18th Century Mahogany Furniture With Stain Stripped Off Pictures
GIVING THE FINEST FINISH TO MAHOGANY
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December 4, 1986
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Amid 18th-century cabinetmakers, some mahoganies may accept seemed a little less exciting than others, and means were oft establish to enrich the woods' colors and make the figurations more than striking.
Early on in this ''mahogany period,'' any finish was practical - rubbing oil, wax or some sort of varnish - it would be tinted red using such natural dyes as the alkanet root of the henna family; dragon's blood, a resin from the fruit of a palm, or ruby-red sanders, a dye from the centre of the sandalwood tree.
There may well have been other concoctions. Although it would be hard to imagine what 18th-century mahogany furniture looked like when first leaving the shop, the colors were avoiding and thus mellowed with fourth dimension and calorie-free into that wonderful wait that one has come to look in fine old mahogany pieces.
Occasionally, when i comes across mahogany piece of furniture with an unusual or unappealing colour, it may well be that restraint - the essential ingredient in all restoration work -has not been practical. It may already have had one confront lift, and doing information technology again may be more than the forest can take.
From the 1920'due south through the 1950's much mahogany article of furniture was produced in America and given a clear acme coat over a reddish stain of an unmistakable color usually referred to as cordovan. It was made past mixing a red stain with blackness and other moderating colors.
Although now out of favor, this may well be the colour you are given these days when asking for a mahogany stain. Nearly of the stains used in this flow were aniline dye-colored, intense and quite permanent, for they were captivated securely into the surface fibers of the woods.
It is not an easy color to remove, using materials available to the practice-information technology-yourselfer, and if you ain a modest slice of cordovan or any other mahogany of aberrant colour that you would prefer to have the more than-acceptable brownish look, the answer may be to take it to a stripping shop. Look for shops working with the hose stripping method rather than the immersion method. With the finish removed, the wood is rinsed off using a mild bleach. In choosing a store, inquire to meet a piece of mahogany that has been through this process.
When finishing the piece at abode, consider using a walnut-colored penetrating tung oil that will help restore the natural color of the forest subdued in the stripping procedure. Try one coat and if that gives you the shade you want, the surface should be built upwardly using a articulate stop of oil, varnish or a polyurethane.
Equally with whatever stain, it is e'er a good idea to examination commencement on the underside. Information technology will not nowadays a true film, since that surface volition have been untreated, only at to the lowest degree it will requite you lot some idea. Whatever is used, applying a couple of coats will produce an open-pore look, and then if it is a glossy stop you are after, iv or more coats will be necessary. If you prefer the work to have a more crimson bandage, try Minwax Special Walnut, because it is warmer than the browns of other walnut stains.
Before applying the stop, the surfaces must be cleaned off: Wipe them with a clammy cloth or sponge and then, when the woods is thoroughly dry, any raised shreds can be knocked off, using a grade of sandpaper no coarser than 220. Do not sand too vigorously. Go on the activity low-cal and fifty-fifty and simply plenty to take downward the raised grain and restore smoothness.
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