Newsletter
November 23 2002

We've had some real interesting questions via email, guest book and forum, which should be helpful to a lot of people, including one for our section on Finishes, Paints and Stains.

Our new Faux Finish to cover is Faux Leather, which is lots of fun and gives an interesting effect to whatever you use it on.

Several Quick Tips round it off.

It seems that I'm going to have to be pretty windy to get it all out.

If you like our web site and our newsletter, please Recommend Us to a friend.

When you come across a normal blue colored link it will take you to more information about the subject, unless otherwise stated.

When you see a fuchsia word it means that there is a link at the end of the newsletter which leads to more information, prices and the opportunity to purchase, but no obligation.

When you put a picture in a frame, turn the picture face down on a table and apply double stick tape to the back of the frame, then put paper on the back and trim just inside the outer edge of the frame. The double stick tape will hold the paper firmly and the paper will help keep dust and moisture away from the framed picture.

We had a good question that fits nicely in our Finishes, Paints and Stains section

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Just new to your site, I am interested in your thoughts on water base versus oil base products and the pros and cons of both. Thank you, Cathy

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Overall there are some good water base products, but as a traditionalist and since I have a great interest in antique restoration, I generally use the natural and older type products when working with furniture.

Paint is a different story, I would never use an oil base paint inside for several reasons. Water base paint will dry quicker and has far less odor than oil paint does. If you get a high solid, name brand water base paint you can figure on good coverage, good washability and no problems. You can figure the same way with oil base paint, but with high odor, which can cause illness in some people and a long drying time, which makes it a good bug catcher.

I've tried using water base stain when I had a rush job and for a touch up in a small area the water base stain is ok, but for staining large areas it's a real pain. Water base dries too quickly, doesn't have the clarity of oil base and is very difficult to spread smoothly and evenly. Extenders have made water base stain quite a bit easier to use, but if you're working with antiques you won't find any that have any water base products on them. I've been told by some people that they prefer the water base, so it's more a matter of personal preference and what works best for you, except with antiques.

You can apply oil base stain just about any way you can think of, wipe the excess and let it dry and if you've paid attention to surface preparation, you've got a good stain job. I always recommend oil base stain to first time stainers so they can be encouraged with a good job on their first try, then if they want to branch out with other products it's up to them to find what works for them.

I can't say much about water base clear finishes, because I'm a died-in-the-wool lacquer fan and it's about the only finish I use. I have tried water base clear finishes just to have had the experience with them and they seem to work ok. Brushing lacquer is almost fool proof, but I've been told by some people that they've had a very difficult time working with regular lacquer. I've made thousands of spray applications with lacquer and it's just like everything else, when you do it a lot it becomes easy and trouble free.

With oil base products you need lots of good ventilation. With water base you need ventilation, but not as crucially as with oil base.

With oil base products you need to use great care to have a metal container with a lid to contain rags and other materials that have been used, because spontaneous combustion isn't just a possibility, but is a definite danger when you get a pile going.

Rags and other materials used with water base products can make a heck of a mess if you leave them laying around, but are less dangerous. It's still a good idea to use the metal container though as manufacturers have discovered that straight water base has drawbacks and have started mixing oil and water with emulsifiers, which improve the product, but leaves us with the spontaneous combustion problem.

Environmentalists will say that water base products are far superior to oil base. Wood finishers will generally say that oil base products are easiest to use.

It's always good to try different kinds of products and different brands of products in the same category. There's not a lot of difference between oil stains of different brands, except that colors vary tremendously. Mahogany may be pinkish in one product, quite red in another and blackish red in another.

Water base stains have a world of difference in color and workability in different brands, so experimentation is best to see which is the easiest and most pleasing product for each person to use.

When you're polishing the antique silver, or any other silver or flatware you can polish inside the tines of a fork easily by using a piece of string dipped in polish.

.....question..................................................................

which to use on which clear sealers? tack rag or rag w. mineral spirits on it?? which to use in between coats of brushing lacquer after light sanding(240 paper). or doesn't it matter much.
thank you. you're newsletter is great.

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Any time you sand it's a good idea to clean up with a tack cloth. They're just a little stickier than flypaper and with refolding and using new surfaces will pick up just about every speck of sanding dust. Tack clothes won't leave any of themselves on the surface.

Mineral spirits may leave some residue, which could cause a problem with the next coat of finish not sticking properly or could leave enough sanding dust to cause roughness in the next coat. Depending on humidity and temperature the mineral spirits could leave a whitish appearance too, which could effect the next coat.

Lacquer will dissolve the very top of the previous coat and the new coat will intermingle with the old, so that when you get several coats on it's actually one good thick coat, so the surface should be just as clean as possible.

.....Question..................................................................

Hi-- I happened on your site while researching tung oil to apply on new cabinets we will be installing in the kitchen. We would like to whitewash the cabinets to lighten the kitchen area. If we use an oil based white wash before the tung oil, will the tung oil protect as it should?

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Tung oil over an oil white wash should work fine. Be sure to let the oil wash dry thoroughly. Since tung oil isn't exceptionally hard and kitchens are rough on finishes it would be good to use the heaviest duty tung oil you can get. Chinawood oil is another name for tung oil, which originated in China.

Although tung oil isn't high on the hardness list it is durable and easy to repair and maintain. If it gets scratched, for instance fingernail scratches around door and drawer pulls, a quick rub with 0000 steel wool and another application of tung oil will take care of it. A fresh light application of tung oil every few months will keep it looking like new.

If you have a scratch or a small hole in the silvering of a mirror, try taping a piece of aluminum foil over the area on the back of the mirror. It's not the perfect repair, but will help some.

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Hello this site is great!!!

Ok i have a problem that just happened last night. I went out with my husband and my kids stayed home and watched my brothers baby because he went out with us too. The baby used a sharpe marker to draw and it went through the paper and on to the Dining room table. In panic my son did not call me and tell me in stead he used a brilo pad to get the marks off. The marker marks are off now but theres about 100 small scratchs together on the one part of the table. My question is Can i get rid of those scratchs and if so what do i use or is there anything that can cover it up? You cant see the scratchs unless in the light or if your looking for them.

ThankYou

Alex

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It shouldn't be too much of a problem to fix since it's not too noticeable. You can rub the scratches out with either pumice or rotten stone.

The rotten stone is very fine powder and will give a high gloss, while the pumice is more coarse and will give a normal gloss. They are both abrasive, like sandpaper, but on a much finer scale and are used for smoothing and shining, but they do wear through the finish while you're using them, so you have to be careful as you work and check your progress continuously.

They're both powder and have to be mixed with oil or water to use them. Water will make them work a lot faster than oil, so since you don't do this frequently I'd suggest the slower process with oil. Just about any light oil will work, as it's main function is to lubricate so the powders can do their jobs. Don't use any spray lubricants, as they would probably damage the finish.

After the damaged area is done you may have to rub the whole table top, because the repaired area will probably have a different appearance.

To make a leather appearance on anything from a small table to a complete wall or all the walls in a room a procedure which has come to be known as Paper 'plique is used.

The use of paper in a finish will sometimes raise eyebrows and bring some interesting exclamations, but remember that some pretty fancy looking walls are done with wallpaper.

You could easily do a table top with commercial wall paper for a very unique look, for instance, if you papered a wall with a commercial wall paper you could do matching end tables with the same wall paper. We'll go into the procedure at another time.

We'll go through some of the variables before we start the actual procedure. There are so many variables that we won't be able to cover them all, because there are many minds ticking already with personal thoughts of variables. Any variation of the procedure that works for you and gives you the results that you want are fair game. These types of procedures generally have a standard base and then your imagination can take over from there.

The crinkles which make the leather grain are easily made, just wad the paper up in a ball and squeeze it tightly. Each piece of paper will have it's own unique crinkle pattern, just the way real leather has.

You can make a finer smoother looking leather finish by using tissue paper, but in the gluing procedure you need to use a very tender touch to keep the crinkles in the tissue paper from smoothing out completely.

Kraft paper is a more hardy paper to work with and is the paper most generally chosen and easiest to work with. If you like to recycle, have the grocery store sacker put your groceries in paper bags, then use the paper bags to make faux leather.

You can buy kraft paper in rolls, generally found in gift wrapping sections in stores or in the stationery section with mailing supplies.

Before you crinkle the paper you'll need to prepare it. Tear, don't cut, the paper into pieces, about as large as you can get from a grocery sack without any creases, any size sacks will do, it just takes more of the smaller size, but they still work ok. If you use rolled kraft paper tear off pieces from the roll at about two feet. The rolls are generally two and a half feet wide, so you'd have a piece of paper two feet by two and a half feet. You can make the pieces smaller if it's easier for you to work with.

Tear off all sharp straight edges of the paper so you've got all nice soft, fuzzy non-symmetrical edges

It's best to not use any grocery sack parts that have writing on them (hang on to them a minute, I've got an idea). Even if you turned the writing face inward the ink would probably bleed through when the paper got wet from the installing procedure.

The brainstorm!! If you'd like to have a conversation piece wall in your kitchen, collect paper sacks from all the grocery stores in your area and randomly add the writing portion of the sacks to a kitchen wall.

Well, it seems that all fun things have to come to an end just at the point where it makes you say, "No! No!", but we've run out of room for this installment.

It's best to stay away from oil base polishes and cleaners on vinyl, as they will harden the vinyl making it more susceptible to cracking.

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I am restoring an old childs rocker and the veneered seat required quite a bit of glue work and puddy, I used elmers carpenters wood filler, (white). My question is what do you use to match the puddy spots with your stain or glaze? or better yet what steps would I take in doing so, do I stain first than try to blend in puddy to the same color and what would I use to blend in the filler?? I need to know how to work with furniture that has had a lot of restore work (which I can do) but am having trouble with matching colors when staining and glazing. Could you tell me the steps to take? Thanks, Denise

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I've never had luck getting Elmer's filler to take stain. As I recall it's a vinyl filler, so dries as a plastic and isn't porous, so it can't soak up stain. It's excellent for painting though.

You need a cellulose filler like Fix Wood Patch or Wunderfill. Wunderfill has several different shades and will take an additional amount of stain. Fix will suck up stain like a sponge. To use a different filler just scrape the filler you have in now down below the surface, it doesn't have to all come out. Leave it kind of rough so the new filler has something to cling to. I think you'll find the job a lot easier with a more cooperative filler.

It's easiest to stain everything first then work with the color on the filled areas. If the filled areas are a little too dark, then sand those areas with a finer sandpaper. The more smooth the filler is the lighter the color will be, so you can do a lot toward matching just with the smoothness, using the same stain.

Tack Cloth
Tung Oil and Chinawood Oil
Rottenstone and Pumice
Wunderfill Wood Filler