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

Furniture Finishing

Auditorium, assembly room and folding chairs of maple are finished natural with two dip coats of water and printproof coach varnish, neither sanded or rubbed. For a mahogany finish birch is used, first stained with mahogany water stain, then shellaced, sanded, given one coat varnish firstcoater and finished with one coat flat varnish. All coats are dipped and drained on a rack using a brush only to catch and tip off the drip at the lowest point. (See also Chapters VI, VIII, XIII, XV, XXIII.)

ENAMEL CHAIRS

Utility enamel chairs for kitchens and restaurants can be turned out presentably with a first coat of cheap paint undercoater, not much finer than the flat paint used on plastered walls, and one coat quick-drying gloss oil enamel. The wood for such chairs is usually a combination of glued sections of hard and soft woods, with the result that the average primer will not have enough thinner to penetrate the former nor enough oil to satisfy the latter. This may be overcome to some extent by priming the soft pieces with linseed oil, prior to coating, or an extra coat of primer.

CHURCH PEWS

Plate XLIX.—Dining Room Upholstered Side Chair, Frame of Gum, Water-
Stained, Lacquered and Rubbed Dull.
Church and lodge furniture may be stained and filled in the regular manner, but a special varnish or lacquer must be employed which will not print or stick in humid weather, or turn white on contact with water. Pew varnish is a special high gloss article meeting these specifications, and is readily obtainable.

Drawers and Interiors


THE woods commonly used in drawer and interior construction are such dose-pored woods as birch, beech, sycamore and basswood, with cypress and pine for sides. Walnut, cedar and mahogany are used in high grade furniture, sometime; alone, sometimes for drawer bottoms in combination with red gum or one or another of the harder woods above mentioned for the sides. The first essential of a good drawer finish is to seal the wood and render it possible for the housekeeper to dust and clean it readily without in time producing a splotched or dingy interior. It must also be waterproof and free of coloring matter which might come off on clothing. From a production viewpoint it must also be economical in cost, not too difficult to apply and if possible of a tone harmonizing with the exterior stain color.