The series of articles which is here republished in book form was printed in the twelve issues of The Painters Magazine for 1905. They were written by a practical mechanic, who has had more than twenty years' experience in all classes of hardwood finishing and who has invented a number of valuable materials and processes. Two articles on kindred subjects, Piano Finishing and Best Methods of Using Water Stains, which also appeared in The Painters Magazine, have been added to make the work more complete. The publishers trust that this book may prove an acceptable addition to the library of the practical painter, the architect and every one interested in architectural hardwood finishing.

We now come to staining the wood and the materials used for that purpose. Staining is so variable in itself and it is necessary besides to satisfy the tastes of your customer and the sometimes impossible ideas of the architects, that it requires a most skillful and experienced mechanic to make not only a sightly but also a tasteful and harmonious job. Thorough knowledge of both work and material is required from the finisher.

Stains are divided into numerous varieties, as follows: Water, spirit or alcohol, acid and alkali, oil and varnish, and these again into pigment, lake, aniline and vegetable stains. There are also methods of staining or darkening by steaming, fuming, etc., including the darkening of the wood caused by fireproofing the wood, which is frequently done, and which requires a special treatment which will be described later on.

Water stains are commonly mixtures of lakes or vegetable matters and anilines.

Lakes, or vegetable stains, are decoctions of natural colored woods, such as logwood, Brazil wood, sandal wood, Sapan wood, Lima wood, canewood, Campeachy wood, etc., roots, leaves, fruits, skins, bark and numerous other vegetable matter are also used in their manufacture. Water stains are most lasting, if made from vegetable matter. They also give the most natural looking colors, and they should be applied as warm as possibly can be done, but never at a temperature lower than lOO deg. Fahrenheit.

Water stains, mixed with anilines, are very often used on account of their cheapness and quick preparation, but they are not as lasting in color. They fade quickly, especially if exposed to the sunlight and show streaky and botchy if not properly applied.

Spirit or alcohol stains are made the same way as water stains, and are used to obtain a more penetrative stain, also a greater density of color and to allow a quicker job, as alcohol evaporates more quickly, and when shellacking is resorted to afterward they allow an almost immediate application of the same. Otherwise a water stain is just as effective.

To prevent the raising of the fiber of the wood in applying either the water or alcohol stain, a good many wood finishers add a small portion of glycerin or castor oil, but the utmost precaution in using those articles is advised, because a too liberal use of the same will prove disastrous to the after finish, as both of them are of an oily, non-drying nature, causing the shellac or varnish to scale or chip off; preventing also the penetration of the stain into the wood and having a good many other disadvantages.

White pine, whitewood, cypress and a few other very spongy woods are debarred from water or alcohol staining, except when a so-called solid color is required, because the application of stain on those woods cannot be evenly done, as their soft and spongy nature will absorb the stain immediately, and the touching of the same place a second time will show a decided mark or lap. A dipping process would be about the only way to partially overcome those disadvantages.

The application of both water and alcohol stain should be done with a brush, the bristles of which are set in cement, a sponge or swab, but no doubt the brush is the proper tool. All stain which is not at once absorbed by the wood should be wiped off with a soft rag. For dipping, a vat or barrel should be used or any other vessel which does not contain any metal parts whatever, but which is entirely made from wood.

All stained wood should be given the proper time to dry, and should receive two coats of stain, the second coat should be applied after the first is properly dried out, or if a quicker and cheaper job is required a coat of shellac or copal varnish should be given before sandpapering, excepting only where the wood is to be filled with wood filler before finishing up. The reason for applying a second coat is simply that after sandpapering, after the first coat, small light dots will appear wherever the stain has not penetrated deep enough into the raised fibers.


Mordants.

By mordants we understand a chemical to fix or set a color to prevent it from changing. For the finisher, alum and ferro-suiphide, known as green copperas, are sufficient. They are used by dissolving a quantity, about one-half pound to a gallon of warm water, and appl3ang a coat over the work before sandpapering or varnishing.


Acid and Alkali Stains.

Staining with acid or alkali stains is done practically the same way as has been described for water and alcohol stains, with the exception that these stains generally do not require a second application. Care must be used in handling these stains, as most of them are very dangerous poisons. The most commonly used materials for these stains are chromate and bichromate of potassium, ferro-sulphide or green copperas, picric and sulphuric acid, iodine, alum, vinegar, soda, caustic soda, potash or pearl ash, ammonia, Itme, etc.

Chromate and bichromate of potassium are generally used to produce a so-called golden oak effect on oak, or an antique mahogany effect on mahogany. Picric acid will always give a yellow effect and is used to lighten up, in fact to entirely change the color, of walnut. Copperas is used to set and deepen the obtained colors, and alum and vinegar to neutralize or kill the after effects of acid and alkali stains. Iodine produces a very beautiful brown stain, but is rather too expensive to be used commonly. Caustic soda and kindred materials produce dark stains, but on account of their after effects are not often used. Lime will produce a similar effect, but not so deep a color as soda or potash, and is used by slaking the same as in a sufficient quantity of water to make lime milk, which is brushed over the surface to be stained, and allowed to remain to dry, after which it is brushed off, washed clean and the surface is then coated with vinegar.

Ammonia is used the same as all other alkali stains, by reducing it with water to the required strength, and is applied with a grass or fiber brush, as it will destroy any hair or bristle brush.

Acid and alkali staining is done only on wood containing tannic acid in a larger or smaller percentage, as those stains will hardly produce any coloring on any dry, pitchy, or sappy wood.

Fuming of wood is a procedure which is not often resorted to for various reasons, but which has a decided advantage over all other methods, because it does not raise the fiber of the wood, leaves it in its original condition, but produces only color which, of course, can be secured in different shadings from light to dark. It is the only method to produce a so-called Flemish oak effect, and should be done in all cases where a wax finish is required, leaving the wood in its normal state. As a rule, oak is the only wood subjected to fuming, but other woods can be done the same way. Fuming is done in a simple way, as follows: Take an air-tight box or room, place several flat porcelain or glass dishes on the floor containing 26 deg. ammonia. After placing the wood to be stained on brackets, close the room or box up tight, and allow the wood to remain twelve hours or more until such a time as the desired effect is obtained, after which give it a good airing to allow the ammonia gases which remain in the wood to evaporate before finishing up. The result is a perfect, even staining, without the need of sandpapering.


Oil and Varnish Stains.

Oil stains are not often used by the finisher, as they do not always give the proper result. For very soft and spongy woods, as white pine, white wood, cypress, etc., they are essential, but on very hard woods they refuse to penetrate deep enough into the wood and with very few exceptions all oil stains will darken and quite often they will cause the varnish to shrink if no shellac is used before varnishing. Furthermore, a good many oil stains, especially when made with ordinary colors, will mar and cloud the grain of the wood, on account of their opacity. The materials used for oil stains are linseed oil, japan, benzine, turpentine, asphaltum. Van Dyke brown and all lake and oil colors. The finer the color the more brilliant will be the effect.