French Polishing and Enamelling Part 7

=Rosewood Stain.=--Take 1 lb. of logwood chips, 1/2 lb. of red-sanders, 1/2 gallon of water. Boil over a fire until the full strength is obtained. Apply the mixture, while hot, to the wood with a brush. Use one or two coats to obtain a strong red colour. Then take 1 gallon of spirits of turpentine and 2 lb. of asphaltum. Dissolve in an iron kettle on a stove, stirring constantly. Apply with a brush over the red stain, to imitate rosewood. To make a perfect black, add a little lamp-black.

The addition of a small quant.i.ty of varnish with the turpentine will improve it. This stain applied to birchwood gives as good an imitation of rosewood as on black walnut, the shade on the birch being a little brighter.

=Rosewood Stain for Cane Work, etc.=--Take 1 gallon alcohol, 1 lb.

red-sanders, 1 lb. dragon's blood, 1 lb. extract logwood, 1/2 lb. gum sh.e.l.lac. Put the mixture into a jug, and steep well till it obtains its full strength. Then strain, and it will be ready for use. Apply with brush, giving one, two, or more coats, according to the depth of colour desired. Then give one or more coats of varnish. This stain is suitable for use on cane, willow, or reed work, and produces a good imitation of rosewood.

=French Polish Reviver.=--This recipe will be found a valuable one. If the work is sweated and dirty, make it tolerably wet, and let it stand a few minutes; then rub off and polish with a soft rag. It is important that the ingredients should be mixed in a bottle in the order as given: Vinegar, 1 gill; methylated spirit, 1 gill; linseed-oil, 1/2 pint; b.u.t.ter of antimony (poison), 1 oz. Raw linseed-oil, moderately thinned with turpentine or spirits of wine, will also make a good reviver. Old furniture, or furniture that has been warehoused for a long time, should be washed with soda and warm water previous to applying the reviver.

=Morocco Leather Reviver.=--The coverings of chairs or sofas in morocco, roan, or skiver can be much improved by this reviver. If old and greasy, wash with sour milk first. The reviver should be applied with a piece of wadding, and wiped one way only, as in glazing. The colour can be matched by adding red-sanders. Methylated spirit, 1/2 pint; gum benzoin, 2 oz.; sh.e.l.lac, 1/2 oz. Mix, and shake up occasionally until dissolved.

=Hair-cloth Reviver.=--Mix equal parts of marrow-oil (neats-foot), ox-gall. and ivory-black, to be well rubbed with a cloth. This composition forms a valuable renovator for old hair-cloth.

=To Remove Grease Stains from Silks, Damasks, Cloth, etc.=--Pour over the stain a small quant.i.ty of benzoline spirit, and it will soon disappear without leaving the least mark behind. The most delicate colours can be so treated without fear of injury. For paint stains chloroform is very efficacious.

=To Remove Ink Stains from White Marble.=--Make a little chloride of lime into a paste with water, and rub it into the stains, and let it remain a few hours; then wash off with soap and water.

CHAPTER XI.

_MATERIALS USED._

=Alkanet-root= (botanical name, _Anchusa tinctoria_).--This plant is a native of the Levant, but it is much cultivated in the south of France and in Germany. The root is the only part used by French polishers to obtain a rich quiet red; the colouring is chiefly contained in the bark or outer covering, and is easily obtained by soaking the root in spirits or linseed-oil. The plant itself is a small herbaceous perennial, and grows to about a foot in height, with lance-shaped leaves and purple flowers, and with a long woody root with a deep red bark.

=Madder-root= (_Rubia tinctoria_).--This plant is indigenous to the Levant; but it is much cultivated in Southern Europe, and also in India.

Its uses are for dyeing and staining; it can be procured in a powdered state, and imparts its red colour when soaked in water or spirits. This is a creeping plant with a slender stem; almost quadrangular, the leaves grow four in a bunch; flowers small, fruit yellow, berry double, one being abortive. The roots are dug up when the plant has attained the age of two or three years; they are of a long cylindrical shape, about the thickness of a quill, and of a red-brownish colour, and when powdered are a bright Turkish-red. Extracts of madder are mostly obtained by treating the root with boiling water, collecting the precipitates which separate on cooling, mixing them with gum or starch, and adding acetate of alumina or iron. This is in fact a mixture of colouring matter and a mordant.

=Red-sanders= (_Pterocarpus santalinus_).--The tree from which this wood is obtained is a lofty one, and is to be found in many parts of India, especially about Madras. It yields a dye of a bright garnet-red colour, and is used by French polishers for dyeing polishes, varnishes, revivers, etc.

=Logwood= (_Haematoxylon campeachianum_).--This is a moderate-sized tree with a very contorted trunk and branches, which are beset with sharp thorns, and blooms with a yellow flower. It is a native of Central America and the West Indies. This valuable dye-wood is imported in logs; the heart-wood is the most valuable, which is cut up into chips or ground to powder for the use of dyers by large powerful mills constructed especially for the purpose. Logwood, when boiled in water, easily imparts its red colour. If a few drops of acetic acid (vinegar) is added, a bright red is produced; and when a little alum is added for a mordant, it forms red ink. If an alkali, such as soda or potash, is used instead of an acid, the colour changes to a dark blue or purple, and with a little management every shade of these colours can be obtained. Logwood put into polish or varnish also imparts its red colour.

=Fustic= (_Maclura tinctoria_).--This tree is a native of the West Indies, and imparts a yellow dye. Great quant.i.ties are used for dyeing linens, etc. The fustic is a large and handsome evergreen, and is imported in long sticks.

=Turmeric= (_Curc.u.ma longa_).--Turmeric is a stemless plant, with palmated tuberous roots and smooth lance-shaped leaves. It is imported from the East Indies and China. The root is the part which affords the yellow powder for dyeing. It is also a condiment, and is largely used in Indian curry-powder. Paper stained with turmeric is used by chemists as a test for alkalies, and it is also used in making Dutch, pink, and gold-coloured varnishes.

=Indigo= (_Indigofera tinctoria_).--Indigo is a shrub which grows from two to three feet in height, and is cut down just as it begins to flower. It is cultivated in almost all the countries situated in the tropics. The dye substance is prepared from the stems and leaves, and is largely used in calico-printing.

=Persian Berries= (_Rhamnus infectorius_).--These berries are the produce of a shrub of a species of buckthorn common in Persia, whence they derive their name; but large quant.i.ties are also imported into England from Turkey and the south of France. The berries are gathered in an unripe state, and furnish a yellow dye.

=Nut-galls.=--These are found upon the young twigs of the Turkish dwarf oak (_Quercus infectoria_), and are produced by the puncture of an insect called Cynips. The supply is princ.i.p.ally from Turkey and Aleppo.

Nut-galls contain a large quant.i.ty of tannin and gallic acid, and are extensively used in dyeing.

=Catechu.=--This is obtained from the East Indies, and is the extract of the _Acacia catechu_, a th.o.r.n.y tree. The wood is cut up into chips similar to logwood, and after boiling and evaporation the liquor a.s.sumes the consistency of tar; but when cold it hardens, and is formed into small squares. It is extensively used by tanners in place of oak bark.

=Thus.=--Thus is the resin which exudes from the spruce-fir, and is used by some polishers in the making of polishes and varnishes.

=Sandarach= is the produce of the _Thuya articulata_ of Barbary. It occurs in small pale yellow scales, slightly acid, and is soluble in alcohol; it is used in both polishes and varnishes.

=Mastic= exudes from the mastic-tree (_Pistacia lentiscus_), and is princ.i.p.ally obtained from Chios, in the Grecian Archipelago. It runs freely when an incision is made in the body of the tree, but not otherwise. It occurs in the form of nearly colourless and transparent tears of a faint smell, and is soluble in alcohol as well as oil of turpentine, forming a rapidly-drying but alterable varnish, which becomes brittle and dark-coloured by age.

=Benzoin.=--This is the produce of the American tree _Laurus benzoin_, and also of the _Styrax benzoin_ of Sumatra, which is called "gum benjamin"; it is used in polishes and varnishes, and as a cosmetic, and is also burnt as incense in Catholic churches.

=Copal= is one of the most valuable of gums, and is furnished by many countries in the districts of Africa explored by Mr. H. M. Stanley, the discoverer of Livingstone. Copal is found in a fossil state in very large quant.i.ties. The natives collect the gum by searching in the sandy soil, mostly in the hilly districts, the country being almost barren, with no large tree except the Adansonia, and occasionally a few th.o.r.n.y bushes.

The gum is dug out of the earth by the copal gatherers at various depths, from two or three to ten or more feet, in a manner resembling gold-digging; and great excitement appears when a good amount is discovered. The gum is found in various shapes and sizes, resembling a hen's egg, a flat cake, a child's head, etc. There are three kinds, yellow, red, and whitish; and the first furnishes the best varnish and fetches the highest price from the dealers. Many of the natives a.s.sert that the copal still grows on different trees, and that it acquires its excellent qualities as a resin by dropping off and sinking several feet into the soil, whereby it is cleansed, and obtains, after a lapse of many years, its hardness, inflammability, and transparency.

=Dragon's Blood= is the juice of certain tropical plants of a red colour, especially of the tree _Pterocarpus draco_. After the juice is extracted, it is reduced to a powder by evaporation. It is used for darkening mahogany, colouring varnishes or polishes, etc., and for staining marble. Chemists also use it in preparing tinctures and tooth powders.

=Sh.e.l.lac=--or, more properly, _gum-lac_--is a resinous substance obtained from the Bihar-tree, and also from the _Ficus Indica_, or Banyan-tree. It exudes when the branches are pierced by an insect called the _Coccus ficus_. The twigs encrusted with the resin in its natural state is called Stick-lac. When the resin is broken off the twigs, powdered, and rubbed with water, a good deal of the red colouring matter is dissolved, and the granular resin left is called seed-lac; and when melted, strained, and spread into thin plates it is called sh.e.l.lac, and is prepared in various ways and known by the names of b.u.t.ton, garnet, liver, orange, ruby, thread, etc., and is used for many purposes in the arts. Sh.e.l.lac forms the princ.i.p.al ingredient for polishes and spirit varnishes. Red sealing-wax is composed of sh.e.l.lac, Venice turpentine, and vermilion red; for the black sealing-wax ivory-black is used instead of the vermilion. Sh.e.l.lac is soluble in alcohol, and in many acids and alkalies. Lac-dye is the red colour from the stick-lac dissolved by water and evaporated to dryness. The dye, however, is princ.i.p.ally from the shrivelled-up body of the insect of the Stick-lac.

Sh.e.l.lac is produced in the largest quant.i.ty and the best quality in Bengal, a.s.sam, and Burmah. The chief seat of manufacture is Calcutta, where the native manufacturers are accused of adulterating it with resin to a considerable extent. The best customers are Great Britain and the United States, though the demand in the Italian markets appears to be on the increase.

=Amber= is a yellow, semi-transparent, fossil resin; hard but brittle, and easily cut with a knife; tasteless, and without smell, except when pounded or heated, and then it emits a fragrant odour. It has considerable l.u.s.tre; becomes highly electric by friction; and will burn with a yellow flame. It is found in nodules of various sizes in alluvial soils, or on the seash.o.r.e in many places, particularly on the sh.o.r.es of the Baltic. Amber is much employed for ornamental purposes, and is also used in the manufacture of amber-varnish. It will not dissolve in alcohol, but yields to the concentrated action of sulphuric acid, which will dissolve all resins except caramba wax.

=Pumice-stone.=--This well-known light and spongy volcanic substance is extensively quarried in the small islands that lie off the coast of Sicily. Its porosity and smooth-cutting properties render it of great value to painters and polishers for levelling down first coatings.

Ground pumice-stone is the best for cutting down bodies of polish or varnish that are more advanced towards completion. The best way to get a surface to a piece of lump pumice-stone is to rub it down on a flat York stone, or, better still, an old tile that has been well baked.

Pumice-stone should not be allowed to stand in water; it causes the grain to contract and to harden, thereby deteriorating its cutting properties.

=Linseed-oil.=--This valuable oil is obtained by pressure from the seed of the flax plant (_Linum usitatissimum_). Linseed contains on an average about 33 per cent. of oil, though the amount varies materially, the percentage obtained fluctuating considerably, not being alike on any two successive days. This is partly due to the varying richness of the seed, and partly to the manner in which it is manipulated in extracting the oil, it being a very easy matter to lose a considerable percentage of the oil by a lack of skill in any of the processes, though they all seem so simple.

The first thing done with the seed from which the oil is to be extracted is to pa.s.s it through a screen, to cleanse it from foreign substances.