Evening star., 1937-10-26

penetrated the pores of the wood. To
build a surface that will stand hard
wear or resist heat it is necessary to
use varnish-and varnish is much more
| difficult to handle.
If YOU have a dining room table
| that you have refinished with the shell
lac and wax method you may now do
it over SO that it will have a surface
that will withstand heat and hard
wear. But before you begin, let me
tell you that, no matter how heat
proof your finish. it is impossible TO
put a dish of sizzling Welsh Rarebit
straight out of the oven onto a table
top covered by thin lace cloth with
out having the lace design printed on
the table. Excessive heat actually
melts the varnish and fuses it to the
linen.
First. pick out a room in the house
to work in that is not in constant use
so that the door need not be opened
for "a hours. thus keeping the family
from trailing through to stir up dust.
| The room must be heated also-as
high temperature is necessary for
hard surface on varnish. If you can
| get the temperature of the room as
high as 80 degrees and keep it free
from dust you are already assured OF
success.
The next move is to remove all the
wax or oil on the table by wiping
the surface thoroughly with gasoline
or turpentine on soft. clean cloth.
Then smooth the top by rubbing 1t
down with fine steel wool or sand
paper. When I say fine-I mean very
| f1ne-as fine as it comes. After 1t
is smooth, clean the surface Of every
bit of dust and lint. as each blem-
ish will be magnified by the varnish.
Prepare yourself with good 3 or
inch brush: the kind that does not
shed its bristles at every stroke. Buy
the best varnish that you can find.
If you want heatproof surface
buy the varnish guaranteed by the
manufacturer as heatproof. Varnish
is difficult to use in that it dries
quickly and may not be retouched
| without leaving a mark. Lay it on
In long, clean strokes with the grain
of the wood. Work quickly and
surely and try to keep the edges
| of the brush strokes wet so that
| there will not be ridge where you
| ioin two strokes. When the top is
| finished, if you see spot that you
missed do not 60 back to retouch it
there will be mark where you
overlap-and the next two coats will
cover the slip. When you have fin
ished, turn on the radiators; sneak
out of the room on tiptoe and close
| the door, Do not open it until the
next day and refrain from proudly
showing the family how smart you
are, lest you stir up dust to settle on
the table top.
Do not make an effort to work on
your table top again until its surface
is hard and CLASSY. If the weather Is
rainy and muggy it may be several
days before you feel that 1t Is ready.
Then rub down the whole surface with
fine steel wool again. Wear an old
leather glove to protect your hand and
use the steel wool by the handful.
Work as you did before the varnish
with the grain of the wood, rubbing
back and forth with long strokes.
Wipe the dust off carefully and var
niSh again. Three coats-with the
rundown between each coat, is usually
enough-but each process deepens the
color and the patina of the surface.
After the final coat I use pumice and
crude oil for the rundown instead of
the steel wool. I make. little circle
of oil on the section of the table top
! where I intend to work-and in the
center of this place little powdered
pumice. Then I fold up a pad of
heavy cloth similar to canvas-and
rub back and forth with the grain of
the wood. This will remove the glaze
from the vanished surface and give
a deep. satiny polish. Then the Sur
facs u vaxed and polished with old