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Furniture Finishing

CARVINGS AND FLUTINGS

For a more pronounced aged effect, especially where there are carvings, flutings and mouldings, wood filler may be omitted entirely. The stain should preferably be a dull tone of brown or brownish gray, coated over with shellac if an oil stain, clear lacquer if a water stain. Over this is brushed on a coat of liquid wax, made by mixing in the clear wax a quantity of powdered rotten stone, dry sienna, umber or Van Dyke brown, or a combination of these, about twelve to sixteen ounces total to the gallon of liquid. While still wet on the work, this "antiquing slush," as it is often called, is wiped off so as to leave it sticking only in the pores, carving, beading and moulding crevices. The mixture of pigments and wax must be thorough and kept stirred to prevent settling. Moreover, the proportions must be such as to produce a pronounced grayish cast, heavy enough to form a deposit in pores and crevices but fluid enough to be easily brushed. To wipe off, a benzine moistened rag is best.

CLOSE-GRAINED WOODS

Pine and chestnut were favorite woods with the ancient "joyners'' and for this reason are sometimes still used for antique reproductions, such as chests and benches. Being close grained in texture, there is little to which a gray filler or pigmented wax can take hold unless the wood is purposely roughed up with coarse sandpaper. Consequently the practice is to tone either with a weathered oak oil stain or a water stain made up of about a half ounce of a jet nigrosene and a quarter ounce of tobacco brown to the gallon of water. This is then shellaced, lacquered or varnished and waxed over as above described; the slush showing chiefly in carvings and mouldings.

For an extra antique appearance, pine furniture prior to the above operation may be washed with sulphuric acid. The chemical effect is to eat into all but the hard parts, causing them to stand out from the rest of the surface, a process which may be hastened by sprinkling on water and scrubbing the wood with a shoe-handle wire scratch brush. To neutralize the acid prior to any staining, wash the pine thoroughly with a dilute solution of ammonia; it may then be finished natural as above described to give a dull lustre.