3
-Way Arts & Crafts Finish
I get a lot of questions about Arts Crafts style fi nishes. Gustav
Stickley’s original work was made of quartersawn white oak
and fumed with ammonia. This was then topcoated with shel-
lac, followed by dark paste wax. Gus himself gave us a good
description of the process in his magazine, The Craftsman.
This description is also included in the book Craftsman Homes,
which is a compilation of articles from the magazine. He de-
scribes the process in great detail, but at the very end leaves us
wondering when he says:
"The method we use in the Craftsman Workshops differs in
many ways, for we naturally have much greater facilities for
obtaining any desired effect than would be possible with the
equipment of a home worker."
I didn’t go into much detail in my fi rst two books, Shop Draw-
ings for Craftsman Furniture & More Shop Drawings for Crafts-
man Furniture because I thought Gus Stickley’s description
mentioned above was complete and with the books in black
and white format we wouldn’t be able to show pictures that
accurately showed the colors.
My research suggests that in the fi rst few years of production,
fuming was the method used in Stickley’s Craftsman Work-
shops, but sometime around 1906, they shifted to early forms
of aniline dye stains and lacquer that was being developed by
Sherwin-Williams in Cleveland. So the fi rst question to answer
if you want an "authentic" Craftsman fi nish is do you want the
authentic fumed fi nish, or the authentic dyed and lacquered
fi nish?
This is a picture of a reproduction of a Gustav Stickley No.
700 bookcase that I make for the February 2005 issue of
Popular Woodworking. It’s very close to the color of many
original pieces I’ve seen, and the color was achieved by fum-
ing. In the current Catalog of the L & JG Stickley company,
this fi nish is referred to as "Onondaga". The reproductions
made by the current Stickley company are fi nished just like all
other factory made furniture today, it’s stained and toned and
lacquered. These fi nishes are very well done, but I don’t think
it’s quite right to call them authentic. They look very nice and
are extremely well done, but it’s a modern fi nish with modern
methods.
Here are brief descriptions of the two processes I currently use
in my reproductions. The fi rst process is fuming with ammonia.
Stickley used 26% ammonia which is really strong and some-
what dangerous. If you use it, you need to read the MSDS sheet
for it. It can be hard to fi nd. The best place I’ve found to look
is at a local blueprint supply company, as it’s used in old style
blueprint machines. Household ammonia from the grocery store
is about 5%. I’ve never had much luck with it, but it should
work, given a suffi cient amount of time. In between is janitorial
ammonia which most hardware and janitorial supply companies
carry. It’s about 10% strength.
You need an airtight container to put the furniture in, and you
need to expose it to the fumes for 12-48 hours. The ammonia
gas reacts with tannic acid in the wood, and chemically changes
the color. The amount of tannic acid wil vary from log to log
and board to board, so unless you use wood from the same
tree, there will likely be variations in color and in the amount of
time it takes to achieve the color you want. I knock together a
simple framework and cover it with plastic sheeting, tucking it
underneath the frame and using spring clamps to hold the plas-
tic tightly to the frame. I leave a fl ap at one end so I can pour
the ammonia in a plastic container then quickly seal the end. It
doesn’t take much ammonia, just a few ounces. Clear plastic
is best because you can see through it to judge the progress of
the color. This picture is taken just after fuming for about 24
hours. When the time is up, I put on goggles, gloves and a res-
pirator, lift up the fl ap and put the cover on the lid to the con-
tainer with the ammonia in it. It’s best to do this outside, but if
you must do it inside, work close to an exterior door and use a
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