“Everything new stalls because there is precedence for the old.”
Soap Finish: The Mushy, Flat Stuff
After cooking the soap concoction and letting it cool for 24 hours, it became opaque and thickened to a mayonnaise-like consistency. Today I used it to finish the top of a worktable that is based off examples shown in the Tacuinum Sanitatis, a health book from the Middle Ages.
My goal with this worktable was to give the top what some people call a “scrubbed finish” with a painted base below. An authentic scrubbed finish is really no finish at all. It is the result of years of washing – just bare, almost-bleached wood.
The finish is so prized by some collectors that it is routinely faked by some dealers. (Or so I am told.)
Applying the mayo-like finish is quick and easy. It spreads easily with a rag. The water soaks into the wood or evaporates quickly, leaving a bit of a hazy sheen on the wood. A clean rag wipes off the excess on the surface. It takes about 5 minutes total to apply a coat of finish to the top shown.
After the soap dries, it is indeed a dead-flat finish. Unlike other users, however, I didn’t experience any raised grain on the tabletop; my guess is that is because I didn’t use any sandpaper. The top is right off the jack plane. Even so, I sanded the finish lightly between coats with a #320-grit sanding sponge.
After four coats the top is very smooth and soft. Just what I wanted.
I’m going to experiment more with a soap finish in the coming months. I like how it can be used to produce a variety of sheens depending on the amount of water you add to the flakes. I also really like how simple it is and how difficult it is to mess up – perfect for the beginner. The added bonus is that it is much less toxic than many solvent-based finishes. I have enough volatile organics in my shop.
— Christopher Schwarz
Soap Soup, the Movie
My first experiments with a runny soap finish didn’t impress me – the wood just got wet and a little slimy. But after watching this movie, I’m trying it again. This time I’m going to let the mixed finish sit for 24 hours before applying it to the wood.
This morning I mixed up a runny solution of boiling hot water and soap flakes (1 cup soap flakes and 4 cups of water). And it’s cooling as I type.
By the way, I got my soap flakes from MSO Distributing. They’re made in England without any additives or fragrance. Delivery was prompt. I’ve also ordered a pound of soap flakes from Pure Soap Flakes to give the USA-made flakes a try, even though they are more expensive than the British flakes.
— Christopher Schwarz
New Lost Art Press Stuff at WIA
In addition to our two new products – “By Hound & Eye” and the “Virtuoso DVD” – we’ll be selling two special limited-edition items at the Lost Art Press booth in the Marketplace in Woodworking in America on Sept. 25-26.
First is a joint project between Lost Art Press and Steam Whistle Letter Press in Newport, Ky. Brian Stuparyk, the founder of Steam Whistle, approached us about doing a short run of 500 letterpress posters that are 18” x 12”, numbered and signed.
We don’t want to be in the poster business, but we agreed to this joint project because it will be a useful graphic for your shop wall – it’s all about how to use hammers and cut nails in furniture. Most of the poster’s blocks have been hand cut by Brian and the poster is being printed on his vintage equipment. We’ll unveil the design next week. I’ve seen Brian’s preliminary work, and it’s quite cool.
The posters will be $20. If we have any leftover from WIA (I expect we will) we will put them up for sale in our online store.
The second crazy product is a new T-shirt design from Indianapolis artist Shelby Kelley. Shelby painted the artwork for Revolucion, a taco joint we like. John and Shelby re-imagined some of his wild bandito paintings and added some awesome dovetail saws (the woodworking equivalent of “more cowbell”).
We’ll have a bunch of these shirts at WIA – American-made in gray (correction: Army green) with black printing. We might add these shirts to the store after Woodworking in America. Not sure.
So look for our booth in the Marketplace. Where will we be? Chances are you’ll find us by the bathrooms. At every WIA they’ve put our booth in the back by the toilets. But no, Don, I don’t take it personally.
— Christopher Schwarz
My First Time Using Soap Finish: Notes & Warnings
One of my favorite stories is how the writers for “The Straight Dope” column sent a fake hand-lotion recipe to the “Hints from Heloise” column – mixing vegetable shortening and sugar. Heloise printed the recipe and added that she’d been using the concoction for years.
Go ahead. Go to the kitchen and try it. I’ll wait here.
I’ve been reading a lot about the Danish “soap finish” these last few months, plus the chemistry and history behind it. A lot of this research will be included in my forthcoming book (which, by the way, will have a new title, so I’ll call it “Formerly the Furniture of Necessity”).
This week I made and used a soap finish for the first time, applying it to an ash chair that also will be featured in the book. I like using the finish a lot. It’s basically an oil finish (from vegetable or animal oils) that leaves a waxy residue behind that can be buffed up. I’m going to put the chair into hard use in the house to see how it holds up and report back.
This post is to encourage you to give the soap finish a try, and to dispel some of the questionable advice I’ve collected on it.
First, on the sheen of the finish. While aged soap finishes I’ve seen on Hans Wegner chairs are indeed dead-flat, a new soap finish looks much more like a wax finish. I’d call it semi-gloss.
Mixing the soap finish is easy. I recommend you make a very small batch to get a feel for the different results you get from mixing soap flakes and boiling water. You can get everything from a soup to a bowl of exploded jellyfish to a stiff paste. A stiff paste is what I was after.
For my first batch I used one cup of soap flakes and one quart of boiling water. This recipe was a cruel joke. It made a grey soup that was suitable for washing clothes, not finishing furniture. When I applied it to wood it mostly made the wood wet and not much else.
Next I tried equal parts soap flakes and boiling water. This made the blown-up jellyfish parts (I hate jellyfish; I got one in my swimming trunks once and it burned my delicate parts). Even after I let this mixture cool, it didn’t make anything I was eager to apply to finish. It was too runny.
So I took an approach that I recommend you try: Boil a cup of water and pour about half of it into a cup of soap flakes. Mix it and see what happens. If it’s too runny, add soap flakes. If all the flakes haven’t dissolved, add a little water.
The result should be stiff and meringue-like. After it cooled it became a little harder and less mushy.
How to apply it?
You can put it directly on the wood, but I found that to be messier than the process recommended by Caleb James. Essentially you make a rubber like you would for French polish. Take a dollop of the soap and put it in the middle of a soft cotton cloth. Wrap the soap and twist the “tail.” The soap soaks through the cloth as you press it against the wood, applying a nice film after a few minutes of work – your body heat from your hand and the friction soften the soap nicely.
After the soap dries for a few minutes, buff it with a clean, soft cloth.
Some people have reported that the finish raises the grain. I didn’t find that. Perhaps they were using soap soup.
More on the soap finish as it develops.
— Christopher Schwarz
Where to buy soap flakes:
- Dri-Pak Pure Soap Flakes
- Pure Soap Flakes Co.
- GreenHome
- And many other retailers. Look for stuff that doesn’t have fragrance or other additives. You want lye and oil.