1920s millwork staining techniques


S Flynn

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Hello, everyone.

I am restoring the staircase in my 1924 home. The attached photo shows my problem. A previous owner painted around a stair runner. I plan to strip each stair riser, and I would like to do my best to match the original stain and look. But I don't know what the process was that the 1920s craftsman used.

As you can see in the picture, I stripped one riser to find out what I am dealing with, I stripped the riser only using denatured alcohol. The alcohol got up the paint, the stain, and the shellac. I have rubbed the stain part with both naphtha and turpentine, but all that came up was something that looked like dirt. There was no visible fading of the stain.

Since the stain didn't penetrate the wood, I was thinking that this might have been a glaze, wherein the worker shellacked the wood, applied a mahogany glaze, and then shellacked the riser again. I applied the naphtha and turpentine where there was no shellac thinking that maybe if it got up the stain my suspicions would be confirmed, but as I said, nothing seemed to come up. Does that mean that I am dealing with a tinted shellac?

Any ideas how I might best go about replicating this look?

By the way, lest anyone have any concerns, yes that is lead paint, and I know I need to be careful.

Thanks for any thoughts and advice you might have.

post-18111-0-37771500-1434730009_thumb.j

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I am surprised you were able to strip the one riser using alcohol only.  Yes alcohol will dissolve shellac, but it can be stubborn and I wouldn't expect the stain and paint to come up that easily. 

 

I'd probably strip them all to bare wood and re-stain using a gel stain like General Finishes or Old Masters.  Your risers look like pine (probably yellow pine), which can be difficult to stain with penetrating stains, but gel stains do a nice job.  Then I'd top coat with a oil-based poly or waterbased floor finish.  I wouldn't fixate so much on what was originally used.   Even a trained eye can't reliably tell the difference, by sight alone, between one finish and the next.   It is difficult to say what they originally used and even more difficult to say when it was applied.   

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Thank you, Mike. You were very helpful. The reason I'm trying to replicate the original finish is because it matches the woodwork in the rest of the house. I may not be able to get it exact, but I thought I'd start with that goal.

Since you were surprised about the alcohol getting up the stain, I'm going to guess that my suspicions were correct that the "stain" is really a tinted shellac. I may play around on some scrap to see if I can get the right color with that process.

If I can't, I'll probably resort to a stain, as you said. I have a lot more experience working with shellac than with a stain, so that avenue would be a little more preferable for me.

Oh, and yes, the wood underneath is yellow pine. Good eye.

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Even if you were able to figure out the exact stain and shellac they originally used, you still won't get a color match because most finishes tend to darken over time.  I'd still gravitate toward a modern stain that closely matches your other woodwork.

 

If you prefer shellac, you can tint shellac with any alcohol soluble due.  Transtint, mohawk and lockwood all have lines of alcohol soluble dyes.  from there it is just a matter of experimentation. 

 

I find that matching the tone (i.e. is it more red, or more green, is it warm or cool) and the sheen more important than an exact color match.  if you find a brown of similar darkness, the right amount of red, and finish with the same sheen, your woodwork will blend nicely.

 

http://www.wdlockwood.com/main.html

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