Finishing Challenge

Ten Thousand Villages is one of my charities.  I don't generally give them money I give them time.  When wood products arrive at their Hamilton Store cracked, or broken I try to repair the defect.  If I can repair the product than the store can sell it, sometimes at a discount but at least cover their cost.  The products come from small artisans from all over the world and are sold a fair market prices and the money actually ends up back at the maker, not swallowed by middle men and hustlers like many things from disadvantaged communities. (10,000 Village has been doing Fair Trade Coffee for a long time)

Up til now I have glued and clamped and repaired, boxes and shelves and things, this time... I face a greater challenge.  The bowl in the photo has been turned on a lathe and finished on the outside to a high gloss.  But....the finish is badly flawed and needs serious repair.
 
  The facts:
  -the outside is high gloss the inside is matte. It could be French Polish, a old and common finish that will give you a high gloss when buffed on the lathe. But why did they not polish the inside too, it would have been easy if the bowl were turned on a face plate?  So I am thinking not French Polish.

  - the finish is brittle. This bowl is from India and so is shellac, is it shellac that didn't stick to the wood because of natural oils?  Or was the bowl banged around on it long journey to Hamilton and just needs to be touched up with clear shellac?


  -I have no idea what the type of wood is, so it could be naturally oily and was less than perfectly prepared to recieve the finish.  If so, what will stick and stay?
  
  I am going to see what alchol does to the finish and if it softens then I'll know it is shellac.  If it does not soften then I will try varsol (trade name) and see what happens.  If that doesn't effect the finish then I will .......I don't know!!!
 
In an ideal world I will be able to blend and buff the flaws away if I can get sort of a match to the finish. Just as likely in this less than perfect world I will end up having to strip the finish off the bowl and then start from scratch. 

I'll keep you posted.
 

Ten Thousand Villages

   Ten Thousand Villages is a wonderful organization that is out there doing good things for  hard working people  and so is worthy of encouragement in my book.  Ten Thousand Villages has a store down the street from the Craft Co-op Textures in which I am a member.

   

  A while back my wife got the idea that I should spend some of  time volunteering in the community, a good idea. My problem was finding a place/organization for which  I wanted to volunteer. Eva had working with Ten Thousand Villages in the past and we had been often purchased things from their stores as gifts and many of our Christmas decorations are from there too, so it seemed like a place to check out.  The process was quite painless, I wondered in to the store and volunteered to repair any of their wooden boxes that had been damaged in shipping or suffered from the humidity changes.  If you go to their web site you can see there are many wooden objects for sale through their stores.  Nearly all of the wooden boxes and things are from different climates than ours and so the wood suffers for the transition.  

     After a chat with the manager I am repairing, re-glueing and rebuilding pieces for Ten Thousand Villages and I enjoy doing it.  That is a win - win situation for everyone.

tea chest 5x8x12 inches

the corner that needs repair/gluing

 The gap in the top is pretty pronounced but with a little bit of wood dust mixed with a super glue it will be as good as new in no time.

tenthousandvillages.ca