French Polishing and Enamelling Part 6

You will know when the process is complete by wiping a part of the work with a sponge and observing whether there is a fair and even gloss.

Clean off with a bit of mutton suet and fine flour. Be careful not to rub the work too hard, or longer than is necessary to make the face perfectly smooth and even. Some workmen polish with rotten-stone, others with putty-powder, and others with common whiting and water; but tripoli, we think, will be found to answer best.

=An American Polish Reviver.=--Take of olive-oil 1 lb., of rectified oil of amber 1 lb., spirits of turpentine 1 lb., oil of lavender 1 oz., tincture of alkanet-root 1/2 oz. Saturate a piece of cotton batting with this polish, and apply it to the wood; then, with soft and dry cotton rags, rub well and wipe off dry. This will make old furniture in private dwellings, or that which has been shop-worn in warerooms, look as well as when first finished. The articles should be put into a jar or jug, well mixed, and afterwards kept tightly corked.

This is a valuable recipe, and is not known, the writer believes, outside of his practice.

CHAPTER X.

_MISCELLANEOUS RECIPES._

=Oil Polish.=--One quart of cold-drawn linseed-oil to be simmered (not boiled) for ten minutes, and strained through flannel; then add one-eighth part of spirits of turpentine: to be applied daily with soft linen rags, and rubbed off lightly; each time the oil is applied the surface should be previously washed with cold water, so as to remove any dirt or dust. This method of polis.h.i.+ng is particularly useful for dining-table tops; it will in about six weeks produce a polish so durable as to resist boiling water or hot dishes, and be like a mirror for brilliancy.

=Wax Polish.=--Eight ounces of beeswax, 2 oz. of resin, and 1/2 oz. of Venetian turpentine, to be melted over a slow fire; the ma.s.s, when quite melted, is poured into a sufficiently large stone-ware pot, and while it is still warm 6 oz. of rectified turpentine are stirred in. After the lapse of twenty-four hours the ma.s.s will have a.s.sumed the consistency of soft b.u.t.ter, and is ready for use. A small portion of the polish is taken up with a woollen rag and rubbed over the surface of the work--at first gently, then more strongly. When the polish is uniformly laid on, the surface is once more rubbed lightly and quickly with a fresh clean rag to produce a gloss.

=Waterproof French Polish.=--Take 2 oz. gum benjamin, 1/2 oz. gum sandarach, 1/2 oz. gum anime, 11/2 oz. gum benzoin, and 1 pt. alcohol.

Mix in a closely-stoppered bottle, and put in a warm place till the gums are well dissolved. Then strain off, and add 1/4 gill of poppy-oil.

Shake well together, and it is ready for use.

=A Varnish for Musical Instruments.=--Take one gallon of alcohol, 1 lb.

gum sandarach, 1/2 lb. gum mastic, 2 lbs. best white resin, 3 lbs. gum benzoin; cut the gums cold. When they are thoroughly dissolved, strain the mixture through fine muslin, and bottle for use; keep the bottle tightly corked. This is a beautiful varnish for violins and other musical instruments of wood, and for fancy articles, such as those of inlaid work. It is also well adapted for panel-work, and all kinds of cabinet furniture. There is required only one flowing coat, and it produces a very fine mirror-like surface. Apply this varnish with a flat camel's-hair or sable brush. In an hour after application the surface is perfectly dry.

=French Varnish for Cabinet-work.=--Take of sh.e.l.lac 11/2 oz. gum mastic and gum sandarach, of each 1/2 oz., spirit of wine by weight 20 oz. The gums to be first dissolved in the spirit, and lastly the sh.e.l.lac. This may be best effected by means of the water-bath. Place a loosely-corked bottle containing the mixture in a vessel of warm water of a temperature below the boiling point, and let it remain until the gums are dissolved.

Should evaporation take place, an equal quant.i.ty to the spirit of wine so lost must be replaced till the mixture settles, then pour off the clear liquid for use, leaving the impurities behind; but do not filter it. Greater hardness may be given to the varnish by increasing the quant.i.ty of sh.e.l.lac, which may be done to the amount of one-twelfth of the lac to eleven-twelfths of spirit. But in this latter proportion the varnish loses its transparency in some degree, and must be laid on in very small quant.i.ties at a time.

=Mastic Varnish.=--Mastic should be dissolved in oil of turpentine, in close gla.s.s vessels, by means of a gentle heat. This varnish is extensively used in transparencies, etc.

=Cabinet-maker's Varnish.=--Take 5 lbs. very pale gum sh.e.l.lac, 7 oz. gum mastic, 1 gallon alcohol. Dissolve in a cold atmosphere with frequent stirring.

=Amber Varnish.=--This is a most difficult varnish to make. It is usually prepared by roasting the amber and adding hot linseed-oil, after which turpentine can be mixed if required. But for a small quant.i.ty, dissolve the broken amber, without heat, in the smallest possible quant.i.ty of chloroform or pure benzine. Heat the linseed-oil, remove it from the fire, and pour in the amber solution, stirring all the time.

Then add the turpentine. If not quite clear, heat again, using the utmost caution.

=Colourless Varnish with Copal.=--To prepare this varnish the copal must be picked; each piece is broken, and a drop of rosemary-oil poured on it. Those pieces which, on contact with the oil, become soft are the ones used. The pieces being selected, they are ground and pa.s.sed through a sieve, being reduced to a fine powder. It is then placed in a gla.s.s, and a corresponding volume of rosemary-oil poured over it; the mixture is then stirred for a few minutes until it is transformed into a thick liquor. It is then left to rest for two hours, when a few drops of rectified alcohol are added, and intimately mixed. Repeat the operation until the varnish is of a sufficient consistency; leave the rest for a few days, and decant the clear. This varnish can be applied to wood and metals (_Journal of Applied Chemistry_).

=Seedlac Varnish.=--Wash 3 oz. of seedlac in several waters; dry it and powder it coa.r.s.ely. Dissolve it in one pint of rectified spirits of wine; submit it to gentle heat, shaking it as often as convenient, until it appears dissolved. Pour off the clear part, and strain the remainder.

=Patent Varnish for Wood or Canvas.=--Take 1 gallon spirits of turpentine, 21/4 lbs. asphaltum. Put them into an iron kettle on a stove, and dissolve the gum by heat. When it is dissolved and a little cool, add 1 pint copal varnish and 1 pint boiled linseed-oil. When entirely cool it is ready for use. For a perfect black add a little lamp-black.

=Copal Varnish.=--Dissolve the copal, broken in pieces, in linseed-oil, by digestion, the heat being almost sufficient to boil the oil. The oil should be made drying by the addition of quick-lime. This makes a beautiful transparent varnish. It should be diluted with oil of turpentine; a very small quant.i.ty of copal, in proportion to the oil, will be found sufficient.

=Carriage Varnish.=--Take 19 oz. gum sandarach, 91/2 oz. orange sh.e.l.lac, 121/2 oz. white resin, 18 oz. turpentine, 5 pints alcohol.

Dissolve and strain. Use for the internal parts of carriages and similar purposes. This varnish dries in ten minutes.

=Transparent Varnish.=--Take 1 gallon alcohol, 2 lbs. gum sandarach, 1/2 lb. gum mastic. Place them in a tin can. Cork tight and shake frequently, placing the can in a warm place. When dissolved it is ready for use.

=Crystal Varnish for Maps, etc.=--Mix together 1 oz. Canada balsam and 2 oz. spirits of turpentine. Before applying this varnish to a drawing or a painting in water-colours the paper should be placed on a stretcher, sized with a thin solution of isingla.s.s in water, and dried. Apply the varnish with a soft camel's-hair brush.

=A Black Varnish.=--Mix a small quant.i.ty of gas-black with the brown hard varnish previously mentioned. The black can be obtained by boiling a pot over a gas-burner, so that it almost touches the burner, when a fine jet-black will form at the bottom, which remove and mix with the varnish, and apply with a brush.

=A Black Polish= can be made in the same way: after wetting the rubber, just touch it with the black. Place the linen cover over, touch it with oil, and it is ready for work.

=Varnish for Iron.=--Take 2 lbs. pulverised gum asphaltum, 1/4 lb. gum benzoin, 1 gallon spirits of turpentine. To make this varnish quickly, keep in a warm place, and shake often till it is dissolved. Shade to suit with finely-ground ivory-black. Apply with a brush. This varnish should be used on iron-work exposed to the weather. It is also well adapted for inside work, such as iron furniture, where a handsome polish is desired.

=Varnish for Tools.=--Take 2 oz. tallow, 1 oz. resin; melt together, and strain while hot to remove the specks which are in the resin. Apply a slight coat on the tools with a brush, and it will keep off the rust for any length of time.

=To Make Labels Adhere to a Polished Surface.=--Brush the back of a label over with thin varnish or polish, and press down with a soft rag; this must be done quickly, as the polish soon becomes dry. This is the way labels are put on pianofortes, and also the paper imitation of fancy woods on polished pine-work.

=How to Remove French Polish or Varnish from Old Work.=--Cleaning off old work for re-polis.h.i.+ng or varnis.h.i.+ng is usually found difficult, and to occupy much time if only the sc.r.a.per and gla.s.s-paper be used. It can be easily accomplished in a very short time by was.h.i.+ng the surface with liquid ammonia, applied with a piece of rag; the polish will peel off like a skin, and leave the wood quite bare. In carvings or turned work, after applying the ammonia, use a hard brush to remove the varnish.

Unadulterated spirits of wine used in a tepid state will answer the same purpose.

=Colouring for Carcase Work.=--In the best cla.s.s of cabinet-work all the inside work--such as carcase backs, shelves, etc.--is made of good materials, such as wainscot, soft mahogany, Havannah cedar, or American walnut; but for second-cla.s.s work, pine or white deal is used instead, and coloured.

The colouring matter used should match with the exterior wood. For mahogany take 1/2 lb. of ground yellow ochre to a quart of water, and add about a tablespoonful of Venetian red--a very small quant.i.ty of red in proportion to the yellow is sufficient for mahogany--and a piece of glue about the size of a walnut; the whole to be well stirred and boiled. Brush over while hot, and immediately rub off with soft shavings or a sponge. For the antique hues of old wainscot mix equal parts of burnt umber and brown ochre. For new oak, bird's-eye maple, birch, satin-wood, or any similar light yellowish woods, whiting or white-lead, tinted with orange chrome, or by yellow ochre and a little size. For walnut, brown umber, glue size, and water; or by burnt umber very moderately modified with yellow ochre. For rosewood, Venetian red tinted with lamp-black. For ebony, ivory-black; but for the common ebonised work lamp-black is generally used.

When the colouring is dry, it should be rubbed down with a piece of worn fine gla.s.s-paper, and polished with beeswax rubbed on a very hard brush--a worn-out scrubbing-brush is as good as anything--or it can be well rubbed with Dutch rush. In polis.h.i.+ng always rub the way of the grain. The cheap work seldom gets more than a coat of colour rubbed off with shavings.

=Cheap but Valuable Stain for the Sap of Black Walnut.=--Take 1 gallon of strong vinegar, 1 lb. dry burnt umber, 1/2 lb. fine rose-pink, 1/2 lb. dry burnt Vand.y.k.e brown. Put them into a jug and mix them well; let the mixture stand one day, and it will then be ready for use. Apply this stain to the sap with a piece of fine sponge; it will dry in half an hour. The whole piece is then ready for the filling process. When completed, the stained part cannot be detected even by those who have performed the work. This recipe is of value, as by it wood of poor quality and mostly of sap can be used with good effect.

=Polish for Removing Stains, etc., from Furniture (American).=--Take 1/2 pint alcohol, 1/4 oz. pulverised resin, 1/4 oz. gum sh.e.l.lac, 1/2 pint boiled linseed-oil. Shake the mixture well, and apply it with a sponge, brush, or cotton flannel, rubbing well after the application.

=Walnut Stain to be used on Pine and White-wood.=--Take 1 gallon of very thin sized sh.e.l.lac; add 1 lb. of dry burnt umber, 1 lb. of dry burnt sienna, and 1/4 lb. of lamp-black. Put these articles into a jug, and shake frequently until they are mixed. Apply one coat with a brush. When the work is dry, sand-paper down with fine paper, and apply one coat of sh.e.l.lac or cheap varnish. It will then be a good imitation of solid walnut, and will be adapted for the back-boards of mirror-frames, for the backside and inside of case-work, and for similar work.