VAUNTSH AND PAINT EXPERIMENTS. 39 



Steinway <(- Sons: None of the varnishes is as good as that regularly employed by 

 this firm. 



Vose & Sons Piano Co.: We attempted to make the panel tests, following out your 

 instructions, and are sorry to report that for all purposes the samples sent us were 

 entirely impracticable. Some of the panels, in fact nearly all of them, still remain 

 tacky after the considerable length of time since it was applied. It is entirely impossi- 

 ble to rub them. 



DISCUSSION AND SUMMARY OF THE VARNISHING EXPERIMENTS. 



COACH-FINISHING VARNISHES. 



All experimenters thinned one of the varnishes made with gum 

 spirits, three thinned all varnishes the same, and one thinned both 

 gum-spirits varnishes. The other varnishes were not thinned. 



The time that the varnishes remained tacky varied from 3 to 36 

 hours, and the results do not show that the wood turpentines behave 

 materially differently from the gum spirits in this respect. The 

 varnish thinned with the wood turpentine containing the most heavy 

 oil (No. 4) does not remain tacky materially longer than the others. 



The same statements apply to the time which is required for the 

 varnish to dry hard; some found that all dried in 8 to 12 hours, 

 others reported 12 hours, 24 hours, and 54 hours. Three experi- 

 menters reported the same drying for all the varnishes. 



Three reported a difference in gloss; one, that the varnish thinned 

 with the destructively distilled turpentine (No. 4) had the best gloss; 

 another, that the gum was superior to the wood turpentine, and the 

 third, that all the wood-turpentine-thinned and one gum-thinned 

 varnish showed tears. 



All observers detected the wood turpentine by the odor, and found 

 the varnishes thinned with them objectionable because of this. 



Only one observer raised any other objection to the varnishes; 

 this one found the wood turpentine varnishes light in body. 



Only one observer found any difficulty in working the varnishes; 

 in this case the gum turpentine and the destructively distilled wood 

 turpentine (No. 4) having the least residue were found objectionable. 



In rubbing, one observer found all unsatisfactory; two found all 

 satisfactory, and the others did not report specifically. 



As to behavior under the brush, the results do not lead to any con- 

 clusion, as different observers express contradictory opinions as to 

 the behavior of the same varnish. This is a working condition, 

 however, which probably has but little to do with the nature of the 

 varnish. Two observers find one of the gum -turpentine varnishes 

 rather heavy in body; one finds the wood-turpentine varnishes thin 

 and light in body; one finds that the varnish thinned with the 

 destructively distilled turpentine (No. 3) loses luster, that all of them 

 are silky in appearance, and that the one thinned with the destruc- 



