Quarter Sawn Golden Oak
Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2021 10:42 pm
I bought this A-250 a couple of months ago and I've been refinishing it. The original finish was ok, but had a big scrape down the one side where it looked like someone slid it into a vehicle. I really don't mind refinishing stuff, so I kind of see that as a "plus" so I don't have to get into the argument about someone's favorite finish rejuvenator. So, here is where I'm at with this Edison. I left a few parts of the cabinet alone as they were in nice shape, but I did clean and sand them some and go over them with the varnish I'm using on the rest of the cabinet. The piece of wood that goes around the turntable is one of the parts I left alone so I thought I'd take a few pictures and show how well this old Golden Oak finish recipe worked for the color on the cabinet. This did have a piano finish on it when it left the factory.
The stain is 1 part Asphaltum Varnish which I bought from Letterhead Sign Supply.
1 part Winsor & Newton Gold Japan Size.
2 parts Pure Gum Turpentine.
It will pretty much look black when you get it mixed up and it does not smell bad because of the turpentine. You MUST use turpentine and not mineral spirits. The mixture will sort of fill the grain and give it that black look that is usually associated with golden oak. I usually fill the grain then, and I actually don't like the grain filler to be black so I use very dark brown (burnt umber or Cyprus dark umber) to fill the grain. I usually leave whatever I'm working on sit at least two days between coats of anything to make sure it's completely dry. After the stain coat is completely dry, then I'll fill the grain. Because the 'stain' is more of a coating, it will keep the grain filler from changing the overall color of the wood and just fill the grain. It's a good idea to always leave grain filler sit a week before you put anything over it. I've never had much luck with water based grain fillers as they dry too fast, so I've always used oil based fillers. You can get the natural color and add pigment to it to get the color you want. If you buy your pigments from a good source, they will mention in the description if the pigment you are looking at is prone to fading. I don't use dye grade pigments for grain filler as they are ground much finer and tend to change the color of the wood. With quarter sawn oak you really don't want that as the flake should show off, especially with golden oak.
After the grain filler is dry, then I went over it with a thin coat of de-waxed orange shellac and it now has three coats of varnish on it. I think if I were going to spray lacquer over it, I'd probably give it two coats of shellac, or give it a couple of dry coats of lacquer before I put on a full wet coat. I am pretty sure the asphaltum varnish will dissolve in lacquer, but I'm not sure on that. Asphaltum varnish is interesting stuff they use it to shade gold leaf, and it's acid proof. That is what was used to make the ID tags you see in your Victrolas and Edison's, et. I almost took a job 35 years ago making ID tags and they still used the method that was used on those tags 100 years ago. Basically, the varnish was printed on the brass, tin plated brass, or whatever and coated on the back. Then it was dipped in acid for however long it took to get to the depth that was needed. After that, the id tags were put in a solution to make the background dark, the varnish was then washed off and then stamped out in a big punching machine. I can't remember what they did if the background was painted. I spent a day there learning the process but then they hired someone else. She quit a few weeks later, and in the meantime UPS hired me, so I've been a delivery driver ever since.
When the varnish is hard enough it can be rubbed out so it won't be quite as wet looking as it is right now. It will look much better once that dripping wet look is knocked off. Anyway, I thought some of you might like seeing how this color is working out for me. I've been really happy with this old recipe that I found in a 1912 book on wood finishing.
The stain is 1 part Asphaltum Varnish which I bought from Letterhead Sign Supply.
1 part Winsor & Newton Gold Japan Size.
2 parts Pure Gum Turpentine.
It will pretty much look black when you get it mixed up and it does not smell bad because of the turpentine. You MUST use turpentine and not mineral spirits. The mixture will sort of fill the grain and give it that black look that is usually associated with golden oak. I usually fill the grain then, and I actually don't like the grain filler to be black so I use very dark brown (burnt umber or Cyprus dark umber) to fill the grain. I usually leave whatever I'm working on sit at least two days between coats of anything to make sure it's completely dry. After the stain coat is completely dry, then I'll fill the grain. Because the 'stain' is more of a coating, it will keep the grain filler from changing the overall color of the wood and just fill the grain. It's a good idea to always leave grain filler sit a week before you put anything over it. I've never had much luck with water based grain fillers as they dry too fast, so I've always used oil based fillers. You can get the natural color and add pigment to it to get the color you want. If you buy your pigments from a good source, they will mention in the description if the pigment you are looking at is prone to fading. I don't use dye grade pigments for grain filler as they are ground much finer and tend to change the color of the wood. With quarter sawn oak you really don't want that as the flake should show off, especially with golden oak.
After the grain filler is dry, then I went over it with a thin coat of de-waxed orange shellac and it now has three coats of varnish on it. I think if I were going to spray lacquer over it, I'd probably give it two coats of shellac, or give it a couple of dry coats of lacquer before I put on a full wet coat. I am pretty sure the asphaltum varnish will dissolve in lacquer, but I'm not sure on that. Asphaltum varnish is interesting stuff they use it to shade gold leaf, and it's acid proof. That is what was used to make the ID tags you see in your Victrolas and Edison's, et. I almost took a job 35 years ago making ID tags and they still used the method that was used on those tags 100 years ago. Basically, the varnish was printed on the brass, tin plated brass, or whatever and coated on the back. Then it was dipped in acid for however long it took to get to the depth that was needed. After that, the id tags were put in a solution to make the background dark, the varnish was then washed off and then stamped out in a big punching machine. I can't remember what they did if the background was painted. I spent a day there learning the process but then they hired someone else. She quit a few weeks later, and in the meantime UPS hired me, so I've been a delivery driver ever since.
When the varnish is hard enough it can be rubbed out so it won't be quite as wet looking as it is right now. It will look much better once that dripping wet look is knocked off. Anyway, I thought some of you might like seeing how this color is working out for me. I've been really happy with this old recipe that I found in a 1912 book on wood finishing.