JONES, ON JAPANNING AND VARNISHING. 5 



officers under government, and even of the U. S. President him- 

 self, is a hfe of labor. But can these " honorable men" make a 

 throstle or build a ship, or raise a spire to heaven ? or exercise all, 

 or any of the arts which add so much to the comfort and grandeur 

 of the world ? These the mechanic can do ; and if he duly re- 

 flects on the importance of his labors, he can scarcely repine at 

 his lot. \_Berkshire American, 



JONES, ON JAPANNING AND VARNISHING- No. I. 



We copy the following article from ihc Franklin Journal ; a 

 valuable periodical work, published in Philadelphia, by Dr. 

 T. P. Jones, under the patronage of the Franklin Institute of the 

 State of Pennsylvania. The editor has, by collecting what is 

 valuable on the subject from " the mass of rubbish," with which 

 it was encumbered, rendered an important service to the me- 

 chanic. We publish it the more readily as a gentleman of this 

 town informed us that he has tested the utility of the rules laid 

 down, by a practical use of them. 



The art of making, and of using, the different species of var- 

 nish, is one of high importance, not only on account of the exqui- 

 site beauty of an infinite number of articles upon which the japan- 

 ner has exercised his skill, but also as it contributes to the dura- 

 bility of a variety of materials used in domestic economy, and in 

 the arts, and enables us to employ others, which without its aid, 

 would be altogether unfit for the uses to which they are now ap- 

 propriated. 



The recipes and processes genera'ly given in works written 

 upon this subject, are extremely defective. The common prac- 

 tice has been, to copy from book to book, the false or imperfect 

 accounts which were at first published by persons who were with- 

 out practical knowledge, and who had in many instances obtained 

 them from those who were interested in keeping some material 

 part, secret. In general, when the recipes are good, the directions 

 are so brief, as to be altogether useless to those who are not 

 already practised in the art ; or at least, so incomplete, as to occa- 

 sion many failures in the attempt to put them into practice. In 

 the midst of the mass of rubbish which has been accumulated in 

 the " Thousand valuable Secrets,^^ " Gi//f?es," " Instruciers;^ and a 

 variety of other books, which have at various times issued from 

 the press, there is a portion of valuable matter, which ought to be 

 collected, and methodized. In many of the philosophical, and 

 other journals, both foreign and domestic, much is contained, which 

 from its isolated situation is of little general utility, being rarely 

 accessible to the practical man. From these sources, it is infer:d- 

 ed to obtain whatever is worth preservation, and to present it in a 

 form as clear, distinct and practical, as possible. Precise dircc- 



