Greene & Greene Finish
I received an e-mail from a reader the other day, asking about
fi nishes for Greene & Greene furniture. It’s one of those areas
where we have some good clues about what was used, but we
can’t be certain. There were some variations in color from house
to house, as well as variations in wood. These pieces also lived
in wealthy households, and it’s quite likely that they received a
regular "polishing" of some sort, and over time that can affect
what we see today.
Generally speaking, mahogany was used most often, and the
fi nishes are nice, but not overly stained or fi lled. For the sideboard
I built for the article, I used a fi nish recipe that I found online at
the Greene & Greene Virtual Archives. The recipe was sent to
the owner of the Thorsen house by Charles Greene, apparently
so that some repairs or new work could be made to match work
done when the house was originally built in 1908-1910.
Charles Greene’s handwritten recipe and notes are available online
at the Greene & Greene Virtual Archives.
Follow this link for Charles Greene’s fi nish recipe: (http://dpg.lib.
berkeley.edu/webdb/ggva/search?project=&siteid=259&pageno=3
&id=EDA.1959-1.III44.008&multipage=1&itemno=1)
And this link to Charles Greene’s note to William Thorsen
about the fi nish.: (http://dpg.lib.berkeley.edu/webdb/ggva/sear
ch?project=&siteid=259&pageno=&id=EDA.1959-1.III44.009&
multipage=1&itemno=1)
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