That's the look I'm going for. I know it is a brittle hard finish - at areas where it's chipping off, it's kind of thick, yellow, brittle and flakey if that gives any clue. If's not really checkered, but where's its scratched, it kinda lifts. I might be able to get a picture of a damaged portion of a panel if it would help ID it.
I would bet that your cabinets were refinished or re-coated with varnish or shellac at some time. the original finish in the fifties would have been a thin coat applied with a sprayer. Probably lacquer. The thick, yellow, brittle and flakey clue says a lot. The flaking is likely a varnish or shellac that was put on later with a brush. This was the most common way of repairing a finish on old cabinets. It would make them look great, but they would yellow a lot over time. Then the varnish would seperate from the lacquer and wood with time, and you would be left with thick yellow flakes falling from your woodwork.
To duplicate this requires some yellow-orange color be added to the finish. It can be done with a coat or two of shellac, to get the color right, then a coat or two of semigloss or gloss finish. sand or scotchbrite between coats, especially when changing from shellac to the next finish.
For durability I would look at the fast drying floor finishes in water based products, as stated before.
Best wishes, Rich
So I have taken everybody's input and done a series of tests. Attached is a list of the samples we are testing and products we are using. I'll post pictures after the final coat and let you know what we decide.
Shari
__________________ Vintage Airstream Club - Past President 2007/2008 WBCCI #1824 - DenCO Unit Past President (2005) AIR #30 - Join Date: 2-25-2002
I believe that is the old fashioned varnish or spar varnish. It is not brittle or yellow when new. It only gets that way after 40 or 50 years.
On boats the rule is to give it a fresh coat of varnish every year. Some old yachts have had the wood revarnished this way for 100 years and are still good. Of course this is on wood that is used outdoors and exposed to salt air, for the interior of a trailer this revarnishing is not necessary, well maybe every 30 years.
Would like to hear from some real experts on this.
__________________
Living in the trailer park of sense, looking out the window at a tornado of stupidity.
The "mellow" colors of some wood/finishes are caused by aging ,they did not look that way when they were new. An expert finisher can replicate the aged look through a variety of techniques.
A proper finish on interior wood will last more than your lifetime you will never have to redo it. Just remember to protect it, keep it clean, polish/ wax it ( never ever use an aerosol polish product).
To be honest I am very partial to Lacquer.
If you are looking for a mellow golden aging of a finish, you should look to something like a cellulose lacquer.
If you would like to see what it looks like after aging. Take a look at old guitar tops. The better guitars were finished with cellulose lacquer and they age with a golden patina, reminiscent of old birch panel.
Dependant on which type you buy it can be sprayed or brushed, just make sure of you have good ventilation.
My Grand Mother lived in a trailer from 1948 to 1989. She said that you should clean and wax every year and her trailer was beautiful birch with a depth in the finish that started 6" off the wood. Murphy's Oil soap and paste wax once a year for 40 years. The original finish was Lacquer.
The original finish from the factory was lacquer up til 1971. The factory also recommends using Danish oil for touch up work.
I am planning on using Waterlox on my cabinetry. It is easy to apply, great depth, tough as nails, and easy to fix if it gets damaged.
Woody
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Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'
The finish I stripped in my 63 was a lacquer finish ,which is what I prefer to use, due to ease of application . My own opinion is that spar varnish is great for boats but not really what you need for interior work. Its big plus is UV resistance.
I work for a cabinet shop in Hayward,ca.
25 years ago when I started in woodworking lacquer was the standard for most shops. It is easy to apply and to repair. Its main drawback is that it isn't very durable, especially where water is involved. I would not use it in a travel trailer. excessive heat will cause it to become brittle and crack. Its best used on furniture that will be in a controlled environment, and won't be put to heavy use.
Most cabinet shops are using conversion varnish now which is a two part finish, meaning it has a base and a catalyst you have to mix in the correct amounts for the finish to become active. It is very durable. it is as easy to apply as lacquer. The surface is durable enough to be used on desktops and dining tables. We started using it about five years ago, after many years of using and repairing nitro-cellulose lacquer on our cabinets. Since that time we have almost no problem with callbacks for finishing issues. It has made a huge difference in the quality of our products.
Some of the finishes being discussed here are not really suitable for the extremes of temperature and humidity that our trailers will be put through in the course of regular use. The type of finishes that really soak into the wood are only durable if they are allowed to build up to a film on the surface. This takes many applications with danish oil or tung oil, and it's not really practical for the use because of that. It would take probably fifteen or twenty applications to build a film. True, it would have excellent adhesion, but at the cost of possibly weeks spent applying finish and waiting for it to dry. Yes, Its possible, no, Its not very practical.
For those who have no finishing experience to speak of I always recommend trying a floor finish first. Varathane has a really good one, and there are also some good water based floor finishes out there which cure really quickly. I think waterlox makes one like that. These are finishes you can brush on or rag on. All you have to watch out for is that you don't apply so much finish that it runs. They are usually thin enough to have good penetration, and because they are somewhat thin you will need at least two coats, maybe three to get complete coverage. The nice thing here is you can re-coat two or three times in one day with the fast drying ones.
I also recommend using satin, rather than gloss or semi-gloss finish. It looks more like fine furniture, rather than plastic. It shows less defects due to poor application and damage also.
You can see some of the conversion varnish used on cabinets at the link below
Wow guys! Thanks for all the great information. I've been out of town this week and am still pondering my options - this helps alot! We plan on starting to finish next weekend, so we will be making our decision this week.
Shari
__________________ Vintage Airstream Club - Past President 2007/2008 WBCCI #1824 - DenCO Unit Past President (2005) AIR #30 - Join Date: 2-25-2002
I voted for Spar Urethane! but I should have voted other because I used both the Spar Urethane and a polyurethane both by Minwax. The poly went on all my cabinets. Sometimes I used the spray version which worked very well in places that a brush might show streaks if not done properly.
The Spar Urethane I used on my table and counter top. I could not ask for a better surface. Yellows nicely as did the poly. I believe I used the satin finish for all. My counter has been in for over 8 years and has been treated as though it was indestructible and guess what? it is! At one point I left a pot on the counter in a puddle of water for over 12 hours. Nada, no problem, no mark. Wiped up the water, washed the pot.
Oh and by the way, I hurriedly applied the finish in a neighbors garage (dirty garage) overnight and I think there are only two coats. No debris, I did thin the first coat with a little mineral spirits to avoid the over tacky results on fresh wood. (Birch veneered plywood)
Well, I wanted to come back to this thread and let you all know what we decided to do...
Old wood - one coat of a 4:1 ratio of clear to amber Shellac.
New veneer/wood - one coat of amber Shellac.
Each are then brushed with four coats of General Finishes Arm-R-Seal Urethane in a Gloss finish. We sand lightly between the 2/3 and 3/4 coats of Urethane with 400 grit sand paper.
The Arm-R-Seal dries in 4-6 hours (at least here in dry CO) and flows out very nicely - no brush marks. The finished product is very smooth and shiny - like the inside of a boat. It also seems to be a very hard, durable finish after full cure.
Thanks for all the input ~
Shari
__________________ Vintage Airstream Club - Past President 2007/2008 WBCCI #1824 - DenCO Unit Past President (2005) AIR #30 - Join Date: 2-25-2002
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