Arts & Crafts Finish?

[adam prochaska]

I am a long time lurker and first time poster with a question about finishing a quarter sawn white oak curio cabinet. It is my understanding that Stickley originally fumed all of their furniture. I have read a lot about fuming and, for numerous reasons, have decided not to go down that path. I would, however, like to replicate a "fumed" finish with stains and/or dyes. Does anyone have any experience with this? if so, could you recommend a product and/or technique? I will certainly post photographs once the project is complete. Thanks!

[terry hansen]

I urge you to check out Jeff Jewitts site at homesteadfinishing.com. He has some great articles and information on various mission or A&C style finishes, as well as a source of dyes and finish supplies. That said I usually use a water based dye - color depends on wood color and final color wanted, unwaxed shellac seal, and a gel stain as needed. Finish with waterlox or your choice of finishes. I've never tried fuming but thought about it - using ammonia from a blueprint shop and wondered about renting a Uhaul for use as a portable fuming chamber. Maybe some day.

[John Daugherty]

Adam,

I made this clock a couple of years ago as a Christmas present. It's qswo that was finished much the way Terry described. I used a water based dye, dewaxed garnet shellac and a topcoat of varnish. I could have gone much darker by making the dye more concentrated. I made a test board and used several concentrations of dye till I found the one that I liked.

I thought about fuming the clock with ammonia. I actually took some small pieces of the oak and put it in a zip lock bag and put ammonia in a small cup inside. The oak got really dark overnight. I however didn't want to go through the trouble of building a tent and such.


Hope this helped.

[Pete Bradley]

I'm finishing a red oak Craftsman table right now using a variation on Jeff Jewitt's glazing method that I came up with. After raising the grain with water and letting it dry, I sand to 320 grit. This gives the flakes in the oak a "polished" surface. Next I dye the wood using TransTint mixed with water (Dark Vintage Maple and Reddish Brown, in a 20:3 ratio). After that's dry I wipe on General Finishes gel stain (Nutmeg) and rub it off immediately. This darkens the pores a lot and tones down the orange in the dye. The flakes are so smooth that they pick up much less of the stain so they develop a really good contrast and depth. The top coat will be General Finishes Arm-R-Seal (my standard when I need a bulletproof finish that looks good).

I did a lot of experimenting to get to this. The intent was to get the warmth of really fine craftsman furniture with a method that was forgiving and durable.

Whatever you decide to do, be sure to test the entire finishing schedule on scraps before you start on the piece.

Pete