wood-finishes-msg - 2/13/08
Period and SCA wood finishes. Stains. Applied finishes.
NOTE: See also the files: wood-msg, painting-msg, glues-msg, polishing-msg, wood-bending-msg, wood-utensils-msg, woodworking-msg, beeswax-msg.
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This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org
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Mark S. Harris AKA: THLord Stefan li Rous
Stefan at florilegium.org
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From: flieg at garnet.berkeley.EDU (Flieg Hollander)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Pavilion/tent poles
Date: 20 Dec 1994 12:48:01 -0500
Frederick of Holland here -=-
Folo said:
>>For finishing poles, I would suggest a good paint (not a stain)
>>and then linseed oil (boiled; unboiled never dries) and pumice
>>rubbed in. Take a look at various paints on the market for
>>historical homes: they try to match early American paint colors,
>>which are probably going to be the nearest you can get to
>>earlier period paints as well (if this is an incorrect assumption,
>>I hope someone who knows will post additional information). It
>>appears that paint was more commonly used than stains because
>>the folks of the time were trying to hide, not accent, the cheap
>>woods they often used.
As Master Malcom MacPherson (Laurel -- specialty:furniture) reminded us in
a recent class, the "cheap wood" was _oak_, and weather-proofing oak is far
less necessary than it is for other woods. The most period form of sealing
is apparently no sealing at all.
That being said, few of us can afford oak pavilion poles, and sealing fir
that is going to be out in the weather is only sound practice.
I use tung oil, which is a modern concoction, but totally innocuous in
that it just looks like the wood has been darkened slightly by age. Boiled
linseed oil is good, too. Both of these should be renewed periodically. On
the more permanent side, varnishes are period and so are lacquers. Both are
getting harder and harder to find, due to the concern over solvents.
>>However, personally, I just assume that I'm gonna replace poles
>>--gradually, not all at the same time--over the course of a few
>>years.
Yep. I'm lucky. I have a mill not three miles from here which stocks
1 1/2" rod (thicker than clothes rod) in all the fashionable lengths (up to
15') at a reasonable price per foot ( <$1 ). And they let me pick out the
ones with the straightest grain when I tell them I'm using it for a "tent
pole".
* * * Frederick of Holland, MSCA, OP, etc.
*** *** *** flieg at garnet.berkeley.edu
_|___|___|_
|===========|
(((Flieg Hollander, Chem. Dept., U.C. Berkeley)))
From: jklessig at slip.net
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Period Wood Stains
Date: Thu, 05 Jun 1997 06:10:20 GMT
bronwynmgn at aol.com (Bronwynmgn) wrote:
>ua923 at freenet.Victoria.BC.CA (Mark Shier) writes:
>> Your best bet for a period wood stain that is food safe and alcohol
>> resistant is walnut oil. Theophilus (11C) uses it for oiling bone carvings.
>> It is a traditionjal frnch wood finish.
>> I am using walnut oil to finish a batch of Sutton Hoo style beakers.
>> Wood finishes are a problem for reenactors- there is very little known from
>> period.
>Are there any period finishes to waterproof the wood somewhat? My lord
>and I are looking at making some camp furniture out of oak and would like
>to finish it in as period a manner as possible. Would oak need a
>waterproof finish, or only softer woods such as pine? I would guess that
>one alternative might be beeswax well rubbed in, but it's only a guess.
>Bronwyn
The walnut oil finish will water proof wood to some extent (depending
on how many coats you apply) walnut oil (which should be pure, with
aout antioxident additives or preservatives) is a "drying" oil. What
this means is that it reacts (slowly) with the oxygen in air to form a
polomerized film. Tung oil, and linseed oil are also drying oils, and
may work faster.
Oak in particular can be a problem, it is a porous wood
(red oak is so bad that it will not hold water) To seal it well you
have to fill these pores with finish, which takes for ever.
As for bees wax, I use it when I am turning goblets or bowls on the
lathe. But the method I use for applying it (using the friction caused
by the lathe turning to melt the wax into the wood, smells great) will
not work for furniture.
Chandra
From: rnewmyer at epix.net (Robert Newmyer)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Period Wood Stains
Date: Thu, 5 Jun 1997 11:30:17 -0400
Organization: R. Newmyer Consulting
We have been using Danish oil finishes on our rope bed, trestle table,
chairs and pavilion poles. The finish on the trestle table held up well
at last PENNSIC. We've used the Danish oil on pine, poplar and alder.
Especially liked the "English Oak" finish on our rope bed. Danish oil is
another drying oil finish. Does anyone know the ingredients used? I
believe Danish oil is based on linseed or tung oil, which had it's origin
in a nut found in China (May not be period)
BTW, you can buy walnut oil in supermarkets in the salad oil section.
Griffith
From: j klessig <jklessig at slip.net>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Period Wood Stains
Date: Fri, 06 Jun 1997 08:53:51 -0700
Robert Newmyer wrote:
> We have been using Danish oil finishes on our rope bed, trestle table,
> chairs and pavilion poles. The finish on the trestle table held up well
> at last PENNSIC. We've used the Danish oil on pine, poplar and alder.
> Especially liked the "English Oak" finish on our rope bed. Danish oil is
> another drying oil finish. Does anyone know the ingredients used? I
> believe Danish oil is based on linseed or tung oil, which had it's origin
> in a nut found in China (May not be period)
>
> BTW, you can buy walnut oil in supermarkets in the salad oil section.
I believe modern (like watco) danish oils are a mixture of tung like oils
and disolved polymer resins.
I would not use walnut oil from the supermarket unless you are sure it
has NO preservatives. The preservatives prevent the precise reaction you
want for a finish. "organic" or health food stores are more likely to
have pure oil.
Linseed oil (flax seed) is quite period. Tung oil I do not know
From: Dan Bollinger at Clay Critters <danr at critters.mdn.com>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Period Wood Stains
Date: Fri, 06 Jun 1997 15:04:03 -0700
Robert Newmyer wrote:
> We've used the Danish oil on pine, poplar and alder.
> Especially liked the "English Oak" finish on our rope bed. Danish oil is
> another drying oil finish. Does anyone know the ingredients used? I
> believe Danish oil is based on linseed or tung oil, which had it's origin
These types of finishes are half-oil and half-varnish, it has dryers
added. Varnishes do appear early, I don't know when.
An earlier hard finish is shellac. "French Polishing" is done with
shellac and oil mixture.
As someone else said, beeswax is very old. Probably into antiquity.
An interesting and possible early stain for oak is "fuming." Place the
oak in tight container (I use a garbage bag) into which also sits a
shallow pan containing ammonia. The ammonia fumes turn the tannic acid
in the oak a very warm, rich brown. Ammonia would have been available
from urine as bacteria changed it into ammonia.
Green Man Dan
From: gerekr at aol.com (Gerekr)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Period Wood Stains
Date: 6 Jun 1997 22:10:38 GMT
I've used beeswax mixed with turpentine. It doesn't smell very nice until
the turpentine evaporates, but works well. They were using it in the
seventeenth century, but I don't know if it was documented earlier than
that. I wouldn't use in for food related objects.
Meistari Gerekr
From: millsbn at mcmail.cis.McMaster.CA (Bruce Mills)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Period Wood Stains
Date: 7 Jun 1997 20:54:13 -0400
Organization: McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Dan Bollinger at Clay Critters <danr at critters.mdn.com> wrote:
>An interesting and possible early stain for oak is "fuming." Place the
>oak in tight container (I use a garbage bag) into which also sits a
>shallow pan containing ammonia. The ammonia fumes turn the tannic acid
>in the oak a very warm, rich brown. Ammonia would have been available
>from urine as bacteria changed it into ammonia.
You can also soak rusty iron in vinegar and apply the resulting solution to oak to turn it black; the iron reacts with the tannin, the same process used to make some inks.
Akimoya
Ealdormere
From: "merlyn" <merlyn at jps.net>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Period Wood Stains
Date: 10 Jun 1997 19:31:16 GMT
Robert Newmyer <rnewmyer at epix.net> wrote:
> We have been using Danish oil finishes on our rope bed, trestle table,
> chairs and pavilion poles.
> BTW, you can buy walnut oil in supermarkets in the salad oil section.
>
> Griffith
> > >ua923 at freenet.Victoria.BC.CA (Mark Shier) writes:
> > >> Your best bet for a period wood stain ...
> > >is walnut oil. Theophilus (11C) uses it for oiling bone
> > >carvings.
> > >> Wood finishes are a problem for reenactors- there is very little
> > >known from
> > >>period.
> >
> > >Are there any period finishes to waterproof the wood somewhat?
> > >Bronwyn
> > The walnut oil finish will water proof wood to some extent (depending
> > on how many coats you apply) ...
> >
> > As for bees wax, I use it when I am turning goblets or bowls on the
> > lathe. But the method I use for applying it (using the friction caused
> > by the lathe turning to melt the wax into the wood, smells great) will
> > not work for furniture.
> >
> > Chandra
As a longtime woodworker, including over 20 years as professional
carpenter, cabinet maker and general contractor, I have had a lot of
reasons to explore period wood finishes. Unfortunately little has
survived. Most furniture was simply scraped smooth on completion and put
into service. The same is true for early drinking vessels and eating
utensils(including trenchers).
Waxes were sometimes used on furnishings and utensils for the rich
and the nobility, but exact methods of application are virtually unknown.
One method commonly supposed to have been used is to "paint" the liquified
wax on the object and then scrape off the excess followed by buffing with
various types of cloth from coarse to fine. This is extremely tedious and
the results are passable. Walnut oil seems to be the only reasonably well
documented treatment.
Waterproofing is slightly different. While various oils were
experimented with, the most common treatment was pitch. It was cheap,
plentiful, easy to work with (barring the liklihood of burns) and worked
very well. It's primary drawback is that it tends to remain tacky
indefinitely and residue rubs off on contact.
If you need more information most manufacturers of oil finishes have
published material on the history of their products, covering both
manufacture and use.
Etienne Xavier Bondurant du Blacquemoor
"Qvid me anxius sum?"
From: ALBAN at delphi.COM
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: waxed wood
Date: 5 Jun 1997 23:37:15 -0400
Bronwyn asked:
>Are there any period finishes to waterproof the wood somewhat? My
>lord and I are looking at making some camp furniture out of oak and
>would like to finish it in as period a manner as possible. Would oak
>need a waterproof finish, or only softer woods such as pine? I would
>guess that one alternative might be beeswax well rubbed in, but it's
>only a guess.
I've used boiled linseed oil on my tent poles; and the three tables I use
to display my wares at Pennsic are also, if I remember correctly,
thoroughly coated with linseed oil. The tables have lasted through,
umm, about 4 Pennsics, so far, and the tent poles through seven or
eight, no problem, and none of the tables or poles have needed to be re-
rubbed.
Admittedly, they're also not out in the rain: close, but not actually out.
Since (again, if I remember correctly) linseed oil is made from flax, and
since flax was known in period, I believe linseed oil is also period.
Two things to remember: you'll need at least two coats if you're going to
use it on untreated wood. And you will notice a faint smell of linseed
oil for a long time; my tables still have a faint whiff of it, several years
after having it applied. (It's not a bad smell or anything; it's just a
smell.)
I've heard good things about beeswax-as-waterproofing, but haven't
tried it myself. Wax has other uses, too - candles, flux for casting metal
printing type, lubrication for a whole mess of things, coating (I think)
for vegetable and fruit canning, sealing wine bottles . . . .
Be very, very careful, though: when you apply the oil to the wood, look
out for splinters. One of the tent poles bit back, I wound up with a
couple of inches of splinter in a finger, *poof* infection crept in, and I
spent three days in the hospital, on IV antibiotics, thanks to an
incredibly huge swelling on that finger. - and all this, despite the fact
that I'd applied bandages and over-the-counter antibiotics to the wound.
Anyone else have a blooded tent? <grin>
Alban
Date: Fri, 28 Nov 1997 13:02:19 -0600
From: Sinclair <jeffdp at earthlink.net>
To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu
Subject: Not just leater
Put several rusty iron nails
>in vinegar for around two weeks. When you brush it on leather you get a nice
>grey or black based on how strong the solution is. The color only bleeds
>slightly in water. The down side is that this dying method will cause wool
>and silk fibers to degenerate faster.
>
>Noemi
The recipe of rusty metal and vinger is also used in woodworking! If you
put this solution on wood with a high tannic acid concentration, such as
oak, you will also obtain shades of grey to black. The pores will be
darker. If you want to make a wood, such as maple, grey, just 'paint' it
with tea, let it dry, and then put the solution on it. (This is called
Liquid Nightmare, by the way, and if you spray drops around you may learn
where the name comes from...
Sinclair
Subject: Re: Period Woodworking (+Reference)
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1998 21:51:27 -0700
From: Tim Bray/Catherine Keegan <keegan at ix.netcom.com>
To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu
Colin briefly jumping in:
Period sanding techniques: None, because sanding does not appear to have
been done in the Middle Ages. The process of dressing wood with a plane
yields a very smooth surface (smoother, in fact, than sandpaper will give
you), particularly if the plane is very sharp and well-tuned. I have
personally inspected a fair amount of woodwork from the 14th to 16th
centuries and "chatter-marks," left by a plane that was slightly dull or
out of tune, are typically evident, particularly on the "back" sides of an
object. The visible surfaces in "front" were most probably finished by
scraping with a sharp edge where necessary. This technique is still used
today by traditional woodworkers. Sandpaper itself is no earlier than
the 19th century.
Period finishing techniques: The most common finish was probably none at
all. Ordinary objects, such as furniture, that were used on a daily basis
would rapidly acquire a "patina" from handling. This handling would also
damage other finishes that could have been used, such as wax; a wax finish
has surprisingly little resistance to moisture and will wear off very
quickly, making it not worth the trouble (and expense, in the MA) to
apply.
Exceptions: Highly valued objects that were not intended to be handled
frequently were finished with the most expensive and therefore desirable
material available - paint. To our modern aesthetic, shaped as it is by
the Arts & Crafts Movement etc, it seems almost sacrilegious to paint over
a beautifully figured oak panel; yet that would have been the first choice
of a medieval artisan working in the "high-end" of the market.
Remember, these people would have been surrounded by wooden objects, and the
"natural" appearance of wood that we prize so highly would have seemed
"common" and vulgar to the upper classes. Instead of "finishing," think
of "decorating."
The ultimate "high-end" finish can perhaps be found in tiny remnants on
such objects as the Coronation Throne of England. The original finish, in
addition to polychrome paint (including white lead with red lettering),
included a gold foil surface on the back that was decorated by punching to
create the image of a king (possibly Edward I). At a later but still
medieval date, the throne was partially covered over by a sort of lustrous
glazing. My references do not tell me what this glazing was made from,
but it sounds sort of like coloured varnish.
Varnish made from linseed oil was known at least as early as the mid-15th
century, and possibly earlier; Cennini mentions how to make it. This was
the base for the oil paint invented (some say) by Hubert VanEyck. It was
almost certainly used to glaze over paintings on wood panels, and therefore
seems likely to have been used on decorative objects as well.
During the ReNAYsance (I pronounce it the way Blackadder did), of course,
this esthetic underwent considerable change and high-end wooden objects,
often inlaid with contrasting colors of wood, were finished with clear
varnish. Again, this varnish was based on linseed oil, prepared by a
low-temperature cooking process that partially polymerizes the oil. Modern
linseed oil will produce a very acceptable imitation finish; do not use it
on eating utensils, as it contains toxic metals to improve the curing
process.
Hope this helps! There is not, alas, a single good reference book
available for period woodworking techniques. There are several books that
touch on the subject, but none that are comprehensive. Most of the above
information is distilled from snippets describing objets d'art in museums,
museum catalogs, and archaeological references. There is one reference
that may contain more information, but I haven't been able to locate a
copy: "Furniture in England, France, and the Netherlands, 1200-1500" by
Penelope Eames. If anyone has seen this, let me know what it's like and
where you found it!
Colin de Bray
From: Tim Bray/Catherine Keegan <keegan at ix.netcom.com>