$6 Experiments on Staining Wood. 



or kfs degree of digeftion and boiling. T he wood of the 

 plane-tree was chofen for this purpofe, becaufe it can be eafi- 

 ly fawn and polifhed ; becaufe it has a white colour; is 

 neither too hard nor too foft; becaufe it neither contracts 

 nor warps ; has beautiful white fpots with veins that crofs 

 each other ; and becaufe artifts who make inlaid work have 

 long attempted to colour it by ftaining. The wood, when 

 ftained, can very eafily be freed from the dragon's blood ad- 

 hering to it, by means of reclined fpirit of wine. The fpi- 

 rit of turpentine makes the wood more compact, and renders 

 it more fufceptible of a fine polifh. 



II. Gamboge, diflblved in fpirit of turpentine, gave to the 

 whole furfaceof a fmall piece of wood a moft beautiful min- 

 ing golden yellow colour. The fibres and veins, on the other 

 hand, had aflumed a colour inclining a little to red. A 

 piece of the wood of the pear-tree afiumed a darker colour, 

 fomewhat approaching to green, and which in part was 

 nearly an olive colour. Different colours may therefore be 

 obtained by employing different kinds of wood. 



III. One part of dragon's blood, two parts of gamboge, 

 with fpirit of turpentine, gave to the wood of the plane-tree 

 or beech, according to the mixture of the colours and the na- 

 ture of the wood, a remarkable variation of dyes. A bit of 

 beech wood feemed always to aflume a blackifh yellow co- 

 lour ; and was thoroughly ftained, when moderate heat was 

 kept up for a fufticient length of time. 



IV. Diftilled verdigris (cryftallifed acetite of copper) could 

 not eafily be ufed in the above manner, as its colour is too 

 much changed by oil and fire, as is known to thofe who em- 

 ploy it as a pigment. The olive colour alfo does not pe- 

 netrate to the interior part of the wood, 



3. By Memis of Spirit of Wine. 



Exp. I. When dragon's blood and gamboge were merely 

 diflblved in fpirit of wine, the extract was not fufficiently 

 ftrong, and the dye was of no ufe. The procefs, however, 



fucceeds 



