New Imported Furniture Finishes - Repairs

[baileyuph]

Finish wood on Imported case goods and upholstered pieces (from China, Vietnam, etc.),
frequently show up with scratches surface distortions (maintenance issues usually).

The finish is usually very dark, almost black sometimes, what is the repair (touch up in a certain vernacular) best to disguise or repair these issues?

Are the Mohawk products compatible with the Asian finishes coming in on our shores?  Are the imported finishes a lacquer base and clear coat?  The finish looks to be on surface finish.

I suppose the characteristics could be summarizes as follows:

   1.  Light scratches
   2.  surface wear
   3.  wrinkles in finish
   4.  tonal variations
   5.  small chunks (less than 1/2 inch) sometimes missing - filler for these?

The general quest is to understand compatible repair supplies available (ie., lacquer or?)

Anyone shed some light and experience on these type of business issues?

In business, these issues are frequently coming up, as much furniture sold today fits this category (popular priced stuff anyway).

The screws used to assemble this furniture is a problem also, will not stay tight and if tightened too much, well may break wood or pull out; I have and continue to wittness both type of failures.  Oh, the good old days of higher quality wood, dowels, and glue and even in grain finishes (in surface finishes might better describe the finishes of the old days that were so beautiful and durable)!

That is just the way it is, today.  Anyway there are a lot of complaints around and relatively inexpensive "fix" techniques are in demand.

Doyle

[Mojo]

Doyle:

Interesting topic.

I have seen some poor finishes and often wondered exactly how the Chinese apply their stains.
I am assuming they spray it on. Either way it looks horrible on some of the pieces I have seen.

I often wonder about alot of things when it comes to their wood products. Do they dry and cure the wood properly ? How do they apply stain ? How do they apply clear coats.

Chris

[byhammerandhand]

Welcome to my world.    I see these every day with my retail, delivery, and warranty clients.

In the last 10 years, I've had three or four pieces that did not respond well to lacquers such as Mohawk.  These blistered up almost immediately when hit with lacquer.

In the name of cheap, both to apply and to cover up, most of these finishes are toners -- finish with color in them.   Unless you get them on evenly, they will have uneven coloration.   Fortunately, most of them are already dark or opaque.

Much of the wood is too high in moisture content when the pieces are made so shrinkage, cracking and warping are common.

Some of the wood lacks strength, both solid woods but also plywoods and oriented strand board (OSB).

Often frame parts are stapled together and just as often many of the staples completely miss the underlying piece.   Too few to hold and too many that degrade strength are also common.

When hanger bolts pull out of feet, I dribble in some super glue to strengthen the wood fibers that remain.   Then I take some epoxy putty (QuikWood is one brand easily available, Mohawk also sells them) to hold.    Had one of these yesterday.

I know a manufacturer's technical person who went to China to do training.   They had really no idea about touch ups.   I've often heard that the people building and finishing your furniture today were farming last year and if they don't get sick from the working conditions, they'll be back farming in a couple of years.

I have to just shake my head when I see the QA sticker applied to pieces with obvious defects.


I could go on.   I've probably seen most problems so if you have a specific issue, I'm here.

I was fixing up a Queen Anne dining chair for a guy in his 80s this week.   I'm guessing he's had these chairs for 50-60 years.   He kept saying, "Oh, the new chairs seem so much more sturdy, the wood is so much thicker."  I tried several times, but I'm not sure I convinced him that he had a much better chair than what he could get today.   I'm betting most of those chairs will look bad or fall apart in 5-6 years.   

I'm also working on a set of Pennsylvania House chairs this week.   They are not quite that old, but really wobbly.   In pulling them apart, I can see where there's about 20% of each dowel that has glue on it.    Must have been made on a Friday.

[baileyuph]

Good response Keith!

I will take you up on help, this subject is becoming more and more a real part of my work.

Your comment on just a few jobs reacted negatively from lacquer, leads me to ask:  Are you now using toners instead for color?  What is the chemical medium (base) of a toner?
Along this same issue, what chemical do you prep a surface prior to applying a toner or lacquer?  I have three jobs that could be enhanced with a toner.  If I use a toner, do you go over the surface (existing finish) with a #0000 steel wool, very lightly?  I would think something would be required because they have been used, sometimes dined on.

BTW, the old timer with the older chairs is blessed to have those chairs.  He is visually led in his thinking by the simple size of the wood in newer furniture.

Too bad, hope he caught on to your appreciation of his older furniture.

Regarding your comments on repairing a "hoged (slang) out hole in the the wood and will no longer hold a metal screw insert; does the super glue dry fairly instantly allowing one to follow with the epoxy putty (quickwood)?  Then, about how long for the epoxy to dry.  I know you know where I am coming from, "time is money", right?

Thanks Keith,

Doyle

[byhammerandhand]

Q: Your comment on just a few jobs reacted negatively from lacquer, leads me to ask:  Are you now using toners instead for color?  What is the chemical medium (base) of a toner?

A: The toners I use are nitrocellulose lacquer.  It "burns in"  (partially dissolves and bonds) with the lower layers of lacquer (or shellac)  The best advice I can give about toners is to really sneak up on the color and intensity.   It goes from not quite there to too much really fast.   You can always go darker, but you can't get lighter.   I think the negative reactions were some other type of finish.   I have used light applications of lacquer on top of water-borne finishes, so I'm not sure that's what they were.


Q: Along this same issue, what chemical do you prep a surface prior to applying a toner or lacquer?  I have three jobs that could be enhanced with a toner.  If I use a toner, do you go over the surface (existing finish) with a #0000 steel wool, very lightly?  I would think something would be required because they have been used, sometimes dined on.

A:  You can, if needed.   If dirty, you can clean with water and detergent.   You can remove any waxes with mineral spirits.  The worst case is finish that has degraded with exposure to body oil.   The degraded finish attracts more dirt and cleaning it removes the goo that used to be finish.


Q :Regarding your comments on repairing a "hoged (slang) out hole in the the wood and will no longer hold a metal screw insert; does the super glue dry fairly instantly allowing one to follow with the epoxy putty (quickwood)?  Then, about how long for the epoxy to dry.  I know you know where I am coming from, "time is money", right?

A:  I put the CA (super-) glue in the hole, then pull out the epoxy putty, cut off what I need, and knead it to an even consistency.   Normally, by that time, the glue has set up.  But you can buy an accelerator.   Let the glue soak for a minute, then spray on the accelerator and it will set up instantly.   The epoxy putty comes in a couple of formats - quick set (about 5-10 minutes) or slower set.   If you're really in a hurry, hit it with a hair dryer.   Every 10C or 18F degree increase halves the cure time.  And being an exothermic reaction, the faster it cures, the more heat it puts out.