I was cleaning the gas out of the snow blower (I know... should have done
it 8 months ago) and couldn't help but wonder if gasoline could be used to
finish wood. If it evaporates in a carborator, it leaves deposits that dry
to a varnish hard finish, so mightn't that work on wood?

It'd be a little dangerous to be around open flames with the stuff, but
then again most finishes are like that. Except for the solvent side not
evaporating completely, I don't see why gasoline wouldn't work.

(I'm NOT posting a question to a car group asking if I can run my engine on
shellac. :-))

Puckdropper

wrote:
On 08 Dec 2009 12:44:03 GMT, Puckdropper
puckdropper(at)yahoo(dot)com wrote:

I was cleaning the gas out of the snow blower (I know... should have done
it 8 months ago) and couldn't help but wonder if gasoline could be used to
finish wood. If it evaporates in a carborator, it leaves deposits that dry
to a varnish hard finish, so mightn't that work on wood?

It'd be a little dangerous to be around open flames with the stuff, but
then again most finishes are like that. Except for the solvent side not
evaporating completely, I don't see why gasoline wouldn't work.

(I'm NOT posting a question to a car group asking if I can run my engine on
shellac. :-))

Puckdropper

Why would you want to do this? Gasoline has very little in the way of
solids, and the smell would be a long term issue.

I'm thinking of taking a **** on my next project to see how that turns out. Probably not
that much different than fuming with ammonia, right?

--
Repeat after me:
"I am we Todd it. I am sofa king we Todd it."
To reply, eat the taco.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bbqboyee/

Steve Turner wrote:

I'm thinking of taking a **** on my next project to see how that turns
out. Probably not that much different than fuming with ammonia, right?

Eat asparagus first.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 10/22/08
KarlC@ (the obvious)

"Puckdropper" puckdropper(at)yahoo(dot)com wrote in message
...
I was cleaning the gas out of the snow blower (I know... should have done
it 8 months ago) and couldn't help but wonder if gasoline could be used to
finish wood. If it evaporates in a carborator, it leaves deposits that
dry
to a varnish hard finish, so mightn't that work on wood?

It'd be a little dangerous to be around open flames with the stuff, but
then again most finishes are like that. Except for the solvent side not
evaporating completely, I don't see why gasoline wouldn't work.

(I'm NOT posting a question to a car group asking if I can run my engine
on
shellac. :-))

Puckdropper


AAMOF it is a common "belief" that the rustic furniture from Mexico, the
stuff with rusted hardware and hinges that simply hold the door on the
cabinet, not allow it to swing with confidence, is treated with used motor
oil for that distinct color and aroma. ;~)

Swingman wrote:
Steve Turner wrote:

I'm thinking of taking a **** on my next project to see how that turns
out. Probably not that much different than fuming with ammonia, right?

Eat asparagus first.

Roger that. :-)

--
Free bad advice available here.
To reply, eat the taco.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bbqboyee/

"Steve Turner" wrote
Swingman wrote:
Steve Turner wrote:

I'm thinking of taking a **** on my next project to see how that turns
out. Probably not that much different than fuming with ammonia, right?

Eat asparagus first.

Roger that. :-)
--
And take some videos of this **** finish project.

There is a whole market for this kind of thing.

On 08 Dec 2009 12:44:03 GMT, Puckdropper
puckdropper(at)yahoo(dot)com wrote:

I was cleaning the gas out of the snow blower (I know... should have done
it 8 months ago) and couldn't help but wonder if gasoline could be used to
finish wood. If it evaporates in a carborator, it leaves deposits that dry
to a varnish hard finish, so mightn't that work on wood?

It'd be a little dangerous to be around open flames with the stuff, but
then again most finishes are like that. Except for the solvent side not
evaporating completely, I don't see why gasoline wouldn't work.

(I'm NOT posting a question to a car group asking if I can run my engine on
shellac. :-))

Puckdropper


Sounds like gasoline on wood will dissolve resins and possibly stain
since gasoline contains a variety of mostly low-chain hydrocarbons.
You can always try in on a scrap piece, but messing with gasoline is
not a good idea. Petroleum jelly might work, and certainly safer and
cleaner. Mineral oil is another good choice for wooden kitchen
utensils.

On 08 Dec 2009 12:44:03 GMT, Puckdropper
puckdropper(at)yahoo(dot)com wrote:


It'd be a little dangerous to be around open flames with the stuff, but
then again most finishes are like that.







http://www.darwinawards.com/












Regards,

Tom Watson
http://home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1/

"Phisherman" wrote in message
...
On 08 Dec 2009 12:44:03 GMT, Puckdropper
puckdropper(at)yahoo(dot)com wrote:

I was cleaning the gas out of the snow blower (I know... should
have done
it 8 months ago) and couldn't help but wonder if gasoline could
be used to
finish wood. If it evaporates in a carborator, it leaves
deposits that dry
to a varnish hard finish, so mightn't that work on wood?

It'd be a little dangerous to be around open flames with the
stuff, but
then again most finishes are like that. Except for the solvent
side not
evaporating completely, I don't see why gasoline wouldn't work.

(I'm NOT posting a question to a car group asking if I can run
my engine on
shellac. :-))

Puckdropper


Sounds like gasoline on wood will dissolve resins and possibly
stain
since gasoline contains a variety of mostly low-chain
hydrocarbons.
You can always try in on a scrap piece, but messing with
gasoline is
not a good idea. Petroleum jelly might work, and certainly
safer and
cleaner. Mineral oil is another good choice for wooden kitchen
utensils.

I have never used gasoline deliberately on wood, but if you want
an incredibly rugged finish, consider cyanacrolate glue
(superglue) for small items.

One time I was turning a bunch of ballpoint pens out of various
scrap woods I had in the shop to give to friends and folks who
came by. Long ago, my Uncle had taught me the value of keeping
brown paper grocery sacks around for polishing wood and I was
thinking about just burnishing the pens with that. I had a big
bottle in the refrigerator of superglue and thought that if I
dripped some on a pen blank before burnishing, that it'd
waterproof the blank. I did this with the lathe stopped, BTW.
grin

The superglue uses capillary action to really permeate the wood it
is contact with and both reinforces and plasticises it. In fact,
as most of us know, wood saturated with cyanoacrylate glue can be
drilled and tapped for minor mechanical forces.

The glue really soaked into the pen blanks and didn't raise the
grain. When I then burnished them with the brown paper bag paper,
they took on a glow as if I'd done about a dozen coats of finish.

--
Nonny

What does it mean when drool runs
out of both sides of a drunken
Congressman's mouth?

The floor is level.

wrote in :


Why would you want to do this? Gasoline has very little in the way of
solids, and the smell would be a long term issue.


Oh, I don't want to do this... just wondering if it'd be worth exploring.
The responses were bound to be entertaining. Few solids probably means
it's better as a solvent than a finish, eh?

Puckdropper

On Dec 8, 12:34*pm, Tom Watson wrote:
On 08 Dec 2009 12:44:03 GMT, Puckdropper

puckdropper(at)yahoo(dot)com wrote:

It'd be a little dangerous to be around open flames with the stuff, but
then again most finishes are like that.

http://www.darwinawards.com/

Regards,

Tom Watsonhttp://home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1/

"Look at this....hold my beer...."

On Dec 8, 9:39 am, "Leon" wrote:

AAMOF it is a common "belief" that the rustic furniture from Mexico, the
stuff with rusted hardware and hinges that simply hold the door on the
cabinet, not allow it to swing with confidence, is treated with used motor
oil for that distinct color and aroma. ;~)

Fear not, Leon. You are on the right track.

You bring back fond memories of visiting Mexico about a million years
ago.

As a nipper, it was a treat to go to Mexico in the early 60s.
Everything was really cheap then. Leather goods, furniture, silver
jewelry, food, beer, and of course your choice of any celebrity you
wanted memorialized on velvet.

Skip about 3 lustrum and it was a great place for a young man to go
with his buddies or girl to eat big fat enchiladas covered with onions
and drink cold beer at the Cadillac bar in Nuevo Laredo. It cost more
in gas to get there and back than the food and hooch. The people were
friendly and loved the tourists, and it was a fun day.

When I was there in the early 70s, I paid a cab to take me to see the
furniture factory outside of town. I watched a small group of
furniture assemblers working outside under tents making hutches and
credenzas in the "rustic" pattern, using the techniques administered
all by hand. There were NO power tools, anywhere. They used #3 pine
that we used for filler or nail strips, and in some cases beat it up
even more to give it a more distressed look.

They pulled partly rusted hardware out of buckets (crudely forged
somewhere else) that sat outside and nailed it onto the wooden pieces
that had been cut with handsaws to fit their needs. Nails that were
bent were left. No holes were filled. Cracks in the wood weren't
fixed unless it was a top, and they nailed on a crude wrought iron
butterfly onto the surface of the top that straddled the crack. To
assemble, there wasn't a square in sight. No glue, no screws, no
clamps, just nails.

To prepare for finish, they were aware that the surfaces were too
smooth to have that distressed look. So they threw bent nails,
screws, and bits of rock onto the tops, sides and doors in random
patterns and banged on them a bit with other boards. This provided a
random, light distress with nice patterns to hold finish.

It was awful. I was horrified. I had never seen anything like it.

So we move to the finishing area after that. It is out in the open,
and entire pieces are done in just minutes. What was the finish?

Pieces of tar (asphalt, not pitch) were tossed into buckets of dirty
gasoline and left for several hours. These pieces dissolved enough to
make a great glaze (lousy finish) for almost nothing. I literally saw
them stirring their brew up and slopping it on the fresh pine, wiping
it off after it got tacky. In the hot sun, the pieces dried quickly.
Need another coat? Just repeat.

And while the muebleria smelled like petroleum spirits, once the
furniture was in a house, on a patio, etc., for a month or so there
was no smell to it.

This mix made that black glaze finish that was on almost every piece
of "rustic" (I favor another word) furniture that came from Mexico in
those days. Later on, when the black glaze fell out of favor, they
added the rusty soup left in the bottom of their hardware buckets to
make a kind of van dyke brown. Waste not, want not I guess.

Kinda hard to believe something that simple, right?

But... if you have made it this far, few people know that most analine
dyes are made from coal tar and its by products. But back on topic,
check this thread out:

http://forum.canadianwoodworking.com...ad.php?t=24817

And the second post here actually has some hybrid recipe that uses
tar:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=12057

There are even instructions on how to do it in step three, he

http://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/how...ins/index.html


Who knew, eh? The things we scribble about on a rainy day...

Robert

On Tue, 08 Dec 2009 12:34:23 -0500, Tom Watson
wrote:

On 08 Dec 2009 12:44:03 GMT, Puckdropper
puckdropper(at)yahoo(dot)com wrote:


It'd be a little dangerous to be around open flames with the stuff, but
then again most finishes are like that.






Gosoline does nof contain varnish - it forms varnish as it oxidizes. -
so gasoline evaporating off the wood will NOT leave a finish.

Using "leaded" gasoline as a solvent in oil based paint has the effect
of hardening the finish and increasing the gloss, however.

It's the lead.

http://www.darwinawards.com/












Regards,

Tom Watson
http://home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1/

wrote in message
...

Fear not, Leon. You are on the right track.

You bring back fond memories of visiting Mexico about a million years
ago.

As a nipper, it was a treat to go to Mexico in the early 60s.
Everything was really cheap then. Leather goods, furniture, silver
jewelry, food, beer, and of course your choice of any celebrity you
wanted memorialized on velvet.

I do recall of the above.


Skip about 3 lustrum and it was a great place for a young man to go
with his buddies or girl to eat big fat enchiladas covered with onions
and drink cold beer at the Cadillac bar in Nuevo Laredo. It cost more
in gas to get there and back than the food and hooch. The people were
friendly and loved the tourists, and it was a fun day.

Stopped going there when my friends, with family in Mexico, refused to drive
across the border. They had family members meet them at the border and take
them in from there. Too many policemen were on the take, they wanted to get
back home with their vehicle after the visit.

Snip


To prepare for finish, they were aware that the surfaces were too
smooth to have that distressed look. So they threw bent nails,
screws, and bits of rock onto the tops, sides and doors in random
patterns and banged on them a bit with other boards. This provided a
random, light distress with nice patterns to hold finish.

It was awful. I was horrified. I had never seen anything like it.

So we move to the finishing area after that. It is out in the open,
and entire pieces are done in just minutes. What was the finish?

Pieces of tar (asphalt, not pitch) were tossed into buckets of dirty
gasoline and left for several hours. These pieces dissolved enough to
make a great glaze (lousy finish) for almost nothing. I literally saw
them stirring their brew up and slopping it on the fresh pine, wiping
it off after it got tacky. In the hot sun, the pieces dried quickly.
Need another coat? Just repeat.

My sister and BIL ran a furniture store in Denver back in the mid 90's.
This Mexican furniture was all the craze up there at the time and they sold
it as fast as they could get it. They in fact had several, SEVERAL pieces
of the crap in their home. I just shook my head. Their retirement has not
been great because of too many decisions like that, I guess.

Snip



Who knew, eh? The things we scribble about on a rainy day...

Speaking of which.... ;~) Let me ask you a strange question concerning
tar..........and when you were a kid.......

Did you ever chew the stuff? Yeah, I did. Before you think to your
self, so that is what is wrong with Leon. ;~) I have only recently dared
to admit this fact about my youth and it seems that several people that I
know most in their 60's also chewed tar when they were kids. ;~)




Robert

wrote in message
...

Gosoline does nof contain varnish - it forms varnish as it oxidizes. -
so gasoline evaporating off the wood will NOT leave a finish.

So uh,,, it leaves ...varnish? ;~)

On Tue, 8 Dec 2009 18:54:56 -0600, "Leon"
wrote:


wrote in message
.. .

Gosoline does nof contain varnish - it forms varnish as it oxidizes. -
so gasoline evaporating off the wood will NOT leave a finish.

So uh,,, it leaves ...varnish? ;~)




No, it doesn't because it evaporates off, it doesn't oxydize or
polymerize.

wrote in message
...
On Tue, 8 Dec 2009 18:54:56 -0600, "Leon"
wrote:


wrote in message
. ..

Gosoline does nof contain varnish - it forms varnish as it oxidizes. -
so gasoline evaporating off the wood will NOT leave a finish.

So uh,,, it leaves ...varnish? ;~)




No, it doesn't because it evaporates off, it doesn't oxydize or
polymerize.

I'm sorry, I could not resist. I hope the hook was not set too deep. ;~)

wrote:
On Tue, 8 Dec 2009 18:54:56 -0600, "Leon"
wrote:


wrote in message
...

Gosoline does nof contain varnish - it forms varnish as it
oxidizes. - so gasoline evaporating off the wood will NOT leave a
finish.

So uh,,, it leaves ...varnish? ;~)




No, it doesn't because it evaporates off, it doesn't oxydize or
polymerize.

What it leaves is dye, detergent, and additives.

On Dec 8, 5:20*pm, "
wrote:

So we move to the finishing area after that. *It is out in the open,
and entire pieces are done in just minutes. *What was the finish?

Pieces of tar (asphalt, not pitch) were tossed into buckets of dirty
gasoline and left for several hours. *These pieces dissolved enough to
make a great glaze (lousy finish) for almost nothing. *I literally saw
them stirring their brew up and slopping it on the fresh pine, wiping
it off after it got tacky. *In the hot sun, the pieces dried quickly.
Need another coat? *Just repeat.

The pigment in walnut Watco is asphaltum.

wrote:

When I was there in the early 70s, I paid a cab to take me to see the
furniture factory outside of town. I watched a small group of
furniture assemblers working outside under tents making hutches and
credenzas in the "rustic" pattern, using the techniques administered
all by hand. There were NO power tools, anywhere.

I relate. I used to live in Veracruz. My car was a Fiat Spyder which had a
wood dash and consol piece; wood was 5/16" ply, walnut face, resin finish.
It was in poor repair and needed replacing so I bought a teak board onetime
I was in the US.

The teak board was rough and way too thick - I needed it skinnied down to
3/4 max and I had no plane. There was a cabinet shop nearby and I had seen
a large joiner there so took it to the guy figuring a few passes on the
joiner would suffice for my needs. Instead, he works on it with a hand
plane for 20 minutes or so. When he finished I asked him how much I owed
him, he says to give him a six pack of Coke sometime.

I liked Mexico

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

Leon wrote:
wrote in message

Who knew, eh? The things we scribble about on a rainy day...

Speaking of which.... ;~) Let me ask you a strange question
concerning tar..........and when you were a kid.......

Did you ever chew the stuff? Yeah, I did. Before you think to
your self, so that is what is wrong with Leon. ;~) I have only
recently dared to admit this fact about my youth and it seems that
several people that I know most in their 60's also chewed tar when
they were kids. ;~)

Yeah, I did (76). On a hot day the streets in KC would get a bit soft...dig
down to the "clean" stuff, dig out a chunk and chew away. Why? Beats me,
must have tasted terrible. The only possible reason I can think of is that
there was/is a chewing gum called "Blackjack" which looked like tar...it
cost money, street tar didn't.

I also used to chew wheat. It wasn't bad.


--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

On Dec 8, 5:20*pm, "
wrote:
On Dec 8, 9:39 am, "Leon" wrote:


Het, I used Tractor fuel in a five gallon pail with a spigot at teh
bottom and some screening over the inlet area and soak old roofing
shingles in the fuel for days, they apply it to my barn. It gives a
nice appearance, and keeps the bees away (I'm told)

On Dec 8, 6:52*pm, "Leon" wrote:

Speaking of which.... ;~) *Let me ask you a strange question concerning
tar..........and when you were a kid.......

Did you ever chew the stuff? * * *Yeah, I did. *Before you think to your
self, so that is what is wrong with Leon. *;~) *I have only recently dared
to admit this fact about my youth and it seems that several people that I
know most in their 60's also chewed tar when they were kids. *;~)

I actually didn't do it. I tried it... it was like having charcoal
lighter fluid in my mouth. I worked around old roofers many years ago
that would pull piece off the kettle and chew on it. Eccch!

Like smoking grapvine, I upgraded as soon as possible! ;^)

Robert

(You know... that tar business could explain a lot, Leon.... I'm just
sayin'.... )

wrote in message
...
On Dec 8, 6:52 pm, "Leon" wrote:

I actually didn't do it. I tried it... it was like having charcoal
lighter fluid in my mouth. I worked around old roofers many years ago
that would pull piece off the kettle and chew on it. Eccch!

Ok, what part of trying it, is not doing it.
Like our ex prez, you did not inhale/swallow? LOL


LOL.

Actually I think I only tried it too as I only recall doing it once, cuz
every one else was doing it right before we all walked to the bridge.....
;~)


Like smoking grapvine, I upgraded as soon as possible! ;^)

Can't say I tried that, that I recall.


Robert

(You know... that tar business could explain a lot, Leon.... I'm just
sayin'.... )

Hey, I asked for it. LOL

"dadiOH" wrote in message
...
Leon wrote:
wrote in message

Who knew, eh? The things we scribble about on a rainy day...

Speaking of which.... ;~) Let me ask you a strange question
concerning tar..........and when you were a kid.......

Did you ever chew the stuff? Yeah, I did. Before you
think to
your self, so that is what is wrong with Leon. ;~) I have
only
recently dared to admit this fact about my youth and it seems
that
several people that I know most in their 60's also chewed tar
when
they were kids. ;~)

Yeah, I did (76). On a hot day the streets in KC would get a
bit soft...dig down to the "clean" stuff, dig out a chunk and
chew away. Why? Beats me, must have tasted terrible. The only
possible reason I can think of is that there was/is a chewing
gum called "Blackjack" which looked like tar...it cost money,
street tar didn't.

I also used to chew wheat. It wasn't bad.

Since we were in the same area (UMKC, Marshall MO) what was the
grass stem that kids would slip apart mid stem and chew? I used
to call it Crab Grass and what the stem was would correspond to
the seed-bearing shoot it sends up every 20 minutes or so it
seemed.



--
Nonny

ELOQUIDIOT (n) A highly educated, sophisticated,
and articulate person who has absolutely no clue
concerning what they are talking about.
The person is typically a media commentator or politician.

Nonny wrote:

"dadiOH" wrote in message
...
Leon wrote:
wrote in message

Who knew, eh? The things we scribble about on a rainy day...

Speaking of which.... ;~) Let me ask you a strange question
concerning tar..........and when you were a kid.......

Did you ever chew the stuff? Yeah, I did. Before you think to
your self, so that is what is wrong with Leon. ;~) I have only
recently dared to admit this fact about my youth and it seems that
several people that I know most in their 60's also chewed tar when
they were kids. ;~)

Yeah, I did (76). On a hot day the streets in KC would get a bit
soft...dig down to the "clean" stuff, dig out a chunk and chew away.
Why? Beats me, must have tasted terrible. The only possible reason I
can think of is that there was/is a chewing gum called "Blackjack"
which looked like tar...it cost money, street tar didn't.

I also used to chew wheat. It wasn't bad.

Since we were in the same area (UMKC, Marshall MO) what was the grass
stem that kids would slip apart mid stem and chew? I used to call it
Crab Grass and what the stem was would correspond to the seed-bearing
shoot it sends up every 20 minutes or so it seemed.

We called it Johnson Grass ... not entirely sure of the spelling.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 10/22/08
KarlC@ (the obvious)

On Dec 9, 7:23*am, "dadiOH" wrote:
wrote:
When I was there in the early 70s, I paid a cab to take me to see the
furniture factory outside of town. *I watched a small group of
furniture assemblers working outside under tents making hutches and
credenzas in the "rustic" pattern, using the techniques administered
all by hand. *There were NO power tools, anywhere.

I relate. *I used to live in Veracruz. *My car was a Fiat Spyder which had a
wood dash and consol piece; wood was 5/16" ply, walnut face, resin finish..
It was in poor repair and needed replacing so I bought a teak board onetime
I was in the US.

The teak board was rough and way too thick - I needed it skinnied down to
3/4 max and I had no plane. *There was a cabinet shop nearby and I had seen
a large joiner there so took it to the guy figuring a few passes on the
joiner would suffice for my needs. *Instead, he works on it with a hand
plane for 20 minutes or so. *When he finished I asked him how much I owed
him, he says to give him a six pack of Coke sometime.

I liked Mexico *

Teak is loaded with silica (lovely wood for
making smoking pipes, char is like
ceramic). How many times did he have
to resharpen the plane iron?

"Father Haskell" wrote:

Teak is loaded with silica (lovely wood for
making smoking pipes, char is like
ceramic). How many times did he have
to resharpen the plane iron?
------------------------------------------------
SFWIW, my local drum sanding shop will sand teak, provided you are
willing to pay for replacing sanding drums (3 of them in a set).

Last time I checked, it was $2,500 and that was 15 years ago.

Lew

On Tue, 08 Dec 2009 07:41:08 -0600, the infamous Steve Turner
scrawled the following:

wrote:
On 08 Dec 2009 12:44:03 GMT, Puckdropper
puckdropper(at)yahoo(dot)com wrote:

I was cleaning the gas out of the snow blower (I know... should have done
it 8 months ago) and couldn't help but wonder if gasoline could be used to
finish wood. If it evaporates in a carborator, it leaves deposits that dry
to a varnish hard finish, so mightn't that work on wood?

It'd be a little dangerous to be around open flames with the stuff, but
then again most finishes are like that. Except for the solvent side not
evaporating completely, I don't see why gasoline wouldn't work.

(I'm NOT posting a question to a car group asking if I can run my engine on
shellac. :-))

Puckdropper

Why would you want to do this? Gasoline has very little in the way of
solids, and the smell would be a long term issue.

I'm thinking of taking a **** on my next project to see how that turns out. Probably not
that much different than fuming with ammonia, right?

You can **** on copper for a nice patina, but on wood, it just leaves
a horrible odor. If you're a pet owner, you won't notice it, but
everyone else who comes into your home will. YMMV.

--
To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying Amen
to what the world tells you you ought to prefer,
is to have kept your soul alive.
-- Robert Louis Stevenson

Larry Jaques wrote:
On Tue, 08 Dec 2009 07:41:08 -0600, the infamous Steve Turner
scrawled the following:

I'm thinking of taking a **** on my next project to see how that turns out. Probably not
that much different than fuming with ammonia, right?

You can **** on copper for a nice patina, but on wood, it just leaves
a horrible odor. If you're a pet owner, you won't notice it, but
everyone else who comes into your home will. YMMV.

NOW you tell me :-)

--
"Even if your wife is happy but you're unhappy, you're still happier
than you'd be if you were happy and your wife was unhappy." - Red Green
To reply, eat the taco.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bbqboyee/

On Tue, 8 Dec 2009 14:20:27 -0800 (PST), the infamous
" scrawled the
following:

On Dec 8, 9:39 am, "Leon" wrote:

AAMOF it is a common "belief" that the rustic furniture from Mexico, the
stuff with rusted hardware and hinges that simply hold the door on the
cabinet, not allow it to swing with confidence, is treated with used motor
oil for that distinct color and aroma. ;~)

Fear not, Leon. You are on the right track.

You bring back fond memories of visiting Mexico about a million years
ago.

As a nipper, it was a treat to go to Mexico in the early 60s.
Everything was really cheap then. Leather goods, furniture, silver
jewelry, food, beer, and of course your choice of any celebrity you
wanted memorialized on velvet.

Skip about 3 lustrum and it was a great place for a young man to go
with his buddies or girl to eat big fat enchiladas covered with onions
and drink cold beer at the Cadillac bar in Nuevo Laredo. It cost more
in gas to get there and back than the food and hooch. The people were
friendly and loved the tourists, and it was a fun day.

When I was there in the early 70s, I paid a cab to take me to see the
furniture factory outside of town. I watched a small group of
furniture assemblers working outside under tents making hutches and
credenzas in the "rustic" pattern, using the techniques administered
all by hand. There were NO power tools, anywhere. They used #3 pine
that we used for filler or nail strips, and in some cases beat it up
even more to give it a more distressed look.

They pulled partly rusted hardware out of buckets (crudely forged
somewhere else) that sat outside and nailed it onto the wooden pieces
that had been cut with handsaws to fit their needs. Nails that were
bent were left. No holes were filled. Cracks in the wood weren't
fixed unless it was a top, and they nailed on a crude wrought iron
butterfly onto the surface of the top that straddled the crack. To
assemble, there wasn't a square in sight. No glue, no screws, no
clamps, just nails.

To prepare for finish, they were aware that the surfaces were too
smooth to have that distressed look. So they threw bent nails,
screws, and bits of rock onto the tops, sides and doors in random
patterns and banged on them a bit with other boards. This provided a
random, light distress with nice patterns to hold finish.

It was awful. I was horrified. I had never seen anything like it.

So we move to the finishing area after that. It is out in the open,
and entire pieces are done in just minutes. What was the finish?

Pieces of tar (asphalt, not pitch) were tossed into buckets of dirty
gasoline and left for several hours. These pieces dissolved enough to
make a great glaze (lousy finish) for almost nothing. I literally saw
them stirring their brew up and slopping it on the fresh pine, wiping
it off after it got tacky. In the hot sun, the pieces dried quickly.
Need another coat? Just repeat.

And while the muebleria smelled like petroleum spirits, once the
furniture was in a house, on a patio, etc., for a month or so there
was no smell to it.

This mix made that black glaze finish that was on almost every piece
of "rustic" (I favor another word) furniture that came from Mexico in
those days. Later on, when the black glaze fell out of favor, they
added the rusty soup left in the bottom of their hardware buckets to
make a kind of van dyke brown. Waste not, want not I guess.

Kinda hard to believe something that simple, right?

But... if you have made it this far, few people know that most analine
dyes are made from coal tar and its by products. But back on topic,
check this thread out:

http://forum.canadianwoodworking.com...ad.php?t=24817

And the second post here actually has some hybrid recipe that uses
tar:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=12057

There are even instructions on how to do it in step three, he

http://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/how...ins/index.html


Who knew, eh? The things we scribble about on a rainy day...

Nuttin' but RBS. Ayieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
(Insert sound of automatic rifle fire here

--
To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying Amen
to what the world tells you you ought to prefer,
is to have kept your soul alive.
-- Robert Louis Stevenson

On Tue, 8 Dec 2009 20:16:10 -0500, the infamous "J. Clarke"
scrawled the following:

wrote:
On Tue, 8 Dec 2009 18:54:56 -0600, "Leon"
wrote:


wrote in message
...

Gosoline does nof contain varnish - it forms varnish as it
oxidizes. - so gasoline evaporating off the wood will NOT leave a
finish.

So uh,,, it leaves ...varnish? ;~)




No, it doesn't because it evaporates off, it doesn't oxydize or
polymerize.

What it leaves is dye, detergent, and additives.

And that lovely, oh-so-fresh scent!

--
To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying Amen
to what the world tells you you ought to prefer,
is to have kept your soul alive.
-- Robert Louis Stevenson

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...

You can **** on copper for a nice patina, but on wood, it just leaves
a horrible odor. If you're a pet owner, you won't notice it, but
everyone else who comes into your home will. YMMV.


So are you saying that if I **** on some wood in my house and get rid of my
dog no one will notice? ;~)

On Wed, 9 Dec 2009 11:40:09 -0800, "Nonny" wrote:


"dadiOH" wrote in message
...
Leon wrote:
wrote in message

Who knew, eh? The things we scribble about on a rainy day...

Speaking of which.... ;~) Let me ask you a strange question
concerning tar..........and when you were a kid.......

Did you ever chew the stuff? Yeah, I did. Before you
think to
your self, so that is what is wrong with Leon. ;~) I have
only
recently dared to admit this fact about my youth and it seems
that
several people that I know most in their 60's also chewed tar
when
they were kids. ;~)

Yeah, I did (76). On a hot day the streets in KC would get a
bit soft...dig down to the "clean" stuff, dig out a chunk and
chew away. Why? Beats me, must have tasted terrible. The only
possible reason I can think of is that there was/is a chewing
gum called "Blackjack" which looked like tar...it cost money,
street tar didn't.

I also used to chew wheat. It wasn't bad.

Since we were in the same area (UMKC, Marshall MO) what was the
grass stem that kids would slip apart mid stem and chew? I used
to call it Crab Grass and what the stem was would correspond to
the seed-bearing shoot it sends up every 20 minutes or so it
seemed.
Brome grass, or Broom grass.

Also Timothy. Timothy was sweeter, particularly if it wasn't too
mature.

"Leon" wrote in
:


"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...

You can **** on copper for a nice patina, but on wood, it just leaves
a horrible odor. If you're a pet owner, you won't notice it, but
everyone else who comes into your home will. YMMV.


So are you saying that if I **** on some wood in my house and get rid
of my dog no one will notice? ;~)




Only if you bark loudly when you hear the door bell.

Puckdropper

Father Haskell wrote:
On Dec 9, 7:23 am, "dadiOH" wrote:
wrote:
When I was there in the early 70s, I paid a cab to take me to see
the furniture factory outside of town. I watched a small group of
furniture assemblers working outside under tents making hutches and
credenzas in the "rustic" pattern, using the techniques administered
all by hand. There were NO power tools, anywhere.

I relate. I used to live in Veracruz. My car was a Fiat Spyder which
had a wood dash and consol piece; wood was 5/16" ply, walnut face,
resin finish. It was in poor repair and needed replacing so I bought
a teak board onetime I was in the US.

The teak board was rough and way too thick - I needed it skinnied
down to 3/4 max and I had no plane. There was a cabinet shop nearby
and I had seen a large joiner there so took it to the guy figuring a
few passes on the joiner would suffice for my needs. Instead, he
works on it with a hand plane for 20 minutes or so. When he finished
I asked him how much I owed him, he says to give him a six pack of
Coke sometime.

I liked Mexico

Teak is loaded with silica (lovely wood for
making smoking pipes, char is like
ceramic). How many times did he have
to resharpen the plane iron?

He had NP.

I've always heard about silica and teak but I've used a fair amount of it
and never had a problem of any kind with any tool. Including steel (not
carbide) blades on circular saws. Bandsaws too.

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

On Wed, 9 Dec 2009 17:10:37 -0600, the infamous "Leon"
scrawled the following:


"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
.. .

You can **** on copper for a nice patina, but on wood, it just leaves
a horrible odor. If you're a pet owner, you won't notice it, but
everyone else who comes into your home will. YMMV.


So are you saying that if I **** on some wood in my house and get rid of my
dog no one will notice? ;~)

Yeah, go ahead and try that Leon. Let us know how you fare.

--
To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying Amen
to what the world tells you you ought to prefer,
is to have kept your soul alive.
-- Robert Louis Stevenson

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 9 Dec 2009 17:10:37 -0600, the infamous "Leon"



So are you saying that if I **** on some wood in my house and get rid of
my
dog no one will notice? ;~)

Yeah, go ahead and try that Leon. Let us know how you fare.


LOL

On Dec 9, 6:23 am, "dadiOH" wrote:

I liked Mexico

I used too, as well. In my mind I am remembering it as it was 30-40
years ago as a warm and sleepy place to go. The people were really
friendly, and they got a chuckle out my high school/college spanish.

The leather work that could be bought down there was really nice. I
had several friends (we live a couple of hours from the border) that
used to buy all leather boots and shoes down there on a regular basis,
and their wives bought a lot of purses.

Thinking of this time of the season, it used to be great to go down
there for Christmas shopping as well for all manner of hand crafted,
unique gifts.

I have a client that maintains a villa in Toluca which is far enough
away from the border to get away from the nightly murder(s). She
tells me that unless you go to an older craftsman's shop, the stuff
they have for sale is mostly made in China or India. How ironic.

With two to three murders a night in the border towns, shootouts with
the police on public streets, kidnappings, etc., you couldn't get me
down there for any amount of money. It isn't safe.

And the guys that do different labor jobs for me (all legal with
papers) that go back home on occasion HATE
going through the border towns. They hide their money in different
areas on their bodies as they know they will probably get robbed, or
be the victim of a shakedown by the cops or neighborhood protection
racket.

So before they go back home, the make sure they have their most worn
out work clothes on, their most torn up shoes, and skip haircuts for a
month of so before the visit home. This seems to confuse most of the
border riff raff. The good news is that they tell me they are almost
never bothered on the way back as they know the family got everything
of worth from them.

Personally, I don't even go to the border towns on our side of the
border as they aren't much safer. I haven't for years.

Robert