French Polishing and Enamelling | Page 5

use. Add a gill of iron filings steeped in
vinegar. The above makes a perfect jet black, equal to the best black ebony. A very good
black is obtained by a solution of sulphate of copper and nitric acid; when dry, the work
should have a coat of strong logwood stain.
=Imitation Oak.=--To imitate old oak, the process known as "fumigating" is the best. This
is produced by two ounces of American potash and two ounces of pearlash mixed
together in a vessel containing one quart of hot water.
Another method is by dissolving a lump of bichromate of potash in warm water; the tint
can be varied by adding more water. This is best done out of doors in a good light. Very
often in sending for bichromate of potash a mistake is made, and chromate of potash is
procured instead; this is of a yellow colour, and will not answer the purpose. The
bichromate of potash is the most powerful, and is of a red colour. A solution of asphaltum
in spirits of turpentine is frequently used to darken new oak which is intended for
painter's varnish, or a coating of boiled oil.
Another method of imitating new oak upon any of the inferior light-coloured woods is to
give the surface a coat of Stephens's satin-wood stain, and to draw a soft graining-comb
gently over it, and when the streaky appearance is thus produced a camel-hair pencil
should be taken and the veins formed with white stain. This is made by digesting
three-quarters of an ounce of flake white (subnitrate of bismuth), and about an ounce of
isinglass in two gills of boiling water; it can be made thinner by adding more water, or
can be slightly tinted if desired.
Proficients in staining and imitating can make American ash so like oak that experienced
judges are frequently deceived, the vein and shade of the spurious wood looking nearly as
natural as the genuine. After the veining is done, it should be coated with white hard
varnish, made rather thin by adding more spirits, after which the ground can be delicately
darkened if required.
=Imitation Satin-wood.=--Take methylated spirits one quart, ground turmeric three
ounces, powdered gamboge one and a-half ounces. This mixture should be steeped to its
full strength, and then strained through fine muslin, when it will be ready for use. Apply
with a sponge, and give two coats; when dry, glass-paper down with fine old paper. This
makes a good imitation for inside work. By the addition of a little dragon's blood an
orange tint can be produced. A yellow colour can also be given to wood by boiling hot
solutions of turmeric, Persian berries, fustic, etc. but the colour is very fugitive. A more

permanent colour results from nitric acid, and last of all by the successive introduction of
acetate of lead and chromate of potash. Sulphate of iron also stains wood of a yellowish
colour when used as a preservative agent, so much so, that the use of corrosive sublimate
is recommended for this purpose when it is desirable to preserve the light colour.
=A Blue Stain.=--This dye can be obtained by dissolving East Indian indigo in arsenious
acid, which will give a dark blue. A lighter blue can be obtained by hot solutions of
indigo, of sulphate of copper, and by the successive introduction of pyrolignite of iron
and prussiate of potash.
=A Green Stain.=--Dissolve one ounce of Roman vitriol in a quart of boiling water, to
which is added one ounce of pearlash; the mixture should then be forcibly agitated, and a
small quantity of pulverised yellow arsenic stirred in. A green is also the result of
successive formations in the pores of the wood of a blue and a yellow as above indicated,
and by a hot solution of acetate of copper in water. A yellowish green may be obtained by
the action of copper salts on the red prussiate of potash.
=A Purple Stain.=--Boil one pound of logwood chips in three quarts of water, until the
full strength is obtained; then add four ounces of pearlash and two ounces of powdered
indigo. When these ingredients are thoroughly dissolved, it is ready for use, either hot or
cold. A purple is also obtained by a boiling hot solution of logwood and Brazil-wood, one
pound of the former and one quarter of a pound of the latter to a gallon of water.
=A Red Stain.=--Methylated spirits one quart, Brazil-wood three ounces, dragon's blood
half an ounce, cochineal half an ounce, saffron one ounce. Steep the whole to its full
strength, and strain. A red can also be produced by macerating red-sanders in rectified
spirits of naphtha. An orange-red colour may be obtained by the successive action of
bichloride of mercury and iodide of potash,