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linnea56chgo5b

Touching up lacquer chips on Chinese lacquer cabinet

I bought a Chinese lacquer cabinet at an estate sale yesterday. I would guess it is not an actual antique, but I don't know where else to post this, as people on this forum are more likely to know how to repair the finish. And I DO have an actual antique Japanese lacquer cabinet that needs much TLC waiting for me to get to it...maybe this one will be practice.

There are a lot of small chips missing on the edges. The trim color is a blue-green, with a kind of delicate feathering overlay in black, which may be done on the lacquer itself. When the chips snap off it reveals a lighter blue paint underneath. I can mimic the paint color well enough, and give a try with the feathering, but what is the best way to fill in the lacquer? I am not planning to sand down and completely re-coat, the damage is pretty minor, but it is in a position to show. I could use oil based poly, waterbased poly, shellac (have amber chips on hand), and of course, there is always nail polish! Thanks for your help!

This post was edited by linnea56 on Sun, Nov 23, 14 at 13:35

Comments (3)

  • lilylore
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    The tiny url doesn't offer a good enlargement of the close up.

    First of all you state that you have an "an actual antique Japanese lacquer cabinet", what does the term "Antique" mean to you. In the US the only legal use of the term "Antique", is for customs on items that are over 100 years old. Are you saying your actual antique can be certified to have been made in japan before 1914?

    The term lacquer is often used for any kind of shiny finish. True Chinese (or Japanese) lacquer is made from sumac sap, and because of it's poisonous content, the liquid lacquer is illegal in the US. Because of the high cost of true lacquer, much of the furniture made in the 20th century may have a single layer of lacquer applied over a composite base. (that would be the blue undercoat). But it is much more common for the 'lacquer' to be black paint and regular varnish applied over a composite base: what was once called "Japanning."

    Because this piece might have some sumac constituents, I would advise extreme caution if you file or sand it, or if you lose more chips, like you would with removal of asbestos.

    For that reason, a complete sanding and refinishing is not advised, also true lacquer, after being sanded, may not take well to modern chemical varnishes applied on top.

    If this piece were mine, I would first infill the crack with spackle, using a scrubbing sponge after it had dried to remove the excess from the edges, and to slightly reduce the height of the divot. The idea behind the spackle is that it would be easily reversible with water. On top of the spackle you may want a base coat of something, watered down acrylic craft paint would do well to seal the porous nature of the spackle, but so would a thin coat of Elmer's glue. Then, like you suggested, a black finger nail polish, with maybe a clear coat polish after it dried. Like you said, this wouldn't 'blend in' completely, but would not be so jarring as the blue or white chips.

    A museum might be able to get a variance on importing real lacquer from sumac for repairing their treasures, and I do know of one person who smuggled in a small can of lacquer, but you can't expect a restorer in the US to use real lacquer for a repair. I would guess a professional repair would be similar to what I suggested, with adjustments for the materials, perhaps only using water base materials that could easily be removed at a later time if you wanted it.

    What one puts into this kind of repair should reflect the value of the piece. I could imagine someone just taking a sharpie to it and saying "done".

    If I understand what you mean by "feathering" it is the little blue lines? That is a result of the lower strata of japanning (black) shrinking more then the over varnish, it cracks and shows the blue composite below. I doubt this was how the piece looked when it was brand new. Considering that the finish on this cabinet is showing this kind of deterioration, we might expect more of the same, and like I mentioned, I would be careful to look for and remove dust and chips from the piece on a weekly basis, just in case, before children or pets get to it, or before I breath it in.

    This post was edited by Lilylore on Mon, Nov 24, 14 at 23:40

  • lazy_gardens
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    If you have a "genuine antique" cabinet, the best thing to do is take it to an expert.

  • linnea56 (zone 5b Chicago)
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    The feathering is a decorative surface treatment. It is not due to cracking or crazing of the surface. I HAVE seen that on other pieces in antique shops, so I know what you mean. If the surface had been cracked like that, I would have decided it was beyond my ability to fix, and would not have bought it. When I chipped off the loose lacquer (there was not much), you could see upon examining the chips that it was applied to the top layer. The chipping was mostly limited to the edges, from careless handling, which was why I figured I could handle the repair: whereas the truly decorative parts, the gold leaf panels, are intact.

    As you said, I think the layer of lacquer (if it IS lacquer) is quite thin. So I did not try the spackle, though I think that is a great idea for a project with deeper chipping. I painted the open areas of the chips to approximate the color with acrylic paint, then laid in fine lines one at a time with a brush with only a few hairs. Then I built up the depth of the chip with about 3 coats of clear nail polish, applied with a tiny brush. When I decided the height was about right with the original I knocked down the gloss of the nail polish a bit with 4000 grit sandpaper to make it blend in. The fact that it has been repaired shows - slightly - in the very bright workshop light I was using, but not in the room with ordinary lighting where I have installed it.

    The OTHER cabinet - the one that I believe is old, though it may not qualify as an antique - I am judging to be old by the engraved metal hinges and trim on it. I have studied a lot of historical metalworking: metal is my field, not lacquer furniture. That piece is mostly elaborately inlaid wood in geometric patterns, with 2 panels of lacquer framed into the doors. What that one needs mostly is to have some hardware like escutcheons and pulls duplicated and installed. I do not know how I would find an expert, but I would like to have someone look at it.