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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
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    Camden, NSW
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    Default Chinese lacquered cabinet

    I know that progress on my current 7 restoration and new-build projects is glacially slow BUT no-one is chasing me AND this piece came up on Facebook yesterday.

    20FE401E-878C-48D0-8953-C88D9AAE92D0.jpg

    We picked it up today from a lovely lady in Sydney and it is now in the shed. We have a lot of Chinese brown and rosewood furniture so this is my first lacquered, inlaid and painted piece. It is beautiful and could be a bit of a challenge to clean up? The top, and less decorated sides, appear to have been painted, stained, ebonised or soot covered in the past but the front appears to be shellac covered only. I’ll test it later with a bit of metho and then work out how to clean and polish it. We are still going through our traditional domestic farce of me working on it for resale and SWMBO working where it will fit in the house?
    I sent a picture to a friend in China and she believes it to be “1920s and typical of the furniture made for the European Concessions in Shanghai”.

    fletty
    a rock is an obsolete tool ......... until you don’t have a hammer!

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  3. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Brisbane
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    696

    Default

    That is a nice piece. I like the honesty
    Must admit I have too many pieces on the go but decided some will have to have temporary repairs so they can be progressed and then decide if their big repairs are warranted later.
    Looking forwards to seeing your pictures as they progress.

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
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    Camden, NSW
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    Default Job number 8, come into the shed please!

    It is finally time to get on to the black lacquered Chinese cabinet. I had at least done enough to confirm the shellac finish and so had intended to use my go-to Howard’s Restor-a-finish to clean and revive the finish BUT, I had thought that all Restor-a-finish was stained to match a timber type. Well, at Wood Dust a few weeks ago, the nice people at Howard’s confirmed that they had a NEUTRAL version (=no added colour) and so I happily returned with a tin and a smile on my face! As per the directions, I started in “an inconspicuous place” but soon found I’d moved on to VERY CONSPICUOUS areas...

    .AD5548F2-7640-4AD9-BF90-CA2E3A577961.jpg

    The change was dramatic as about 100 years of soot and candle wax was removed! It became very difficult to photograph the BEFORE and AFTERS and I should have used my soft lights and real camera .... but I was having far too much fun.

    E55A65DD-E55C-4ED9-B367-BCB07F15F61E.jpg 27C41682-4FBE-4B04-8888-0D388CE7E0AA.jpgDD57556E-2B09-4DA9-A2EB-45FE1BDCF5B0.jpg 65B4383C-241B-4A7D-9B60-4550C1809A81.jpg


    A few areas will need to be shellacked again and I WILL give it a damned good shellacking too but, rather unusually, the most critical shellac finish over the painted detail, is in very good condition! Maybe it was much thicker in the first place?
    There are no mechanical repairs required and so shellacking in the necessary areas will be the next step followed by wax and polish. As I finished up tonight, the front face was looking particularly good.....

    E43A0E1C-C0F8-49F8-B428-0A08594805E0.jpg
    a rock is an obsolete tool ......... until you don’t have a hammer!

  5. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2015
    Location
    Hobart
    Age
    77
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    647

    Default

    On the assumption that the scrolls around the doors are mother-of-pearl inlays, was the Howard product used to clean the mother-of-pearl too? Will they also be shellacked?

    I have a writing box with mother-of-pearl inlay that needs cleaning and always thought that mother-of-pearl should not be cleaned with anything else but soapy water.

    Yvan

  6. #5
    Join Date
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by yvan View Post
    On the assumption that the scrolls around the doors are mother-of-pearl inlays, was the Howard product used to clean the mother-of-pearl too? Will they also be shellacked?

    I have a writing box with mother-of-pearl inlay that needs cleaning and always thought that mother-of-pearl should not be cleaned with anything else but soapy water.

    Yvan
    Good question! On this piece, the detail painting and inlay are well covered with shellac and so the Restor-a-finish is only cleaning the shellac on top of the inlay. I applied the finish with a cloth, not steel wool, to make sure it didn’t come in contact with the inlay and so the dramatic improvement has only come from cleaning and clearing the outer surface of the shellac. However, for future reference, I have some mother of pearl and will pop a bit in the Restor-a-finish and report back?
    a rock is an obsolete tool ......... until you don’t have a hammer!

  7. #6
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    Thanks Fletty, this would be great!
    I didn't know that shellac could be used on top of mother-of-pearl.

    Yvan

  8. #7
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    Mar 2005
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    Quote Originally Posted by yvan View Post
    Thanks Fletty, this would be great!
    I didn't know that shellac could be used on top of mother-of-pearl.

    Yvan
    Shellac is a relatively ‘safe’ and inert material and, until recently, it was the glossy coating on many of the medicinal tablets we took! I also believe that it was the glossy coating on Smarties?
    a rock is an obsolete tool ......... until you don’t have a hammer!

  9. #8
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Camden, NSW
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    Default

    EDC707EB-44D4-4847-BA95-F640CBDC93C4.jpg

    24 hours and all’s well! The mother of pearl on the right is submerged in Restor-a-finish.
    a rock is an obsolete tool ......... until you don’t have a hammer!

  10. #9
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    Mar 2005
    Location
    Camden, NSW
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    Default

    C9B9C7D2-8A88-4001-92EB-8AE32C00D7EC.jpg

    48 hours and no sign of damage to the mother of pearl. Tomorrow, I’ll give both the control and submerged samples a bit of a scuff with steel wool to see if there has been any softening but, otherwise, so far, so good?
    a rock is an obsolete tool ......... until you don’t have a hammer!

  11. #10
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Camden, NSW
    Age
    74
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    Default

    5CC8A545-719D-41F8-AC07-390EEE36F472.jpg 6928EA50-242E-447D-9C98-1F514409A82B.jpg

    OK, 7 days submerged in neutral Restor-a-Finish and today also given a firm scrub with a coarse cloth. I reckon mother-of-pearl is, for the duration we need to clean an inlay, immune to the effects of Retor-a-Finish.
    a rock is an obsolete tool ......... until you don’t have a hammer!

  12. #11
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    Osaka
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    909

    Default

    Mother of pearl is often fixed in place with urushi in, err, urushi finished pieces, so I can't image shellac will bother it, or any petro/alco based solvent.
    Semtex fixes all

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