Wood finish. Please help!

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Njbishop90
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Wood finish. Please help!

Post by Njbishop90 »

Hi all, I'm relatively new to framing, and am slowly but surely re-framing all the pictures I have in my house. I have had an idea for a frame for a black and white photograph, but I am not sure how to get the desired affect, and have yet to find any moulding that would be suitable, so I was hoping someone on here may be able to offer some assistance. The inspiration comes from a style of interior trim available from Mercedes, but I'm not sure how to get the colour as in the photo without losing the grain detail. If anyone would be able to offer any pointers that would be very much appreciated!
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Thanks in advance,
Nick
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Re: Wood finish. Please help!

Post by GeoSpectrum »

Plain ash, pick some with a prominent grain, sanded with 180 grit sandpaper, cleaned, stained with Liberon ebony palette dye, 2 coats, let it dry. Apply 2 charts of wax, finish off with a good buff.

Others will have other methods.
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Re: Wood finish. Please help!

Post by Not your average framer »

I'm not even sure what finish that is, because there's no colour in the picture. It's obviously a high gloss finish, but we are left guessing what we are looking at. I wondered if it was a walnut, or a simulated walnut finish, perhaps just be cause so many classic cars used to have walnut veneered dashboards. Geospectrum thinks it is ash and maybe that's what it is, I can't tell from the photo.

Well, lets start with a few basics. Traditionally veneered woods tend to be finished to a high gloss. They don't have to be, but a lot of them used to be presented in that way, because a high gloss finish really does show off nicely figured veneers. So if it's a flawless gloss finish on a stunning and beautifully figured, wood then it will probably have a number of coats of french polish.

It is a sad fact that for most of us, we don't have much understanding of the difference between how most people in these days finish beautifully figured hard woods and how the craftsmen of many years ago set about doing the same task. Well, the differences are quite considerable and wood that has been worked using modern methods does not necessarily compare very well with how things used to be done.

Originally the bodies of wood planes were made from hardwoods and the action of pressing down hard upon the wood being planed with the large area of hardwood behind the blade on the plane, produced a highly burnished finish which would look better than woods than have been standed, or finished in a more modern way before applying woodstain to the wood.

Burnishing closes the pores in the wood and reduces the normally unnatural visual contrast where darker parts of the grain are prone to absorbing much more stain than the lighter parts of the grain. There tends to be a greater level of apparent transparency to the top layer of many of these older finished woods, as they used different materials to us and wanted to enhance this transparency effect, by using materials that would do this.

Their stains were not based on acrylic mediums and their pigments would in many cases selected from the maximum level of transparency. Prior to french polish being applied, highly figured woods would be carefully stained using hand mixed oil based stains and several applications of oil, and / or stain would be applied to build up the apparent transparency in the surface of the wood.

Multiple applications of french polish would then be applied and as one layer was applied on top of the previous layer there would be a very fine sanding down of the previous layer to ensure a dead flat and smooth finish. Also later layers of french polish would be bodied up by adding suitable amounts of finishing oil to deepen the glass like gloss finish produced by the french polish, followed by a final layer of wax and oil.

Today, we can't afford to do all that these past craftsmen were able to do, but it is still possible to adopt some of their choices of materials and methods to a limited extent. The trouble is that oil based stains take time to set between coats, but on the other hand very little comes close to these oiled wood finishes and french polish which has been bodied up with a suitable finishing oil looks so amazing.

You can't add very much oil to french polish if you want it to set in a reasonable fast time and also some finishing oils will set faster than others. Adding a very small amount of a suitable finishing oil to a bottle of french polish is something which I do as a standard practice. For myself this saves time, because I don't need to wax the french polish to prevent the bloom that develops as the french polish absorbing moisture from the air.
Mark Lacey

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prospero
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Re: Wood finish. Please help!

Post by prospero »

Welcome Nick. :D

That looks like some sort of pine, cut in a particular way so as the accentuate the grain pattern.
If you search around a bit you might find a piece and then it's just a question of applying a finish.

Or you could just cheat. :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F12rzALu1EI

That's a very old technique. Used extensively on furniture to make bland woods look 'wild'. With a bit of practice
the results can be amazing. :shock:

Go to YouTube ajnd search for 'Wood Graining'. Thres 100s of clips.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Oe2HdxiolM
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Re: Wood finish. Please help!

Post by vintage frames »

Here's one way of doing it.
The car manufacturers use a wood veneer on their trims and then use cellulose laquers to build up a finish. This finish is also used on electric guitars and also by frame moulding manufacturers, as on their veneered profiles.
The grain you describe is usually called the figuring and as such is only seen on figured veneers and only rarely and accidentally on frame mouldings.
Ash has been correctly mentioned and worth looking at and if you're happy with that, then that solves the first problem. But have a look at this site if you want to get a more figured effect.
http://www.rothkoandfrost.com/headstock ... 90-x-90mm/
You will have to settle for a flat or gently curved profile if you want to use a veneer.
After you've selected your wood, the next thing is the stain. That's up to your own choice of colour but use either a water or oil stain.
I should also mention that the tranparency of the finish will first depend on a thorough smooth sanding of the wood or veneer.
If you havn't used wood finishes before then I would recommend this stuff,
https://www.restexpress.co.uk/acatalog/ ... ml#SID=671
Two or three coats with sanding between applications will give a glasslike finish.
Or you could try an an nitrocellulose aerosol, available from either of the two mentioned sites above. With the aerosol spray, you get the best result by rubbing the final finish with Burnishing Cream and this too gives a glasslike but superior finish.
French polish is something you may need a little bit of practice with ...
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Re: Wood finish. Please help!

Post by Not your average framer »

Another veneer supplier that you might like to check out is Vale veneers in Aylesbury.

http://www.woodveneeruk.co.uk/

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Vale-Veneers?c ... rmvSB=true
Mark Lacey

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