WOOD finishing today is a commercial art. With the greater appreciation of interior decoration by the great middle classes has come the realization that interior wood trim constitutes the frame of the picture, so to speak. Consequently the selection of color and texture of the finish for wood trim is being done with the same care that is exercised by the artist who chooses a frame for his painting.
The tendency to consider the wood finishing in homes and public buildings simply as one element of a decorative scheme, along with the several others, such as walls, floor, furniture, drapes, rugs and accessories, is a wholesome development which is making interiors truly beautiful.
The wood finisher, whether he be house painter and decorator, furniture worker or arts and crafts artisan, is confronted with an array of finishes calculated to confuse even the most experienced unless his working methods are based upon a sound knowledge of the most modern stains, fillers, varnishes and other materials. Then there has been a steady change in the kinds and grades of woods used for buildings, cabinets and furniture, calling for complete knowledge of the characteristics of present day woods.
And to make the wood finisher's task even more difficult the specifications by architects and customers change constantly to keep pace with styles in furniture and decorations of standard, period and novel designs. The wish is always for something new and different.
So the wood finisher must keep up with the procession in pursuit of style and vogue.
The matter of cost of producing finishes is usually the controlling factor, especially when surfaces to be finished are very large or are many times repeated, as when made up of hundreds of rooms in large office, hotel or similar structures. Then the cost of an extra coat or an extra sanding of the surface, for instance, may mean the difference between profit or loss on the job.
In this book the author has aimed to discard the old and obsolete materials and methods which are too costly in labor to be practical in this day of high wage scales. Only such materials and methods have been cited as are equal to present day demands for both practical and artistic finishes.
THE wood finisher's ideal must necessarily be simply that of making the most of what he has to work with, producing the maximum of beauty and serviceability under the circumstances. For no two jobs are alike in all respects and he is seldom consulted in the selection of the wood before erection.
In undertaking a job of interior wood finishing there are four factors which must be considered: the kind of wood, the color decorative plan for the room, the durability of the finish expected^ and the cost or investment of money to be made.
The kind of wood to be finished determines broadly the character of the finish to be employed. We may say that in common practice woods are finished as indicated by these groups: Stain Natural
Mahogany Gumwood
Hickory Redwood
Chestnut Cedar
OakMahogany
Ash Walnut, American Holly Walnut, American Walnut, Circassian Bass
,
Paint or Enamel Pine, white Pine, yellow Pine, Oregon Fir Spruce Butternut Oak, white, red Cottonwood Rosewood Cherry Cypress Cherry Rosewood Gumwood Birch, select Chestnut Birch Gumwood Ebony Redwood Cypress Satinwood Fir, select Cedar Redwood In addition to the kind of wood, the grade has much to do with the selection of the finish. The cheaper grades, and even the better grades which have not been selected for grain, figure and color by the mill, often leave one with no choice of finish except as between paint and enamel.
Trim lumber which is not selected is apt to show great differences in color, contrast and size of the grain and figure. To finish such surfaces in natural or stained color to have anything like a uniform color tone is quite impractical, because of the cost of bleaching, touching-up and blending off-colored boards. So it pays to have the trim lumber carefully selected and matched at the mill. The increased cost there is less than to have the wood finisher do the matching.
The color scheme or decorative plan for a room must be considered by the wood finisher if he is to make the most .of his opportunity. It is his function to enhance by his finishing methods the natural color shadings and grain figure of the wood, to subdue too much contrast and harshness of coarse grain and figure of some woods, to carry out the color scheme by coloring the trim wood to become part of the background of the room, to make it match or harmonize with the furniture,to so finish it that the surface will be enduring,and finally, the finish must protect both the color and the wood from moisture and gases which discolor, crack and warp the wood.
Wood trim ought never to be finished with color or grain figure so strong as to call attention to itself. It is really part of the background, with the walls, ceiling and floor,the background for the furnishings of the room and not the focal point of interest in the picture. The display of strong, fantastic grain figure in either cheap or expensive woods, except for special novelty finishes, is evidence of poor taste as a rule.
The beauty of the natural grain and of the color of wood or stain ought not to be obscured by finishes which lack transparency but woods finished to subdue strong contrasts of grain color and to reveal only simple, graceful contours of figure are pleasing to behold,and as one lives with them day after day they sustain interest and grow in appreciation of all who love the beauty of harmony and simplicity.
Durability of Finish.
The use to which the wood is put absolutely determines what constitutes a serviceable, durable finish. Wood trim which is never touched by human hands, never rubbed with elbows, never sat upon, scuffed with feet or ground by heels is often durably finished by no more treatment than stain, filler and wax or oil coats. Under other conditions of service stain, shellac and wax are quite enough. But when it comes to floors nothing short of stain, filler, shellac and three coats of varnish, waxed to finish, can be considered really durable and economically finished, and this in spite of common practice to the contrary which puts on only two coats of varnish. The durability of finish must include not only the preservation of color but also the preservation of the wood from damage by moisture.
In the matter of cost the wood finisher is in position to and does give customers just what they pay for. By cutting down the number of finishing operations and coats he cuts down the cost. In the excitement of price competition, however, he ought not to lose sight of the technical limitations, of the fact that a certain number of operations are necessary to produce clear colors, brilliancy and durability. Then the protective coatings of varnish, wax, paint or enamel on top of the color and surfacing coats cannot protect the color from fading or abrasion and the wood from moisture unless adequate in number and quality of material.
To express this thought in another way, we may say that a schedule of working operations which reads, stain, fill and wax, cannot possibly be as durable on some surfaces as one which reads, " stain, fill, shellac, varnish and wax." But the first schedule is much cheaper and may be adequate for a surface which is well protected and which is not subject to wear by abrasion, washing, etc. It all comes down to a question of what is the minimum number of coats and operations for the purpose of decoration and of durability for the particular kind of wood trim at hand.
Nature has woven into the fibre of each kind of wood a richness and variety of coloring which are ever pleasing to the eye. And in the exquisite grain and figure of woods she has traced patterns far beyond the ability and the dreams of the artist. Each wood has its own peculiar grain texture and figure. The best finishing is that which preserves to view these natural beauties and enhances them with color. There are but few woods which lack beauty of structure when the finisher knows how to make the most of them.
A stain or natural finish which hides any of the natural beauty evident in the wood before finishing is not the best kind of finish, but we must sometimes sacrifice something to gain durability by using varnish coatings which are not completely transparent. And, of course, on cheaper grades of work the price will not permit the use of the high class finishing methods which make the most of the grain and color. In very cheap work we even must go to the point of mixing stain to partly obscure the imperfections of poor wood, knots, resinous streaks, etc.
Considering the close relation between furniture finishes and wood trim finishes in buildings it is well to note that just as automobile painting represents the highest art in metal painting, so also does furniture finishing represent the highest art in wood finishing.
Consequently any methods, tools and materials about which the house finisher can learn from the furniture finisher are often well worth study when within the limitations of cost. The furniture finisher can do many things which the house finisher cannot because his surfaces are smaller, his woods finer and his cost not so limited, but there is much in common between these two craftsmen. As a matter of fact the demand for natural and stained house trim came as a result of furniture finishes and a desire to harmonize the two elements of decoration in a room.
Furniture manufacturers have spared no time or expense in creating and reproducing fine finishes on wood. They have sent their expert finishers all over the world to study first hand the authentic period furniture and interior room designs of- the so-called golden periods of decoration which are rich in the artistic works of master craftsmen.
These experts have reproduced color, texture and finish of furniture and interior wood trim in ancient baronial halls, castles, cathedrals and other structures built during the rich historic periods of design and decoration.
So, good furniture of modern manufacture offers a remarkably fine field for study for the finisher whose work is that of finishing wood trim of buildings.
GETTING a surface ready for finishing is work which should be done with the utmost care when the finish is to be the finest possible and even for ordinary jobs. Unfortunately the price received for many jobs of finishing: is so low that it is quite impossible to do more than the most rapid cleaning and sandpapering,so that is where the responsibility must be placed for many muddy, cloudy natural and stained finishes.
New Surfaces.
Wood to be finished in natural or stained color is especially deserving of most thorough work in preparing it for the finishing process. It should first be dusted off with a duster brush or a broom in the case of floors. Then all spots of plaster, dirt or grease ought to be removed.
Usually such spots will come off with a washing over with benzine, using a putty knife to scrape off as much as possible. If the wood is oak, walnut or other open-grain variety, be particular to remove dirt, lime and grease from the pores of the wood. When such spots are not properly cleaned, stain does not take hold and penetrate and the finish is thus spotty in appearance.
New surfaces which are to be finished with paint and enamel ought to be cleaned well, but there is no need to be so particular about light stains. All loose particles on the surface should, however, be removed.
New surfaces which show dark stains from rust or other substances should be bleached out in such spots before being finished in natural or stained colors. The bleaching methods will be found later on in this chapter.
New surfaces after cleaning should next be sandpapered if the finish is to be natural or stain colors. This is not necessary for paint or enamel finishes. If water stain is to be used many finishers prefer to brush or sponge on a water coating before sandpapering. The water stain will raise the grain of the wood, making little wood fibres stick up all over. If the surface is wet in this way before staining, the water stain does not raise the grain so much and the second sandpapering is very light. If the water wetting is nqt done before staining with water stain the sandpapering operation on some woods must be done so heavily that some of the stain color will be cut off the wood. This sandpapering operation on new wood before or after wetting should be done with No. 0 and No. 00 paper, depending upon the roughness of the wood.
Sometimes it is well to go over the wood first with a No. 1 paper and finish up with a finer grade.
The cleaning necessary after sandpapering should be well done with a duster brush on ordinary jobs. On fine furniture and cabinets more effort should be spent to remove every particle of dust. In furniture factories the dust from sanding is blown out of the pores with compressed air.
Woods to be finished in natural color as light as possible, maple, birch, etc., are often bleached before any finishing coats of filler, varnish or shellac are put on. The bleaching raises the grain of the wood and a thorough job of sandpapering must be done after that process. The bleaching methods will be found later in this chapter.
New surfaces to be finished in natural or stain colors and which show cracks and holes should be filled to remedy these defects. Plaster of Paris soaked in water is preferred by many finishers for this filling because it will absorb stain and also will take on the coloring given by filler. Other putty does not absorb color. On stained finishes as a rule the putty is put into the cracks and holes after the stain is dry.
After putty is dry it should be sandpapered down smooth and clean.
Then the surface should be cleaned up around the repairs.
Old Surfaces.
Preparing an old painted surface for repainting or for an enamel finish simply calls for sandpapering to remove dirt, grease and roughness, assuming that the old paint is firmly attached to the surface. If it shows any tendency to crack and scale or alligator it should be removed entirely from the surface with sandpaper or liquid paint remover.
Old enamel surfaces which are to be refinished call for sandpapering just enough to cut the old gloss and clean up the surface. Defects such as holes, bruises and cracks should, of course, be filled with good putty.
Old varnish to be refinished with varnish, paint or enamel should be rubbed down clean and smooth with No. 1 sandpaper just enough to remove the gloss, dirt and grease, assuming that the old varnish has not crazed or alligatored. If it shows indications of an infirm hold on the wood, better take off all of the varnish with liquid or paste varnish remover. After sandpapering to remove high gloss some finishers prefer to wash down a varnished surface with benzole or with warm water and soda to make it absolutely safe to paint or enamel. The soda bites into the varnish a little.
Old varnished surfaces which are to be refinished with stain call for stripping off all of the varnish, using liquid or paste varnish remover. A thorough job must be done. If any of the varnish is allowed to remain on the surface, even in a very thin coat, it will prevent new stain from penetrating into the wood. A penetrating stain is then needed to do an even coloring of the wood. After stripping off the varnish a most thorough washing should be done to remove any wax left on the surface by the remover. Wash up with benzole, preferably. Benzine, naphtha or turpentine will also do this clean-up work.
On low-priced work, restaining is sometimes done without removing the old varnish. The old varnish is rubbed down with No. 1 sandpaper to remove the gloss and clean up any dirt or grease on it. Then it is washed down with benzole brushed on to cut the old varnish a little,or is washed down with hot water in which soda has been dissolved to do the cutting of the old varnish. The stain used for such work is a oil stain which must be brushed on very deftly with as few strokes of the brush as possible to avoid raising or lifting the old varnish. Brush this stain only in one direction. For very cheap work a good brush hand can coat the surface with shellac to which a little pigment has been added to make a stain. These processes simply color the wood and supply a gloss. They do not pretend to enhance the beauty of the wood. In this sort of work it is sometimes necessary to touch-up bare, worn-through spots with a coat of thin oil stain before staining the whole surface, this is to make the worn places match the whole surface in color.
Old stained or natural varnished surfaces from which the old finish has been stripped off with varnish remover are often too dark in color to produce a nice finish with the new stain. Then it is necessary to bleach out the old color before restaining. The bleaching methods are presented later in this chapter.
Putty Mixing and Use.
Plaster of Paris Putty is used by some finishers on new wood to be finished in the natural color or stained. This putty will absorb stain and the color given by fillers. The plaster of Paris putty is made by simply submerging a handful of dry plaster of Paris in water. As long as it remains below the surface of the water it will not set, A small amount should be lifted with the putty knife and kneaded with the fingers.
Press it into place and clean off the surface around it. Be sure to fill the cracks and holes full and level with the surrounding surface.
Cabinet Makers' Putty is made of fine wood sawdust from the kind of wood to be filled. The dry sawdust is mixed with a glue made from 1 ounce of good quality glue and 16 ounces of water. A little water color or dry pigment tinting color is added if needed to make the putty match the surface. When this putty is well made and used it is practically impossible to detect the fillings, even in fine woods like mahogany and walnut
The wood finisher has occasion to use bleaching solutions for the purpose of removing stains from woods to be finished or refinished, such as rust stains, water and weather stains. He also needs a bleaching solution occasionally to bleach large surfaces of maple, birch, oak, walnut and other woods which are to be finished in as light a color as possible, for instance, oak, which is to be finished with one of the popular light gray, two-tone finishes with white filler, and walnut or gum, which are to be finished with the very light brown French walnut color. Then again when old stained and varnished surfaces are stripped off, removing all the old finish possible the wood is sometimes found to be too dark to take the new stain of light color and make a nice job. Then bleaching is resorted to.
The bleaching processes use water solutions and they raise the grain of the wood. So after the bleaching and neutralizing washes, the surface is permitted to dry and is then sandpapered to cut off the raised wood fibres. Sometimes a very thin coat of white shellac is brushed on to make the wood fibres stiff so they can be clipped off easily with the sandpaper.
After bleaching the surface may contain a bit of the chemicals and it is well therefore to wash up immediately with clean water, using a sponge. Then a coat of ordinary table vinegar without dilution will neutralize any alkaline traces left on the surface and make it safe for finishing coats. The surface should be allowed to dry at least twelve hours before the finishing coats are put on.
There are many chemical solutions used for bleaching. Some are most effective on one wood while others succeed best for other woods. The oxalic acid solutions are probably used most by wood finishers in the house building industry.
Before using any bleaching solution it is best to thoroughly clean and scrub a surface, using hot water to which soap and a little sal soda have been added. Use a wad of No. 2 or No. 3 steel wool for the scrubbing, then wash up well with clean water, using a sponge for the purpose.
Oxalic Acid Bleach. Oxalic acid can be secured from any drug store and from paint store stocks in dry crystal form. Usually a saturated solution is made by dissolving as much of the acid crystals in a gallon of water as the water will take up. Hot water is best and the solution is more effective when put on to the surface to be bleached while it is very hot. Use a old flat wall brush to apply the solution and let it dry on the surface. For bleaching weather stains and also dark sap streaks in wood, 8 ounces of oxalic acid in two quarts of water is about right.
If the first application of bleach does not remove the discolorations or make the whole surface as light as you want it, apply the same solution hot a second time or repeat several times.
When sap streaks or whole surfaces to be bleached are greasy, wipe them off by rubbing with denatured alcohol and let dry before the bleaching solution is put on.
Chlorine Bleach makes an effective bleach, especially if followed by a solution of hydrogen peroxide .
Use this bleaching solution hot and brush on with an old flat wall brush; let dry; wash up with clear water.
Hydrogen Peroxide Bleach. This chemical is a positive acting bleach when freshly made. It is a little expensive when large quantities are needed for large areas of surface. For small stains on patches and spots it is entirely practical. Brush on and allow to dry. Wash up with clear water.
PAINT AND VARNISH REMOVERS
There are certain liquids which a finisher can use to remove paint and varnish, such liquids as benzole, wood alcohol, caustic soda and water solutions, ammonia, etc., but as a general proposition it will be found that it is most economical to use the factory prepared patented liquid and paste removers. The cost may seem high, but it also costs money to fuss around with mixing solutions with which you are not entirely familiar and which seldom work as effectively as the patented removers. In these days of high-wage scales time must be reckoned as money.
There are two or more grades of patented removers on the market.
They are made in thin liquid form for flat surfaces and in thin paste form for vertical surfaces. The cheaper grades of removers depend upon wood alcohol and benzole largely as the solvents for action, while the more expensive and better removers use acetone as the principal solvent. Most of the removers sold now are made under the same license patents which cover the use of wax in the removers to prevent the very volatile solvents from evaporating too rapidly and before they have dissolved the old varnish or paint.
It pays to buy the best quality of patented removers as a rule. When they work too fast on large surfaces to permit scraping off the old varnish before it gets hard again, add more wax to the remover. Place the can of remover in a pail of boiling hot water and when the liquid is hot shave into it a few ounces of paraffine wax. Then it will remain wet longer and permit you to do a cleaner job. Also it is well to coat not so large a surface at a time when the remover permits the varnish to get hard again.
Removing Shellac. To remove shellac from floors and other wood brush on denatured or wood alcohol and scrape up the soft gum as rapidly as possible. Then wash over the whole surface with the alcohol as a final clean up. The denatured alcohol is cheaper than wood alcohol as a rule. Benzine will not do for the final wash-up. Turpentine does not dissolve shellac. Repeated applications of the alcohol may be necessary to remove all of the shellac. When the patented varnish removers are used to remove shellac be sure to wash up well with benzine or benzole later to remove any wax left on the surface from the remover.
Removing Wax from Varnish. Before a waxed surface can be successfully revarnished or painted the wax must be removed. The new coats do not dry when spread on over wax. The wax must all be removed including what has lodged in the seams, cracks and pores of the wood.
The waxes usually used on floors and trim are soluble in benzine, benzole, turpentine and denatured alcohol. If you want to remove wax without injury to the varnish or shellac under it do not use alcohol; the benzine used freely will probably take off all of the wax if you scrub hard enough with it and sandpaper the surface well.
The day has passed when a finisher can profitably spend his time making stains in the old way from the cooking of dye woods, minerals and other substances. When he counts his time cost at prevailing wages no further argument is needed. Convenience and time saving are much in favor of using the best of manufactured ready-prepared stains.
Stains are usually named after the liquid in which the coloring matter is soluble.
Each of the various classes of stains is possessed of certain advantages and some disadvantages. Various kinds of wood take a single stain with different color effect. The difference may be only a lighter or darker shade of the same color or it may be a similar color with a different hue. The brown stain, for instance, which will give you an excellent walnut color on gum will produce only a light brownish yellow on birch and maple.
The wood finisher must know intimately the characteristics of each class of stain, their advantages and disadvantages, penetration, brushing peculiarities, tendency to hold their color or fade soon, etc.
Without such knowledge he cannot follow specifications and match samples of colors in a permanent way. Then there are other considerations such as variations in kinds of lumber used on one job and on different jobs, variations in grades of lumber, select and not select as to color and grain figure and variations in ideas of colors described by standard names. A color sample given to a finisher to match may show the color wanted, but the sample may be birch while the wood to be finished is gum, cypress or pine. Birch and cherry have a natural pinkish hue while some gum when stained has a greenish tone. The finisher must not only know these characteristics but how to treat the woods to make them match the other woods in color.
MOST of the stain used today in the building trade is of the factory-prepared type. Oil stains probably are used to a greater extent than water stains, although the latter are greatly preferred for very high class work. The oil stains are not pigment stains but rather are made with many coloring substances in addition to the oil-soluble aniline and other coal tar dyes.
A busy wood finisher finds considerable advantage in using the factory-prepared stain. He usually uses several brands until he finds a line which suits his needs well and then confines himself to those stains. He secures finished wood panel samples from the manufacturers and soon becomes familiar with the working qualities of these stains and learns how to vary them to get different effects on all the commonly used woods.
When he is given a color to match and a specification which is very different from the ordinary standard finishes he finds the manufacturer's service department willing to make up special stain for the purpose, or to direct his mixing of standard colors to produce the match needed.
With a set of wood sample panels showing all of the common or standard colors on the various kinds of woods the finisher is in position to expedite his customers' selection greatly. Then if he has pasted a label on the back of each sample showing the name or number of the stain used, the kind of wood, the finishing method as to filler, gloss, polish, rubbed, flat varnish or wax, he loses no time dealing with customers or giving out his shop orders when a large amount of work is being done.
When a finisher selects a brand of stains made by one of the larger and long-established manufacturers he finds much advantage in the fact that the colors are standardized in shade and working qualities.
The fact that these characteristics remain unchanged year after year saves time for the finisher when matching colors, mixing and tempering his stains and in the brushing and wiping qualities.
In other words, when his stain for walnut, for instance, is always the same color exactly and always the same strength, he has eliminated two variables and he has less trouble in matching samples. He soon learns exactly what that stain will do on each kind of wood. Then to change the color he adds other colors or more liquid to it, or he may in some cases spread one stain over another to gain the final color wanted.
The variety of stains offered by manufacturers is ample for all practical needs.
For the finest kind of finishing on interior wood trim of buildings, cabinets and furniture, water stains are easily the best type, particularly the aniline and coal tar dye group which comes in convenient dry and liquid form. When a finisher is anxious to build up a reputation he will be wise to use water stain as a rule and get a price which will cover the little extra labor of sandpapering the raised wood grain caused by the use of water on it.
The particular virtue of water stains is that they are far clearer, more transparent, more brilliant in color hue and more permanent against the fading effects of strong light. These stains show up and enhance the natural color shadings and grain figure of beautiful woods to greater advantage than other stains. Fine finishing calls for coloring the wood fibre, not covering or obscuring the natural beauty of the wood, and water stain has no equal in this respect.
The permanency of water stains is far greater than oil and may be considered absolutely permanent for all practical purposes.
In the matter of available colors the water stains are far greater in number than all others; they are numbered by the hundreds.