[TheForge] Finish for repro antique hinges

Sun Sep 21 22:40:01 2003

This formula is very much older.
It has been used by wood workers and black smith's for hundreds of years
before Yellin was born.
Chuck
----- Original Message -----
From: "H and P Foster" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, September 21, 2003 8:00 PM
Subject: RE: [TheForge] Finish for repro antique hinges


> When doing the burnt oil for old black iron look, I use the Yellin formula
> but add powdered graphite.  Not sure how much the graphite contributes to
> the blackness but the end result is nice.
>
> I used to use old oil too, until a couple of wiser folk than I on this
list
> pointed out the dangers of toxic fumes in old oil.  Now I just use
vegetable
> oil or the Yellin formula which is just linseed oil, beeswax and
turpentine.
> Even so, I have a fan going near to blow the smoke away from myself.
>
> Harry Foster
> Rusty Dog Forge
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [email protected]
> [mailto:[email protected]]On Behalf Of Reynolds
> Sent: Saturday, September 20, 2003 5:33 PM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: [TheForge] Finish for repro antique hinges
>
>
>
>
>
> A recent commission job was reproducing 2 broken bean strap hinges for a
> small chest.  When putting a finish on them, I ventured outside my usual
> finish repertoire, and tried a new mixture and technique. Please feel free
> to tell me a better way to achieve the desired look of 100+ years on
steel.
>
> I took a mixture of unnprocessed beeswax and linseed oil at about 1:3, and
> heated to liquid in a 2 oz cat food can. Each nail I heated to black,
> dropped in the solution, left for 2 or 3 seconds, pulled them out and let
> the retained heat burn off the solution. This left a black residue burned
> into the nails. For some nails I had to repeat the above steps to attain
the
> uniform black finish.
>
> I then buffed the nails heads with a cotton cloth to remove the majority
of
> residue, while leaving the black finish.
>
> It all looked uniform and was better than tolerable for reproducing a 100+
> year-old finish. Good looking stuff.
>
> This was very labor intensive. However, my motto is overdeliver. But how
> should I have done this? I couldn't afford to put this kind of labor into
12
> nails and two hinges, for what I bid.  That brings up another question.
What
> should I have bid this at (2-symmetrical sided 9" strap hinges with 12, 1
> and 1/2" nails whose heads needed to be ground/filed to give a low
profile)?
> I did it for $65. Not even close to paying myself a decent wage, but it
was
> another happy customer.
>
> Go ahead, tell me what an ignoramus I was.
>
>
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