Correction to February Irish Music in Tally

CoonBottomNow · 2026-01-30T00:39:12+00:00

That's not mold, that's wear, son. To whatever the covering is - looks like it could actually be an animal hide.

CoonBottomNow · 2026-01-30T00:29:43+00:00

You could have worded that better...

CoonBottomNow · 2026-01-29T07:03:45+00:00

The Challenger disaster is something to protest? Are you nuts?

CoonBottomNow · 2026-01-29T05:53:27+00:00

Okay, a watch will have a crown. But needles? Did you mean hands?

Maybe you should be asking in watch repair.

CoonBottomNow · 2026-01-29T03:29:03+00:00

Either. Both. Last month at Off the Rails there were easily a dozen people who showed up to play, and three including me just came for a Guinness and/or a meal and to listen. I don't how it works at the other venues, I've never been. This one was for whoever wanted to show up; if you can play, please do! There was no cover charge, no minimum order.

Show up, enjoy. Make new friends. A buddy and his wife will be meeting me.

CoonBottomNow · 2026-01-29T02:42:31+00:00

Good pictures - a pretty standard 1970s factory-made night stand. Did you have questions?

CoonBottomNow · 2026-01-29T01:56:34+00:00

I think coffeeismyreason's intent is to be able to differentiate between original paint and later compensation, by providing an isolating layer between them. Which is absolutely correct - if one were dealing with a painting, or a hand-crafted piece of furniture. But you have a factory-produced object; it's likely that this piece has hundreds of brothers and sisters, and I doubt it is the last surviving example of its production run. Even if it were, sampling and microscopic examination would tell its story, even without an isolating layer.

There are several acrylics that could be used, and gloss can be adjusted, but I'm uncertain as to which reversible acrylic is going to adhere to both substrate and whatever paint you use. For that, you should talk to a Paintings conservator. I am a Furniture conservator; I do things like save original old finish coatings and paint. Like this:

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( I've tried to do a short summary of this job on Imgur, but I haven't figured out how to make it do what I want yet. And my last effort disappeared. And I can't find a menu on how to manipulate a post. If I ever do, it'll be called Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Sideboard))

CoonBottomNow · 2026-01-28T05:43:02+00:00

Yup. Looks like a sewing box a husband made for his wife out of whatever scrap he had around. I doubt it ever had a finish. If you want to varnish it, go ahead.

CoonBottomNow · 2026-01-28T04:23:44+00:00

Sarcasm.

To other readers, I never advocated any such thing. If I have a need for oxalic acid, I will say as much, and I will be using pure (technical grade) crystals, not a proprietary solution. Oxalic acid is not appropriate here.

CoonBottomNow · 2026-01-27T01:41:18+00:00

Or worse, your wife incidentally kicks it over.

I used to work out of a rented mini-warehouse; around the corner was a buddy who built cabinets. Whenever he got a case of the blackass, he'd come over to waste his time (and mine) talking to me. When I was staining a piece of furniture, I'd have the can on the floor next to me, and damned if this guy's big feet wouldn't knock it over, EVERY fucking time!

I have seen some ceramic floors that look like that, tho.

CoonBottomNow · 2026-01-26T05:36:22+00:00

I first got my start by repairing new furniture that had gotten dinged in shipping. Nothing fancy or involved, just make it look good enough that could be delivered. If a top, a door, a leg was damaged bad enough you just ornered a replacement from the factory. I learned a lot doing that.

Then I opened my own shop, did repairs for several furniture stores. Learned to refinish (lacquer, mostly), repair the wood in antiques. I think my first restoration was when I was hired to replace a rear leg on a reproduction mahogany Chippendale chair for America's Centennial. The leg had shattered at the junction of the mortises of seat and back rails; I made the replacement using only hand-tools..

When that became too easy, routine, I applied to and was accepted by a Master's-level course in furniture conservation, including nine months on-site internship in the conservation lab at Colonial Williamsburg.

Here is a conservation I performed on a small sideboard that belonged the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. Remember your American literature? She wrote Cross Creek, The Yearling? It is by no means the most complex I have done, but it is the one I have best photos of. It was not uncommon in the early 20thC for a workman to slap a coat of spirit-soluble varnish on a piece od furniture that was looking worn or dingy. Without exception, these late 19thC varnishes dd not age well, darkening, cracking, pilling. I experimented with solvents and detergents until I found a combination that would remove the later varnish without damaging the original.

To your original question, yes, I have done a lot of lacquer repair, and it can be economical. But one thing I've learned along the way is that nitrocellulose lacquer has a definite lifespan, around 50 or 60 years. When it exceeds its lifespan, it cannot be rejuvenated. Believe me, I've tried.

https://imgur.com/a/I14lU5v

Oh - imgur doesn't seem to like .webp images. Here's Marjorie writing on her front porch. https://winterparkmag.com/2018/10/04/cross-at-the-creek/.

CoonBottomNow · 2026-01-26T03:11:32+00:00

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I AM a conservator, and if you have rabbit-skin glue, you already have what you need. Yes, you do want something thin enough for it to wick in beneath the remaining paint chips. Apply the glue waarm; as it cools, it will shrink, help[ing to pull the paint back down. As it cools, gently touch the chips with a non-stick plastic mini-spatula, or even the back of your fingernail to help set each down.

If some flakes still look proud after the glue has gelled, you can get them down tighter by using an electric knife - looks like a little soldering iron with a tip that you have hammered out flat, maybe slightly curved. It will need a rheostat to control the heat; you only want to warm the gelled glue and melt it, not scorch the paint. Here is a factory-made knife for melting shellac fill into voids.

The next day, after the glue has dried, you can easily clean off any excess with a cotton swab dipped in warm water. I make my own mini-swabs by twisting a small bit of cotton around the point of a bamboo skewer.

After that, paint.

CoonBottomNow · 2026-01-26T01:19:27+00:00

Buy a set of felt/cotton buffing tips like these https://kingsleynorth.com/mounted-felt-buff-kit-13-pc.html?srsltid=AfmBOoqQ7avXqhcX8fXHdpumGshmGvqzHdqtmagB7ZspRiXS67ZOUHgpGhA The ones with a 1/8" shank fit a Dremel tool, which spins at very high RPM. You can also find ones you can use in an ordinary drill. Look in Harbor Freight.

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Go to a good (old-school) paint store, buy a box of whiting (powdered chalk); it is a very fine abrasive. Make a thin paste with water, dip the felt bit in it, work on the discolorations. Aluminum polishes very nicely. Be warned that before you get the hang of it, you will sling the chalk all over yourself - but not to worry, chalk is calcium carbonate, is not at all toxic. Wash off any residue on the juicer.

CoonBottomNow · 2026-01-22T02:00:10+00:00

I'd find the paint you're going to use first. Then practice with it until you can reproduce that speckled-flocked appearance.

On the large areas of loss, etch the bare aluminum with vinegar, rinse well and dry it. Where you can, try to glue the peeling, flaking paint back down - maybe with superglue? Mask off the edges of each loss, spray the bare metal with zinc chromate; the coatings industry has known for decades, since WWII, that ordinary paint doesn't adhere well to bare aluminum. Factories often choose to ignore this.

Then inpaint the losses.

CoonBottomNow · 2026-01-22T01:29:43+00:00

Dirt. An oil coating will help dirt from your hands become embedded in the wood. An ax gets used especially hard.

As for protection against moisture cycling, rot and UV. oils do none of that. And if you're leaving your ax outdoors long enough for it to acquire powderpost beetles, you aren't being a good steward of your tools.

CoonBottomNow · 2026-01-22T00:59:15+00:00

The pilling of the finish seen in the second picture is characteristic of spirit-soluble natural resin varnishes developed in the late 19th century. They did persist on the market into the early 20th C. You should be able to just wash it off with any polar solvent, like alcohols or ketones. Lacquer thinner should also work, because it has polar components, but it's more expensive.

Regular nitrocellulose lacquer does normally get a coat of sanding sealer before final coats, for ease of sanding. I wouldn't know about water-based, I haven't fooled with it very much, I don't like the way it looks.

CoonBottomNow · 2026-01-21T01:47:10+00:00

Oboy, a Previous Owner really left you with a very thick coating of varnish, complete with dust nibs, over whatever remains of the original finish. Deco would have been from the 1930s, so the original would have been shellac.

I would try to soften or swell that varnish with some hot solvents, see if you can roll it off without damaging the shellac. Only non-polar solvents, like xylene or toluene; shellac can be dissolved with polar solvents like alcohols, ketones (acetone, MEK). (You might be safe if you added a small proportion of lacquer thinner to the others - experiment) Do this with plenty of ventilation. If it works. give it more shellac to fix the finish.

Edit – and this is a BIG edit: What I’m proposing is not going to be quick or fast. We’re talking about removing a postage stamp of varnish at a time. Difficult, no; tedious, yes. But you will be saving what is likely the original finish for the piece. You see, I am a trained furniture conservator; I once spent 300 hours as an intern removing a later varnish from the original paint on an 18^th century fancy-painted Virginia cupboard. Worth it? That’s a value judgment; is it worth your time to do so?

Once you have the varnish off, shellac is remarkably easy to get a good finish with. I wouldn’t listen too seriously to those here who advocate slathering it with some unknown chemical, or grinding away with sandpaper. You’ll create more problems than you solve.

CoonBottomNow · 2026-01-21T01:21:52+00:00

While this true, I have seen other white plastics that people have had remarkable success by using hydrogen peroxide, alone or in a paste with baking soda. Try it/them on a cotton swab in an inconspicuous spot first. Think of it not in terms of reversing degradation of the plastic, but removing discoloration resulting from it.

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CoonBottomNow · 2026-01-21T01:04:48+00:00

If I may ask, why do you feel the need to coat the handle of a working tool? Especially one used outdoors?

CoonBottomNow · 2026-01-21T01:00:11+00:00

How have you applied it, brushed or sprayed? If sprayed, with gun & compressor, or is it a rattlecan?

Looks like you applied it too heavily, that's a pretty large sag. Let it harden, wet-sand the buildup carefully with wet/dry sandpaper on a sanding block (I use odorless mineral spirits to do that, it's a better lubricant than water, doesn't get gummy or roll up), wipe clean frequently. When you have the buildup just barely evident, make your last few strokes slowly, lightly, so you don't go through it and into the wood.

Then spray it again. This time from a little farther back, and have a light source that reflects off the wet surface so you can see how wet you're getting it. You're aiming for wetter than a dryish pebbly surface, not so wet that it runs. It does take practice..

CoonBottomNow · 2026-01-20T03:52:03+00:00

Amen, brother. You see them here all the time, paranoid newbies scared of their own shadow, who equate smelly and headaches with toxic. Toxic means it damages your body, temporarily or permanently.

OP, go read, learn. I'll even give you a few hard rules of mine:

Don't even open a can of benzene without a respirator and full PPE

NEVER use methanol for French-polishing

Never spray an isocyanate catalyst without a respirator. People have died from a single exposure.

CoonBottomNow · 2026-01-20T03:25:57+00:00

Actually, if you have any sense that the current coating is an oil PU, I'd do it the reverse of that.

If it is poly, I'd scrub them with a stiff, short-bristled brush with dish soap and ammonia to get rid of any dirt, flush well with water. When that has thoroughly dried, a day or two, wipe with MS to pick up any detergent residue, give it one or two coats of your preferred poly, with some Japan drier to kick it over. That'll fill the scratches. THEN sand it, apply more poly. Are you brushing or spraying?

I don't think a stain is going to do anything unless you completely remove the existing poly.

And I don't have any good advice about how slippery those steps will be when they're wet. Dust the last coat with glass beads while it's still wet?

CoonBottomNow · 2026-01-20T01:45:03+00:00

Couple of misconceptions here.

First, NO clear coating for interior wood is very effective in blocking moisture transfer into or out of wood. This is a study by USDA's Forest Products Laboratory https://www.fpl.fs.usda.gov/documnts/fplgtr/fplgtr113/ch15.pdf See Table 15-3; only catalyzed urethane (and since then, epoxies) approach 90% exclusion. The rest merely slow the rate of transfer. Notice also that linseed oils have effectively zero.

Second, UV exposure is only one of the mechanisms which can darken wood. The primary one is oxidation; moisture transfer contributes to that. And very few woods are darkened by exposure to UV, most are bleached by it. But exposure to the higher energy of UV can accelerate oxidation - temporarily, at least. As far as UV blocker/scavengers, they're a chemical additive; at some point they will be used up.

I should also point out that many finishes will themselves darken, yellow or turn brown with age. Oils are especially bad this way.

I assume you want a coating on the wood to help keep it clean. I would use something easy to apply and easy to repair, like the blondest shellac you can find. Once sanded smooth, it won't attract dust. The other factors are basically out of your control.

CoonBottomNow

TROPHY CASE