Before beginning with this Issue's topics, I'd like to add a few words about washing your hands that I forgot in the last newsletter (Issue Five).



Another very useful product for removing dried or near-dried oil and alkyd paints and varnishes from your hands, and especially more delicate areas like your face or forearms is baby oil (light mineral oil). The oil seems to lift or displace the paint without exposing yourself to harsh paint thinner. As an added bonus,it's probably nice for skin moisturizing.

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And a reader question, also related to Issue Five:"Speaking of staying clean, how do you get small amounts of paint from larger cans without making a real mess?"

This is a very good question with no easy answer (at least that I've discovered)! For relatively small amounts, I usually dip a stir-stick into the quart or gallon can, lift it out and quickly move it over the container that I want it to go in to.

This works pretty well when either the original container is pretty full, or I only need an ounce or two of material. If you're really touchy about keeping your cans perfectly clean of drips, you can even put a scrap of foil across the rim to keep the lip free of paint, which is not a bad idea if it is a can you expect to repeatedly dip into (like a can of white or black, for example).

For larger amounts to be transferred, I dip a four ounce jar (that I have lots of laying around) trying to avoid dipping so far as to get paint on my fingers. It seems like a small plastic ladle would also work, and old dried paint would probably chip or peel off easily when it got too gunky.

When it's more than a dipper's worth, I snap on one of the plastic spouts you can pick up at the paint store. Not all of them seem to fit all cans, however. And finally, if it's a product that I need to dole out in small amounts on a regular basis, like glazing formula, I use the plastic attachments from the paint store that have the screw top lid and leave the whole thing in place until the can is empty or I'm thinking that I won't be needing that product again for awhile. Readers with other techniques are invited, even encouraged to send them in...

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You're about to discover one of the most useful secrets of professional furniture finishers and refinishers. Something that's so darned useful and easy that they hate to admit to it.

What am I talking about here? Magic markers! For all the little dings, dents, and scratches that are inevitable with any piece of furniturethat gets used, magic markers earn their name.

You know what I mean; those places on the legs that got whacked by the vacuum cleaner or gnawed by the puppy. Or on the top where somebody tossed their keys. Especially when they show through with a light, raw wood color, things can start to get a little shabby looking.

Worse looking yet, how about when there is a single defect in an otherwise perfect finish? Markers to the rescue! Actually, I think Magic Markers is a tradename, but it's used as a description for the whole lot of them, like Band-Aid is for, -well, band-aids.

Anyhow, you probably already have a black one laying around, and even the grocery store usually has them in brown, which is the other most useful color. But if you find yourself in an artist or craft supply store, you can get them individually or in sets of a wide range of colors. It's mostly the browns, the wood tones that are useful. A collection of them in light golden-brown, a reddish-brown, a medium brown and a dark brown (along with black) will allow you to finagle in a close-enough-to-disappear repair on most natural wood finishes.

I also keep a set of basic colors around. When added with the colors above, painted finishes can also have their problems disguised. For repairs that are lighter colored than your markers, wipe the scratch with your finger immediately after you've applied the darker marker. You can then re-apply a second "coat" if it's too light. For repair colors that don't conveniently match any of the markers you have on hand, try applying the marker that comes closest, wiping some of it off with your finger, and then dabbing in a second color that tints it in the right direction. It takes longer to describe doing it than to figure it out in real life. Besides, it usually only has to be close to disappear; that's why the black marker is handier than you might otherwise guess.

Some marker brands come with a fine tip at one end and a broader shape at the other, -these are especially handy. The only drawback to the ease and beauty of this approach may be that you won't know where to quit. Kind of like pulling out the Dustbuster for a quick little pick up, -where do you stop?

I once paid a housecall to a client who had asked me if I could stop by and touch up a couple of dings in the bases of some columns that I had marbled a few years earlier. When she saw howquickly and easily they were fixed, she asked me if I might make a trip into the dining room for the table legs, and, -oh, what about the music room...?

This home could properly be called a mansion, and it was filled with furniture! I handed her my little clutch of markers and mumbled something about being expected elsewhere...

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Brown shoe polish is also useful for repairing problems on clear wood finishes. It can actually fill in scratches that aren't too deep or wide. Separately, brown and/or black shoe polish (this is the colored wax in tins that we're talking about here) can be used on wood instead of clear wax when you are looking for a slight "antique" effect. This is most useful if your piece has small details or carvings or hardware to catch the wax and hold some of it as you buff off the excess.

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Hey, the last of the best time of the year for garage and yard sales is fast upon us, you may want to stock up on some small pieces for the holidays. Although you can find good used stuff year 'round, the pickin's is slimmer.

Even though it's ridiculously early to be thinking about the holidays, I think small sized projects make great gifts, and I thought that I would devote the next newsletter or two to some quick and easy ideas. You might want to review Issue Four for some hints: Newsletter Issue 4: http://www.finefurniturefinishing.com/newsletter4.html

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Please forward this newsletter to interested friends.

Article URL: http://www.finefurniturefinishing.com/newsletter6.html

Best wishes,

David Sorg