STAINING BAREELS, 423 



with a little vitriolic acid to cause the iron to receive the effect 

 of the gas more readily; it is then washed off" and the barrels 

 rubbed dry. The forge tire must then be lighted, and blown 

 up with coal possessing as much hydrogen gas and as little sul- 

 phur as possible. When the coals are burnt till they give out 

 a clear white flame with no black smoke around it, pass the 

 barrels gradually through that flame backward and forward, 

 until the whole are covered with a black sooty covering. Place 

 them in as damp and cool a cellar as you cart procure; allow 

 them to stand for eighteen hours, and, at that period, if the place 

 is sufficiently damp, you will lind the iron parts covered with a 

 red rust, while the particles of steel still retain the original sooty 

 coat. Scratch them off* with a steel brush, the same as by any 

 other method of staining; take a piece of linen cloth, and wash 

 or polish them with water, and a little washed emery, and you 

 will find the steel its original bright color, and the iron a shade 

 darker, with the outlines of both distinctly preserved. Rub them 

 dry, and again pass them through the flame precisely as before ; 

 but, above all things, be careful not to allow them to remain in 

 the flame till they become hot enough to melt the solder. When 

 you have once passed them through, do not be in a hurry to 

 pass them again, but in both be guided by moderation ; neither 

 allow them, after the first time, to stand to rust more than twelve 

 hours each time; polish them as before, and you will find them 

 a shade darker every smoking. 



" Thus persevere until they become as dark as you wish to 

 have them. The utmost you can obtain is a fine purple-black 

 color on the iron ; the steel inclined to a copper color ; but if 

 you pay proper attention to the polishing, it will not change 

 much from its original color. Be careful not to use emery of a 

 coarser nature than what is termed washing emerj', viz: the 

 very finest. If you cannot obtain it by buying, you may wash 

 it yourself. Procure what is termed flower-emery, mix it with 

 a bowl of water, and stir it well around ; let it settle a minute, 

 then pour off' the water, and the fine will go with it, the coarse 

 having settled at the bottom. Let it stand until it also falls to 

 the bottom; a short time after pour off' the water, and the sedi- 

 ment is what you want. 



