Varnish
bill tindall
>I have this way cool book on finishing printed in the early 1920's. I was studying the chapter on making pigmented stain ( I despise the dye stains that pass for pigment stains now days) when I discovered a chapter on varnish. The author talks about varnish of the day being made from a mixture of resin( Amber gum, Aanzibar or kauri) and oil (linseed or china) along with solvent and metallic "dryers". He then goes on to describe a dozen or more varnish formulations where this ratio of oil and resin is varied to acheive different varnish properties depending on what is being finished. There is even a chruch pew formulation that won't become sticky in damp churches. More relevant, he talks of the sealer coat being a hard formulation followed by a more or less hard formulation depending on whether it is to be rubbed out, sun exposure, usage,etc. He even goes on to discuss putting wax in to deluster a varnish. I see where some of the things people use nowdays come from. He didn't speak kindly of the degradation in varnish properties that result from adding oil and/or wax to a varnish.
So, apparently the finisher of 1920 could bop on down to the local varnish store and choose among a dozen or so varnishes, depending on what he was finishing. It would seem that by comparison we have a limited selection with no clue as to its contents or its ability to be rubbed out, remain flexible or not, have good wear or water resistance, color, etc. We can only be sure that it meets an EPA VOC regulation that has no measureable effect on air quality. Dang! Might it be possible to make our own varnish? Where can I get some kauri gum?
One of the more amusing passages concerned varnishing floors. there was a caution that with poor ventilation the "room soon becomes loaded with the fumes given off by the varnish and the oxygen in the room is soon exhausted". He failed to mention that such an event would creat a vacuum that would collapse the walls of the structure, thereby burying the gasping varnisher.