Newsletter
March 1 2003

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Cabinet Doors

Drawer Slides

Hinges

Knobs & Pulls

Glass

March 1, 2003

Quick tip

Help your furniture by keeping dirt outside. A lot of the dust on your furniture is brought in on feet, both people feet and pet feet. A heavy coarse textured door mat outside the door will catch a lot of dirt, even if the feet aren't wiped. Some pets don't like the feel of the coarse texture so will jump over the mat. If you have it a few inches from the door, when the pet jumps over the mat the jar of landing will knock a good portion of dirt from feet and fur or hair, which will stay outside instead of gritting away on your furniture.

Veneer

I get quite a few questions about veneer, so I'll periodically include some questions and replies. Although those of you who are familiar with veneer and have done some veneering will think there is repeat information, there are a lot of different applications for veneer and lots of people who wonder if veneer will work for their application.

Many people have the idea that veneer makes furniture a lesser grade, but in antiques the opposite is generally true. If a grain pattern is fantastically beautiful, you can bet a bunch that it's veneer.

Far too much modern day furniture is made of particle board with a veneer. If it's a wood veneer it's best.

If it's a plastic laminate it looks good and is durable, but isn't repairable if it's scrached or the surface is damaged in another manner, except to re-veneer with wood.

If it's a plastic film, which is often refered to as a veneer, it's very short term furniture. The plastic film runs anywhere from the thickness of plastic wrap with a photo imprint design of wood grain to the thickness of shelf liner. The plastic film is easily damaged and is non-repairable. It's generally not a good idea to veneer with wood veneer over a plastic film, because although the wood veneer will stick tight to the plastic film, the plastic film is notorious for lifting on the edges and at corners and those areas are still no better for sticking with a wood veneer over the plastic film.

Lots of times I'll make some changes in the email replies that I put in the newsletter, because, like today's two emails had very different questions, but the answers were pretty much identical.

On to the email.

email question.....

I recently purchased a desk that has a veneer top. It has some water damaged and some splits and gouges. If I want to replace the veneer do I have to remove the current veneer to glue a new top on ? Or should I attempt to sand lightly and restain? Thank you
Pauline

reply.....

If the old veneer is glued down tight without lifted edges or bubbles, then it's as sound to re-veneer as a solid wood surface.

You should fill any voids, like splits and gouges. If there is any lifting near the splits you can take a razor knife and cut away the lifted portions and fill them, so there won't be any voids under the new veneer. Wunderfill is a good filler and easy to use and clean up.

Clean the whole top surface well with a good furniture cleaner such as Prelude Furniture Cleaner to be sure there isn't any wax or polish.

The pressure sensitive veneer is as easy to use as self stick shelf paper, actually it's easier because it's solid and doesn't get little wrinkles in it. You just peel the paper backing off and position it and fasten it down with as much pressure as you can muster. Be sure it's positioned right the first time, because when you use pressure on it, it's stuck tight.

See more about working with veneer in our kitchen cabinet refacing section, starting with the contents page which has various pages listed that deal with veneer.

If you decide to refinish you'll need to strip the old finish off before staining. You can find lots of refinishing information starting with our basic information contents page.

.............................

2nd veneer email question.....

Is it possible to refinish furniture that has a melamine type surface? My description may not be correct, but it appears to have abaked on finish with a shine. Iam wondering if it possible to refinish it?

susan

reply.....

If it appears to be melamine it probably is a plastic laminate, such as formica. Most plastic laminates have a paper coat which is impregnated with melamine and other resins and has the design in it. It's compressed at extreme pressures so that it actually becomes part of the plastic sheet.

You can't refinish plastic laminate, but you can veneer it with wood veneer, which isn't difficult to do and the wood can be finished however you would like to have it.

Clean the whole top surface well with a good furniture cleaner to be sure there isn't any wax or polish.

The pressure sensitive veneer is as easy to use as self stick shelf paper, actually it's easier because it's solid and doesn't get little wrinkles in it. You just peel the paper backing off and position it and fasten it down with a lot of pressure. Be sure it's positioned right the first time, because when you use pressure on it, it's stuck tight.

Generally when the flat surfaces are plastic laminate the balance is stained and clear finished wood, so it can be refinished with standard procedures. I recommend Citristrip stripper for inside stripping, it's easier on your health than most other strippers and has a nice orange scent.

Quick tip

Make a big change in the appearance of kitchen cabinets or other cabinetry by replacing the hardware with something new and different.

French Polish (4)

After you finish the bodying session when french polishing you go on to stiffing.

The stiffing process is to remove any little ridges that may have formed as you do the bodying process and to remove any excess oil on the surface.

You should perform the stiffing process after each of the six to eight bodying sessions before any excess oil has a chance to set. Stiffing will smooth out any little ridges left by the pad as you body. They'll be distributed making the surface as smooth as possible and the smoothness is what makes the shine of french polishing.

For stiffing you won't need any more oil, but you'll need just two or three drops of shellac on your pad and several drops of alcohol. The pad should be just damp and you should check it periodically. If it is more than just damp squeeze any excess out in a clean cloth.

After you ready your pad come in with a sweeping motion back and forth until you've covered the whole area. Use a firm pressure, but not hard enough to remove the previous layers. The stiffing isn't adding more layers, but you don't want to remove any either.

After stiffing allow the finish to sit for a couple of hours to let any excess oil that doesn't become part of the polish to come to the surface.

The next step is spiriting and is exactly identical to stiffing, only this time you're removing excess oil that has seeped up, instead of ridges.

Allow the polish to dry for a few hours before you start the next session, then repeat the whole process again until you've completed six to eight sessions.

If you don't allow enough time for each session to dry completely it will continue to dry after the next bodying session has been applied, but the top session will dry more quickly and as the underneath session dries it will shrink, causing the top application to craze.

Check your work from all directions with good light.

After several sessions, if you're safisfied with the appearance, you're done. If you can see some imperfections after the last session you can go on to rubbing.

Rubbing is actually polishing your french polishing job with rottenstone. Rottenstone is a very, very fine abrasive powder, which will rub away anything sticking up and will help to fill minute pits and other voids. You can put the rottenstone in a salt shaker and shake a light sprinkling on your work area and, using your french polishing pad, add a few drops of oil and gently, but firmly rub the whole surface until it has the appearance you want. You can use water for a lubricant too, but it will cause much quicker cutting of the abrasive action, so oil will give you more control.

Now, if you're happy with the appearance, you're done, but. . . If you'd like a little protection for your labors you could appy some wax, such as Antiquax. When you wax, apply the wax very sparingly, so it can dry properly and as hard as possible. Thick coatings of wax tend to stay soft and will soon show imperfections.

There, you're done, except to get a cup or glass of a beverage of your choice and sit and observe the fruits of your labors and to be proud of yourself.

Color

Commercial design engineers work toward changing home furnishing and accent colors yearly, so we'll all have to keep up with the trends and buy new stuff annually to keep the economy robust.

It's good to know how different colors effect people in general and how they effect you and your family in particular. You wouldn't want to change colors to keep up with trends, then walk around glaring at each other, because a color combination punches your grump button.

Color in a childs room can make a profound difference in their general demeanor and the wrong color in a teen's room can really make a jutting chin jut farther.

Primary colors -

Secondary colors -

Tertiary colors

All colors, hues, shades and every other definition of color originate from the primary colors red, yellow and blue. There aren't any colors that can be mixed to make any of the primary colors, but they will make every color imaginable.

The secondary colors are next and are made by mixing the primary colors, then the resulting adjoining colors are mixed to make the tertiary colors and the whole thing keeps going and intermixing to make every color imaginable.

Colors opposite each other on the color wheel are complementary. A color wheel is handy when you're standing with your pointy finger on your chin and a studious look on your face while you're deciding what color to paint the hutch you just bought. After you decide what color would go well with the rest of the decor in the room, then it's important to check the effect of the color on mood, whether it'll make you want to wink at your spouse or heave a sigh of exasperation.

It just might be that your husband hasn't earned a whack with the rolling pin, maybe it's just that a color has had a bad effect.

More on color next time.

Quick tip

If you have a cat that likes to sharpen it's claws on a table leg or chair leg, put several strips of double stick tape on the trouble spot. Most cats don't like the feel of the sticky stuff and will stop scratching. Don't leave the tape on more than just a few days at a time until the problem is taken care of, because if it's on too long the adhesive will cause other problems.

Non glare picture glass

Non glare glass will eliminate reflections on a picture when the light strikes it just right, but instead of reflections you may get a white blob.

Definition is not as sharp with non glare glass when the picture is matted and color is diffused to the point where it can appear different than the original.

We had a picture of a sailing ship framed with half of the glass regular clear picture glass and half non glare glass to help people make a decision about which glass to use.

The sailing ship had lots of lines going to the sails and other definition. The sea was choppy and there was a multicolored sunset, so the picture had a large range of colors. We had used a double mat on the picture, so the glass was set a bit away from the picture. The result was that the half of the picture under the non glare glass had less definition and some of the finer rope lines actually diffused to the point that you didn't realize they were there just looking casually at the picture.

There were many colors in the picture and all made a pleasant transition from one to the other, but the non glare glass diffused some of the colors to the point that they weren't as compatible as the original.

If non glare glass is directly on the picture and no matting is used there isn't any difference in definition and color.