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Daniel Shafner submits:
COWTAIL DISTRESSING OF FURNITURE
Many of today's furniture finishes require some type of either physical
or chemical distressing or both. This is particularly true when creating
reproductions of antique finishes or developing new finishes that are in
so much demand such as Country French, 18th Century English,
Nostalgic and Southwest.
One of these chemical distressing methods is referred to as
"COWTAIL".
There are many theories as to the origination of this type of distressing
but the one I find most amusing and the easiest to believe involves a
cow and the old tin milk container. The constant swishing of the cow's
tail to "shoo" off the menacing barn flies actually was the original tool
involved and the medium was none other than the cow droppings
deposited upon the barns' floor. Seems the cow's tail came in contact
with the droppings and when slapped against the nearby milk containers,
buckets, and old stored furniture, a design was created that has since
become a popular distressing standard, hence the name, "COWTAIL ".
In the manufacturing process, this cowtail design has been duplicated
using heavy twine or mop strands. The strands are cut into lengths of
about 10 inches. 25 to 30 strands are then heavily taped at one end to
form the handle which should be about 5 inches in length.
Masking or duct tape works well for this purpose.
The exposed cowtail strands are then dipped into either a heavy bodied
lacquer sealer or a lacquer topcoat and hung up and allowed to drip dry.
This process should be repeated at least 3 or 4 different times.
After this process has been completed, I find it best to place the
cowtail on a hard surface such as a concrete floor and lightly strike
the ends of the cowtail with a hammer. This will spread the ends out
a little and help the cowtail glaze to be absorbed into the strands.
The material used for the cowtail operation should be a glaze or wiping
stain product. This material can be thinned with naphtha to obtain the
desired strength. A naphtha dampened rag will also clean up any
undesirable markings left by the cowtail.
Using a folded rag placed in an old pie pan, saturate the center of
the rag with the desired cowtail material. Drag the cowtail through
the saturated part of the rag to transfer the glaze to the cowtail.
Blot the dampened cowtail using a clean rag and then lightly
strike the surface using a random swinging pendulum motion.
As with any other finishing handwork operation, a certain amount of
artistic creativity is helpful and beneficial to achieving the desired results.
