Neanderthal Finishing?

[Ron Brese]

I have an extensive finishing background, however most of my past work has always included many different versions of blockers, dyes, stains, and a different array of top coats. I have lately begun getting so enamored with shellac and french polishing that it occurred to me that maybe this would be considered more of a Neanderthal version of finishing. So this set me thinking about methods of coloring that would not include pigments and dyes and would rather induce coloring thru chemical reactions. I want to try and stay away from things that are potentially hazardous, so I have been doing some experiments with hydrated lime dissolved as best as possible in water. So far my initial experiments have yielded very good results in mahogany & cherry, and virtually no color change on pine, and minimal color change on maple and curly maple.

I stil have to fine tune the exact measurements of lime to water and duration of application, however the intial experiments are quite encouraging, expecially in regards to aging cherry quite rapidly.

So my question is this, are there others that have pursued my Neanderthal finishing methods and are you willing to responds with your on findings? I'm sure I'm not the only person that ever decided to color wood by obtaining a reaction to lime so I would be interested in hearing from others about this subject.

Thanks,

Ron

[Mike K Wenzloff]

Analine dyes have been made and used for a huge amount of time--in all likelihood well past any given furniture period you choose to work in.

However, Stephen Shepherd is coming out with another book on what people did who did not have ready access to such things. He is a period woodworker in Utah and mostly follows what was available there in the 1850 time period, including indigenous peoples.

The book of his currently reprinted and available via tools for Working Wood has some finishes and natural dye/stain recipes. (And is interesting in its own right.)
http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/Merchant/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=toolshop&Product_Code=AQ-1062&Category_Code=

That all said, I've used various means to darken or bleach different woods. Probably one of the most oft was used by me was lime for darkening Mahogany.

Take care, Mike

[Dave Anderson NH]

I replied on the finishing forum Ron.

[Jim Nardi]

It's almost time to round up black walnuts. Crushed up dryed black walnuts mixed with distilled water then strained makes a nice dark stain. Sunlight still works the best on everything but walnut IMO.

[Randall Houghton]

Ron
Check out Adventures in Wood Finishing by George Frank. Several good old world finishes and techniques.
Regards
Randy

[Greg Crawford]

Ron,

Would you mind posting some pics of your results? It sounds interesting. I've been hooked on shellac for almost a decade, and like to use dark garnet on cherry. My first french polish was some chess boards I made for my daughters. It took some time and patience, but they really turned out nice.

[Ron Brese]

Greg,

I also like the dark garnet variety of shellac, given that I do more period pieces than anything else, it really helps to enhance the look of these pieces. Up to now I have almost always top coated my shellac with waterborne lacquer, however I always french polish the tote and infills of my planes. On the plane parts it looks great and also feels great to the hand. I'll try to post some pics as I further my experiments with this method. That will allow me to do some before and after comparisons.

I don't know if you have ever put dark garnet shellac on reclaimed very old heart pine, if not you should try it. The transformation will make your heart skip a beat. Shellac and pine work very well together.

Ron

[Greg Crawford]

Ron,

In Texas, pine generally means southern yellow pine. The variety available in these parts is usually not dried well, a quick growing tree, and changes shape almost hourly. With that said, pine is just something I've stayed away from. However, I do have some plans for some spruce, and I am now getting excited to see the results with the shellac. Thanks for the tip. In fact, I may go dispose of some old shellac on some scrap pine I have ;-) There are also a lot of old houses around here made from old growth yellow pine, very different than what's sold today. I'll look for some of that wood to try. Thanks

[Ron Brese]

Greg,

The other day I was talking with a forrester and we where discussing the difference between old growth heart pine and yellow pine. He mentioned that some people were of the impression that the only difference was in the age of the trees and whether or not they were old growth or new growth, however he said that the older heart pine was in fact a different tree and he did not understand why someone was not aggressively pursuing growing the older variety of the true heart pine.

The material that I had recently, came off the soffit of a 100+ year old farm house here in the area where I live. When I took the board down during the rehabbing of this old house I noticed that this board had no defects other than the holes where the square cut nails had been driven. It was quite heavy for it's size and I therefore recognized it as something special.

When I got it back to my shop and starting cutting this board up into the parts for the project for which it had been assigned, I then realized that I had a quarter sawn board with 30+ growth rings per inch in some parts of the board. The knots that were present where tight and solid.

It had a very nice lustrious reddish brown natural color and unlike most pine it responded particularly well to being smoothed with a 55 degree smoothing plane, even the area around the knots cleaned up perfectly with the plane. But when the garnet shellac was applied, color that exceeded my expectations appeared in that board.

I felt quite honored that fate had picked me to be the one to work this exceptional piece of wood. To have a piece of wood that is still in exceptional shape after having been on the outside of a house for over 100 years is not something that comes along everyday. I returned the board to the home owners in the form of two picture frames that included prints that I thought most appropriately featured folk art prints of "farm houses."

Ron Brese