Windsor Chair Finish

[Victor Stearns]

Greetings to the Creek,
I have recently finished a Windsor sack back chair. I have found that the finish of choice was orignally Milk paint. Sounds interesting. Anyway, I want the finish to be durable. I am concerned by this Milk paint. I would not normally paint a project, however with three different woods, oak, poplar and maple, not to metion a couple of mistakes, I plan on painting.
ANY SUGGESTIONS?
Thanks
Victor

[Jim Becker]

Milk paint followed by BLO is indeed a traditional finish for this kind of piece...and yes, in some ways that was also to mask the variety of different woods used to construct them, optimizing properties of the species for where the components are used. If you really feel that you would like a more modern finish, than a 100% acrylic product would work well (NOT latex paint!) as would an oil based enamel. But they will not have the same "look" that the milk paint/oil will impart and that's part of the charm. That combination has a bit of transparency and you still know you have wood under it.

[Dave Anderson NH]

Having done a number of Windsor chairs with milk paint, I would not worry in the least about the durability. It is actually as or more durable than normal oil or acrylic paints. My proceedure is listed below with some of the various options I've used over the years and comments.

1. Remove all sanding dust with tack rag.

2. Dye the wood with an "analine" dye of your choice to give it some color under the paint since at some point, if it receives heavy use, you could gouge through to the bare wood. You don't want white showing in this situation. You are trying to replicate aged wood with this step.

3. Mix only enough milk paint to do the job following the factory instructions.

4. Apply the paint, let it dry an hour or two, and apply a second coat. The coats will be a bit rough and you will say to yourself, "Yuck, this is awful looking." Don't worry, the next steps will make it look great.

5. Take a gray scotchbrite pad or 0000 steel wool and smooth over the finish. This removes most of the little bumps and roughness of the milk paint. This should be done fairly aggresively, but take care not to cut through to bare wood.

6. Now apply a protective top coat which will also give it a bit of a sheen and darken the paint color.
a. Paste wax is the easiest and quickest to apply, but does give the lowest level of protection. Suitable mostly for wall mounted casework and items not subject to drips or spills of liquid which can discolor the paint and finish.
b. Boiled linseed oil (BLO) is the traditional finish and offers generally good overall protection. It usually takes 2 or more coats.
c. Danish oil (varnish & BLO mixed with mineral spirits to thin) is a step up from the BLO and imparts a bit of a surface film and low gloss to the finish. I prefer it to straight BLO and usually use 2 coats.
d. Wiping varnish such as Behlen's offer the highest level of protection for the finish and is easy to apply with a rag. It's probably the most durable of the topcoats, but it is also the glossiest.

7. As a general note, inspect each step of your work carefully. With chairs, it is really easy to to miss spots at each step of the job and it will cause you annoying headaches to go back and make repairs. Milk paint in particular does not like to go over other finishes without a special primer and sanding back to fix a missed spot is a royal pain.

[Robert Rozaieski]

The traditional paint finish for Windsors would be lead based oil paint, however, for obvious reasons, this finish is no longer sold. Modern day Windsor chair makers have turned to milk paint as a substitute the comes close to the appearance of the traditional lead based paint (though most museum curators would disagree), without the toxic side effects ! It is sold as powder and mixed with water. After the paint has cured for several days, several coats of BLO rubbed in complete the finish. I may have a .PDF article on using milk paint I could send you. Shoot me an email and I'll see if I can dig it up.

Bob

[Steve Schoene]

I have seen a sample of the "authentic" paint made by the conservators at Colonial Williamsburg. Apparently, green was the by far most common color, and we have all seen the very very dark shades on antiques. However, the original was often veridgris pigment (also toxic copper derived) and the color was a bright green, about the color of early spring grass. It wasn't very even in color either, due to the rather "ropey" in character.

But, not the less, I'd agree with the use of Milk Paint, with a oil/varnish topping to give a richer color and prevent water spotting. VERY durable finish. (Methylene choride stripper will hardly touch it.)

Be aware we are talking about Real Milk Paint or Genuine Milk Paint both of which come in powdered form. The stuff you see from General Finishes or some other makers in liquid form are NOT milk paint, they are acyrlic paint in "milk paint colors" . Sometimes it is hard to tell from the label, but if it is liquid it isn't actual milk paint.