The Expert Wood Finisher;

^^^^^^^^^^^mmmm'^ '-^m:^ ^ (kss \ __ \i^ PRFSENTED m^ THE EXPERT WOOD FINISHER A Text Book for the Guidance of the Expert Workman and Manual of Instruction for the Learner THIRD EDITION Entirely Re-Written and Brought Down to Date, with Much New Matter and the Elimination of Old, Making THE Work a Thoroughly Reliable Source of Practical Information for the Wood Finishing Trades. BY A. ASHMUN KELLY Author and Publisher of the EXPERT SERIES of Books for House and Sign Painters, Paper Hangers, Interior Decorators, Calciminers, and Wood Finishers. A. ASHMUN KELLY 1921 Copyrighted, 1921 By a. Ashmun Kelly «1FT -9*24 UN I — TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Description of the Woods Used 1 Oak, Mahogany, Walnut, Maple, Red Gum, Birch, Beech, Redwood, Cypress, Hard Pine, Sycamore, Ash, Rosewood, Cherry, Chestnut. Wood Filling 16 Close-Grained and Open-Grained Woods Listed and Described—Filling Open-Grain Woods—List of Paste Fillers—Table of Colors Used in Paste Fillers—Fillers for the Various Woods—Some Paste Filler Notes Liquid Filler Notes—Some Liquid Filler Formulas Filling and Finishing the Various Woods—Etc. Finishing Western Woods 62 Finishing Hardwood Floors 67 General Description—Wax Finish—Varnish Finish Finish for Hard Pine Floor—Finishing Hardwood Floors—-Wax Floor Polish Formula—^Polishing Hard- wood Floors—Waxing Old Floors—Floor Wax Form- ulas—Floor Waxing Notes—Crack Fillers and Floor Putties—Cracks in New Floors—Large Floor Cracks Putties and Cements for Hardwoods—Renovating Old Floors—A Few Minor Floor Notes—Douglass Fir Floor Finishing. Finishing Veneered Work 82 Preparing Mahogany Veneered Surface—Dyeing Veneers Black—Mahogany Veneer and Birch—Birch and Walnut Veneer—Finishing Walnut Veneer—Lines of Butt Joints do not Match—Staining Veneered Work —Pohshing Veneered Work—Protecting Inlay or Marquetry—Penetrating Ebony Stain—Veneer Finish- ing Notes. Wood Stains and Wood Staining 90 General Description of Processes— Staining Oak—To iii —— iv CONTENTS PAGE Match Brown Oak—Weathered Oak—Bog Oak—Mis- sion Oak—Flemish Oak—Light and Dark—Golden Oak —Antwerp Oak—^Gray Oak—Dark Oak Stains—An- tique Oak—^Silver-Gray Effects—Trouble in Oak Finishing™Oak Stain Formulas—Stains Various—Etc. Staining Wickerware and Willow Furniture 112 The Equivalents of Water Colors in Aniline Dyes 117 Description of Stains and Their Uses . 118 The Art of Wood Polishing ...... 128 French Polishing—Oil Polishing—Pblish-on-Varnish Finish—Polish Formulast—Polishing in the Lathe Various Polish Formulas. Finishing New Furniture 145 The Gloss Finish—The Rubbed Finish—The Polished Finish—Finishing Cheap New Furniture—Furniture Varnishes—Making Antique Furniture. Refinishing Old Furniture 152 Description of Finishing—Enameled Furniture—Re- polishing—Coloring Up—Furniture Polishes—Doing- Up Old Furniture—Furniture Cream or French Re- polisher—Furniture Revivers—Furniture Renovating Polish—Derby Cream—Wax Stained for Colored Woods—Polish for Good Furniture—Renovating Piano Polish—Cheap Wax Polish—Polish for Statuary, Etc. —Perfuming Polishes and Renovators—Various Furni- ture Polishes—Removing Stains, White Spots, Etc. —Removing Old Varnish—Varnish Remover Formulas —Notes on Varnish Removers. Practical Notes on Varnishing ..... 179 How Varnish Dries—Temperature of Varnishing Room —^Why Varnish Cracks—Cloudy Shellac Varnish How to Varnish—Varnish Turns Green—Heavy Bodied Varnish—Varnish Does Not Flow Freely Difference between Exterior and Interior Varnish Composition of Spar Varnish—Composition of Interior Varnish—Composition of Floor Varnish—How Varnish is Made—China Wood Oil. —— CONTENTS V PAGE Description of Varnishes Used 186 Making Oil Varnishes—Short and Long Oil Varnish- Some Varnish Notes—Aged vs. New Varnish—Effects of Temperature—Qiaracteristics of Good Varnish Heat-Resisting Varnishes—How Many Coats of Var- nish ?—Flatting Varnish—Practical Varnish Notes. Varnish Ills—Cause and Cure 198 Blistering—Blooming—Brush Marks—Blotching—Bub- bling— Brittleness— Chilling— Crimping— Creeping or Crawling—Chipping—Checking—Silking—Sinking In Sweating—Seedy Varnish—Sandy Appearance—Sag- ging—Sissing or Cissing—Tears—Turning White Wrinkling—Pitting or Pinholing--Flatting—Loss of Brilliancy—Skinning Over of Varnish. Shellac Varnish 203 Origin and Gathering of Lac—The Various Grades Pure Shellac—Adulteration of Shellac—Bleached White Shellac—Orange Shellac—Preparing Shellac Varnish Artificial Shellac—Water Shellac—Clear Alcoholic So- lution of Shellac—'White Gum Shellac Specifications- Special Quick Drying Shellac—Applying Shellac in Damp Weather—Chinese Glue—Shellac Varnish Notes. How TO Use the Air-Spray Machine . 224 Information—General and Special . ,231 Sap and Seasoning—Staining the Ends of Boards Shop Economies—Staining Wood before Working Up Imitating Old Mahogany—Mahoganizing Other Woods —Finishing Fireproofed Wood—Staining and Finishing House Trim—Violin Varn,ishing—Piano Finishing Finishing Antique Oak Piano Case—Another Piano Finishing Process—Finishing a Rosewood Case—Me- chanical Varnishing—.How to Prevent Cracking of Varnish—Trouble with Shellac Finish—Imitation of Woods by Printing—-Wood Finishes in Favor—Colum- bian Mahogany—Filling Checks in Veneers—Why the Varnish Sweats—Making and Using the Tacky Rag Ebonizing Piano Keys—Polish for Ebony—Removing Dust before Varnishing—Staining Brown Mahogany Perfume for Renovators, Etc.—Hardening Varnish for Table Tops—Solubility of Varnish Gums—Covering Capacity of Varnish—Finishing Laboratory Table Top —French Artificial Wax—Chamois or Goat Skin — vi CONTENTS TAGE Concerning Sponges—Testing Turpentine—China Wood Oil—Finishers' Supplies Described—The Waxes—Test- ing Varnish—^Preventing Filler from Cracking—Bak- ing Varnish on Wood—Crackle Finish—Finishing Ma- hoganized Birch—Finishing Birch Veneers—Oxalic Acid Preparation—Non-Cracking Linseed Oil—Figure- less Quartered Oak—High Polish on Red Cedar Finishing Birdseye Maple—Wax Finishing Small Articles—Finishing Ouija Boards—Oiled Sandpaper Rubbed vs. Varnished Surfaces—Birdseye Maple Polished End Wood—Ail-Around Varnish—Making Brown Mahogany—Humidity in Finishing Room Toning Down Circassian—Sta,ining Mahogany—Finish- ing Inside of Case Goods—The Curly Woods—How Sandpaper Is Made—How to Use Sandpaper. Varnish Stains 277 How Prepared—Stained Filler—Walnut Varnish Stain —Oak Varnish Stain—Cherry Varnish Stain—Ebony Varnish Stain—Satinwood Varnish Stain—Note. THE EXPERT WOOD FINISHER DESCRIPTION OF THE WOODS USED The process of wood finishing is one of the simplest of the mechanical arts, and yet it demands of the workman a degree of skill not exceeded in any other line of handicrafts. The first requirement is a knowl- edge of woods, their physical structure, so that the treatment necessary to their perfect development of line and color may be understood. Then comes ma- terial and manipulation thereof, the staining and filling of the woods, and the final work of varnishing, rubbing, polishing, etc. Nor is this all, for the finisher must understand the composition and nature of the various stains and pigments he handles, the aniline dyes, the liquids, the mineral and vegetable pigments. While all these matters are fully and carefully described in this work, yet it will require experience in order to develop the complete workman. Study the instructions given here, and follow them carefully, and in due course you will succeed in mastering the art and becoming a skilled wood-finisher,—if you put heart into your work, for unless one loves his work he never can succeed in becoming its master. I shall first take up the subject of woods. We try to place the woods under two heads, hard and soft, but these are not the most appropriate terms to use, and they are confusing to most of us. There are, bo- tanically, two broad groups of tree species, the decidu- ous or broad-leaved tree, and the evergreen, needle- leaved or coniferous trees. The wood of the most of 1 2 THE EXPERT WOOD FINISHER the former is comparatively hard, and that of the latter mostly soft. The names, hard wood and soft wood, have, therefore, been applied to the two groups, respec- tively. But they are not the best descriptive terms, be- cause such wc^ods as basswood, yellow poplar, and Cot- tonwood, known under the above classification as hard woods, are quite soft ; while such woods as the South- em yellow pines, which are in our soft wood class, are rather hard. Under the head of Wood Filling I have listed two groups of woods under the heads of close- grained and open-grained, which for our purpose is a better classification than that of hard and soft woods. For it is with the matter of grain that we are the most concerned, as it makes very little difference whether a wood is hard or soft, when we have the other list to guide us. Under those heads we find listed sixteen close-grained woods, and eleven open-grained woods. Showing twenty-seven different kinds of wood used hi cabinet and house construction work that are treated by the wood finisher. The finishing of these woods is fully described under appropriate heads, and requires no further description here. Each wood is taken up and its treatment pains- takingly described. And as the reader proceeds he finds all necessary information touching the nature and uses of the different materials that enter into the work on finishing. We will now take up the various woods and describe their characteristics, with some account of their Hfe history. First in importance come the oaks. Oak.—The forester places all the oaks, of which there are many different kinds, in two classes, naming them white and black. The woods of the two groups are structurally different. Of the some seventeen listed in a bulletin issued by the Government only a few interest the wood-worker and finisher. These are the DESCRIPTION OF THE WOODS USED 3 white and the red oaks. True, there are some few others that enter into furniture making and into house trim, but for fuming and staining, only the white and red oaks are desirable. Red oak has several other names, such as mountain oak, black oak, and Spanish oak, it being a member of the black oak group.

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