Hello,
I’m hoping there’s some old-timer here who could help me with this. I’m in the process of restoring pickled pine paneling in a bedroom of a house built in the late 1930’s. The bedroom is shown on the architect’s plans as being unfinished, so presumably the paneling was done sometime in the following decade as the family grew.
The paint which had been applied in later years came off remarkably easily with a heat gun. I am guessing that the “pickling” was done with liming wax, as the surface has an obvious waxy feel to it (and also contributed to the subsequent coats of paint adhering so poorly), and is in remarkably good shape — a bit of sanding to repair dinged places, a light overall sanding, and spot retreatment with liming wax should do it.
However, in the process of removing the paint I was also forced to remove the putty that had been applied in the gaps between the panels. The putty appears to have been applied before the liming wax, as the color of the wood underneath it is different. It seems to have been part of the original design, as it’s a pale grayish-yellow color and would have been quite visible. My question is, what would have been there originally and is it possible to purchase these days? The putty softened fairly readily under heat. It surely wasn’t a latex product; it can’t be carpenter’s wood filler, which dries too hard — with this much wood there has to be alot of expansion and contraction from changes in temperature and humidity, so something flexible is called for. The Miniwax fillers, which are applied after finishing, don’t seem right either, and besides, the amount I need for this project would be prohibitively expensive. It reminds me most of window glazing compund. Could this be what was used?
Thanks for any suggestions….
Replies
Sounds like plain old painter's putty. Linseed oil and whiting. Available at most paint stores that cater to the trade. You can color it with Universal Tinting Colors (UTC's) available at the same stores.
It gets pretty firm but it never really hardens, which makes it pretty good for filling between paneling boards.
Test it first, of course, to see whether it's what you want.
Thank you very much! That sounds like it will do the trick.
I too think it was probably "Painter's Putty" -- which is sold under that name in regular paint stores. While you're at the paint store, check out a product called "Color Putty" -- which can be intermixed to get the color you want, and is generally used for filling nail holes. It could be used to fill gaps between your panels, but the painter's putty would be more efficient/cheaper if you can get it to the right color.
Just out of curiousity, does anybody know what exactly "whiting" is? I actually rather like the idea of mixing my own -- it'll be a chemistry experiment of sorts.
Whiting is just powdered chalk - calcium carbonate. It is sold as "whiting" in better paint stores.
Michael R
What's it used for?
Making linseed oil putty!
The putty was the original nail-hole filler for painters and bedding compound for glaziers -- plumbers used it to bed faucets and waste fittings in the old clay sinks and to seal the joints in cast-iron rainwater guttering.
Take a 2' length of 1/2" copper pipe and some linseed oil putty and you've got a fairly deadly blow-pipe -- guaranteed to raise a bruise on the unsuspecting victim from anything up to 30 yds away.
IanDG
It's used as a cheap pigment. Mixed with hide glue it makes gesso. Dry it is used to polish soft metals. Mixed with water and maybe just a tiny bit of glue it's used for temporary signs or opaquing on glass..................
MR
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