Mahogany Varnish

Put in a bottle 2 oz. gum sandarach, 1 oz. shellac, 1/2 oz. gum bengamin, 1 oz. Venice turpentine, and a pint of spirits of wine, Colour red, with dragon's blood, or yellow with saffron. Stand in a warm spot till gum dissolves, when strain for use.

White Furniture Varnish

White wax, 6 oz.; oil of turpentine, 1 pint; dissolve by a gentle heat. Or white wax, 6 parts; petroleum, 48; applied to the work while warm, allowed to cool, then polished by rubbing with a coarse cloth.

Dark Varnish For Light Woodwork

Pound up and digest shellac, 16 parts; gum sandarach, 32; gum mastic, 8; gum elemi, 8; dragon's blood, 4; annatto, 1, with white turpentine, 16; and alcohol, 256. Dilute with alcohol if required.

Varnish For Violins

Coarsely-powdered copal and glass, each 4 oz.; alcohol, 64 o.p. 1 pint; camphor, 1/2 oz.: heat the mixture with frequent stirring in a water bath, so that the bubbles may be counted as they rise until solution is complete, and when cold decant the clear portion. When oil varnish is used it is made as for Artists' Virgin Copal.

Varnish For Wood Which Resists Boiling Water

Linseed oil, 1 1/2 lb.; amber, 1 lb.; litharge pulverised, 5 oz.; white lead pulverised, 5 oz.; minium, 5 oz. Boil the linseed oil in an untinned copper vessel, and suspend in it the litharge and the minium in a small bag, which must not touch the bottom of the vessel. Continue the ebullition until the oil has acquired a deep brown colour; then take out the bag and put in a clove of garlick; this is to be repeated 7 or 8 times, the ebullition being always continued. Before the amber is added to the oil, it is to be mixed with 2 oz. of linseed oil, and melted over a fire that is well kept up. When the mass is fluid, it is to be poured into the linseed oil; this mixture is to be boiled and stirred continually for 2 or 3 minutes; afterwards filter the mixture, and preserve it in bottles tightly corked. When this varnish is used, the wood must be previously well polished, and covered with a thin coat of soot and spirits of turpentine. When this coat is dry, some of the varnish may be applied, which should be distributed equally on every part with a small fine sponge. This operation is to be repeated 4 times, being always careful that each coat be well dried first.

After the last coat of varnish, the wood must be dried in an oven and afterwards polished.

Wainscot Varnish

Gum auime, 8 lbs.; clarified linseed oil, 3 gallons; litharge, 1/4 lb.; acetate of lead, 1/2 lb.; sulphate of copper, 1/4 lb. These materials must be carefully but thoroughly boiled together until the mixture becomes quite stringy, and then 5 1/2 gallons of heated turpentine stirred in. It can be easily deepened in colour by the addition of a little gold size.

Brown Hard Spirit Varnish

1. Sandarach, 4 oz.; pale seed-lac, 2 oz.; elemi, 1 oz.; alcohol, 1 quart; digest with agitation till dissolved, then add Venice turpentine, 2 oz. 2. Gum sandarach, 3 lbs.; shellac, 2 lbs.; rectified spirit (65 over proof), 2 gallons; dissolve, add turpentine varnish, 1 quart; agitate well and strain. Very fine. 3. Seed-lac and yellow resin, of each 1 1/2 lb.; rectified spirit, 2 gallons. 4. Gum juniper, 6 oz.; shellac, 6 oz.; salt of tartar, 1/2 oz.; Venice turpentine, 1 1/2 oz., and 4 pints of spirits of wine mixed together.

Turpentine Varnish

To 1 pint of spirits of turpentine add 10 oz. clear resin pounded; put in a tin can on a stove, and let it boil for half an hour. When the resin is all dissolved, let it cool, and it is ready for use.

White Hard Spirit Varnish

1. Gum sandarach, 1 lb.; clear turpentine, 6 oz.; rectified spirit (65 over proof), 3 pints; dissolve. 2. Mastic, in tears, 2 oz.; sandarach, 8 oz.; gum elemi, 1 oz., Ohio turpentine, 4 oz.; rectified spirit (65 over proof), 1 quart. Used on metals; polishes well. 3. Gum mastic, 4 oz.; gum juniper, 1/2 lb.; turpentine, 1 oz.; spirits of wine, 4 pints; mix together.

Mastic Varnish

1 pint spirits of turpentine, and 10 oz. of the clearest gum mastic. Set it in a sand bath till it is all dissolved, then strain it through a fine sieve, and it is ready for use; if too thick; thin with spirits of turpentine.

Soft Brilliant Varnish

Sanda-nch, 6 oz.; elenii (genuine), 4 oz.; anime, 1 oz.; camphor, 1/2 oz.; rectified spirit, 1 quart; as before.

Sealing - Wax Varnish

Dissolve sealing-wax in spirits of wine, and apply the solution (well shaken up) with a soft brush; the spirits of wine will evaporate, leaviug an even coating of sealing wax.

Etching Varnishes

White wax, 2 oz.; black and Burgundy pitch, of each 1/2 oz.; melt together; add by degrees powdered asphaltum 2 oz., and boil till a drop taken out on a plate will break when cold, by being bent double two or three times between the fingers; it must then be poured into warm water and made into small balls for use.

Hard

Linseed oil and mastic, of each 4 oz.; melt together.

Soft

Soft linseed oil, 4 oz.; gum benzoin and white wax, of each 1/2 oz.; boil to two-thirds.

Linseed-Oil Varnish

Boil linseed oil, 60 parts, with litharge, 2 parts, and white vitriol, 1 part, each finely powdered, until all water is evaporated. Then set by. Or, rub up borate of manganese, 4 parts, with some of the oil, then add linseed oil, 3000 parts, and heat to boiling.

Bookbinders' Varnish

1. 6 oz. mastic, in drops; 3 oz. coarsely-pounded glass, separated from the dust by a sieve; 32 oz. spirits of wine of 40°. Place the ingredients in a sand bath over a fire, and let them boil, stirring them well. When thoroughly mixed introduce 3 oz. spirits of turpentine, boil for half an hour, remove from the fire, cool and strain through cotton cloth. 2. 3 pints of spirits of wine of 40°; 8 oz. sanda-rach; '2 oz. mastic, in drops; 8 oz. shellac, and 2 oz. Venice turpentine. Prepare as for No. 1. Apply lightly on the book with a piece of cotton wool, a small sponge or a brush.