In commencing to finish a job direct from the cabinet-maker’s hand, rough and innocent of sand-paper, first cover the panels with a coat of shellac to prevent the oil in the filling from colouring them dark.  Next, cover the body of the work with a wood filling composed of whiting and plaster of Paris, mixed with japan, benzine, and raw linseed-oil, or the lubricating oil made from petroleum; the whole covered with umber, to which, in the rare cases when a reddish shade is wanted, Venetian red is also added.  This filling is then rubbed off with cloths, and by this process tends to close up the grain of the wood and produce an even surface.  More or less time should be allowed after each of the several steps in the finishing process for the work to dry and harden, though much less is required in working with shellac than with varnishes composed of turpentine, oil, and gums.  But the time that should be allowed is often lessened by the desire to get the work through as soon as possible, so that no standard can be set up as to the number of hours required between each of the several processes.  It would be well if twelve hours intervened, but if work to which ten days could well be devoted must be hurried through in three, obviously the processes must follow each other in a corresponding haste.

A coating of shellac is then given the whole work, light on the panels and dark on the body work, and when it has dried and hardened, which it does very soon, it may be rubbed down.  This process of “rubbing down” should be done evenly and carefully, so as not to rub through the shellac at any point, and be done with the finer grades of sand-paper for the cheaper class of work, particularly at first, but at a later period of the process, and for the better class of articles in all cases, hair-cloth should be used, the material for the “rubbing down” being pumice-stone moistened with raw linseed-oil for the best work, and the lubricating oil, before mentioned, for cheaper work, or the covered parts of the better grades.  This rubbing down involves labour, wear of fingers and finger-nails, and is carried on with an ordinary bit of hair-cloth, the smooth surface next the wood, and not made in any particular shape, but as a wad, ball, or otherwise.  In the corners and crevices where the hair-cloth will not enter it will be necessary to use sand-paper of the finest grades, and worn pieces only.

Three coats of shellac are put on, followed each time by this rubbing-down process, each one giving the work a smoother feeling and a more perfect appearance.  Afterwards, to complete the whole, a coating of japan thinned with benzine is applied, which gives to the work a clean appearance and the dead glossy finish.

There is this objection to the above style of finish, that the japan catches all the dust which touches it, and holds it permanently, so that many of the best workmen will not have work finished in this way for their own private houses, preferring the brighter look given by shellac and varnish without rubbing down the last coat, believing that the work can be kept much cleaner.