The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California
Furniture Finishing
Or a toner of a one-half ounce gallon solution of lemon yellow water stain may have to be sprayed over a burl walnut veneer to make it lighter or take out any murkiness in the natural coloring. The regular stain coat is applied over these as soon as it is dry. Similarly a one-half ounce solution of aniline green may be employed to neutralize any excessive redness in the veneer, as where a straight brown is desired or a walnut color on mahogany wood is aimed at.
Again nature may have left out some of the markings on one quarter of a butt joint stripe veneer or segment of a sunburst effect which must be put in by hand with a pencil striper in order to match it up with the other quarters or segments. A double strength stain, carefully matched up to the natural markings, is applied after the regular staining and quickly blended out with a badger hair blender.
"Water stains are preferable to oil or spirit stains and can be blended out if the work is done quickly; if dry use fine steel wool. Color defects of any kind noted after filling and shellacing have to be glazed with spirit stains of proper shade mixed in thin shellac.
TO AVOID GREENING
Where varnish is used the lights and shades of fine veneers may be marred by '' greening.'' This misfortune may be caused by dark varnishes, black filler, orange shellac, excessive or bronzed -water stain, glue in veneer pores or insufficient veneer sanding. Lacquer applied before filler is hard dry may turn it gray in the pores—the remedy for all this is obvious. Veneers should never be stained too dark or the contrast between the markings will be lost. To insure a clear toned effect from the start, all veneers, plain or figured, should be sized with a mixture of one pint liquid vegetable glue to three gallons of water, sponged on the bare wood, sanded when dry to cut off the stiffened fibres clean. This also makes the filler easier to wipe off, avoiding thereby the smudge, which is one of the chief causes of greening.
BLEACHING AND TONING PRIOR TO STAINING
If veneers are to be finished very light, as with French walnut, and they are not sufficiently light in themselves or contain dark discolorations, it is necessary to bleach them. There are a number of chemicals available for the purpose, most of which are objectionable for one reason or another. Oxalic acid on yellow wood turns red and when sanded is dangerous to inhale. Picric acid gives a fine yellow undertone, but is explosive and should never be kept on hand stronger than a ten per cent water solution and then only in a small quantity corked in a glass bottle.
