Historic Woodfinishing – Day 3

Day 3 of the Historic Woodfinishing  workshop brings all the exercises to completion/fruition.   Well, as many as we can get to.  Even though the core syllabus has been set for a long time I continue to tinker at the edges, adding or subtracting projects to enhance the learning experience.

This included prepping and continuing spirit varnish pad polishing, often called “French polishing” although I am pretty sure it was originally an English technique.

One of the most fun aspects of the class was introducing the students to tar, the most common brown part of the “brown and shiny” construct.  Diluted whit “white spirits” a/k/a naphtha/mineral spirits/turpentine the concoction is a great glaze of a rich brown color.

Finally came the time for rubbing out three of the quarters of the large [panel, including rubbing with Liberon 0000 steel wool infused with paste wax, rottenstone/tripoli abrasive in a white spirit slurry followed by paste wax, and a pumice polishing followed by spirit varnish pad polishing.

That about wraps it up.

BTW, here is a screen shot of my latest version of the syllabus, updated even since this workshop.  So, if you attend an Introduction to Historic Woodfinishing workshop this will be the regimen.