Unfortunately I can't get Rough Cut where I live, but I see that in season 1, episode 7, there was a segment on period finishing techniques.

Can anyone who saw that episode tell me if they discussed techniques for grain filling and what those techniques were?

Thanks,

Al

Hello,

I honestly can't remember what they said on grain filling if anything but I can tell you what they did for period filling in general.

They quite literally would use any substance they could find to fill grain. In some areas it was clay mixed in water to make a slurry, in other areas it was dirt and horse dung much like the adobe process. Often simply using a fine oil and sanding cross grain or in a circular motion and using the wood fibers and dust itself was used.

Later on they started up with the more practical rotten stone and pumice powder that many of us still use today. This process is used in the french polishing technique and works quite well. Others use a gesso or plaster that is applied and colored with a dye or pigment. I personally do not like this particular procedure because after time the color will fade and leave the white filer visible in the grain.

For more modern times simply sticking to a good oil based paste wood filler should be good enough for most people. It's a pain to apply correctly but it's usually well worth the effort.


Perhaps someone who's seen the finishing episode recently can more directly answer your question.

Thanks; I have just started French polishing and did try the pumice method, which worked (and was a lot of work). I assume rottenstone is similar in terms of work. Is rottenstone preferred for certain woods because of the emphasis of the dark grain or is it just a question of personal choice? I'm refinishing a 1950s era sofa table which is honduran mahogany (veneer) over a substrate of what they called wormy mahogany. I think the rottenstone might nicely emphasis the pores, more so than pumice, but it might also darken other areas, no?

[quote="RaDioAcTivE"]Hello,


Later on they started up with the more practical rotten stone and pumice powder that many of us still use today. This process is used in the French polishing technique and works quite well. Others use a gesso or plaster that is applied and colored with a dye or pigment. I personally do not like this particular procedure because after time the color will fade and leave the white filer visible in the grain.

quote]


Do you mean the Rotten stone and Pumice or gesso and plaster will turn white?

Tommy had recommended Pumice. Take a rag and make a ball ( as if you were going to apply a French polish). Dip it in Boiled Linseed Oil then dab it into some pumice. Then work it into the grain with across the grain motion. Let it dry and lightly sand it with the grain. Then apply final finish Al. At least that was the technique Tommy was speaking off. Radio may have a different way

The plaster or whiting will turn light yellow.

I mainly use rotten stone. I apply a light padded on coat of shellac first to the piece after coloring with a dye. Then I use a few drops of baby oil on a pad that's somewhere around 90% alcohol and 10% shellac. You want just a bit of shellac in the mix to help set the filler material in the pores. Oil only wont dry as hard you'll tend to pull the filler out of the pores in later stages of polishing. I put the powder in what we call a pounce bag. It's just a bag with a couple of spoons of pumice or rotten stone in it that has a mesh bottom or a bunch of tiny holes in it. You shake the bag over the piece and a fine mist of powder comes out so you can evenly apply it across the piece. It's important because you want to use a minimal amount of material so it doesn't build up on you. It's easy to overdo it and end up with swirl marks of pumice on the piece. If this happens simply let it sit and sand out the offending areas and start over. Same thing applies for any finishing errors. Let it sit and dry and come back and sand out the defects.

That's the way I learned it anyway. To be honest as long as you get the look you're after there's no "right way".

Thanks for the replies. Interesting about the boiled linseed oil being used in Tommy's technique. I was under the impression that boiled linseed oil will eventually darken. Maybe it won't if it is under the shellac. Anybody got any thoughts on that one?

When oil is used for the filling process it's only a few drops at time and the use of a film type finish like shellac will keep the blo from oxidizing over time because it's sealed under the finish.