The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California
Coloring Finishing And Painting Wood
After removal from the box, the fumed surfaces should be sanded lightly with No. 000 sandpaper in the hand or over a soft felt block.
The stain penetrates quite deeply into the wood, much deeper even than water-stain; therefore, there is little danger of sanding thru the stained layer and causing streaks or spots. Reasonable care should be taken on the corners.
49. Securing Uniform Results.—Sap-streaks and light spots are a bete noire to the wood-finisher who uses the fuming process. Boards taken from different trees of the same species vary in the amount of tannin content; consequently, an article made from several boards will be uneven in color, or tone at least, after the fuming process. Various methods of blending or touching up are used to secure a more uniform tone. One of the best procedures for correcting the trouble is to "blend in" a fumed-oak water-stain of a color similar to that of the darker parts of the article. The line of demarcation between the light and dark tones should be dampened with a soft brush and water, and before this dries the stain in rather dilute form should be applied to the lighter areas.
The same process may be repeated, if necessary, to secure a still darker tone over any portion of a surface. When whole boards or large portions of the article are lighter than other portions, the darker parts may be covered with diluted linseed-oil; the lighter parts may be coated with the tannin solution a second time; and then refuming will greatly darken the unoiled portions and only slightly affect the oiled wood.
Some finishers prefer a stain made of bichromate of potash and water-soluble jet black. Only a little of the jet black is needed to give a brownish tone. The bichromate of potash is a fixed alkali, and, with tannic acid, generally produces on oak a color similar to that secured by the volatile alkali, ammonia. This staining process can be repeated, if necessary. It is a little easier to tell what the resultant colors are going to be if one wets the surface containing the uneven tones with naphtha and allows it to dry before applying the bichromate of potash solution. Colored shellac may also be used, as a last resort, if the article has already been shellacked and shows an uneven tone. The shellac should be thin, and the amount of color added must not be great, or the effect will be muddy, or the grain will be much obscured and the shellacked portion may be too dark.
Use the following mixture if it is necessary to add a considerable amount of color:
1/2 pint liquid white shellac,
1/2 pint denatured alcohol, with 1/4 oz. Bismarck brown spirit-soluble aniline dye dissolved in it,
1/2 pint denatural alcohol, with 1/4 oz. (or less) of alcohol-soluble black dye.
