Hi,
I’m building a very formal Chippendale low chest of drawers. I have just cut out the dentil moulding that will be situated under the table top. It has occurred to me that it would be easier to finish the molding and the structure it lays over before nailing in place.
I had planned to use shellac to finish this piece but now I worry about it being messy around the dentils. Any suggestions for what might be a better option?
Also, the walnut is purple/brown and not very warm looking. Do you know a good stain formula that would give the rich brown seen in antiques?
Thanks for your time and advice.
Bill
Replies
While you're waiting to hear back from Peter, check out this article on Finishing Walnut by Jeff Jewitt. It has great ideas for getting a consistent color with stains.
Also, from my limited experience, shellac is probably the best option for your finish. Despite the difficulty of working around the dentils, I suspect it is your best option as far as authenticity goes.
The good thing about shellac is you can always fix drip marks with successive coats. That fix is illustrated well in this video on our site.
Matt Berger
Fine Woodworking
Bill,
Pre finishing the dentil is a good idea as is shellac as a finish.
One of the easiest ways to finish a dentil molding by hand is to use the proper brush. A couple that come to mind are a small Taklon or red sable. You can find them in any good art supply store and in a variety of sizes. They are very soft and hold a good amount of liquid. Look for one that fits your dentil.
Once you get on a coat or two of shellac let it dry well and lightly sand it with 320 no load paper. Be careful and use a light touch as it is very easy to cut the color on the edges. Once you are done sanding you can lay one or two coats on and it will look like you polished it.
Don't make yourself crazy doing the inside edge. A couple of swipes with the brush are sufficient.
Concerning the color; try using a dye to even the color out. One to consider would be golden brown walnut. For me water dyes are the way to go. The very minor additional step of raising the grain is nothing compared to what you get in return.
The yellow in the dye is the " complementary color" to the purple you are seeing. Yellow is opposite purple on the color wheel and will off set it.
From there you can add an oil stain if you'd like. The other option I like is to seal the dye with shellac, sand it when dry and then glaze the surface.
Glaze by definition is a "translucent film of color over a sealed surface" The great thing about glazing is if you don't like what you see, while it's still wet, you can simply wipe it off.
You may also consider using button shellac as your finish. It has an old carmel brown color. If you wanted to tint it a bit consider medium brown trans tint to richen it up a little.
Be sure and do some samples first. This is too good a project to guess at it.
Good luck.
Peter
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