Colonial furniture style

Colonial furniture style is style that follow the furniture in America in the period of 1725 to 1790. The time when American fought to be a new country, independent from the England colony. The colonial furniture is the development from William and Mary, Queen Anne and Chippendale style, the model was already popular before. The colonial style is the simplification of the previous model. The colonial furniture was also highly affected by the furniture in the European. The colonial furniture was more conservative and less ornate than the furniture model in European model in the same period. Most of the colonial furniture was  made based on the furniture from English and French with simplification. Colonial furniture has several characteristics.  While there was a wide diversity in furniture designs, Windsor chairs, wingback and camelback sofas and chairs, and simple Shaker-style furniture were common. Fabrics used in the colonial furniture is including chintz, damask tapestry, needlepoint and crewel. The decorations often took the shape of leaves, flowers, shells, seaweed and oriental designs. The native American wood such as: ash, maple, elm, black walnut and hickory, were commonly used to make the colonial furniture.

windsor chair

Colonial style furniture or was popularized in the beginning of 20th century. Dr Wallace Nutting  (1861-1941), popularized the “colonial” furniture model, revival of the interest in the early American furniture. The most colonial furniture in this period probably is the model that derived from the Empire style. Brass and ornament which is the characteristic of empire-style is removed and the classical is retained, forming the distinct of American style. The “new” colonial furniture is made from any wood instead of the American native wood. The mahogany solid and veneer are mostly used. 

The colonial cupboard 

the colonial style cupboard

the colonial style bed

The colonial style furniture is still many available in the market today. Many colonial furniture are marketed as the antique reproduction. There are also many furniture model that is based on the colonial style but with some modification.

Rattan shyntethics for furniture

Rattan is the raw material for making furniture that has been popular some decade ago. In the year of 1990, there are lots of rattan furniture are produced and marketed in the furniture business. There are many rattan furniture with many models are available with very competitive price.  Now the source of rattan is become difficult. The natural rattan is become rare and less available. The rattan tree naturally grow as vine tree on the big and tall wood timber in the tropical forests. When tropical forests began to diminish then the rattan tree is also become difficult to be founded.

To meet the demand for furniture industry, the raw materials industry has been created the synthetic rattan. Synthetic rattan is the substrates forms such as natural rattan but it is made synthetically. The material used to make synthetic rattan is a kind of plastic called the poly ethylene. Rattan synthetic is also available in various forms and models. The rattan wickers, posh, woven, with variety of sizes and models are available as substitution for the natural rattan. The rattan synthetics is also available in many colors and looked. Many forms and shape such as bamboo looked and  other natural materials can also be made, although the most available the rattan looked form. 

 rattan synthetic white furniture

Synthetic rattan has several advantages compared with the natural rattan. The rattan synthetics is easily sourced, more stable and elastic. It is also more durable the the natural rattan. The rattan synthetics is quite strong  to make furniture for outdoor uses. Synthetic rattan is also more practical because it can be used directly without insecticide treatment or drying process. This material can be directly used without any problems with mold, crack, warp or other problems since of the moisture content.The synthetic rattan is also been available in various colors and appearances that can be directly choose in accordance with the desired  color and appearance. Most of the synthetic rattan is used without any finishing process, although theoretically this material can be stained and finished quite well.

The  synthetic rattan is a commonly used in the manufacture of furniture in combination with other substrates such as : metal,  wood or other materials. Synthetic rattan stems wrapped in aluminum, iron or stainless steel commonly found in outdoor furniture. Wicker and rattan woven synthetic as well as are many found as the seat and back on the chairs. This material are also lot found to make the bench or even a table for outdoor furniture. 

 rattan synthetic garden furniture

Synthetic rattan are more widely used for  outdoor furniture. Synthetic rattan has good resistance to the outside weather,  better than the natural rattan. Synthetic rattan will fade if exposed to the hot sun and weather changes in the outdoor uses.  But it is still more durable than the natural rattan that  tend to become brittle and break when placed in outside.

Spraying the shellac.

Shellac is a finishing material that is widely used since the year 1800's. Shellac is the traditional finishing materials that can provide protection to the wood substrate. At this era Shellac used to be very popular because it can produce finishes that produce a thick film and a high gloss finish. One of shellac finish that was famous is the French varnish, a finishing with a layer of thick film and high gloss that is very special in that era. Now the similar finish looked with french varnish can be obtained easier by using the coating such: as NC or PU coating.
Shellac is a finishing material that is used when the spray technology still not been used for finishing application. The shellac traditionally is applied by padding or brushed. Until now  many peoples still apply shellac with brush or rag.  But with the development in the finishing technology, now more people prefer to apply shellac by spray.  With spray application we can better do control of the shellac application. Spray shellac principally is about the same with spray the lacquer or other clear coating. What we need to do is to adjust the shellac to fit with the spray gun requirement. We also need to understand the character of shellac is little bit different with other clear coating.

                                                       shellac wood finish



The shellac application by spray.

• Prepare the shellac

Shellac is mostly traded in the flakes  form and its must be reconstituted into liquid form when it is applied. Put the pieces of shellac into alcohol and stir it until it is all dissolved to form a viscous liquid.  Shellac solution may contain dirt ingredients settle to the bottom of the can.  Separate the unsolved solid compound with the liquid shellac. Filter the liquid shellac and check the viscosity. Make sure the viscosity of fluids is accordance with the standard viscosity of the spraying equipment.  For the air spray,  the viscosity should be about 10 to 14 seconds with the NK 2 cups, or 16-21 seconds with Zahn cup No. 2.  (see our previous post: The viscosity of finishing material)
Choose the proper shellac according with the desired color.  Shellac will build a yellow brown film color. If we want to finish in white or light color, then the bleach shellac is needed.  Consider the finish color resulted with the shellac, make some color panel to make sure we can identifies the finishing resulted.

Use the dewaxed shellac since it can provide a better film. The wax in the shellac is helping in the padding application, but in the spray application this wax is not needed.

• Preparation on the unfinished wood.

The wood that will be coated with shellac must be well prepared. Make sure it has been sanded properly and has even and smooth surface. Fill the every holes and gap if any. We also can apply filler to fill the wood with big pores and grain.

Consider the finish color and the basic color of the wood. Shellac will more act as a film former. Although shellac is also form color, but the color produced is relatively limited. Then we may need to staining the wood to make a certain finish color. If the wood base color is not even, we need to adjust it with equalizer stain and sap stain.

• Prepare the equipment and facilities.

The spray applications require a spray gun and its supporting tools. Prepare the spray gun, compressor and its accessories. The spray process is always leave the dust spray, so it should be done in finishing with spray booth to suck the dust. Wear the personal protection equipment sch as mask, gloves, eye protector and work pack when we spray this material.

• Spraying shellac

Spraying shellac technically is the same with the spray technique for the other coating material. Spray shellac with wet spray technique to coat the wood. Set the spray gun properly and move the gun consistently to get the even wet coat. (See our previous post: How to spray correctly) Spray shellac 1 layer coat,  and let the shellac layer about 30 minutes to dry.  The first layer always leave rough surface since the raised wood fibers. Sand the shellac layer to cut the wood fibers. Then re spray the shellac as the first application. Repeat the shellac application until we meet the desired finishing looked. To make a high gloss finish we need a thick film that can be achieved with 3 or 4 times application of shellac.  

American ash wood

 ash wood

American ash wood (Fraxinus) is widely available commercial wood  in the US woodworking industry. There are about 46 species of ash tree but they are sold commercially as the ash wood. In the US wood industry this wood is classified as 2 type the Northern ash and the Southern ash according to the place it grew.  In the right area this timber can be planted and cultivated quite easy. It has relatively short life time to get the trunk tree. This tree is usually planted in an specific area and then after it has quite age they are all cut all without selection. The ash wood  is also commonly found in Europe with very similar properties.
Ash wood is quite cheap, easy to be found make it popular in the woodworking industry. This timber has medium hardness and easy to be handled in the woodworking industry. It has high elasticity, can be screwed, nailed and glued with small risk to broke or crack. The ash wood also has a relatively small shrinkage volume; it can be kiln and dried ease and fast.
This wood is has low resistant to the weather. The sap wood is high vulnerable and susceptible to the insects attached. Then it needs proper treatment to preserving from the insect and bug.

Ash  wood has light base color, white in the sap wood and light yellow brown in the heartwood with straight and regular grain pattern.

 
The physical properties of the ash wood

 
Specific gravity (MC 12%)                                              : 0.60
Average weight                                                                : 673 kg/m3
Average volume of shrinkage (green to 6% MC)         : 10.7%
Modulus of elasticity                                                        : 11.977 Mpa
Hardness                                                                          : 5871 N

Data are from: www.americanhardwood.org

 The uses of ash wood

The ash wood  is widely used for various purposes in the woodworking industry. It mostly used to make furniture, flooring, doors, sports equipment, panels, kitchen cabinets, architectural design  etc. The ash wood  is also widely available in veneer and much used in the panels or plywood manufacturer.
 

ash wood architectural cabinet

Finishing of ash wood.

This wood has a light base color varied from white to the light brown or yellowish brown so it can be colored to form many finish color quite easy. This wood also has small pores and soft grain texture. It can be finished in close pores easily. He also has nice grain, with uniform and regular pattern. With the proper finish it can produce wood product in nice appearance. His light base color make it can finished to the transparent color in variety color finish. The antique finish with dirty and old looked also can be generated as well the clean finish.

The ash wood  is also can be finished in the solid color as well as the transparent color. Its small texture of grain and pores make it is quite easy to be finish in the solid color.

The stain application directly to the wood should be done carefully.  Avoid to apply stain too wet, since it has risk to get the blotchy color. The application of wood conditioner or wood size is good option if a wiping stain is used.    

Alcohol in the wood finishing

Alcohol by the definition is the organic chemical that containing hydroxyl group (OH). According to the this term so there are a many alcohol according with the amount of carbon chains which bind the hydroxyl group. But in the chemical trading the alcohol refer to ethanol, the alcohol which has 2 carbon in its molecule compound (C2H5OH).

Alcohol is made from the fermentation reaction from the hydrocarbons compound by the help of yeast. Alcohol formed from fermentation reaction from fruit (cherry, grape, etc.) and hydrocarbon seed (rice, wheat, etc.) are also mostly used as food or drink. Beer and wine are well known as beverages that contain alcohol. There are also many alcoholic food and beverages are found in every region in the world, each has the uniqueness taste and name.

Alcoholic beverages and food can result to drunk and causing health problem when it is consumed overdoses. Since that it is sold and traded with a tight regulation. The alcohol in the food industries is subjected of high by taxes to regulate its distribution.

Alcohol in the wood finishing industry

Alcohol in the wood finishing industry is widely used as solvent or material to make thinner. Alcohol is solvent with relatively inexpensive, then it is sometime used as filler in the mixture of paint thinner to reduce the price. It can be made from the fermentation of molasses or other  material that contain high hydrocarbon compound. Alcohol for industrial purposes is sold at cheaper price than the alcohol for the food and beverage industry. Alcohol for the food industry should be more hygienic and also subjected to the high taxes. Therefore, the common alcohol is add with some toxic compound to prevent it be used for food industry. This material is known as the denatured alcohol that can be sold in the lower price since it does not to pay high tax. 

The physical properties of alcohols

Density                                                 : 0.789 g / cm

Boiling point                                         : 171-174 F

Flash Point                                           : 61 F

Evaporation rate                                  : 2.0 (compared with Butyl Acetate)

The uses of alcohol (denatured alcohol) in the wood finishing industry is quite lot. It has low price so it is added to the lacquer thinner to reduce the price. Alcohol has a relatively low solubility to the lacquer, so it can not be too much in the lacquer thinner. Too much alcohol will reduce the quality of the lacquer thinner.

Alcohol is widely used to dissolve the shellac. Traditionally, the shellac is sold in the flake form. Shellac will last longer if stored in the solid (flakes) form. The flakes of shellac are needed to be dissolved in alcohol to form liquid, when it is used in the finishing process.

Alcohol is also widely used as a thinner to make stain. The organic pigments are highly soluble in the alcohol. The N.G.R. (non grain raising) stain is dye pigment that is dissolved in alcohol. Alcohol is also dissolving each other in perfectly mixed with water. Since that it is also mostly used as a thinner for water based wood stain.

Alcohol is also used to make pad stain. Pad stain is a special stain that designed to be applied on the clear coating by padding. Alcohol as a solvent can dissolve the stain, but only slightly dissolve the lacquer. The pad stain can be applied with padding on the sealer or lacquer without too stick to the clear coating. Pad stain can be padded to coloring the clear coating with an easier control. The pad stain color still can be reduce and highlight if necessary. 

The things to be considered in the uses of alcohol.

• Alcohol should be handled carefully

Alcohol is a flammable material. There are many research is held to develop the  uses alcohol as  a fuel. This material should be handled carefully. The alcohol liquid and vapor should be kept away from fire.  The room to storage the alcohol must be equipped with the safety standards equipment for flammable chemicals.

• Use alcohol according to its purposes.

The alcohol for industrial finishing purposes probably the same compound with the alcohol used in the food industry, but it is not suppose to be consumed. The alcohol for food industry has to fulfill the hygienist standard. The alcohol for paint industrial should be used just for solvent and thinner and need to be treated as the other solvent. Always use the standard safety equipment such as: glove, masker and eye protector when dealing with this material.

Sponging technique for wood finishing

The sponge effect in the furniture finish

Sponging is a technique application finishing material using sponge. Sponging is one of the finishing techniques in the finishing process in the solid colors (paint finish). The sponging is well known in the murals or faux painting. The finishing color produced is the uneven staining color with specific patterns that very special and unique. In the wood finishing the sponging technique is mostly done for the application of glaze over a base coat or paint to produce a finishing with  special appearance.

Here is an example of application the glaze with sponging technique in a finishing process. The finishing system is NC (nitrocellulose) finish; all the base coat and clear coatings used are the NC type. Glaze used is also the regular glaze that proper to be used in the NC finishing system.
 

The finishing process is as follow:

• Base coat application

Base coat is the solid color stain that forms the color base of the finishing. In this finishing process we use the NC base coat. The color used is off white (white color with little amount of brown). The base coat is applied by spray to overall surface. Spray the base coat evenly to cover the wood surface. Wait until it dry, and then sand the base coat to cut the wood fibers raised. One time base coat application usually is not enough to make an even color, and then we need to spray the base coat two time or even three time until we get the even color. Wait until the base coat dry and then sanding the base coat to obtain a flat and smooth surface.

• Sealer application.

Sealer is applied on the base coat to produce a smoother surface before the glaze application. The sealer application will resolve and remove the sanding mark  in the base coat to make the smooth and even surface. The sealer coat also will prevents the “too deep penetration” of he glaze and make the glaze application can be easier controlled.  Apply the sealer by wet spray overall the surface. Wait until the sealer is dry. 

• Glaze application

The glaze application is the main step to make the finishing looked. Use the glaze with the right color to produce the desired color finishing. Consider that the final finishing color is obtained from the combination of the glaze color and the base coat color.  While the finishing looked is highly depend on the sponging technique.

There are many sponging technique and each will create different effect. There are also many sponge type available to do the sponging. The finishing looked is depending on the sponge type and pattern. We may need to do some experiment to fine the right sponging technique according to the finishing looked desired. The sponging technique need to done consistently. We need some time to do exercise to get used with the technique. By enough practicing we can find the best way to get the desired result.

 glaze is sponged little by little

Generally there two model of sponging technique. The first way is by wetting the sponge with the glaze and applied it to the surface little by little. Wet the sponge with the glaze then pad the sponge to the surface. The padding should be done consistently and bit by bit until the entire surface evenly coated with the glaze. 

glaze is applied on the surface and sponged to get the desired effect

The second way is by applying the glaze evenly to all surfaces (it can be done by brush, spray or rag). Then the sponging effect is created by pad the sponge on the wet glaze. If the glaze is dry already, then the sponge can be wetted with the mineral spirit or thinner glaze.

After we obtain the desired appearance then we have to let the glaze is dry completely. The drying time of the glaze can be varied from 1 hour to 1 day depend on the glaze type and the thickness of glaze layer.

• Sealer application

Apply the sealer after the glaze is dry. The sealer coat serves to bind and protect the finishing effects that have been generated by the glaze application. Avoid spraying sealer too thick, since the risk off sagging that will  destroy the sponge effect. Apply the sealer with medium wet spray technique. Spay two coats of sealer to make sure we give enough layer on the glaze. Let the sealer dry and then scuff sand the sealer.

•  Application of top coat

Top coat is applied by spray evenly to the overall surfaces. The top coat is wet sprayed to perform the smooth and even surface. Many sheen can be used, but this finish mostly is coated with semi gloss or semi doff top coat.

Kiln dry

Kiln dry or wood oven is facility to dry the wood. It is a basic equipment in the woodworking industry. Now almost all of wood and wood products have to pass the dry kiln before are processed and used in the woodworking industry. The wood has to be dry before go to the production process. The wet wood when it is used will cause of many problems in the wood product resulted (see our previous article: the problem caused since of wet wood) . In the past, the wood drying process may still be done naturally by put the wood on some places and let them dry naturally. The wood is hygroscopic, it will adjust its moisture content according with its environment humidity. By this way the wood will dry if it is put in the outside room, but of course it will take long time. The drying process is also highly depend on the environment condition. In the cold and humid weather the drying process will run slow and it will risk to get problem with fungi or insect. With the kiln dry, the drying of the wood can be better controlled and scheduled to fulfill the woodworking requirement. 

How much is the wood moisture content should be? 

The wood moisture content depends on the humidity conditions in the place where the wood product will be used. The moisture content of a wood product as far as possible has to close to the wood moisture content that balancing with air humidity at the place where the product is used. Then to find the recommended wood moisture content we should see the data of the average humidity of the place where the product will be used. From this data then we can look at the graph of wood moisture content vs. relative humidity to find the proper moisture content of the wood product at the region.

Usually the standard of wood moisture content is set in 10%. Normally the moisture content 10% is quite safe for wood products in most places in the world even though there some places may with extreme weather may need some special wood moisture content. 

The kiln dry 

Kiln dry actually is an enclosed room that is equipped with an air heater and circulation control. The timber from the the plantation or forest are cut to make board in special size and placed in the room where the drying process is done. Usually it takes several week to let the wood dry, depend on the type of the wood and the size of the wood board.

Here are the things that must be considered in the uses of kiln dry.

• The room temperature

The room temperature setting is the key to control the drying process of the wood. The high ambient temperatures will lower the air humidity, while the low air humidity will speed the water releases from the timber. By adjust the room temperature we can control the drying process of the wood. The drying process of the wood should not be too fast, since the drying of wood will be followed by volume shrinkage. "Too fast volume change" of the wood will potentially damage the wood, such as the wood crack or warp.

The room temperature should be set so that the drying occurs quickly but without causing damage to the timber. Usually the temperature is set at relatively low at the beginning of drying when the wood is still wet. Then when the wood is quite dry, the room temperature can be set in the higher to fasten the drying process. The temperature setting is also should be set depend on the type of wood. The wood with big volume shrinkage usually require slowly drying, while the low volume shrinkage wood can be dried faster.

•  The air circulation

The air in the room has to be circulated to prevent the air saturation. The saturated air will not be able to receive the moisture released from the wood, and it means that the drying process is stop. To keep the drying process run, the saturated air should be removed from the room and replaced with fresh air. Good air circulation will also help to make the air temperature in the room more uniform to make the drying process can be run by more equitably.

•  The arrangement of the wood plank.

The wood from the trees are usually cut in board form before go to the oven. In the oven room the board should be well arranged to let the air can blow freely around them. The distance of each pieces wood cannot be too tightly since it can make substandard air circulation and make the drying process is not doing well.

Dark brown mahogany finish.

Mahogany wood is very popular in the furniture industry. Many furniture in various style is made from mahogany wood. The Chippendale furniture is one of the furniture model that mostly used mahogany wood. This wood has a medium hardness, and quite easy handled in the woodworking industry. Mahogany wood also has nice grain pattern, strong character but with a soft texture. Many finishing model can be generated, the transparent finish with a variety of colors can be produced with very nice appearance. In this post we will write about transparent dark brown color finish for mahogany wood. It is a dark finish but still show the grain pattern of the wood. In this finishing system we use lacquer finish (NC system), all clear coating used are the NC clear coating.

Here is the finishing process step by step

step panel for dark brown mahogany finish

• Sap stains and equalizer stains

Mahogany wood has a basic color varied from place to place, ranging from the white color in the sapwood to the reddish brown in the heartwood.  To produce finishing look with uniform color then we need to make the wood base is uniform, before apply the overall stain. A brown sap stain is used to coat the wood with light color and the red wood is killed and covered with the green stain (equalizer stain). The sap stain and equalizer is applied by spray selectively to the part necessary until an even and uniform color is obtained. 

stain is applied by spray

• Application of stain

After a uniform wood base color is obtained, then the next process is the application of stain to the overall surface. The stain is in the dark brown color to bring the light brown mahogany wood to dark brown finish color. The dark brown aniline dye stain is best choices to color the mahogany wood.  Spray stain by wet spray evenly to overall surface. It needs quite thick stain to bring mahogany wood with light brown to the dark brown color. It is better to spray the stain in 2 or 3 layers instead of use too thick stain and spray 1 layer. The too strong stain is rather difficult in controlling the application and gets the even staining result. Apply stain by 2 layer wet spray and let it dry for few minutes.

• Wash coat application

The application of wash coat is to coat and protect the stain before glaze application. Wash coat applied by spray evenly to the entire surface. Wait for about 20 minutes until the wash coat is dry. Scuff sanding the wash coat when it is dry to cut the stiff wood fibers to obtain the smooth wood surface. 

glaze is wiped and brushed

• Glaze application.

Glaze was applied to fill and color the inside grains and pores.  A dark brown glaze (van dick brown glaze) is applied by brushed on the surface. Do some highlight with steel wool to enhance the beauty of the grain and pores. Wait until the glaze is dry, it needs about 1 hour to let the glaze is dry. 

 highlight the glaze

• Sealer application.

The sealer is layered on the glaze to protect the glaze and prepare the smooth surface before top coat application. Apply the sealer to the entire surface application be wet spray evenly to allover the surfaces. Wait for about 30 minute to let the sealer dry and then do sanding to produce a smooth surface. Sand the sealer with # 280 stearated sandpaper to provide the smooth surface.  

• Application of second glaze

The glaze is applied by brush to fill in the carving, crevices, gap, to make more "life look" and enhanced the form of the furniture product.  It also to burnish the edges to make more antique impression of the product. 

 dry brush glaze

• 2nd sealer application.

The second sealer is applied to protect the second glaze and to give more film built of the finish. The sealer is applied by evenly spray to overall surface. Let it dry for 45 minute and sand with #280 sandpaper.  

the dark brown mahogany finish

• The application of top coat.

Top coat is the finishing material to provide the final film layer to protect the underneath finish and forming the finishing gloss. The semi gloss top coat is used to this finish. Top coat with 45 sheen top coat is applied by wet even spray to this finish. Let the top coat dry for at about 1 hour and check the result. If a smooth surface final finish is obtained, then the finishing process is done, but if the surface is still rough then another layer of top coat is needed.