CHAPTER VII.
GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS.
Remarks on Polishing.—Amateurs at French polishing will be more successful on a large surface than a small one.
When polishing, the rubber-cloth should be changed occasionally, or the brightness will not remain when finished.
A most efficacious improver of many kinds of woods is raw linseed-oil mixed with a little rectified spirits of turpentine.
French polish can be tinted a light-red with alkanet-root, and a dark-red with dragon's blood.
A good Turkey sponge is capable of spreading either stain or varnish more smoothly than a camel's-hair brush on a flat surface.
The sub-nitrate of bismuth mentioned on p. 12 is beginning to supersede oxalic acid for bleaching processes.
Thin panels for doors should be securely tacked down to a level board, and polished with a large round flannel rubber having a very flat sole. Fret-work panels should have all the edges entirely finished with varnish before they undergo the above operation. To get a good polish upon a full-fret panel is considered by polishers to be the most difficult part in the work, on account of the extreme delicacy and frangibility of the work and the great carefulness required.
Soft spongy wood may be satiated by rubbing a sponge well filled with polish across the grain until it becomes dry.
In polishing a very large surface, such as a Loo-table top or a wardrobe end, it is best to do only half at a time, or if a large top a quarter only.
The approved method of treating dining-table tops is to well body-in with French polish, after which thoroughly glass-paper down with fine paper, and then use the oil polish (see page [87]).
Immediately after using a rubber, it should be kept in an air-tight tin canister, where it will always remain fresh and fit for use.
The Polishing Shop.—A few words as to the polishing shop may be acceptable to those who possess ample room and desire the best results.
First in order is the location and arrangement of the finishing rooms. Preference is to be given to the upper rooms of a building for several reasons, among which may be named the securing of better light, greater freedom from dust, and superior ventilation.
A good light in this, as in many other arts, is a very important matter, and by a good light we mean all the light that can be obtained without the glare of the direct rays of the sun. Light from side windows is preferable to that from skylights for three reasons: (1) Skylights are very liable to leakage; (2) they are frequently, for greater or less periods, covered with snow in winter; (3) the rays of the sun transmitted by them in summer are frequently so powerful as to blister shellac or varnish.
Good ventilation is at all times of importance, and especially so in summer, both as tending to dry the varnish or shellac more evenly and rapidly, and as contributing to the comfort of the workmen. The latter consideration is of importance even as a matter of economy, as men in a room the atmosphere of which is pleasant and wholesome will feel better and accomplish more than they could do in the close and forbidding apartments in which they sometimes work.
Any suggestion in reference to freedom from dust, as a matter to be considered in locating rooms for this business, would seem to be entirely superfluous, as it is clear that there is hardly any department of mechanical work which is so susceptible to injury from dust as the finishing of furniture, including varnishing and polishing.
Finishing rooms may be arranged in three departments. The first should include the room devoted to sand-papering and filling. These processes, much more than any other part of furniture polishing, produce dirt and dust, and it is plain that the room devoted to them should be so far isolated from the varnishing room as not to introduce into it these injurious elements.
Another room should be appropriated to the bodying-in, smoothing and rubbing-down processes. The third room is for spiriting and varnishing, or the application of the final coats of varnish, which is the most important of all the processes in finishing. It requires a very light and clean room, and a greater degree of heat than a general workroom. It should, as nearly as possible, be uniform, and kept up to summer heat; in no case ought the temperature to fall below fifty nor rise higher than eighty-five degrees Fahrenheit while the varnishing process is going on. Varnishing performed under these circumstances will be more thorough in result, have a brighter appearance and better polish, than if the drying is slow and under irregular temperature. For drying work, the best kind of heat is that from a stove or furnace.
Steam heat is not so good for two reasons: (1), it is too moist and soft, causing the work to sweat rather than to dry hard, and (2), the temperature of a room heated by steam is liable to considerable variation, and especially to becoming lower in the night. This fire heat is as necessary for the varnishing room in damp and cloudy weather in summer as it is in winter. At all seasons, and by night as well as by day, the heat should be as dry as possible, and kept uniformly up to summer heat, by whatever means this result is secured. Varnished work, after receiving the last coat, should be allowed to remain one day in the varnishing room. It may then be removed into the general workroom.
A remark may be proper here, viz., that there is sometimes a failure to secure the best and most permanent results from not allowing sufficient time for and between the several processes. An order is perhaps to be filled, or for some other reason the goods are "rushed through" at the cost of thoroughness and excellence of finish.
The following suggestion is made by way of caution in reference to the disposal of oily rags and waste made in the various processes of finishing. These articles are regarded as very dangerous, and are frequently the cause of much controversy between insurance companies and parties who are insured. The best way to dispose of this waste is to put it into the stove and burn it as fast as it is produced. If this rule is strictly adhered to there will be no danger of fire from this source. All liquid stock should be kept in close cans or barrels, and as far from the fire as possible.