Flowing

Flowing is the process of giving the work, after it has been properly prepared, a coat of varnish made expressly for that purpose, called flowing varnish. Veneered panels are usually finished this way. Some finishers, when the body-work is to be dead-finish with flowed panels, coat the panels with the same varnish - shellac or other - used for the body, and rub them with pumice-stone and oil; in fact, up to the point of flowing make no difference wliatever in the treatment of the body-work and the panels. Such treatment is not recommended; whatever varnish is used for the body-work, the paneis should be coated with two or three coats of the best rubbing varnish; oil should not be used for rubbing, as, if the surface is at all greasy, the subsequent coat of flowing varnish cannot be evenly laid, therefore water should be used with the pumice-stone for rubbing, in place of oil. After the rubbing is completed, wash off with a sponge and dry with a chamois skin. Let it stand for a day, and after freeing the work of all pumice-stone and dust, take it to the flowing-room, which should be clean, dry, and free from dust and all drafts of air, apply the varnish with a flat brush of suitable width made of badger or fitch hair; lay the varnish on smoothly and evenly, leaving no marks of the brush. The quicker the varnish is put on, and the less it is worked, the better it will look. Let it stand in the room until it is hard enough to handle. Upholstered work should not be flowed until it comes from the hands of the upholsterer and is ready for the ware-rooms.

Varnish Polishing

This process is used when it is desired to give to the work a bright lustre, different from the natural gloss, and resulting from a perfectly smooth surface produced by rubbing. The previously applied coats of rubbing varnish having been rubbed down with pumice-stone and water, one or more coats of polishing varnish is applied, rubbed down as before, and brought to a bright mirror-like surface with rotten-stone and water. Clean up with a little sweet oil, and afterward with a cloth dampened in alcohol.