the right depth of shade. The filler used should be coloured with burnt umber and sienna. The finish may be a brilliant or a flat varnish, or wax.

_Baywood as Mahogany._--Mahogany stain is also applied to baywood, resulting in what commonly passes for real mahogany. The genuine article, however, is an imported wood coming from South America, Mexico, and Africa in several varieties; and it is a much harder wood than the American baywood imitation. Both the birch and the baywood imitations of mahogany may be so well stained and finished that it is difficult to distinguish them from the imported varieties.

_Flemish Oak._--The various oak stains are worthy of special mention. Flemish oak finish is very dark, almost black. It is prepared by first applying a stain made of bichromate of potash dissolved in water in the proportion of one half pound of bichromate to a gallon of water. The solution should be strained and applied with a stiff brush. After drying, the surface is well sand-papered and a coat of thin black stain is applied, made by dissolving japan drop-black in turpentine. This is allowed to stand a few minutes, then wiped off, and when the surface is thoroughly dry a coat of thin shellac is applied. After a thorough drying and hardening the surface is smoothed down with fine sand-paper and finished with wax.

_Mission Oak._--The so-called mission oak finish may be in several colours, but as a rule it is of a dull gray with the flakes slightly reddish. The stain is made from drop-black in oil, tinged with a little rose pink, and thinned with japan and turpentine. The mixture should be strained through cheese cloth and applied with a staining brush. Wax finish is invariably used for mission oak.

_Forest Green Oak._--Forest green oak is among the best of the green effects in this wood. The stain is made by mixing two parts of chrome green with one part of chrome yellow for the colouring material. This is added to a mixture of three parts turpentine and one of raw linseed oil, with a little white japan. The resulting stain should be somewhat thinner than linseed oil. After this has been applied to the oak surface, rubbed in and dried, it is given a coat of thin shellac coloured with tumeric and a very little green aniline. This should have a wax finish.

_Gray Oak._--A gray stain may be given to oak by a solution of iron sulphate, made by dissolving a small quantity of chemically pure crystals in water, and giving the solution a strongly acid quality by adding a little sulphuric acid. This solution is most conveniently used by placing it in a box tank large enough to contain the pieces of wood to be stained, as they must soak in the solution until they are thoroughly saturated. The pieces may be kept separate by stout cords tied around them, and they may be held under the solution by means of weights. When taken out they should be allowed to dry before they are rubbed down.

_Weathered Oak._--Weathered oak stain is made by taking two ounces of copperas and the same quantity of dry tannin, dissolving them separately in about a quart of water, and when thoroughly dissolved mixing them together. When applied to oak it gives it the natural weathered tone with a slight bluish cast. It may then be oiled, shellaced and finished with a flat varnish or wax.

_Fumed Oak and Chestnut._--But the most satisfactory method of giving a brown tone to furniture or other woodwork, is without question, by fuming with ammonia, though this process is limited to two woods, viz., white oak and chestnut. All other woods, including red oak, are deficient in tannic acid, the essential element to combine with the ammonia gas in the production of the stain. This method requires a fuming box of sufficient dimensions to contain the article of furniture to be fumed. It must be carefully constructed with all its joints made vapour proof by pasting over them strips of paper and covering them with shellac. The top or one side of the box should be fastened with screws, so that it may be vapour proof when the box is in use and yet easily removed. The operation of fuming consists simply in placing the furniture in the box with one or more shallow pans filled with the strongest ammonia--not the household ammonia, which is too weak--screwing the top or cover on, and allowing the apparatus to stand from 12 to 24 hours, according to the shade desired. If the fuming box be provided with small glass windows in its adjacent corners, a good light will be thrown across the furniture so that the development of colour may be observed without opening the box. When the desired shade has been obtained and the furniture removed, it is best to give it a good wax finish which will develop a beautiful velvety texture.

_Peculiarities of Fumed Finish._--It will be observed that the toning of quartered oak by the fuming process develops the beauty of the grain far better than any other process of staining; and there should also be noted the still more remarkable fact that the contrasts of tone are the reverse of those given by staining; _i. e._, the parts that appear lighter in the one case are the darker parts in the other. This gives a certain distinction to the fumed finish and furnishes a means of detecting that which is not genuine.

WHITE ENAMEL

A vivid and very effective finish for furniture as well as for the trim of some rooms is white enamel. It is used on new work and also in re-finishing old furniture and other woodwork. In the latter case the old finish, whatever it may be, must be removed and the surfaces thoroughly sand-papered. But whether the wood be old or not, a satisfactory enamel finish cannot be produced by using the white varnish alone, since, like all other varnishes, it is somewhat transparent. It is necessary, first, to coat the wood with flat white--a paint made of white lead with some zinc oxide for hardening and thinned with turpentine. Oil should not be used in any part of the process. Three coats of this paint will generally be needed to produce the right surface for the final finish. Each of these coats should be allowed to dry and become well hardened. Two or three days, better still a week, should be allowed for hardening between coats, since insufficient hardening leads to cracks in the subsequent coats and develops a tendency to chip off. When a surface is ready for the enamel, only one coat of it should be applied, and that should be given not less than one week to harden before it is exposed to wear. Enamel is simply a good varnish coloured with zinc oxide ground in varnish. It may be thinned, if necessary, with turpentine, and it is applied with a brush like any other varnish.

PROBLEMS

Problems in filling and finishing were developed in the series of furniture making problems in Chapter VII. It is only necessary to bring forward the unfinished work there described and apply to it the finishing methods outlined in this chapter. Our problems are, therefore, the following:

_The Knock-down Bookcase._--If made up in white wood it may, like its original, be stained in imitation of black walnut and waxed. It may, however, be of oak, ash, or cherry, and finished to harmonize with the furniture with which it is to be used.

_The Hanging Book Rack._--In the design for this rack it was suggested that it might be made of white wood and given a white enamel finish, or of baywood with a mahogany stain and varnish.

_The Umbrella Stand._--Oak was advised for this piece of furniture. It needs to be treated with a paste filler and given two coats of varnish, well rubbed down.

_The Magazine Stand._--Oak was suggested for this stand. The color will depend upon the surroundings. Filling and varnishing will be required if it be given a liquid stain, and wax finish if it be fumed.

_The Light Library Table._--Oak was mentioned as a very appropriate wood for this table, but some lighter wood like ash may be used. It will be remembered that all open-grained woods require treatment with a paste filler before they are finished.

_The Heavy Library Table._--As this was designed in the mission style, oak was chosen as the most suitable wood. It may be given the so-called mission oak stain and a wax finish.

_The Round Centre Table._--This may be made in any of the woods commonly used for furniture, but quartered oak was mentioned. A golden oak finish will be found very satisfactory.

_The Bookcase with Glazed Doors._--This may be made up in ash, in quartered oak, or in gum wood. The finish will depend upon the kind of wood used and the furniture with which it is to be associated.

_The Library Desk and the Morris Chair._--The originals were made in quartered oak, fumed, and waxed.

_The Hall Clock._--This may be made in quartered oak and given a weathered oak stain and wax finish.

RE-FINISHING OLD FURNITURE

There is nothing that affords more satisfaction to one looking for pleasing effects in household fittings than the occasional piece of genuine old furniture repaired and re-finished. Some of the rare old colonial designs are of exceptional merit. This is proved by the high prices which they often command. These designs originated in the days of the genuine hand crafts, before the invention of machine-made, cheap furniture. The work of the older designers was characterized by a certain individuality which gave it artistic value; and the craftsmen who worked out these designs did their work with such care and thoroughness that what they produced has had a lasting quality. It is for these reasons that we find it still in existence and so much desired.

_Caution as to Repairs._--In the work of renovating old furniture, problems are met which are very different from those which have to be considered in the production of new work. All questions of design are settled. There is generally enough of the original article to show what the design was. The problem is one of restoration; we must supply the missing parts and re-finish the whole. The first thing to do, therefore, with any piece of genuine antique furniture is to look it over carefully from the point of view of the cabinet-maker, note its defects, supply the missing or loosened parts, and mend the breaks. It will be found that the wood is generally exceedingly dry and brittle on account of its age, and that it will therefore need to be handled more carefully than new wood; and, in matching up, it will often be found desirable to make use of parts of other old pieces rather than to add new wood to the old. This is especially true of veneering, which cannot be well matched in any other way. Old bits of veneer, on the other hand, may be so deftly fitted into the spaces where they are needed that the grafting is entirely obscured by subsequent finishing.

_Scraping._--After the necessary repairs have been made, the next thing to be done is to remove the old finish. If the varnish is dry and brittle and somewhat cracked, it may be removed by means of a well-sharpened scraper, great care being taken, however, not to injure the wood surface, especially at the corners and edges. If the scraper does not take off the varnish well at certain points, fine sand-papering may be resorted to. It is generally wise, also, to give the entire surface a light sand-papering before it is cleaned up for finishing.

_The Varnish Remover._--It often happens, however, that the scraper will not accomplish the desired result. In that case the liquid varnish remover is necessary. This may be found at the paint stores. The best formulas for producing these varnish and paint removers are known only to the manufacturers. It is therefore not wise for the young finisher to attempt to make his own remover. He should provide himself with a can of it and a bristle brush with which to apply it to the furniture. After putting on a good coat he should let it remain a few minutes and then try to scrape off the softened finish with a putty knife. If it doesn't come off readily, it should stand a little longer. The amount of time required depends entirely upon the hardness of the old finish. But in due time it will become soft and can be very quickly and effectually removed. A putty knife, however, will not remove it all. After scraping off as much as possible from the plain surfaces and from the corners, a careful washing with turpentine or benzine will clean off what remains. It is of the greatest importance that none of the old varnish nor any of the varnish remover should be permitted to remain. Either of them will show through the finish as stains on the broad surfaces and collect in the corners when the new finish is put on.

_Re-finishing._--The re-finishing process is much like that described for new work, the chief exception being that there is generally no need of filling unless it has been found necessary to add new wood in making the repairs. Generally speaking, the re-finishing begins with the surfacing, which may be done with thin shellac coloured to match the stain of the furniture. This is sand-papered lightly before receiving the one or more coats of finishing varnish necessary to produce the desired effect. Very often all that is needed is a well rubbed down wax finish.

PROBLEM: RE-FINISHING AN ANTIQUE MAHOGANY TABLE