159. Typical Finishes for Coarse-Grained Woods.
—Egg-Shell gloss: (1) One coat of water stain, English, golden, etc., according to the result desired. (2) Allow time to dry, then sandpaper lightly with fine sandpaper. This is to smooth the grain and to bring up the highlights by removing stain from some of the wood. Use No. 00 sandpaper and hold it on the finger tips. (3) Apply a second coat of the stain diluted about one-half with water. This will throw the grain into still higher relief and thus produce a still greater contrast. Apply this coat of stain very sparingly, using a rag. Should this stain raise the grain, again rub lightly with fine worn sandpaper, just enough to smooth. (4) When this has dried, put on a light coat of thin shellac. Shellac precedes filling that it may prevent the high lights—the solid parts of wood—from being discolored by the stain in the filler, and thus causing a muddy effect. The shellac being thin does not interfere with the filler’s entering the pores of the open grain. (5) Sand lightly with fine sandpaper. (6) Fill with paste filler colored to match the stain. (7) Cover this with a coat of orange shellac. This coat of shellac might be omitted but another coat of varnish must be added. (8) Sandpaper lightly. (9) Apply two or three coats of varnish. (10) Rub the first coats with hair cloth or curled hair and the last with pulverized pumice stone and crude oil or raw linseed oil.
Dull finish: A dead surface is obtained by rubbing the varnish after it has become bone dry, with powdered pumice stone and water, using a piece of rubbing felt. Rub until the surface is smooth and even being careful not to cut thru by rubbing too long at any one spot. The edges are most likely to be endangered. Use a wet sponge and chamois skin to clean off the pumice.
Polished finish: The last coat should be rubbed first with pulverized pumice stone and water, and then with rotten stone and water. For a piano finish rub further with a mixture of oil and a little pulverized rotten stone, using a soft felt or flannel. A rotary motion is generally used and the mixture is often rubbed with the bare hand.
Gloss finish: For a gloss finish, the last coat is not rubbed at all.
160. Patching.
—It frequently happens in rubbing with pumice that the varnish is cut thru so that the bare wood shows. To patch such a spot proceed as follows: (1) Sandpaper the bare place lightly with very fine paper, No. 00, to smooth the grain of the wood raised by the pumice water. (2) If the wood has been stained or filled, color the spot to match the rest of the finish. Apply a little with a cloth and wipe off clean. (3) When this has dried, apply a thin coat of varnish to the bare wood, carefully. Draw it out beyond the bare wood a little, “feathering” it so that there shall not be a ridge. (4) Allow this to dry hard and apply a second coat, feathering it beyond the surface covered by the first coat. (5) Repeat until the required thickness has been obtained; then (6) rub with pumice and water. Rub lightly, using a little pumice and much water. The slightly raised rings made by the lapping of one coat upon another will need special attention. It is best not to sandpaper between coats, because of the danger of scratching the rubbed finish adjoining the patch.
161. Painting.
—The purpose of paints is to preserve the wood by covering it with an opaque material. Paints are usually composed of white lead or zinc oxide and coloring materials mixed or thinned with raw or boiled linseed oil. Turpentine is also used for thinning and as a drying agent.
Paint must be well brushed out so that a thin film may result.