Dyeing wood is mostly applied for the purpose of veneers, while staining is more generally had recourse to to give the desired color to the article after it has been manufactured. In the one case, the color should penetrate throughout, while in the latter the surface is all that is essential.

In dyeing, pear-tree, holly and beech, take the best black; but for most colors, holly is preferable. It is also best to have wood as young and as newly cut as possible. After the veneers are cut, they should be allowed to lie in a trough of water for four or five days before they are put into the copper; as the water, acting as a purgative to the wood, brings out an abundance of slimy matter, which must be removed, or the wood will never be a good color. After this purificatory process, they should be dried in the open air for at least twelve hours. They are then ready for the copper. By these simple means the color will strike much quicker, and be of a brighter hue. It would also add to the improvement of the colors, if, after the veneers have boiled a few hours, they are taken out, dried in the air, and again immersed in the coloring copper. Always dry veneers in the open air, for fire invariably injures the colors.

Fine Black Dye

Put 6 lbs. of chip logwood into the copper, with as many veneers as it will conveniently hold, without pressing too tight; fill it with water, and let it boil slowly for about three hours: then add half a pound of powdered verdigris, half a pound of copperas, and 4 ounces of bruised nut-galls; fill the copper up with vinegar as the water evaporates; let it boil gently two hours each day till the wood is dyed through.

Another,-Procure some liquor from a tanner's pit, or make a strong decoction of oak bark, and to every gallon of the liquor add a quarter of a pound of green copperas, and mix them well together; put the liquor into the copper, and make it quite hot, but not boil; immerse the veneers in it, and let them remain for an hour; take them out, and expose them to the air till it has penetrated its substance; then add some logwood to the solution, place the veneers again in it, and let it simmer for two or three hours; let the whole cool gradually, dry the veneers in the shade, and they will be a very fine black.

Fine Blue Dye

Into a clean glass bottle put 1 lb. of oil of vitriol, and 4 ozs. of the best indigo pounded in a mortar (take care to set the bottle in a basin or earthen glazed pan, as it will ferment); then put the veneers into a copper or stone trough; fill it rather more than one-third with water, and add as much of the vitriol and indigo (stirring it about) as will make a fine blue, which may be known by trying it with a piece of white paper or wood. Let the veneers remain till the dye has struck through.

The color will be much improved if the solution of indigo in vitriol be kept a few weeks before using it. The color will strike better if the veneers are boiled in plain water till completely soaked through, and then allowed for a few hours to dry partially, previous to being immersed in the dye.