# Traditional finishes



## MarkDennehy (7 Oct 2016)

So over the last while I've seen Jacob's linseed oil paints, Richard Maguire's tutorial on ebonising, milk paints, and everyone's seen shellac (and BLO finishes for tool handles and the like), and I'm just left wondering -- are there other traditional finishes for wood that are equally awesome that I just don't know about? And where would I go to see them or learn how to do them? So far everything I've seen has left the modern latex paints in the ha'penny place, and I'd like to add to the list of things I could muck about with here to cover over cack-handedness with distractions


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## marcros (7 Oct 2016)

not a finish as such, but have you seen fuming with ammonia on oak, cherry and a few others?


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## MarkDennehy (7 Oct 2016)

I've seen it used for chemical bending of wood, but not as a finish....


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## marcros (7 Oct 2016)

plenty of info online, but here is a starter http://www.leevalley.com/en/shopping/te ... px?p=47277 

you could also look at a soap finish- seems very fashionable at the moment again. https://blog.lostartpress.com/2015/09/1 ... -warnings/


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## Glynne (7 Oct 2016)

Talking about woodworking to a relative last night whose wife is Japanese and whose Mother in Law makes "Kamakura Bori" (I had to look it up to!).
Evidently the lacquer finish is all part of the craftsmanship (or craftwomanship) and is revered as much as classic French polishing. Some makers apparently have workshops up in the mountains where there is less dust so as they can perfect the finish.


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## MarkDennehy (7 Oct 2016)

That soap finish certainly looks nice. Maybe I could use that on the ash in the thing I'm working on now and use shellac on the walnut, get a nice contrast going?


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## Aggrajag (7 Oct 2016)

I've just bought some beeswax and mineral oil as per the tutorial on www.toymakingplans.com - hoping it's an easy, child-safe way of bringing out the grain.


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## AndyT (7 Oct 2016)

One way to find out about older finishes is to read old books - there's a good selection of free downloadable books on finishing in the Evenfalls library here:
http://www.evenfallstudios.com/woodwork ... #Finishing

The trouble is, you'll soon run up against lists of ingredients which are unobtainable, poisonous or both. What price Brunswick Black, Sandarac, Dragon's Blood or butter of Antimony these days? :wink: 

One thought though - it's staining rather than finishing, but when I used potassium permanganate on a project there were some interested comments from people who had only used it as a cure for athlete's foot. However, it does make a nice permanent change to the colour of woods. (See here for more: post726008.html#p726008 )


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## bugbear (7 Oct 2016)

AndyT":25h0p8he said:


> The trouble is, you'll soon run up against lists of ingredients which are unobtainable, poisonous or both. What price Brunswick Black, Sandarac, Dragon's Blood or butter of Antimony these days? :wink:



It's Elf & Safety gorn mad!

BugBear


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## MarkDennehy (7 Oct 2016)

bugbear":2tsjh0b5 said:


> It's Elf & Safety gorn mad!


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## No skills (7 Oct 2016)

Ha, Gorn


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## MarkDennehy (7 Oct 2016)

Gorn _mad_.

It's not quite Elf and safety gorn mad, but unfortunately, this guy's a gnome...


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## MarkDennehy (7 Oct 2016)

BTW, that evenfalls library is absolutely brilliant, thanks Andy, I've a few weeks of reading ahead of me now.


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## ED65 (8 Oct 2016)

MarkDennehy":3n9vum2h said:


> I'm just left wondering -- are there other traditional finishes for wood that are equally awesome that I just don't know about?


Well I don't know about equally awesome but I'll list a few.

Heard of a burnished finish? People argue about whether it's mostly about the burnishing or about the wax (or oil) _sometimes _used to lubricate the burnisher (often made from hard wood or polished semi-precious stone) but I think they're not always thinking of the same thing exactly. Chris Schwarz has written a few times in recent years about using a polissoir which sounds like burnishing but isn't, it's just a means to wax furniture and polish the waxed surface (and there are other methods outlined in old books that can achieve much the same end, possibly more efficiently, including one of my favourites, a piece of felt wrapped around a brick). 

BTW I wouldn't think of linseed oil at all as just being good for tool handles, an oil finish seems to have been the most common finish on good furniture in the West from what can be ascertained from old writings and extant furniture. The procedures used on furniture and a quick oil finish applied to a tool handle are like chalk and cheese and the appearance should be markedly different.

Soap finish has been mentioned already, I tried this on the top surface of a butler's trolley and it worked better than I'd expected to be honest but I'd want to experiment with it further before using it on more furniture. 

Obviously there's French polishing, which you're probably a bit scared by as most people are. But after trying it on a small thing recently I can honestly say it's easier than you fear to get an okay finish. Obviously if you want a super-smooth glossy surface you need to practice and practice but for getting a shine onto wood in short order I highly recommend giving it a whirl.

Many many recipes for paint made from scratch starting with dry pigment if you're into that, but these days with the retail cost of the pigments sometimes being so high I don't think that's a practical avenue for many. But there are dozens of various types of paint types that can be tried if you can get pigments at a price you're happy with: distemper, milk paint of course, early emulsions (real emulsions, not what we call emulsion these days which is a type of acrylic paint), through to variations of oil paint. 

Milk paint and oil paint are the ones most worth exploring in depth IMHO because they are both tough as nails if made well. If you want the best results with oil paint you should invest in a stone or glass plate and a muller to properly incorporate the pigment into the oil. 



MarkDennehy":3n9vum2h said:


> And where would I go to see them or learn how to do them?


I don't know that there are any in Ireland so unless you're willing to travel to do a workshop overseas I think it's books you'll have to rely on. A word of caution: be very careful about using Internet postings to read up on this stuff. The variation in the quality of the information given out in the dozens of "vinegar stain" tutorials online is but a small window on to the world of the "I read this thing once that said such-and-such (I think)" dabbler :lol: 



MarkDennehy":3n9vum2h said:


> Richard Maguire's tutorial on ebonising


I haven't seen that, which technique did he use? There are a few main ones, and with variations it comes to about a dozen methods!


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## MarkDennehy (8 Oct 2016)

ED65":3tmbsaop said:


> MarkDennehy":3tmbsaop said:
> 
> 
> > Richard Maguire's tutorial on ebonising
> ...


It's the last part of his most recent video on building an oak side table, and it's what seems to be a standardish approach of using a tannin solution to prep the oak and a wirewool&vinegar iron solution to do the actual ebonising. But it's very well presented, as usual for him, and the end effect is really stunning:






And watching as the ebonising solution goes on and the colour fades in over a few seconds after the brush stroke is just magic


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## GrahamIreland (10 Oct 2016)

How about actual burning like the japanese do to preserve wood?

Or limed wax - I have no idea what thats used for!

Graham


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## MIGNAL (14 Oct 2016)

Traditional oil varnish is still available. It's just that it comes in the size of thimble and the price is 100 times that of a tin of Ronseal. Lovely smell though. 
As for sandarac and dragons blood. I have some, still available. Dragons blood is a fantastic red, good for tinting shellacs. You just need to buy the correct type of dragons blood. Not cheap though.


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