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Tuesday, June 19th, 2018
Hooker Furniture Finish: A deep, dark clear finish on walnut, cherry, mappa burl and ebony veneers is highlighted by champagne-colored tipping on carvings and top edges along with chiseling that gives character to the marquetry patterns for a time-worn character.
Before you begin shopping for your next furniture piece, you need to know a few things about the finish’s appearance, what method was used in creating it, and how durable it is. Finishing is one of the biggest fears of woodworkers. While they can be confident in joinery or even intricate designs, they could very easily take a step back when it comes to applying finishes. Knowing the best finish for a certain woodwork is a crucial obstacle to overcome.
There are many categories of finishing products. These are either based on the working qualities or varying degrees of protection that are applied. Just imagine how many you could choose from – oils, vanishes, shellacs, water-based finishes, and lacquers.
Of course, the different finishes offer different levels of durability, protection, aesthetics, and ease of repair and application. No furniture maker would be able to tell you that a particular finish is better than the rest as there are many factors to consider when applying a specific finish. Be ready to accept some trade-offs when picking the right finish for your furniture.
Wood Finish Types
There are only two major types of wood finish and these are how well each cures or dries. The evaporative finishes include shellac, lacquer, and the water-based finishes. These become hard films as they evaporate. Water isn’t a solvent, though, it is just considered a carrier for the emulsion used on the finishing. This type tends to be less durable because they tend to re-dissolve in their thinning solvent.
Reactive finishes, on the other hand, do have evaporating solvents, too, but they react with the chemical mixed with them or with the air once they’re applied. A kind of chemical change occurs right before application and also when they cure. After this, no re-dissolving happens except in the case of the pure oils where the reactive finish holds better to chemicals and heat.
Anthracite black with light dusty-wax hang up , still from Hooker Furniture.
If you’re thinking of wax as a means of finishing the furniture surface, think again. Most woodworkers only look at this as a furniture polisher. They use these often over shellacs or lacquer finishes.
True oils such as linseed and Tung oils are drying oils. These are referred to as true oils just to set them apart from the non-drying or semi-drying kinds like soybean oil. True oils are altered from liquid to solid in a process called polymerization.
Linseed oil has yet many forms. In its unrefined form, it is the raw linseed oil which is not used often because it takes too long to dry. When boiled, this oil becomes thicker and dries up more quickly, hence, more viable for furniture use.
Tung oil comes naturally from Asian nut trees although these are being cultivated all over the globe now. This comes in its pure, unrefined form and also in the polymerized, heat-treated type. Just like in the case of the linseed oil, the heat treatment makes the oil more durable.
Varnishes are either long-oil or short-oil. The former contain high percentages of oil including spar, marine or exterior varnishes. The long-oil type is more elastic. Short-oil or medium varnishes are also known as baking enamels or heat-set varnish. These are used in industrial applications because they require extreme temperatures to dry.
The varnish and oil blends are mostly oils mixed with just a little varnish. They are easily applied because they are oils and they are protective of the furniture surface because they are varnishes, too. Shellacs, on the other hand, may be thought of as a liquid finish but in its pure form, it is actually resin coming from a bug feeding on trees. These bugs come mostly from Thailand and India.
Lacquers are considered as the go-to all-around finish by many furniture makers. They dry quickly and they provide a different kind of richness to the wood.
Tags: finishes, finishes 101, furniture finish, McCreerys, McCreerys Home Furnishings, shopping for finishes
Posted in Decorative Elements, Furniture, Interior Design 101 | Comments Off on Furniture Finishes 101
Thursday, June 23rd, 2016
Hooker Furniture Dark Walnut and Mappa Burl
‘Starting furniture shopping? Consider not just the furniture’s appearance this time. Try to study how the piece was made by an artisan’s hands, why it is durable, and what method of finishing application was used to make it look awesome.
Woodworkers and Finishes
Finishing is one of the biggest concerns for a lot of woodworkers. They may be experts in joinery, machining, and other precision activities but woodworkers – a lot of them, in fact – still take a step back when they are about to apply the finishing.
Now you might ask what the best finish for your furniture is – and that’s one great question. Having the answer to this question will give you much more confidence in overcoming other hurdles in the coming days.
Finishing products may be grouped according to working qualities as well as the kind of protection that they offer ranging from oils, to waxes, shellacs to varnishes, water-based finishes and lacquers. No single finishing is considered the best as one that excels on one furniture may be a total failure in another.
Wood Finishing Classifications
All kinds of wood finishes may be classified into how they dry or how they cure. Finishes that evaporate such as shellac and lacquer become as a hard film once they dry and the solvents evaporate.
Reactive finishes like tung or linseed oil also have solvents that can evaporate yet they cure when they react with air. Such finishes undergo chemical change when they cure. This kind of finish tends to hold better when subjected to chemicals and heat (with the exception of pure oils).
Other Finishes
Wax may not be such a great idea for furniture finish. Carnauba wax or any paste wax can be used to polish furniture but it is advisable to use them over existing finishes like shellac or lacquer.
Varnish is comprised of tough synthetic resins that were modified using drying oils. If you take a look at the labels of varnishes, you would see a list of resins like phenolic, urethane, alkyd, and other oils such as tung or linseed.
Varnishes cure just like true oils through a process called polymerization. The resins heighten the durability. If you want durable finish for your wood furniture, then use any oil-based varnish. Even an average woodworker will be able to apply this finishing product for you. varnishes surpass a lot of finishes when it comes to heat, water, chemical and solvent resistance.
Long oil varnishes are varnishes that contain a huge amount of oil (e.g. spar, marine or exterior varnishes). These are more elastic because they are softer than the short to medium varnishes which contain just a limited amount of oil.
Another type of finish is the varnish and oil blend. This mixture contains a huge amount of oil plus some varnish. This is also an easy-to-apply product though they tend to dry a lot harder than true oil finishes.
Lastly, water-based finishes are often made with either an acrylic urethane blend or an acrylic resin. Adding urethane makes the product scratch-resistant.
Remember that choosing the kind of finish depends on a lot of factors such as temperature in your home, the level of dampness, and the overall environment. The least temperamental when it comes to cold environments are shellac and lacquer; in humid conditions, use oils and any oil-based product.
You would need a bigger budget if you would require spray equipment for your project. If it’s a DIY project that you’re after, then know that there’s a learning curve when it comes to spraying. It would require a lot of practice if you want to get decent results with sprayed on finishes.
Hooker Furniture Clear Dark Oak
Tags: finish, finishes, finishes 101, furniture finish, McCreerys, McCreerys Home Furnishings
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