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Many old furniture makers would use whatever wood was available to them, from
an apple tree or other fruit tree, alder growing along a local creek or
whatever else was close at hand and they may have mixed different woods,
although rare because different woods expand and contract at different rates.
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After the boards were glued together to make wider pieces, they were veneered.
The difference in appearance is about the same as the difference in wearing old
jeans and Sunday go to meetin' clothes.
Don't Peel the Veneer
If you have an antique with a little veneer missing on an edge and you don't
feel confident in making the repair, then just feather the edge of the
remaining veneer and put some finish on the feathered edge. The antique will
hold it's value better that way than if you peel the veneer off.
It was very common to have a piece of furniture made of oak and veneered with
oak, sometimes for the prettier appearance of the veneer and sometimes to hide
the fact that the furniture was made from scrap pieces of oak with boards
joined that were an inch or two wider at one end than at the other end.
Strip and Refinish Veneer
If it's necessary to strip a piece of veneered furniture, like a painted
antique, if the veneer is still sound and glued solid, then just use the normal
procedures as you would for stripping solid wood. Never use a tool when
stripping that would gouge or damage the surface in any manner.
If the veneer is bubbled or split use great care not to get stripper under the
lifted veneer, because the stripper has wax in it and can cause problems with
gluing the veneer back down.
Bubbled Veneer
If you have a flat veneered surface that has a bubbled spot where the veneer
has lifted there is a good possiblity that you can reactivate the glue with
heat. Set an iron on low to medium heat, put 3 or 4 layers of WHITE paper over
the bubble. Don't use newspaper or you'll transfer the print to the finish of
your furniture and it becomes a permanent decoration. Don't apply too much
heat at one time or you may soften the finish. If the glue has crystalized it
may take several applications of heat to soften it enough to stick down. Be
very careful about the amount of heat applied each time. It takes less heat to
soften a finish than it takes to scortch a piece of cloth.
More Veneer Later
We'll cover more about veneer in future newsletters there are a lot of
different kinds of veneer and many methods for veneer repair and veneer
application.
More About Formby's Face Lift
Formby's says that with the first step you can clean up years of build up of
waxes and dirt with their cleansing liquid. It is apparently a wax remover
that probably would work similar to denatured alcohol, mineral spirits (paint
thinner) or turpentine to remove old wax build up. Be sure to test a small
area with any product first. Denatured alcohol will dissolve shellac.
The wax removal step could have caused the hazy, sticky problem listed in
newsletter 2001--2
. If there isn't enough of the product provided or if it isn't strong enough
there could be a residue of old wax left that would cause both hazy and sticky. Also, not using enough of the product could cause a problem. You may have to make several applications and use some elbow grease to get a build up of wax and polish removed from the finish.
Be sure that all traces of old wax are removed before trying to put more
finish on a surface.
The second step is a buffing cream which will smooth away minor scratches.
Actual definition would be an abrasive, probably pumice or rottenstone in an
oil base lubricant and would work the same as rubbing compound (pumice) or
polishing compound (rottenstone). As with any activity involving abrasives,
you can't just use it on a little scratch. If you use it at all in a little
area, you'll have to use it equally over all the rest of the surface with the
same amount of elbow grease to keep the repaired area from being noticeable.
Abrasives of all types will wear away a finish, whether it's sandpaper, pumice, rottenstone, steelwool or any other abrasive, so watch carefully when you use any abrasive to be sure that you don't go through the finish.
I haven't been able to make much of a guess at what the 3rd application, the
finish is, but taking a stab in the dark, my conjecture would be that it is
something like a water base vinyl, latex or polyurethane. Since it is applied
with a sponge, water base is about the only thing that wouldn't degrade the
sponge and make little sponge particles in the finish. Since it's applied with
a sponge, which would be very difficult to do evenly and is probably a plastic
product, I would put it in a back corner of a shelf until the next spring
cleaning, then responsibly chunk it. Any time you add more finish to an
existing finish, it's best to determine as closely as possible what the old
finish is and use the same type of finish for a new application.
Unfinished Furniture
We've got just enough room to start a tantalizing bit on unfinished furniture.
Unfinished furniture is one of the best bargains you can get. It sits there in
all of its bare wood glory so you can see any blemishes it may have and you can
always expect to have a blemish or two to take care of.
Most of the unfinished furniture that I've seen has far fewer blemishes than
new finished furniture. After spending so many years fixing blemishes,
whenever I walk into a furniture store the blemishes always stand out on new
furniture. They are repaired and everything is on the up and up, repaired
blemishes on furniture are just a fact of life. This is where you come into
the picture, making the blemishes so they're not noticeable.
Furniture manufacturers and designers and decorators have come up with some
novel ideas throughout the years.
Flyspecks, the little dark dots all over furniture will hide a lot of covered
up ills. If you want to do this yourself, after you stain your furniture,
before the clear finish, take a one inch paint brush and put a rubber band
tightly around the bristles about an inch from the end. Dip the brush in the
same stain you used, then blot the excess stain on a paper towel.
Less mess dust collector
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Hold the brush about a foot from the surface and pull the bristles back with your finger and let them flick back. Little droplets of stain will spot the surface. If you don't like your spot pattern just wipe the spots off like you wipe the excess stain and try it again until you get what you want. Let the stain and spots dry for a minimum of 24 hours, since the spots will be a little thicker than the other stain.
Oops, we just ran out of room. We'll have more on unfinished furniture,
stain swirls and distressing (the furniture, not yourself) in the next
newsletter.
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