Mission Furniture Volume I Part 6

FILLING OAK

A very good hardwood filler for oak, either for a natural or golden effect, may be made from two parts of turpentine and one part of raw linseed oil, with a small amount of good j.a.pan to dry in the usual time.

To this liquid add bolted gilder's whiting to form a suitable paste, it may be made thin enough for use, if to be used at once, or into a stiff paste for future use, when it can be thinned down for use, says Woodworkers' Review. After applying a coat of filler, let stand until it turns gray, which requires about 20 minutes, depending upon the amount of j.a.pan in the filler, when it should be rubbed off with cotton waste or whatever you use for the purpose. A filler must be rubbed well into the wood, the surplus only being removed. The application of a coat of burnt umber stain to the wood before filling is in order, which will darken the wood to the proper depth if you rub off the surplus, showing the grain and giving a golden oak effect. The filling should stand at least a day and night before applying sh.e.l.lac and varnish.

WAX FINIs.h.i.+NG

In wax-finis.h.i.+ng hardwoods, use a paste filler and sh.e.l.lac varnish to get a good surface. Of course, the wax may also be rubbed into the unfilled wood but that gives you quite a different effect from the regular wax polish, says a correspondent of Wood Craft. With soft woods you first apply a stain, then apply a liquid filler or sh.e.l.lac, according to the quality of work to be done. The former for the cheaper job. The usual proportion of wax and turpentine is two parts of the former to one part of the latter, melting the wax first, then adding the spirits of turpentine. For reviving or polis.h.i.+ng furniture you can add three or four times as much turpentine as wax, all these proportions to be by weight. To produce the desired egg-sh.e.l.l gloss, rub vigorously with a brush of stiff bristles or woolen rag.

THE FUMING OF OAK

Darkened oak always has a better appearance when fumed with ammonia.

This process is rather a difficult one, as it requires an airtight case, but the description herewith given may be entered into with as large a case as the builder cares to construct.

Oak articles can be treated in a case made from a tin biscuit box, or any other metal receptacle of good proportions, provided it is airtight.

The oak to be fumed is arranged in the box so the fumes will entirely surround the piece; the article may be propped up with small sticks, or suspended by a string. The chief point is to see that no part of the wood is covered up and that all surfaces are exposed to the fumes. A saucer of ammonia is placed in the bottom of the box, the lid or cover closed, and all joints sealed up by pasting heavy brown paper over them.

Any leakage will be detected if the nose is placed near the tin and farther application of the paper will stop the holes. A hole may be cut in the cover and a piece of gla.s.s fitted in, taking care to have all the edges closed. The process may be watched through the gla.s.s and the article removed when the oak is fumed to the desired shade. Wood stained in this manner should not be French polished or varnished, but waxed.

The process of waxing is simple: Cut some bees-wax into fine shreds and place them in a small pot or jar. Pour in a little turpentine, and set aside for half a day, giving it an occasional stir. The wax must be thoroughly dissolved and then more turpentine added until the preparation has the consistency of a thick cream. This can be applied to the wood with a rag and afterward brushed up with a stiff brush.

HOW TO MAKE BLACK WAX

When putting a wax finish on oak or any open-grained wood, the wax will often show white streaks in the pores of the wood. These streaks cannot be removed by rubbing or brus.h.i.+ng. Prepared black wax can be purchased, but if you do not have any on hand, ordinary floor wax can be colored black. Melt the floor wax in a can placed in a bucket of hot water. When the wax has become liquid mix thoroughly into it a little drop black or lampblack. Allow the wax to cool and harden. This wax will not streak, but will give a smooth, glossy finish.

THE 40 STYLES OF CHAIRS

There are 40 distinct styles of chairs embracing the period from 3000 B.C. to 1900 A.D.--nearly 7,000 years. Of all the millions of chairs made during the centuries, each one can be cla.s.sified under one or more of the 40 general styles shown in the chart. This chart was compiled by the editor of Decorative Furniture. The Colonial does not appear on the chart because it cla.s.sifies under the Jacobean and other styles. A condensed key to the chart follows:

$Egyptian.--3000 B.C. to 500 B.C.$ Seems to have been derived largely from the Early Asian. It influenced a.s.syrian and Greek decorations, and was used as a motif in some French Empire decoration. Not used in its entirety except for lodge rooms, etc.

$Grecian.--700 B.C. to 200 B.C.$ Influenced by Egyptian and a.s.syrian styles. It had a progressive growth through the Doric, Ionic and Corinthian periods. It influenced the Roman style and the Pompeian, and all the Renaissance styles, and all styles following the Renaissance, and is still the most important factor in decorations today.

$Roman.--750 B.C. to 450 A.D.$ Rome took her art entirely from Greece, and the Roman is purely a Greek development. The Roman style "revived" in the Renaissance, and in this way is still a prominent factor in modern decoration.

$Pompeian.--100 B.C. to 79 A.D.$ Sometimes called the Grecian-Roman style, which well describes its components. The style we know as Greek was the Greek as used in public structures. The Pompeian is our best idea of Greek domestic decoration. Pompeii was long buried, but when rediscovered it promptly influenced all European styles, including Louis XVI, and the various Georgian styles.

$Byzantine.--300 A.D. to 1450 A.D.$ The "Eastern Roman" style, originating in the removal of the capital of the Roman Empire to Constantinople (then called Byzantium). It is a combination of Persian and Roman. It influenced the various Moorish, Sacracenic and other Mohammedan styles.

$Gothic.--1100 to 1550.$ It had nothing to do with the Goths, but was a local European outgrowth of the Romanesque. It spread all over Europe, and reached its climax of development about 1550. It was on the Gothic construction that the Northern European and English Renaissance styles were grafted to form such styles as the Elizabethan, etc.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

$Moorish.--700 to 1600.$ The various Mohammedan styles can all be traced to the ancient Persian through the Byzantine. The Moorish or Moresque was the form taken by the Mohammedans in Spain.

$Indian.--2000 B.C. to 1906 A.D.$ The East Indian style is almost composite, as expected of one with a growth of nearly 4,000 years.

It has been influenced repeatedly by outside forces and various religious invasions, and has, in turn, influenced other far Eastern styles.

$Chinese.--3500 B.C. to 1906 A.D.$ Another of the ancient styles.

It had a continuous growth up to 230 B.C., since when it has not changed much. It has influenced Western styles, as in the Chippendale, Queen Anne, etc.

$j.a.panese.--1200 B.C. to 1906 A.D.$ A style probably springing originally from China, but now absolutely distinct. It has influenced recent art in Europe and America, especially the "New Art" styles.

$Italian Gothic.--1100 to 1500.$ The Italian Gothic differs from the European and English Gothic in clinging more closely to the Romanesque-Byzantine originals.

$Tudor.--1485 to 1558.$ The earliest entry of the Renaissance into England. An application of Renaissance to the Gothic foundations.

Its growth was into the Elizabethan.

$Italian Renaissance, Fifteenth Century.--1400 to 1500.$ The birth century of the Renaissance. A seeking for revival of the old Roman and Greek decorative and constructive forms.

$Italian Renaissance, Sixteenth Century.--1500 to 1600.$ A period of greater elaboration of detail and more freedom from actual Greek and Roman models.

$Italian Renaissance, Seventeenth Century.--1600 to 1700.$ The period of great elaboration and beginning of reckless ornamentation.

$Spanish Renaissance.--1500 to 1700.$ A variation of the Renaissance spirit caused by the combination of three distinct styles--the Renaissance as known in Italy, the Gothic and the Moorish. In furniture the Spanish Renaissance is almost identical with the Flemish, which it influenced.

$Dutch Renaissance.--1500 to 1700.$ A style influenced alternately by the French and the Spanish. This style and the Flemish had a strong influence on the English William and Mary and Queen Anne styles, and especially on the Jacobean.

$German Renaissance.--1550 to 1700.$ A style introduced by Germans who had gone to Italy to study. It was a heavy treatment of the Renaissance spirit, and merged into the German Baroque about 1700.

$Francis I.--1515 to 1549.$ The introductory period when the Italian Renaissance found foothold in France. It is almost purely Italian, and was the forerunner of the Henri II.

$Henri II.--1549 to 1610.$ In this the French Renaissance became differentiated from the Italian, a.s.suming traits that were specifically French and that were emphasized in the next period.

$Louis XIII.--1616 to 1643.$ A typically French style, in which but few traces of its derivation from the Italian remained. It was followed by the Louis XIV.

$Elizabethan.--1558 to 1603.$ A compound style containing traces of the Gothic, much of the Tudor, some Dutch, Flemish and a little Italian. Especially noted for its fine wood carving.

$Jacobean.--1603 to 1689.$ The English period immediately following the Elizabethan, and in most respects quite similar. The Dutch influence was, however, more prominent. The Cromwellian, which is included in this period, was identical with it.

$William and Mary.--1689 to 1702.$ More Dutch influences. All furniture lighter and better suited to domestic purposes.