I’m making a Shaker Blanket Chest
I made the chest from Red Oak-Yea I know most shaker chest were pine .
The Shakers use a lot of Pine but they used other woods also – Hardwoods – and even mixed woods – like things exposed to tough wear.
I used Red Oak as to last , hope this is alright with the leaders of the Society.
I want to do a Shaker Finish-
Thinking about
1 Wash with Milk Paint
OR
2 Stain
They used paints ” not just red” – sometimes thinned and use as a stain. Also used oil and water based stains
I have a few recipes for finish they used things like Brazeil Dust, Book binders Acid Literage, Nicaraqa Wood chips. What is this stuff???????
The few things they used that I have heard about are Linseed oil, Varnish, Shellac
One of my books tell that nothing brings out the natural beauty of wood like a Linseed oil Finish
Boiled linseed thinned with turpentine and two tablespoons of vinegar to each pint of oil. 2-3 coats.
What would be the best way to go with Red Oak?
Thank you
Replies
In The Shaker Legacy (Tauton, 2000), Christian Becksvoort mentions the following colors as having been used by the Shakers: blue, red, green, and yellow. These were usually milk based, but sometimes oil based paints were also used.
In the same book he also notes that the Shakers in Ohio and Kentucky made use of oak in their furniture (lots of oak in those regions) and in the Victorian era oak was employed by many of the communities elsewhere. He pictures only a few pieces of oak, and these all have clear finishes.
Suggestion:
If your pieces are constructed of fine, straight grained oak, a clear or amber finish should look fine.
If, however, cathedral and other "busy" grains have been used, they may have a bad visual effect, contrasting poorly with the simple straight lines of the furniture. In that case, I'd paint the piece.
Jeff
If you start heading toward the milk paint option, here's a good supplier:
http://www.milkpaint.com/
I recently read an article about the Brazil Dust technique and it was very intriguing. If we can get Richard J. in here, I'm sure he can go into some details. [Edit, delete Can't find the article] Found it: Fine Woodworking: #158, October 2002. Short article by David Salisbury of Colonial Williamsburg. He describes using brazilwood extract (they use the actual brazilwood sawdust at CW). "This stain will produce completely different colors, depending on which mordant is used to pretreat the wood." The mordant "chemically reacts with the stain [and] also heps it to penetrate the wood and bind with the fibers [giving] the striking, deep colors that would not be possible using a stain alone."
This is all on page 109, along with more detailed description and some color pictures.
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Edited 4/13/2003 11:33:31 PM ET by forestgirl
Edited 4/13/2003 11:34:13 PM ET by forestgirl
Ron, just a philosophical thought:
I wouldn't overworry about "true" Shaker anything, or what so-called purists will think about your choices. From what I've read about the Shakers, they were quite willing to explore new options -- even inventing all sorts of tools, machines, jigs and uses for materials -- in order to be more efficient and make the best use of what was available to them. If they were making furniture on the same scale today, as they were then, I'd imagine they'd have the latest technology.
I think following the "spirit" of the Shaker style -- beauty in simplicity, functionality, etc. -- is probably more important than following exact measurements of antiques or old recipes. So enjoy your painted red oak furniture!
Just my 2-cents.
David
"The world that was not made is not won by what is done" -- Mundaka Upanishad
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