Cherry, apple, pear and holly woods are good to ebonize with black
stains.
To improve the color of any stain, mix in a bottle one ounce of nitric
acid, half a teaspoonful of muriatic acid, a quarter of an ounce of grain
tin and two ounces of rain water ; mix two days before using, and keep
your bottle well corked. .
Use no perfume of any kind to counteract the odor of the paint ; this
will make matters worse. Admit fresh air freely every day, working, if
possible, in fine weather.
In painting wood, use an easel to hold your wood with an upward
slant, before which you may sit comfortably, and rest your hand on a
maul-stick, that is, if you are painting anything too large to place on
your desk with ease.
A Cement to Stop Flaws or Cracks in Wood of Any Color — Put any
quantity of saw-dust, of the same wood your work is made with, into an
earthen pan and pour boiling water over it ; stir it well and let it remain
for a week or ten days, occasionally stirring it ; then boil it for some time,
and it will be of the consistency of pulp or paste ; put it in a coarse cloth
and squeeze all the moisture from it ; keep it for use, and when wanted,
368 WOODS.
mix a sufficient quantity of thin glue to make it a paste ; rub weli into
the cracks, or fill up the holes in your work with it when it is quite hard
and dry; clean your work off, and if carefully done, you will scarcely
discover the imperfection.
To give pine an oak color : Wash the wood carefully in a solution of
copperas dissolved in strong lye, in the proportion of a pound of cop-
peras to a gallon of lye✪ To Give Pine an Oak Color ; when the wood is dry, after having been thus
thoroughly saturated with this wash, oil it, and it will look fresh and
nice for a year or two, when it can be restained and again oiled. Often,
when not subjected to hard usage, the color will remain undimmed for
several years, only requiring to be oiled occasionally. The color may
be put on with a short bristled brush, or, the hands being protected
with thick buckskin gloves, the wash may be applied with a cloth, which
will saturate the wood more evenly. It will blister the hands if they
are not well protected.
VARNISHING AND POLISHING.
Be careful in varnishing not to go over the same place twice, as in
"washing" water color, and for the same reason ; that is to say, you
may take off instead of putting on, and it will look patched, or like a
seam that shows the stitches. In varnishing, as in painting, take the
greatest care to have your brushes clean. Do your work quickly.
Make up your mind before you begin and meditate for the next time
when you have laid down your brush. It is important to go straight
ahead : "the woman who hesitates is lost."
Always Buy Varnish. Never attempt to make it yourself, it is a dan-
gerous process. In varnishing furniture first make the work quite
clean, then fill up the knots or blemishes with cement of the same
color; see that your brush is clean and free from loose hairs ; dip your
brush in the varnish, stroke it along the wire across the top of your var-
nish pot ; give it a thin coat ; let it stand in a moderately warm place to
dry.
Page 326 · 1 recipe record on this page
Presented as published in 1886. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Cherry, apple, pear and holly woods are good to ebonize with black stains.
To improve the color of any stain, mix in a bottle one ounce of nitric acid, half a teaspoonful of muriatic acid, a quarter of an ounce of grain tin and two ounces of rain water ; mix two days before using, and keep your bottle well corked. .
Use no perfume of any kind to counteract the odor of the paint ; this will make matters worse. Admit fresh air freely every day, working, if possible, in fine weather.
In painting wood, use an easel to hold your wood with an upward slant, before which you may sit comfortably, and rest your hand on a maul-stick, that is, if you are painting anything too large to place on your desk with ease.
A Cement to Stop Flaws or Cracks in Wood of Any Color — Put any quantity of saw-dust, of the same wood your work is made with, into an earthen pan and pour boiling water over it ; stir it well and let it remain for a week or ten days, occasionally stirring it ; then boil it for some time, and it will be of the consistency of pulp or paste ; put it in a coarse cloth and squeeze all the moisture from it ; keep it for use, and when wanted,
mix a sufficient quantity of thin glue to make it a paste ; rub weli into the cracks, or fill up the holes in your work with it when it is quite hard and dry; clean your work off, and if carefully done, you will scarcely discover the imperfection.
To give pine an oak color : Wash the wood carefully in a solution of copperas dissolved in strong lye, in the proportion of a pound of copperas to a gallon of lye ; when the wood is dry, after having been thus thoroughly saturated with this wash, oil it, and it will look fresh and nice for a year or two, when it can be restained and again oiled. Often, when not subjected to hard usage, the color will remain undimmed for several years, only requiring to be oiled occasionally. The color may be put on with a short bristled brush, or, the hands being protected with thick buckskin gloves, the wash may be applied with a cloth, which will saturate the wood more evenly. It will blister the hands if they are not well protected.
VARNISHING AND POLISHING.
Be careful in varnishing not to go over the same place twice, as in "washing" water color, and for the same reason ; that is to say, you may take off instead of putting on, and it will look patched, or like a seam that shows the stitches. In varnishing, as in painting, take the greatest care to have your brushes clean. Do your work quickly. Make up your mind before you begin and meditate for the next time when you have laid down your brush. It is important to go straight ahead : "the woman who hesitates is lost."
Always Buy Varnish. Never attempt to make it yourself, it is a dangerous process. In varnishing furniture first make the work quite clean, then fill up the knots or blemishes with cement of the same color; see that your brush is clean and free from loose hairs ; dip your brush in the varnish, stroke it along the wire across the top of your varnish pot ; give it a thin coat ; let it stand in a moderately warm place to dry.
Records on this page
To Give Pine an Oak Color