Yellowish-gray. Decoction of Persian | berries mixed with some solution of sulphate of iron.

Light Brown. Sulphate of copper dissolved in water, then solution of potassium ferrocyanide in water with au addition of some hydrochloric acid. Cherry-red. Decoction of Brazil wood diluted with spirit of wine, and then solution of tin (h.).

Orange. Annotto or saffron dissolved in spirit of wine.

Red. Solution of cochineal mixed with solution of saffron.

Red-brown. Dissolve precipitate of logwood (f.) in spirit of wine compounded with some hydrochloric acid. Rose Color. Compound a solution of cochineal with some alum water. Straw Color. Use first decoction of Persian berries and next solution of tin (h.) much diluted with water.

Other Stains on Wood. Thimm's Patent. The woods are painted with suitable concentrated solution of metallic salts, and then thoroughly dried, which will require about 12 hours. They are then placed in a closed room into which gases, as sulphide of hydrogen, ammonia, etc., are introduced according to the combination to be produced.

By using sulphide of hydrogen the following colors are obtained:

Brown from bismuth sulphide formed from bismuth nitrates.

Yellow from cadmium sulphide formed from solutions of cadmium sulphate.

Golden Yellow from stannic sulphide formed from solutions of stannous chloride (tin salt).

Iron Gray to Brown from lead monosulphide formed from a solution of acetate of lead.

Green from chromium sesquioxide formed from solutions of chromic acid. Red from antimony trisulphide formed from solutions of antimony.

The cost of this process is very small, since 2 pounds of any of the solutions will cover 100 square feet of wood surface. The woods can also be provided with various designs in any color desired. The colors are not affected by air, light, or water.

The very cheap solution of ferric hydrate in ferric chloride is used for

completely saturating floors, stair-steps, and other articles subjected to strong wear, which are then colored by means of ammonia. Wood thus treated is also far less inflammable than when painted.

Black Ground for Lacquering. Grind fine ivory-black in shellac-varnish upon a stone slab with a muller until a perfectly smooth varnish is obtained. The following directions give good black grounds:

I. One pound each of asphaltum and copaiba balsam and the necessary quantity of turpentine. Melt the asphaltum over a fire, then add the balsam previously heated, and finally the oil of turpentine. II. Moisten lampblack with oil of turpentine and rub it very fine upon the stone with a muller. Then add ordinary copal varnish and mix all thoroughly. III. Take 3 ounces of asphaltum, 4 quarts of boiled linseed-oil, 8 ounces of burnt umber, and some turpentine. Melt the asphaltum, stir the oil previously heated into it, then the umber, and, when cool, dilute the mixture with turpentine. IV. An extra black is obtained from 12 ounces of umber, 2 ounces of purified asphaltum, pint of boiled linseedoil, 2 ounces of rosin, and 14 pints of turpentine. Melt the asphaltum and rosin together, add the oil in a hot state, stir thoroughly, and then mix the turpentine with it. V. A white ground is obtained by mixing equal parts of copal varnish and zinc white or starch.

To Stain Walking Canes. I. Apply to the sticks in a natural state a more or less concentrated solution of calcium hydrate in water, according as the stain is to be more or less dark.

II. Dissolve iron filings in sulphuric acid, apply the solution to the sticks in a natural state, and burn them at once over a fire of wood shavings. This burning must be done thoroughly, as stains, spoiling the work, will be formed in case any places remain untouched by the fire.

To Stain Maple Wood Silver-gray. I. Upon the bottom of a water-tight box place a layer of grindstone sand (from the troughs of grindstones) upon this wood, and then again a layer of grindstone sand. Then pour over it sufficient

rain water to cover the whole, and place the box in a warm place for 3 to 5 weeks. Replace occasionally the water lost by evaporation, so that the wood is never dry. By this process a beautiful silver-gray color is produced on maple and lime wood.

II. Place the wood for 3 to 4 hours in a decoction of part of pulverized gall nuts in 10 of water, and then for 1 hour in a solution of 1 part of sulphate of iron in 60 of cold water, and then brush it off with a soft brush dipped in a solution of 1 part of alum in 18 of water, and allow it to dry. Should the color be too light repeat the process, but allowing it to remain in the baths only a few minutes.

III. Pour sharp vinegar over iron filings and alum, and brush the wood over with the solution until the desired silver color is obtained. Gall nuts converted into coarse powder may also be used in place of the iron filings.

IV. Dissolve verdigris in vinegar or crystallized verdigris in water, and paint the wood with the solution until it has acquired the tint desired. The solution may be used either warm or cold.

Ebony Stains. To prepare a very fine ebony stain applicable especially to pear or walnut woods boil 40 parts of gall nuts, 4 parts of rasped logwood, 5 parts each of sulphate of iron and verdigris with water, strain through linen and apply the warm fluid to the wood, and then give it 3 coats of a warm solution of 10 parts of iron filings in 75 parts of vinegar.

For Veneers which are to be stained through and through place 16 parts of sal-ammoniac and a sufficient quantity of steel filings in an earthenware pot, pour strong vinegar over them, and let it stand for 14 days in a moderately warm oven. Then pour sharp lye into another pot, add gall nuts converted into a coarse powder and shavings of blue Brazil wood, and let the whole stand in a warm place for a few days. This gives an excellent stain.

Boil the veneers for a few hours in the first stain of sal-ammoniac and steel filings, and let them remain therein for 3 days. Then place them in the second stain, and proceed in the same manner as with the first.

In case the veneers should not be entirely colored through repeat the opera tion.

Stain for Floors. Boil 25 parts of fustic and 12 of Brazil wood with 1000 parts of soap-boiler's lye, to which has been added 12 parts of potash. When the liquid is boiled down to 700 or 800 parts, add 33 parts of annotto and 75 parts of wax, and when this is melted stir the compound until it is cold. It is of a brown-red color, and the above quantity suffices to keep a floor in good condition for a year by applying it once a week, and rubbing it on with a brush.

Staining Wood for Veneers, Mosaics, etc. Treat the wood for 24 hours with a 10 per cent. caustic soda-lye, then boil it therein for half an hour and wash it to remove the alkali. This prepares the wood for the reception of the color. Dry the wood with filtering paper and press it to preserve the shape. Then immerse it for 24 hours in a dyebath consisting of dye-wood and liquid, turn it occasionally, and throw it in a bath of 1 part of sulphate of iron to 3 of water, and the result will be a beautiful black.

Yellow is obtained with 1 part of picric acid dissolved in 60 of water. Various Rose-colored Tints by adding a little caustic soda to coralline.

Red Stain. Immerse the wood in a solution of 3 parts of Marseilles soap in 100 of water, and then apply aniline red sufficiently diluted to give the desired tint.

Violet. Treat the wood in a bath consisting of 12 parts of olive oil, a like quantity of calcined soda, and 125 parts of boiling water; then stain with aniline red to which tin salt has been added.

Blue is produced in the same manner, except that aniline blue is used as a stain.

Green. Mordant the wood first with a solution of aluminium acetate of 1° B., and then place it in a decoction of Persian berries and indigo-carmine. Quercitron may also be used in place of Persian berries.

Bright Red. Boil for 3 hours 6 parts of cochineal ground veryfine in 100 parts of water, and paint the wood with the solution. When dry apply a coat

of a solution 3 parts of tin-salt and 1 parts of tartaric acid in 100 parts of

water.

Brown in Various Tints is produced by mordanting the wood with potassium bichromate, and applying later on decoctions of fustic, logwood, or Brazil

wood.

Moiner's Method of Staining Wood Rose Color by Chemical Precipitation. Wood, and also vegetable ivory, can be colored rose-red without much difficulty by chemical precipitation. The resulting color is very brilliant and uniform. First Bath. This consists of 8 parts of potassium iodide to 100 parts of

water.

Second Bath. Two and one-half parts of corrosive sublimate to 100 parts of water.

Immerse the wood for a few hours in the first bath. Then place it in the second, in which it will acquire a beautiful rose-red color. The wood, after drying, is varnished. Both baths can be repeatedly used without renewing them.

New Polish for Wood. Compound an alcoholic solution of 3 parts of shellac with a solution of 100 parts of collodion cotton and 50 parts of camphor in ethyl alcohol. For finishing use a mixture of benzole and alcohol.

Moody's New Polish consists of 8 parts of rectified wood spirit, 1 of shellac, and of benzoin, and if desired 1s of dragon's-blood may be added. Dissolve the ingredients by heating, and filter the solution through flannel. Apply with a camel's-hair brush.

Gilding on Wood. The gilding on wood, called oil gold, cannot be burnished, and is always of the natural color of unwrought gold. It has the advantage that it may be washed and cleansed with water, which burnished gold will not stand. It is often used for parts of furniture and mouldings of rooms, and as it stands the weather it is also employed for outside work. The surface to be gilded must first be rubbed smooth with shave grass. After this apply a priming of glue size and two coats of oil paint and one of flatting. To enrich the color of the gold these last may be laid down in red or yellow. White, however, is usually preferred, as the darker color renders

any imperfection in the gold-sizing more difficult to detect. When the last coat of paint is thoroughly dry, rub it over with wash leather to render it smooth and free from dust and grit. If any patterns or figures are to be left ungilded, they should be lightly pounced over with white to prevent the gold-leaf adhering to them. Another way is to paint them over with the white of egg diluted with water. If any gold sticks to this it can be easily washed or wiped off with a moistened linen cloth. When all is ready for sizing strain sufficient size through muslin, and put some out on the palette, adding to it enough ochre or vermilion, mixed with oil alone, to color. Then with a stiff hog-hair tool commence painting it on the surface, taking care to lay it on smoothly and not too thick, as in the latter case it runs and leaves wrinkles in the gilding. Size always from left to right, beginning on the top of the surface, and working downward. Move the brush lightly and firmly, mapping out the surface to be sized into several squares, and finishing and cross-hatching each before proceeding onwards. If there are patterns to be left ungilded, carefully trace round their outline with a sable pencil, and then fill in the interstices. When the whole surface is covered with size, give it a thorough inspection to make sure there is no faulty portion, and if there is, delicately touch in the size with a small pencil. When very perfect gilding is required it should be sized twice, the first coat being allowed to dry thoroughly before the second is applied. In carved work be careful to dip the brush down into the hollows of the carving. It is a good plan to size over night so as to gild in the morning. But all size does not dry alike, sometimes taking 12 to 24 or 30 hours before it is ready for the gold-leaf, in damp weather or locations always more than in dry. The readiness of the size can only be ascertained by the touch. If on being touched by the finger the surface daubs or comes off it is not ready, but if it feels clammy and sticky it is sufficiently dry. If too dry it must be sized again. The books of gold-leaf should always be placed before a fire half an hour previous to use, in order to dry the