The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California

Furniture Finishing

Hat trees, chairs and benches are often finished with two dip coats waterproof coach varnish over the shellac, lightly sanding the first but leaving the second in gloss. Desk panels and filing case parts may also be dipped separately and assembled only when ready for the final varnish or lacquer coat. This top coat, particularly for desks, should be a specially constructed article not too difficult to rub, but of maximum toughness and durability. On desk sides flat lacquer over sealer or flat varnish over coach is satisfactory.

Period office suites for banks, directors' rooms and consulting rooms are turned out in Adam, Directory, Jacobean and Renaissance styles. When so designed they are finished as above described but stained in effects suitable to the period as outlined in Book I.

Chairs

THE question of the best finish method for chairs is almost as large as the number of types and designs of chairs. Where made to form a part of dining and bedroom suites, they are finished and decorated to match; for living room purposes they can show all the originality of finish found in novelty and period furniture; for strictly utilitarian purposes, like restaurant, porch and office pieces, they are finished along production lines.

DINING AND LIVING ROOM CHAIRS

Most "suite" chairs, exclusive of upholstered pieces, are of gum or birch with occasional veneers, overlays and inlays of rarer woods. They must be carefully matched in color, shading, striping, glazing, two-toning, etc., to the suite of which they are to form a part. For details, see Books II and III and Chapters VIII and X (Book V).

Living room chairs are apt to be of period design, upholstered or caned. Some types can be finished by dipping, but most require to be sprayed, including painted designs. (See Chap- ter XIV.)

UTILITY CHAIRS

On bentwood and other utilitarian chairs a water stain is impracticable, owing to the expense of sanding down the raised fibres, and it is impossible to make a combination water stain and filler. About the cheapest way to finish a chair made of birch, beech or elm. or all three mixed in indiscriminately, as is often the case, is to dip it in asphaltum varnish thinned one part to three of solvent naphtha, followed by one dip or spray coat of cheap coach varnish. This will give a fair golden oak shade and offer a reasonable resistance to wear, for the price. By thinning the asphaltum varnish somewhat less, the shade of the finish may be made to approach that of walnut.