Hardwood Filler Colors for Period Finishes

¶ The correct colors for fillers used on period and other standard wood finishes are indicated in the following:

¶ Golden Oak - Silex paste filler in natural color or tinted light with. Vandyke brown and a very little asphaltum varnish.

¶ Weathered Oak - No filler required for the correct finish.

¶ Fumed Oak - No filler required for the correct finish.

¶ English Oak - Silex paste filler tinted with Vandyke brown ground in oil to a dark shade.

¶ Early English Oak - Silex paste filler tinted very dark with half Vandyke brown and half drop black, both ground in oil.

¶ Antique Early English Oak - Silex paste filler tinted very dark with Vandyke brown and drop black ground in oil.

¶ Flemish or Flanders Oak - No filler required for the correct finish. If filler is used silex paste colored black with drop black ground in oil is correct.

¶ Tobacco Brown Oak - Silex paste filler tinted dark with Vandyke brown ground in oil.

¶ Stratford Oak - Silex paste filler tinted pink with rose pink ground in oil. The aim is to color the pores of the wood pink but not to fill them level. Wipe the filler off across and with the grain of the wood.

¶ Malachite Oak - Silex paste filler colored very dark with a mixture of 6 ounces drop black, 1 ounce Vandyke brown and 1 ounce dark chrome green.

¶ Mission Brown Oak - No Slier required for the correct finish.

¶ Jacobean Oak - No filler required for the correct finish.

¶ Antwerp Oak - Silex paste filler colored black with drop black ground in oil.

¶ Baronial Oak - Silex paste filler colored to match stain with Vandyke brown ground in oil or with burnt umber and toned with drop black.

¶ Cathedral Oak - Silex paste filler colored to match stain with Vandyke brown ground in oil or with burnt umber and toned with drop black ground in oil.

¶ Dutch Brown Oak - Silex paste filler colored to match stain with Vandyke brown ground in oil or with burnt umber and toned with drop black ground in oil.

¶ XVI. Century Oak - Silex paste filler colored with Vandyke brown ground in oil or with burnt umber and toned with drop black ground in oil to match stain.

¶ Bog Oak - Silex paste filler colored black with drop black ground in oiL

¶ Belgian Oak - Silex paste filler colored black with drop black ground in oil.

¶ Silver Oak - White filler mixed from zinc oxide ground in oil and a little dry bolted whiting. Thin with a mixture of 1 ounce boiled linseed oil, 1 ounce japan drier and 6 ounces of benzine or naphtha.

¶ Kaiser Gray Oak - Use same filler as for Silver Oak.

¶ Olive Oak - Paste silex filler colored black with drop black ground in oil. The stain is green.

¶ Antique Walnut - Filler to be light gray. Mix from ¾ white lead in oil and ¼ zinc oxide in oil. Thin enough to apply and rub in with a cloth. Use for a thinner a mixture of 4 ounces japan drier, 2 ounces turpentine and 2 ounces of benzine. The filler will dry white but the finish of shellac and wax will subdue the white to light gray.

¶ Circassian Walnut - On real walnut or gum this finish is in need especially of a transparent filler. Many coats of drying oil mixtures, like 2 parts boiled linseed oil, 1 part turpentine and 1 part japan drier, were much used at one time. The oil was applied hot and rubbed in and after allowing time to dry, more coats were applied in the same manner. Each coat of oil was allowed to soak in a little while and then was wiped off. The important thing is to see that each coat is thoroughly dry before putting on another. This is an expensive method. A less costly one is to put on two thin coats of thin shellac or first class liquid varnish filler. Each coat should be rubbed down to the bare wood. Then a thin coat of silex filler paste colored with Vandyke brown to match the wood is put on.

¶ American Walnut - Silex paste filler colored to match the wood color with Vandyke brown ground in oil.

¶ Sheraton Mahogany - Silex paste filler colored very dark with a mixture of 5 ounces Vandyke brown, 4 ounces burnt umber and 3 ounces of rose pink all ground in oil.

¶ Adam Brown Mahogany - Silex paste filler colored very dark with Vandyke brown and a very little rose pink ground in oil.

¶ Light Brown Mahogany - Silex paste filler tinted light brown to match the wood with a little Vandyke brown ground in oil.

¶ Mahogany, Red - Silex paste filler colored dark with Vandyke brown, drop black and a little rose pink, all ground in oil.

¶ When a thin coat of shellac has been used on the bare wood, as is done sometimes, less oil should be used in the paste filler which follows. This because the fine wood pores have been filled and sealed up by the shellac against absorbing so much oil as is needed when the filler goes on without the shellac coat.

¶ Ebony Black - Silex paste filler colored black with drop black ground in oil.

¶ Rosewood - Real rosewood has always been difficult to fill. The natural oil in the wood works up through the filler and disfigures the finish. The old time method of finishing included coat after coat of thin shellac, each one rubbed back to the bare wood. But that is expensive in labor cost. The best way to handle this wood now is to apply one fairly thick coat of white shellac mixing it with 1% pounds of white bleached gum shellac to 1 gallon of denatured alcohol. Let dry thoroughly and do not sandpaper. Then fill as usual with silex paste filler mixed with the least possible quantity of oil and tinted with a mixture of 3 ounces of Vandyke brown ground in japan and 1 ounce of rose pink ground in japan or in oil.

¶ Gun Metal Black - Fill with black graphite, dry and very fine. Thin the graphite with japan drier and very little benzine.

¶ Vandyke Brown - On close grain woods. Use as a filler two coats of white shellac. The shellac should be thin,about 3 pounds of gum shellac to 1 gallon of alcohol. Color the shellac with a few drops of Bismarck brown spirit soluble aniline.

¶ Driftwood Gray - The pores are not to be filled level but should be colored white by adding to parafone wax a little zinc oxide in the dry form or ground in japan.

¶ Forest Green - Silex paste filler colored very dark with chrome green and drop black ground in oil. Equal parts of the green and black are about right. Sometimes a little Vandyke brown or burnt umber are also used to get the right color.

¶ Birch Fillers - Some finishers prefer to use no paste filler on birch finishes. Some prefer liquid fillers of the prepared type and some only shellac. Paste filler used thin, however, brings out the wood grain figure better than liquid fillers, even though birch is classed as a close grained wood.

¶ Novelty Gray and Colored Finishes - When used on oak, chestnut, ash, elm, etc., the filler should be light. The pores of the wood are extended by sponging the wood with water. When dry sand the raised grain and open up the pores more with a stiff picking brush. The fillers are silex paste tinted in any one of several colors,white, grays, greens or browns. The gray oak stains are especially suitable for these colored fillers. For any color use a strong water stain to gain a deep color to contrast strongly with the light colored filler. In some cases no stain is used, but rather the white zinc filler (as for silver oak) is put on first and when dry a very thin coat of white shellac is put on. Next paraffin wax is colored with dry white zinc oxide and it is rubbed well into the wood.

¶ Some of the gray finishes are done with a bleaching as the first step to lighten the wood. Then a light gray stain is used. Next a thin coat of white shellac is put on. "When dry the surface is filled with paraffin wax which has been made white by the addition of a little dry zinc oxide. The wax should be well rubbed into the pores of the wood. Allow it to dry at least 24 hours and coat with paraffin wax without the zinc or with any white wax. Polish to a hard surface,

¶ Other novelty finishes can be produced in the same manner by using colored stains other than gray and filling with the white zinc filler or with the white paraffin wax filler.

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