stephen thomas
Diamond
- Joined
- Jun 3, 2001
I am often peripherally involved with replicating or restoring old woodwork and (rarely) furniture.
When you get involved in such pastimes, there tend to be "experts" who tell themselves stories either to inflate their own jobs, sometimes to protect past indiscretions, and sometimes just pure ignorance.
In the conservation field, retaining original "patina" and finishes can sometimes be considered very important, but often the finishes are not nearly as old as the conservator (expert) wishes. An example would be rebuilding/restoring damaged floors in the VP ceremonial suite a few years back. The conservators caused a huge stink for us installers over floor prep because the owner of the company chose to remove most of the extant finish of old work, to blend in the extensive (more than 50%) repairs of new work. They went around chanting "patina, patina" as a mantra, etc. Well, we installers as prep for the work had detailed photos that the floors had been completely reduced and refinished during the Reagan administration, and every bit of "old finish" had been applied at that point and was most likely common gym floor polyurethane. IOW, nothing historic, including potentially any of US Grant's DNA was lost at that point. This is just an example. Others can be what the substrate was in order to determine the best match and top coat.
So my question is, is there an easy place to send some finish scrapings and get a quick (they don't set on a back shelf until you harass them for 6 months) analysis of the primary type of finish it was? This does not have to be a detailed report showing an exact recipe for replicating the finish; it just has to tell what type of finish it was, possibly when it might have been made, and be "authoritative".
I've used local college/universtity for some wood sample analysis, but even on a fee basis those guys love to drag things out, use it for student exercises "next semester", etc.
Thanks!
smt
When you get involved in such pastimes, there tend to be "experts" who tell themselves stories either to inflate their own jobs, sometimes to protect past indiscretions, and sometimes just pure ignorance.
In the conservation field, retaining original "patina" and finishes can sometimes be considered very important, but often the finishes are not nearly as old as the conservator (expert) wishes. An example would be rebuilding/restoring damaged floors in the VP ceremonial suite a few years back. The conservators caused a huge stink for us installers over floor prep because the owner of the company chose to remove most of the extant finish of old work, to blend in the extensive (more than 50%) repairs of new work. They went around chanting "patina, patina" as a mantra, etc. Well, we installers as prep for the work had detailed photos that the floors had been completely reduced and refinished during the Reagan administration, and every bit of "old finish" had been applied at that point and was most likely common gym floor polyurethane. IOW, nothing historic, including potentially any of US Grant's DNA was lost at that point. This is just an example. Others can be what the substrate was in order to determine the best match and top coat.
So my question is, is there an easy place to send some finish scrapings and get a quick (they don't set on a back shelf until you harass them for 6 months) analysis of the primary type of finish it was? This does not have to be a detailed report showing an exact recipe for replicating the finish; it just has to tell what type of finish it was, possibly when it might have been made, and be "authoritative".
I've used local college/universtity for some wood sample analysis, but even on a fee basis those guys love to drag things out, use it for student exercises "next semester", etc.
Thanks!
smt
