When the colouring is dry, it should be rubbed down with a piece of worn fine glass-paper, and polished with beeswax rubbed on a very hard brush--a worn-out scrubbing-brush is as good as anything--or it can be well rubbed with Dutch rush. In polishing always rub the way of the grain. The cheap work seldom gets more than a coat of colour rubbed off with shavings.
=Cheap but Valuable Stain for the Sap of Black Walnut.=--Take 1 gallon of strong vinegar, 1 lb. dry burnt umber, 1/2 lb. fine rose-pink, 1/2 lb. dry burnt Vandyke brown. Put them into a jug and mix them well; let the mixture stand one day, and it will then be ready for use. Apply this stain to the sap with a piece of fine sponge; it will dry in half an hour. The whole piece is then ready for the filling process. When completed, the stained part cannot be detected even by those who have performed the work. This recipe is of value, as by it wood of poor quality and mostly of sap can be used with good effect.
=Polish for Removing Stains, etc., from Furniture (American).=--Take 1/2 pint alcohol, 1/4 oz. pulverised resin, 1/4 oz. gum shellac, 1/2 pint boiled linseed-oil. Shake the mixture well, and apply it with a sponge, brush, or cotton flannel, rubbing well after the application.
=Walnut Stain to be used on Pine and White-wood.=--Take 1 gallon of very thin sized shellac; add 1 lb. of dry burnt umber, 1 lb. of dry burnt sienna, and 1/4 lb. of lamp-black. Put these articles into a jug, and shake frequently until they are mixed. Apply one coat with a brush. When the work is dry, sand-paper down with fine paper, and apply one coat of shellac or cheap varnish. It will then be a good imitation of solid walnut, and will be adapted for the back-boards of mirror-frames, for the backside and inside of case-work, and for similar work.
=Rosewood Stain.=--Take 1 lb. of logwood chips, 1/2 lb. of red-sanders, 1/2 gallon of water. Boil over a fire until the full strength is obtained. Apply the mixture, while hot, to the wood with a brush. Use one or two coats to obtain a strong red colour. Then take 1 gallon of spirits of turpentine and 2 lb. of asphaltum. Dissolve in an iron kettle on a stove, stirring constantly. Apply with a brush over the red stain, to imitate rosewood. To make a perfect black, add a little lamp-black. The addition of a small quantity of varnish with the turpentine will improve it. This stain applied to birchwood gives as good an imitation of rosewood as on black walnut, the shade on the birch being a little brighter.