Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/345

 FURNITURE lOR COTTAGE DWELLINGS. 3^1 with red ochre mixed with thin ghie and water, quite hot ; when dry, rub the chair well with woollen cloths, till it assumes a good colour, and afterwards varnish and pohsh it. Chairs of this sort are made in great numbers in Buckinghamshire, where there are extensive beech woods. The commoner sort are gcnerallj' nailed together, but the best arc screwed or mortised, as in figs. 654 and 657. The bottoms are made of cane, with the exception of fig. 654, which is covered with leather. These chairs arc generally painted and varnished ; but they are sometimes stained either black maho- gany colour, or a rosewood pink. We shall give the processes from Partington's Builder's Gidde. 641. For a deep Black, the wood is brushed over four or five times with a warm decoction of logwood, made by boiling one pound of logwood for an hour or more, and afterwards as often with decoction of galls, allowing it to dry thoroughly between the several ap- plicati(>ns of the liquor ■■ thus prepared, it receives a fine deep colour, from being washed over with a solution of vitriol, in the proportion of two ounces to a quart : in the room of which some use a solution of iron in vinegar, keeping the vinegar for this purpose upon a quantity of the filings of the metal, and pouring off a little as it is wanted. A pretty good black is also obtained, more expeditiously, by brushing over the wood, first with the logwood liquor, and afterwards with common ink. 642. A very fine Black may be produced by brushing the wood over several times with a solution of copper in aquafortis, and afterwards with the decoction of logwood (Hasma- toxylon campechiense), repeated till the colour be of sufficient force, and the greenness produced by the copper overcome. The blacks may be varnished as the other colours. 643. A light red-brown Mahogany colour may be given to wood by means of a de- coction of madder and fustic wood (the wood of Madura tinctoria), ground in water, in the proportion of half a pound of madder and a quarter of a pound of fustic wood, to a gallon ; or, instead of the fustic wood, an ounce of yellow berries (the berries of iJhamnus tinctorius) may be used. Brush over the wood with this solution, while boiUng hot, tiU the due cdour be obtained. Nearly the same effect may be produced by a tincture made by dissolving an ounce of dragon's blood in a pint of spirits of wine; and a similar tincture of turmeric root {^Curcuma longa,, made by putting an ounce of the powdered root to a pint of spirits of wine, and after it has stood some days straining off the mixture. 644. For a dark Mahogany, take the infusion of madder as above, and substitute for the fustic wood two ounces of logwood : and when the vi'ood has been brushed over several times, and is dry, wash it over with water in which pearl ashes have been dis- solved, in the proportion of a quarter of an ounce to a quart. The wood, in the better kind of work, should be afterwards varnished with three or four coats of seed-lac varnish ; but, for coarse work, resin and seed-lac varnish may be used, or the articles may be well rubbed over with drying oil. 645. IVood may be stained Yellow by the above tincture of turmeric root, or by a tinc- ture of yellow berries applied boiling hot ; the wood, when dry, being brushed ovw with weak alum water, used cold. 646. For Roseivood Pink, make an infusion of a pound of Brasil wood (Caesalpinta brasiU^nsis) in a gallon of water impregnated with pearl ashes, in the proportion of an ounce to a gallon of water. The infusion should be frequently stirred, and should stand two or three days. When wanted for use, two ounces more pearl ashes should be added, and the mixture strained, and made boiling hot. It should then be applied to the wood, which should be afterwards brushed over with alum water, made in the pro- portion of two ounces of alum to a quart of water.