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Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



April 25, 1919 



lishing standards and adhering to them is the hetero- 

 geneous nature of the materials of which the glue is made. 

 These materials differ greatly and the glue manufacturer's 

 difficulties increase in proportion; and up to the present 

 time it has seemed almost impossible to regulate the 



matter. However, both the manufacturers and the users 

 of glue are desirous of reaching the same results, and 

 real progress is being made in that direction, whether 

 the glue is based on animal substances, fish scraps, vege- 

 table starch, blood albumen, or casein. 



Pitts That Occur on Varnish Surfaces 



April 6, 1919. 

 Friend Jim, 



Well Jim, there was a little surprise news in that last 

 letter from you. Another boy, and now you got two 

 boys and a girl. That's fine, but now me and Sue know 

 why you and Min didn't make us that long promised 

 visit yet. Yes, Jim, you said it 1 will have to show 

 some speed to keep up with your record. When 1 read 

 that to Sue she got all red and fussed up, and came 

 back with a crack that there was lots of time to see 

 how^ much speed there was in this family, and any way, 

 there would be a young one when the good God got 

 ready. So 1 guess that is all there is to be said about it. 

 There is one thing, and that is I am not worried about 

 Sue's health now. She has picked up a lot in the last 

 month, and eats like a horse. That visit from her mother 

 done a world of good. We hope Min and the young 

 one are doing fine, and want you all to come and see 

 us when you can. 



The other day a fellow that sells varnish, and finisher 

 Phil Johnson had a lot of talk about pits, or pin holes, 

 that show in varnished work, and I thought Steve Mur- 

 ray might be interested. So 1 tried to remember the dope 

 to write you. From what was said, there seem to be as 

 many things that can cause these pin holes in varnished 

 work as there are things that can cause blisters in ve- 

 neered work. And Jim, the funny part about it is that 

 the blisters are usually caused by ignorance and cussed 

 carelessness, and the pin holes are mostly caused by the 

 same don't know or don't care. 



Some of the many things that make pin holes are: 

 using too new or "green" varnish: not enough filling of 

 the wood because a light bodied filler is used, varnish- 

 ing on damp or sweaty surfaces, the action of ammonia 

 in finishes, air bubbles caused by wrong handling of 

 varnish, and foreign matter in the varnish. Now those 

 things, and more, can make those pin holes. Yet there 

 is lots of guys that think all you got to know to be a 

 finisher is the difference between a brush and a board. 



I m not posing as a finisher, but I pick up every- 

 thing I can so to know what is wrong when they go to 

 blaming the glue room for trouble that never happened 

 in the glue room. This varnish man said there wasn't 



much of the pin holing caused by green varnish today, 

 because good varnish houses are careful to age the stuff 

 before letting it get out. 



It seems that in reality most of this pitting trouble 

 is on account of using a poor class of filler, or because 

 of carelessness of the man doing the filling. Sometimes 

 shellac is thinned down so much that it will not properly 

 fill the pores and then the varnish coats sink in and make 

 pits. When a full bodied shellac is applied right and 

 carefully sandpapered there is not apt to be any trouble, 

 and good results ought to come when a correct grade 

 of liquid filler is used. A good liquid filler is made with 

 a fair grade of furniture varnish, some fine ground or 

 floated silex and a little turpentine, with a small amount 

 of japan added for a drier. In prepared liquid fillers it 

 often happens that cornstarch is used too freely and 

 when the work is rubbed the fine particles "pick out." 

 Of course this picking out makes pin holes. 



Sometimes work is filled with oily or slow drying 

 filler. If this is shellacked and varnished before the 

 filler is good and dry the air cannot reach the filler, 

 and the only way left for it to dry is for the oil to be 

 taken up by the wood. This shrinkage in the filler makes 

 a space, which probably fills with gas. For a high grade 

 finish a filler should be used that will dry as hard as the 

 wood itself. It should be of cream like consistency when 

 applied, and well rubbed in, and ought not to be shel- 

 lacked for at least two days. 



In using varnish care ought to be used in pouring 

 It into the varnish pot. Don't dump it in any old way. 

 Let it run slowly out of the can down the inside of the 

 pot. If it is poured into the center of the pot it may 

 get full of air bubbles. After pouring it is a good thing 

 to let the varnish stand an hour or so before applying it 

 to the work. 



Pits often appear in mahogany because of little air 

 pockets in the open parts of the wood that are crusted 

 or glazed over. Often when looking at veneer you can 

 see this glaze so heavy that you wonder if it isn't sand 

 in the wood. On this wood it is well to use a very thin 

 shellac wash before the filler. 



Monkeying with varnish by adding driers or turpen- 

 tine will often make it pit. So the best thing to do is to 



