In today's fast-paced world, the microwave concept applies to more than just cooking: Why wait when you can have it now? That's why, according to Darrell Stimson, his is a dying art.

"Furniture touch-up is a skill that takes many years to master," says the man known as the Wood Wizard. "Today people aren't interested in pursuing this as a career because the learning curve is so long."

How long is long?

"Three to four years," he says. "In this fast-paced technoworld we live in, people want money now. Few have the patience and discipline to learn an in- depth hands-on craft. Furniture touch-up isn't a lucrative profession until you've mastered the art."

Which is no longer a concern for Stimson, who has been honing his craft for 29 years. No matter how deep the ding, how garish the gash, how screaming the scratch, almost no nicked or gnarled wood furniture is beyond his repair. Without his magical touch, East Bay junkyards would no doubt be overflowing with furniture considered too damaged to retain.

Furniture burn, says Stimson, is an old-world craft that began around the turn of the 17th century. Shellac, which came in the form of hardened flakes, was heated over an open fire and then applied to damaged wood furniture to conceal nicks and dings.

"When shellac sticks came on the scene around 1850, it became easier to manipulate and shave the shellac with a knife that was heated by a candle," Stimson says.

Around the 1940s candles were replaced with small electric ovens or Bunsen burners that repairmen carried with them. These were the primary tools of the trade until the 1960s when the even more convenient electric knife became available. Today this is still a commonly used tool.

Not so with the Wood Wizard.

"This is my magic wand," Stimson exclaims, pointing to his butane-powered cord-free knife. "The umbilical cord has been severed! With this tool I can now work anywhere beyond the confines of electricity."

A slender, boyish-looking man, Stimson, 43, began his career in furniture touch-up at age 14. One of his neighbors in Los Gatos owned an antique shop. When a shipment arrived from the East Coast one day, his neighbor asked the young Stimson to help unload the antiques. Impressed with Stimson's careful handling of the fragile furniture, he asked if the youth knew how to sand wood.

"Of course I do," Stimson replied. Of course he didn't. His bluff was called when the shop owner placed a 100-year-old chair in front of the young boy and challenged him to "show me."

That's when the education began. For the next two years Stimson earned $1. 25 an hour sanding and stripping furniture. In 1973 he went to work for a shop where he learned how to stain and finish kitchen cabinets. "Talk about hands- on experience," Stimson says. "I once stained and finished 800 cabinets in a year."

His next job was at a furniture store. "This place sold such cheap furniture, my sole responsibility was to go to the customer's home to repair the stuff when it broke. And eventually it always did."

Stimson got fully onto his career track when he went to work at a Santa Clara refinishing shop operated by an elderly Italian craftsman named Phil Castanza.

"Mr. Castanza taught me the old-world technology of furniture touch-up," Stimson says. "He would tell me to watch carefully because I was the last kid he would ever teach this to. I learned all the basics from him."

This included how to fill-in dents with lacquer sticks, regrain using ground pigmented colors and how to French polish and properly buff a piece of furniture. Eager to learn, it took the 23-year-old apprentice five hours under Castanza's watchful eye to complete a one-hour job.

"Like I said," Stimson laughs, "long learning curve!" In 1983 the fledging Wood Wizard felt ready to open up his own furniture touch-up business in Lafayette. Eventually it was expanded to include a refinishing shop as well.

"Most people who learn furniture touch-up do not learn how to refinish," Stimson says. "Both skills take extreme patience and attention to detail. That's why people often learn one or the other, but not both."

In 1984 Stimson married girlfriend Caroline Heron, a former hairdresser in Lafayette. Unable to pursue her own craft because of a neck injury, she joined her husband's Lafayette business as the office administrator. The business eventually moved to Pleasant Hill and expanded to include seven employees, but converted exclusively to an "on-site" service when Pleasant Hill redeveloped its downtown in the late 1990s. That was fine with Stimson, who prefers working one-on-one with his customers anyway.

"I love my job," he says. "I love meeting people and the challenge of problem solving because every piece of furniture is unique. I love that I'm able to accomplish something with my hands."

"Darrell is truly a master of his craft and an artist at restoration," says customer Cathy Jensen of Lafayette. "He even made my French doors look like new after the family dog chewed through the dividers."

French polish

After Stimson studies the damaged furniture, he uses his butane knife to heat, shape and mold the shellac stick. He then carefully drips the stick into the indentation, simultaneously smoothing it over with the heated knife. When the indentation is filled, he lightly sands the problem area before adding ground earth-pigmented colors - "the same kind," he says, "that Michelangelo used on the Sistine Chapel" - to re-create the surrounding grain. His final touch is a French polish over the stain.

"A French polish is an old finishing procedure that takes years of practice and subtle technique," he says. "The polish is applied with a wad of cotton and a cheesecloth. It has to be built up carefully, one layer at a time to get an even, streak-free finish. It takes many strokes to get just the right look."

What about the polish in aerosol cans that most furniture repair shops use today?

"Spray cans of finish don't offer the same quality results," Stimson says. "Using a can is faster because the finish builds quicker. Another advantage is that cans offer more variety in sheens such as gloss, flat and satin. The con, " he points out, "is that you can never quite get that French polish look."

"'Darrell is meticulous when it comes to detail," his wife, Caroline, says. "When he has done something exceptional or especially difficult, the first thing he does is get on his cell phone to tell me about it. There's nothing that excites him more than a happy customer."

And judging from his reputation, there are plenty of those around.

"Darrell obviously cares greatly about the beauty of wood and restoring or repairing it to its original condition," say customers Richard and Karen Lee of San Ramon.

"He takes his time and applies his extensive knowledge of wood finishes that he has developed over the years. On two occasions, Darrell has exceeded our expectations: once when he repaired a scratch on the top of our new dining room table, and another time when he made an old mahogany secretary look like it just came from the showroom. He is much more than a repairman - he is a craftsman, and it is a pleasure to watch him work."

Practical restrictions

In the old days, Stimson says, people could tinker in their garage and practice their furniture touch-up skills gradually. Today, however, there are fire codes, building codes, zoning laws and EPA regulations on air-quality management and fire/explosion management. As a result, people -aren't allowed to operate from their homes.

"People used to practice in their garage and when they had honed their skills and built a sufficient customer base, then they would open up a shop," Stimson says. "Starting out nowadays you have to immediately invest a small fortune just to comply with all the regulations." He heaves a sigh. "No wonder nobody wants to take the time to learn this art."

Despite the challenges, though, there are technical colleges and manufacturers that offer instruction in furniture touch-up, often putting a more modern technical spin on the old craft. Stimson, however, insists that the best way to learn is through an apprenticeship.

Fellow craftsman Alan Marriage, moderator of the Professional Refinishers Group International (alan.net/groop/index.html), agrees:

"This is a hands-on craft where perfection often resides in touch and feel rather than in sight or routine," he says. "A lot of the nuance that can be learned from a hands-on instructor would be lost in a written or read expression. An instructor may have a natural talent for producing a perfect French Polish, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they have the ability to articulate the process or write about it. These skills are not easily communicated textually or verbally."

Finding an apprentice for Stimson may not be a problem. Lately he's had company on his appointments: Ten-year-old Jason Smith of Concord is a neighbor's son who is fascinated with wood.

"I like going with Mr. Stimson because I learn all kinds of new things," Jason says. "I've even learned that it's OK to use marker pens on tables, something my parents have never let me do. I really enjoy watching him fix things that look beyond repair. He has been very gracious to take me with him."

The young boy pauses, then adds, "And Mrs. Wood Wizard makes a great lunch."

"Jason's parents tell him if he does all his schoolwork, he can hang out with the Wood Wizard," Stimson says, grinning. I think that's great. Furniture touch-up is a humble yet gratifying multigenerational skill. I'd love to pass it on to someone like Jason. It's the best way to learn this trade and I feel an obligation to pass it on. There will be a need for this kind of skill for many generations to come."

And he could use an assistant. The Wood Wizard is booked at least six to eight weeks in advance. He works three to five appointments each day, with each appointment taking anywhere from one to three hours. Although he currently works six days a week, he soon plans to cut back to five for something more important.

"We are adopting a beautiful 8-month-old baby girl," says Caroline, beaming.

"Her name is Selina Marie." Adds an equally excited Stimson, "Have to save time for my best apprentice - our new little Wizardress."

Until the right apprentice does come along, the Wood Wizard will continue waving his magic butane wand throughout the East Bay and doing what he does best: making furniture right with the world again.

Furniture do's

Here are some tips for keeping wood furniture looking good:

-- Clean and polish your furniture at least every one to two months. Darrell Stimson, known as the Wood Wizard, recommends Murphy's oil soap. "It's a vegetable oil soap that you dilute with water," he says. It's been around forever and is the best product out there."

-- Dust using the new microcrystalline cloths such as Swiffer.

-- Use furniture polish sparingly, maybe one or two times a year. Stimson's favorite product is Guardsman Cream Polish, sold mostly at hardware stores. He prefers it because it contains no silicone oils.

-- Use shoe polish, applied with a cotton swab, for small nicks.

-- Use coasters underneath beverages and planters - -don't ever let moisture sit on a surface.

-- Use trivets for hot items. "If it's too hot to drink, it's too hot to put on your furniture," Stimson says.

Resources

You can contact Darrell Stimson, the Wood Wizard, at (925) 370-1489, visit his Web site at www.awoodwizard.com or e-mail him at Woodwizard@earthlink.net. You can also hear him discuss furniture tips when he appears on the radio program "On the House With the Carey Brothers," 7 to 10 a.m. Saturdays on KSFO- AM (560).

©2001 San Francisco Chronicle

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/11/17/HO26186.DTL

Chronicle photos by Mark Costantini