MARCH, 1910.] 



221 



Timbers, 



is sometimes used, but the oil reliable 

 corn starch has proven satisfactory. 



Just a few words as to those materials 

 that form the filler. Japan or Japan 

 drier is a brownish liquid having some- 

 what the nature of varnish, called a 

 drier on account of its property in 

 paints, etc., is made by cooking gum 

 shellac with linseed oil ; the mixture is 

 cooked down to a very thick fluid and 

 then thinned with turpentine. Shellac 

 is the shell torm of lac, a resinous gum 

 produced on several kinds of trees by a 

 species of scale insect in the East Indies. 



Boiled linseed oil, as most of us know, 

 is a product of the flax seed obtained by 

 placing the crushed seeds under great 

 pressure, and the extracted oil then 

 boiled with litharge (sugar of lead) 

 which leaves a liquid varying from light 

 umber* to dark yellow in colour, with the 

 property of drying quickly when spread 

 in a thin layer. The turpentine, of 

 course, is the liquid obtained from the 

 rosin of several species of pine trees. 



Fillers are usually applied with a 

 brush, sponge or piece ot cloth. A few 

 minutes after the application the work 

 should be rubbed vigorously with 

 another cloth, a piece of canvas, first 

 crosswise and then lengthwise. It 

 is not uncommon to add a little chrome 

 yellow, yellow ochre, Venetian red or 

 burnt umber or some other colour to the 

 filler, which often improves the appear- 

 ance of the wood. In finishing carriages, 

 pianos and small articles, it is not 

 uncommon for the workman to use 

 polish, rubbing into the fresh application 

 finely powdered pumice-stone, just a 

 little at a time. The object of this is 

 two-fold, for leveling down and givinig 

 an even undersurface and to work a 

 durable mineral material into the pores 



The staining of woods may be con- 

 sidered for several purposes. 



First, to preserve the wood ; second, 

 to station common woods to imitate 

 superior classes, as the staining of 

 commn oak to give it the appearance of 

 antique oak or as golden oak ; third, 

 staining to add uniformity or colour 

 throughout a piece of work. Wood of 

 the finest quality, no matter how care- 

 fully selected, will be given some staining 

 medium when it parses through the 

 French polisher's hands, which he claims 

 is done to bring out the beauty of 

 the grain. 



Staining has become very popular for 

 house furnishings of late years on 

 account of its cheapness and the fact 

 that it does not destroy the natural 

 beauty of the wood. It is less expensive 



to keep woodwork fresh and clean, 

 when stained, than it would be to apply 

 successive coats of paint and varnish. 



Stain may be applied as an opaque 

 coating on roofs .and the exterior walls 

 of houses, and again it may be applied 

 as a thin wash, giving colour to some 

 depth, but leaving visible the character 

 of the wood. 



Some years ago, wood finishers used a 

 great many vegetable dyes for colouring 

 wood, and when a dry pigment was 

 applied water was usually the vehicle 

 used to carry it into the wood, but 

 turpentine, alcohol or an oil has been 

 found to be better, as it does not raise 

 the graiu of the wood. If the liquid 

 used as a vehicle to carry the colour 

 pigment into the work is a good wood 

 preserative, the stain will have double 

 value, i.e., to give colour and preserve. 

 Boiled oil is highly recommended as 

 such a liquid. A very good stain is 

 composed of two parts of turpentine, one 

 part of boiled linseed oil and a little 

 Japan drier, these added to the colour 

 pigment that is selected, Venetian red, 

 burnt sienna, vandyke brown or crome 

 green or some other colour. In such a 

 stain the oil gums the pigment, the tur- 

 pentine keeps it thin until deposited in 

 the proper place and then evaporates, 

 and the drier helps to set the mixture. 



I am told that many stains sold ready 

 for use contain carbolinium, kerosene 

 and various other oils that act as wood 

 preservatives ; denatured alcohol is also 

 much used of late. Most of these are 

 cheap and reliable. One gallon of liquid 

 stain will cover about a hundred square 

 feet, and after buying a few small sample 

 bottles and finding a suitable one, you 

 can usually rely upon getting a further 

 supply to match. It is a good plan, and 

 often saves much disappointment, if, 

 before staining, a few small pieces of 

 wood are experimented with till the 

 required result is obtained. 



£ ' Aniline" dyes may be usefully em- 

 ployed on wood for self -colours only — 

 as distinct from various imitations of 

 woods. Their introduction a few years 

 ago, I am told, produced a disastrous 

 effect on the old vegetable dye market, 

 nevertheless many of the vegetable 

 stains are exceedingly useful. 



Logwood stain, made from boiling 

 the chips of the logwood tree (Haema- 

 toxylon) is still a much used vegetable 

 stain. This product is imported from 

 Central America and the West Indies. 

 We have a few specimens of these trees 

 about Honolulu. It does well in most 

 warm regions of the earth, 



