At 06:45 PM 12/10/2002 -0600, you wrote:
On Tue, 10 Dec 2002, Peter Davidoff wrote:
>
>
> Jeff
> You need to determine whether it has been
> finished with
> Varnish
> Lacquer, or
> Shellac
>
Varnish...or so both local and net lore says.
Basic test for varnish: Push Test. Nothing will
dissolve varnish. Paint thinner and sometimes
a lacquer thinner will cause it to crack or crinkle,
but will not remove it. It is harder than lacquer or
shellac. Pushing into it with, say, a fingernail should
mark it. Other fishes should crack.
Test for lacquer: lacquer will dissolve in lacquer thinner.
Put a little on a small piece of cloth and rub a scratched
area, it will smooth out if its lacquer. Do this is an an area
that wont show. When I tried this test on the old Kodak
the finish got a bit hazy, so I tried the test for shellac
which worked...
Test for shellac: this is tougher because shellac will
often redissolve in both alcohol and lacquer thinner. Rub
the shellac with a bit of alcohol on a cloth, it should get
sticky, then glossy when it sets up.
If it is a varnish, then the recommended fix (for furniture,
at least), is to clean off any wax with mineral spirits, then
take some steel wool (000) and rub the direction of the
grain until you've scuffed the area, then build back up
with 3 or 4 coats of linseed-oil. You may be able to rebuild
the surface with a modern varnish - don't know, I rarely
use them. This is one of those times I'd work a test in a
not too conspicuous part of the camera to check things out
first. BTW, copper wool or aluminum wool is better than steel
wool. Any stee wool left behind can rust and discolor your
finish.
I remember an old View Camera magazine had an article
about old Deardorf folks who started making cameras (this
was probably late 80's). If someone remembers the article,
a call to those folks might give you exactly what was used.
Peter
oil.
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