MarkDennehy":3n9vum2h said:
I'm just left wondering -- are there other traditional finishes for wood that are equally awesome that I just don't know about?
Well I don't know about equally awesome but I'll list a few.
Heard of a burnished finish? People argue about whether it's mostly about the burnishing or about the wax (or oil)
sometimes used to lubricate the burnisher (often made from hard wood or polished semi-precious stone) but I think they're not always thinking of the same thing exactly. Chris Schwarz has written a few times in recent years about using a
polissoir which sounds like burnishing but isn't, it's just a means to wax furniture and polish the waxed surface (and there are other methods outlined in old books that can achieve much the same end, possibly more efficiently, including one of my favourites, a piece of felt wrapped around a brick).
BTW I wouldn't think of linseed oil at all as just being good for tool handles, an oil finish seems to have been the most common finish on good furniture in the West from what can be ascertained from old writings and extant furniture. The procedures used on furniture and a quick oil finish applied to a tool handle are like chalk and cheese and the appearance should be markedly different.
Soap finish has been mentioned already, I tried this on the top surface of a butler's trolley and it worked better than I'd expected to be honest but I'd want to experiment with it further before using it on more furniture.
Obviously there's French polishing, which you're probably a bit scared by as most people are. But after trying it on a small thing recently I can honestly say it's easier than you fear to get an okay finish. Obviously if you want a super-smooth glossy surface you need to practice and practice but for getting a shine onto wood in short order I highly recommend giving it a whirl.
Many many recipes for paint made from scratch starting with dry pigment if you're into that, but these days with the retail cost of the pigments sometimes being so high I don't think that's a practical avenue for many. But there are dozens of various types of paint types that can be tried if you can get pigments at a price you're happy with: distemper, milk paint of course, early emulsions (real emulsions, not what we call emulsion these days which is a type of acrylic paint), through to variations of oil paint.
Milk paint and oil paint are the ones most worth exploring in depth IMHO because they are both tough as nails if made well. If you want the best results with oil paint you should invest in a stone or glass plate and a muller to properly incorporate the pigment into the oil.
MarkDennehy":3n9vum2h said:
And where would I go to see them or learn how to do them?
I don't know that there are any in Ireland so unless you're willing to travel to do a workshop overseas I think it's books you'll have to rely on. A word of caution: be very careful about using Internet postings to read up on this stuff. The variation in the quality of the information given out in the dozens of "vinegar stain" tutorials online is but a small window on to the world of the "I read this thing once that said such-and-such (I think)" dabbler :lol:
MarkDennehy":3n9vum2h said:
Richard Maguire's tutorial on ebonising
I haven't seen that, which technique did he use? There are a few main ones, and with variations it comes to about a dozen methods!
