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Reading an old book on shellac and found a wild fact about its use
I was flipping through a 1950s furniture repair manual from a used bookstore in Cleveland and it said that before modern finishes, a common mix for French polishing was a 2-pound cut of shellac with a full pint of raw linseed oil added. That's way more oil than I've ever seen anyone use now, and the book claimed it made the finish more flexible on old wood. It got me thinking about how much our standard recipes have changed. Do you think some of these old-school, high-oil methods are worth trying on period pieces, or have modern materials just made them obsolete?
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eric_gonzalez267mo ago
Yeah @emma_jones, wild. Might try it on something old.
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the_finley7mo ago
That pint of oil sounds like a mess.
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anthony_wood367mo ago
Actually, a pint is a pretty normal amount for a lot of older engines. My old truck takes nearly six quarts for a full change. It just depends on the size of the oil pan.
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