Colorless Varnish Or Lacquer

Dissolve 4 ozs. gum sandarac and 1 oz. Venice turpentine in 1 pint of alcohol. A good spirit varnish and lacquer for general use.

Bronze And Metal Lacquer

Dissolve 1 oz. of shellac in 8 ozs. of alcohol, and add 1-4 oz. gum camphor.

Transparent Brilliant Varnish

Dissolve 10 parts of mastic, 5 parts of camphor, 5 parts sand-rac and 5 parts of kauri gum in 100 parts of alcohol. This is a durable spirit varnish.

Waterproof Varnish

White shellac gum, 30 parts; borax, 8 parts; carbonate of soda, 2 parts; glycerine, 2 parts; water, 320 parts.

Dissolve the borax and carbonate of soda in half the water warmed, and add the shellac ground. Heat, agitate and filter. When cool, add the glycerine and the balance of the water. Use the clear varnish, free from sediment.

Waterproof Paper Varnish

Dissolve with little heat, 1 part of gutta percha in 40 parts of benzine. Gun cotton dissolved in amyl acetate, so-called collodion varnish, is also used for the same purpose.

To lighten shellac varnish which has become dark with age, add 1-4 oz. of oxalic acid to each gallon of shellac to be treated. Shellac varnishes should never be kept in metallic vessels any length of time.

Collodion Varnish

Collodion Varnish used as a bronzing liquid, and for other purposes can be made as follows:

Gun cotton, (dry), 1 1-2 pounds, Acetone, 10 pounds.

Dissolve the gun cotton in the acetone, then add:

Acetate of amyl, 20 lbs., Benzine, 20 lbs. Allow to settle out and pour off the clear solution or filter, if desired.

No. 2

Amyl acetate 1 gallon, Benzol, 1 gallon, Gun cotton, 10 ozs.

These varnishes can be made more flexible by the addition of 4 ozs. of castor oil to each gallon of varnish.

Frequently a varnish is required which, when dry, will present a flat or dead surface, instead of the usual gloss, or which will present the appearance of having been rubbed without the labor and expense of that operation. Various "flat varnishes" are on the market. They owe this quality to the fact that they contain wax and are very thin in body.

Such a varnish is produced by heating together at a temperature just sufficient to melt the wax, 2 ozs. of bees' wax, paraffine or ceresin wax to each quart of any rubbing varnish and thinning with 1-2 pint of turpentine. Hard oil finish may be treated in the same way. Apply as a final coating to the surface previously varnished in the ordinary way. The amount of wax may be varied to suit circumstances.

Dead surface varnishes are also prepared by compounding mixtures of resin solutions with liquids in which they are insoluble. A solution of gum sandrac in ether, when mixed with 1-4 of benzole, gives a surface resembling ground glass, as does damar dissolved in benzole when ether is mixed with it.

Dead Finishing Varnish

Dissolve 10 parts of gum sandarac in 34 parts of ether; when dissolved, add 34 parts of benzole.