stains on secondary woods

F

FTaylor

New member
In my work, I never quite know whether or not to stain secondary woods?backs of case pieces, insides of drawers, etc.  Commercial reproductions, even the ones well made, always seem to be stained.  But it seems to me 18th century craftsman might not have bothered and that the dark color we see is a result of age.  Can anyone illuminate me on what period makers did?  Also, I?d be interested in knowing as manner of practice what any of you do.

Fred Taylor
 
The really dark color on the back of some pieces is a wash of red lead. Jack plane has a post on his blog that goes into detail of this practice. If I remember it's called minium and was thought to be a means to control pests.
I tend to stain the backs of pieces but not the interiors.
 
I color everything.  Inside and out.  The inside is usually an alcohol dye not necessaruly to mimic age but to eliminate the "newness" of the piece.  I typically color the outside of the pieces to have age through multiple colors/glazing layers.  To have brand new drawer sides or other secondary wood just to me has to much contrast.  I also shellac the interiors as well.  I am not to concerned what they did on period pieces.

Pete
www.cherrybrookwoodworks.com
 
Would not it come down to personal preference. Just as today, there were many instances where period pieces had their inards colored to match their surroundings. More work more cost. It was what your client wanted unless you offered coloring of secondary wood for free. Who pays the bill???
 
The only reason for colouring interiors and drawer linings nowadays would be to replicate the ageing of the bare surfaces: These surfaces weren't stained originally. The only exception would be the interior of door-hung case work which commonly received a very light pigmented wash.

It's easy to spend as much time ? or even more ? faking the unseen surfaces, so with the furniture I make for my own use, I always colour the backs, bases and tops with a suitable pigment/minium wash, but I usually don't colour drawer linings or the interior of carcases. .
 
Jack,

Do you have a link you could provide on the process used for pigment washing case backs?

Thanks,

Joel
 
I like to leave secondary surfaces natural, like to think that is what the originals looked like when new. Nice and bright.
 
jficke said:
Jack,

Do you have a link you could provide on the process used for pigment washing case backs?

Thanks,

Joel
Click to expand...
I posted about minium washes on my blog http://pegsandtails.wordpress.com/2010/04/22/making-a-mulberry-corner-cabinet-part-eleven/. Basically any pigment(s) of your choosing can be made into a wash with a few drops of size as the binder. A good pallet to start with would be yellow ochre, chromium orange, brown umber and raw sienna.

As with all this sort of stuff, I would recommend experimenting with colours and concentration on scraps of wood first. Let all samples fully dry as the appearance will be vastly different to the wet coat.
 
Personally I only color the outside to even out the color. But I even try to avoid that. I prefer my pieces to look the same as the day the original was finished.
 
I'm not sure we really know what the original pieces looked like. If you read the reports from the conservators from WAG they rarely can say for sure what the original finish was, and they use electron microscopes. They most often say they have found evidence of wax and linseed oil. The process for bleaching shellac was developed in Germany after 1830 so shellacked pieces would have been darker than what we see today. Rosin was probably the most common resin available in the colonies. Earth pigments were known and the use of nitric acid also. I wish there was more information available on period finishing. It seems that this is secret information among the people that really know the subject.
 
Jack,

Pardon my ignorance, but what is 'size' that you use as a binder? Is this the same substance used in wall papering or something altogether different? Any insight would be great. Being able to replicate a look like you show on the back of the mirror in your blog (pegsandtails) is something I strive to achieve.

Thanks,

Joel
 
Size is merely thin animal glue. A very little can be of great use as a binder for pigmented washes (and even some opaque painted finishes).
 
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