Johannes Heuvel

Some veneering appeared on colonial furniture at least by the beginning of the eighteenth century. But it was not widely practiced, in part because fine cabinet woods were relatively cheap and in part, no doubt, because making veneer by hand required a good deal of skilled work and labor was relatively expensive. In any case, it was the large and otherwise unadorned surfaces of Hepplewhite and Sheraton furniture that invited matched veneering. Since these fashions came to America after the Revolution and after Williamsburg had passed its apogee, Williamsburg cabinetmakers probably did little if any veneering.

Two men with a good-sized but fine-toothed frame saw here cut a log into thin slices of veneer.
ROUBO

Applying a finish to woodwork is an ancient art and has always served two purposes: to give the wood a protective coating and to enhance its appearance. By the eighteenth century the techniques for applying several different kinds of finish were well understood and widely used in the colonial cabinet shop.

Painting, generally limited to the cheapest sort of furniture, was little practiced by quality cabinetmakers. The imitation of oriental lacquer called japanning was not common in the colonies, and in any case was the province of the japanner. The cabinetmaker favored oil, wax, or varnish finishes to produce a hard, transparent, and glassy-smooth surface.

To prepare the surface of the wood, colonial cabinetmakers had planes, scrapers, glasspaper, and sandpaper—the latter two available by the late eighteenth century and probably much before that. Stains were used to enrich the natural color and emphasize the grain of the wood, and pulverized chalk, plaster of Paris, or the like was used to fill the pores of coarse-grained woods.

Wax, usually beeswax melted and mixed with turpentine, was cheap, easy to apply, and easy to renew. Rubbed on, allowed to dry, and polished with a cloth—and repeated by generations of industrious housewives or servants—wax produced a beautiful finish, especially on mahogany or cherry.

Linseed oil thinned with turpentine was frequently the only finish applied on these and other hard, close-grained woods. The mixture was applied generously, allowed to stand for several hours, and wiped off. The surface was then rubbed for hours with the bare hand or a piece of cloth or felt, and the process was repeated again and again until the wood showed a fine rich sheen.

As the wood absorbed the oil its grain rose slightly and had to be smoothed down again between coats. Sheraton advocated a technique that combined filling, oiling, and smoothing in one operation: the oil was poured on and allowed to stand, then sprinkled with fine brick dust and rubbed with a cloth. The brick dust filled the grain and combined with the oil to form a putty that was mildly abrasive and would, Sheraton said, “secure a fine polish by continued rubbing.”

Eighteenth-century cabinetmakers employed both oil varnishes and spirit varnishes. The former was made by dissolving a natural resin—copal was one of the most commonly used—in hot oil and thinning with turpentine. The only spirit varnish of importance was that made of lac—in the form of stick lac, seed lac, or shell lac—dissolved in alcohol. (Lac is the resinous secretion of an insect encrusted on the twigs of certain East Indian trees.)

The application of a varnish required less labor than wax or oil but more skill. It was flowed on, allowed to dry, and rubbed down with a fine abrasive. This was repeated with as many coats as might be necessary, and wax applied as a final coat. Eighteenth-century Anglo-American cabinetmakers seem to have preferred lac varnishes, particularly shellac, for walnut furniture, wax and oil finishes for mahogany.