The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California
Furniture Finishing
Japan Colors in Clear Lacquer.—For almost every match job on lacquer work, the addition of colors ground in japan to a clear nitro-cellulose japan mixing lacquer will suffice for patching or coating over the original pigment lacquer. If a tint of these colors is desired, it is necessary to add white pigment lacquer to the mixture or begin with white instead of the clear lacquer. Therefore use a clear lacquer with addition of colors for dark shades of colors and use white pigment lacquer as a base for producing tints of different colors.
Preparing the Damaged Spot for Patching.—In all cases of damage to enamel or pigment lacquer surfaces the finish is either chipped out, scratched or rubbed through. Other kinds of damages require refinishing of the surface because they are too general and require too much time in patching. Remember that the most of the time consumed in patching these places is used up mixing the colors to match perfectly, and for that reason patchers try to get the original enamel or lacquer, and prefer to allow twenty-four hours for drying before finishing, rather than spend time trying to match a gray, for instance. It is best never to sand a spot unless a scratch has raised the wood above the surface coating. If the wood has been raised it is best to cut it off with a scraper or knife and avoid sanding if possible and thus prevent cutting through the finish coat and expose undercoats.
BURNING-IN WOOD CEMENT
In deep scratches and holes or indentations it is much faster work to fill them in with woodturners' cement, commonly called shellac sticks. These sticks can now be had in all the known shades or colors, and are even made to match the tints in enamel or lacquer. It is seldom that these sticks match exactly the piece you are patching, and for that very reason are not used as much as they could be. A deep hole can be filled very quickly with the cement nearly to the surface and then filled the remainder of the way with spirit enamel or pigment lacquer and surfaced.
Use the directions for burning-in. the same as outlined in Chapter IV, under the heading. Filling Deep Scratches. One must have an absolutely clean knife and use nothing but a good grade of alcohol in the torch, or else use an electric knife or heater in order to avoid discoloration of the cement. Much care must be used not to destroy the resiliency of the cement by overheating. Fill as soon as the cement will run.
