The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California
Furniture Finishing
PERFUME AND ALCOHOL STAINS
Stains caused by perfume or alcohol are very common. Alcohol softens the finish and generally there is an imprint from some article pressing into the finish. Few finishes will withstand alcohol. Where there is nothing to press into the finish, the spot will be like a blister, smooth and glossy, but raised above the surrounding finish. Where a scarf or doily has been
pressed into a surface softened by alcohol and pulled away when dry, and this damage is over any considerable portion of the surface, sand down with 3/0 garnet finishing paper, clean, and flow on an amalgamater, after which finish in the usual way by coating over with varnish or lacquer as desired and rubbing down.
Lost damages under this heading are slight and can be French polished after sanding. The method used in repairing these spots by frenching is the same as used for water marks. One must be careful to use a block for sanding and have the surface level before frenching or the spot will be plainly visible when finished.
Burned or Blistered Surfaces.—The damages under this heading are of various degrees of seriousness. A blister from a light bulb can be easily repaired by sanding down the surface and French polishing with, perhaps, a little staining. Blisters from sun through a plate glass window are more serious. If the piece is blistered to any considerable extent, it is best to remove the finish and apply again, for the sanding and frenching require more time than to do over any considerable surface.
When a surface has been burned with an iron or from being close to a stove or otherwise, it is a very serious thing to fix. Tf the wood has been burned any at all, the surface must be removed and sanded, cleaned perfectly and refinished. If the burn is only slight, the surface can be sanded smooth and French polished to a level with the surrounding surface, stained if necessary, and matched.
Repainting Enamel and Pigment Lacquer
THE damages under this heading present a real problem to the patcher. When these finishes were first brought out, they were repaired by using a spirit enamel tinted to different colors. Of late, however, finishers use lacquer enamel to make such repairs, though the first process is still used.
White enamel or lacquer does not present quite so difficult a problem as the colored finishes, and can be repaired by using either the white spirit enamel or white lacquer, depending on the kind of finish. The lacquers cannot be used to repair enamel surfaces, as they will check a finish containing oil. On the contrary, the white spirit enamel can be used on enamel and lacquer finishes, and for that reason has become the most popular material for patching these finishes.
