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fan to blow the fumes outside before removing the plastic sheet
from the frame. Here’s a closer look at the color after fuming:
It’s kind of gray and dull, but the fi rst coat of fi nish will improve
the look considerably. Note that the "fl akes" of the quarter-
sawn oak are close to the same color as the rest of the wood.
An authentic fi nish won’t "pop" the grain, it’s subtle and
subdued. From this point you can move on to your favorite top-
coat, I like to use amber or garnet shellac as this really warms and
develops the color. Here is what it looks like with a coat of shellac:
One of the problems with fuming is you can end up with uneven
color, and if you miss any areas of sapwood, you can have spots
with no color at all. With white oak it can be hard to tell, and this
is what can happen (top, left, lower image):
This isn’t good, especially if you’re building it to put in a magazine
that gets read by a couple hundred thousand people. Back in Gus
Stickley’s description of his process, he describes the fi x; is a little
bit of aniline dye mixed in some shellac. You can carefully blend it
in with a brush or a rag. This is what it looks like in the middle of
touching it up (top, right, lower image)::
With some patience and judicious work with a scotchbrite pad,
you can blend it in completely before applying a fi nal coat or two
of shellac or clear lacquer. The fi nal color comes from dark wax,
applied after letting the shellac dry for a couple of weeks.
So if you’re going to all this trouble, and you risk uneven color and
areas of sapwood that need to be touched up, why not just use
stain or dye and avoid the fumes and the hassle? Good question.
Gus Stickley’s answer was to use aniline dye and avoid the fumes
and hassle, once he had access to a reliable dye to use. Some of
our staff like to use a gel stain, and think that General Finishes
"Java" was pretty close to authentic. I think it’s a bit too red and
shortly after we published something mentioning it, "Java" was
discontinued. They do have one called "Espresso" which looks
similar. Any of the dark brown stains would also work.
I’m not wild about gel stains, and I think the sensible way to do
the fi nish is with aniline dye. Lockwood "fumed oak" is pretty
close to the look you get when you fume. I like to dissolve it in
alcohol to minimize grain-raising and speed up the process. You
have much better control over the color, and the dye doesn’t care
if the boards came from the same tree or contain any sapwood. I
follow it with shellac and dark wax -the same as if it was fumed.
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