Years ago I met an old woman and her husband who had been a piano
finisher for a number of years back before they changed to lacquer
finish.  She had all of his brushes and showed them to me along with
his dust picks.  He had worked for Kimball, Baldwin, and at least one
other piano maker.

I asked her how they did all of that work and she said that they
built up the finish with shellac.  Then, on the better makes, it was
varnished and then fly finished with rubbing varnish.  After the final
coat was cured they could then rub it out and polish it.

In those days they had rooms large enough to hold a days varnishing
and the only person that had a key to the room was the guy that was
doing the work.  Even the supervisors didn't even have keys to those
rooms as a precaution against dust.

The floors were wet down and sometimes they would lay damp newspapers
on the floor against dust.  They were kept very warm and she said that
her husband often just did his work with very clean clothes as well.
Dust was a huge concern as it was easier not to have to sand it out.

They didn't have much for sandpaper in those days, like we do today,
and runs and other defects in the finish were usually scraped out with
a card scraper.  The final rubbings were done with felt blocks, oil,
pumice and rottenstone.  Usually a week was allowed between coats.

They did add other things to shellac in those days to make it a little
harder, and I have an old varnishing book that explains some of the
tricks they had, but the oil-based varnish was what most of the companies
used as a top coat.  I think sometimes now, if you put alcohol on it, it
will loosen up the shellac as the varnish is now very old, oxidized and
often crazed to the point where the alcohol can get to the shellac.

If you have ever seen an old upright piano that has been given a rubbed
varnish finish, you will quickly understand why there were so many
pianos sold in mahogany, and how beautiful they really were when they
were new.  It's a lot of work and it takes about three months to do.

In the Sears, Roebuck & Co. catalog, back about 1910 or so, they
mention that it takes from 90 to 120 days to put a piano finish on.
And if Beckwith thought they had to go to all that trouble, most of the
other piano companies were as well.  I doubt that job paid very well...

Varnish really looks the best.  Shellac really looks nice as well,
but it really needs to be waxed or something to protect it a little.
If you have a (nicely) varnished piece of furniture next something that
has had lacquer put on it, the varnished piece will almost always go
out the door first.  Polyurethane looks dead, and the water based
finishes are even worse.

If you get de-waxed shellac you can put some kinds of poly over them,
but you need to use a brand of poly that has a little bit of "give"
to it or it will have trouble sticking.  The shellac will make the end
result a lot nicer looking when using polyurethane.

I have had nothing but trouble with pre-catalyzed lacquer it dries too
hard and ends up crazing badly if it's put on the least little bit to
thick.  Maybe it's improved now, but after having everything I've
finished with the stuff craze, I just won't use it anymore.

The old varnishes were slow to dry (so they leveled out really well)
and they actually held up quite well if the piece of furniture was
relatively well taken care of.  But I can certainly understand why the
whole industry changed over when spray lacquer came out in 1924.

The early lacquers also did not dry to a high gloss.  They dried to
a soft, slightly dull finish, and that's when the American public was
then sold on satin finishes.  Look under the lid of your Orthophonic
Victrola if you have one, and you'll see what I'm talking about.  But
going from something taking three months to finish down to an afternoon
must have seemed like a dream come true to those folks.

I've given the rubbed-out varnish treatment to about fifteen pianos
but I doubt I'll do it again.  They look really nice, but it's hard to
find varnish now that works right.  The rock-hard table top varnish is
as close as you can get now, but it's not the same as the old 4-hour
rubbing varnish.  I have some 60-year-old varnish I found in an old
paint store and it works like a charm.  Gosh, that is nice varnish to
work with!

It is very confusing to really know for sure what they were using for
a top coat on varnished furniture back then as they used the "varnish"
term generically.  Usually, though, if it says "spirit varnish", they
meant shellac.

I've always liked this topic and really enjoy re-finishing furniture.
It's very hard to duplicate the finishes they did in those days as the
materials just are not the same now, and there is no way you could do
it today and expect to make any money at it.

Earl Hennagir