Merit Provincial Five — Burn-In Stick Set
Ships from Waynesboro, Virginia.
Five full-size Merit burn-in sticks · five colors · the provincial browns, pale to deep
The Provincial Five is a set of five full-size Merit burn-in sticks for repairing chips and gouges in the honey and nut browns of provincial and country-French furniture — natural maple, French maple, natural walnut and the deep Italian provincial tone. It is the box for armoires, commodes, buffets and the mid-century reproductions finished in those colors.
This range sits between the pale maples and the walnuts, which is where most European-style casework lands. Cork at the pale end handles bleached and pickled surfaces, the two maples carry the honey tones, natural walnut covers the nut browns, and Italian provincial anchors the deep end — a compact kit that still spans the whole provincial run. Original factory stock, hand-poured and stamp-embossed, every stick cast one at a time.
What's in the set
Listed light to dark:
- #26 — Cork
- #3 — Natural Maple
- #52 — French Maple
- #79 — Natural Walnut
- #84 — Italian Provincial
What a burn-in stick does
A burn-in stick fills chips, gouges, and worn edges with hard natural resin that takes a finish like the wood around it. Melt a little off the stick with a heated knife, flow it into the damage, level it, and finish over it — the same repair the trade has been doing this way for generations.
Why a range
A burn-in has to disappear into the finish around it, and color is what gives it away. The usual method is to pick the stick closest to the surrounding wood — often deliberately a shade lighter, since it is easier to bring color up over a level fill than to take it back out — then work the tone and grain on top once it sits flush.
Provincial finishes are mostly mid-tone browns with a lot of warmth in them, and the difference between a maple-based and a walnut-based brown is easy to miss until the fill is level and the light hits it. This set puts both families in one box so you can lay the sticks against the piece and pick.
Expect a little surface character — pour marks, the odd bubble, an embossed number that stamped a hair off-center. They melt exactly the same.
See this set in the Merit color line →
Where the burn-in stick comes from: Penny a Stick: a brief history of burn-in sticks. More from the line: the Merit hub. Questions: orders@shellac.net.
