of water until the decoction is a very dark red; then add an ounce of
salt of tartar. Give the work three coats boiling hot; then with a
graining tool or a feather fill in the dark markings with the black
stain. A stain of a very bright shade can be made with methylated
spirits half a gallon, camwood three-quarters of a pound, red-sanders
a quarter of a pound, extract of logwood half a pound, aquafortis one
ounce. When dissolved, it is ready for use. This makes a very bright
ground. It should be applied in three coats over the whole surface, and
when dry it is glass-papered down with fine paper to a smooth surface,
and is then ready for graining. The fibril veins are produced by passing
a graining tool with a slight vibratory motion, so as to effect the
natural-looking streaks, using the black stain. A coat of the bichromate
of potash solution referred to on page 4 will make wildly-figured
mahogany have the appearance of rosewood.


=Imitation Walnut.=--A mixture of two parts of brown umber and one part
of sulphuric acid, with spirits of wine or methylated spirits added
until it is sufficiently fluid, will serve for white wood. Showy
elm-wood, after being delicately darkened with the bichromate solution
No. 1, page 4, will pass for walnut; it is usually applied on the cheap
loo-table pillars, which are made of elm-wood. Equal portions of the
bichromate and carbonate solutions (see page 4), used upon American
pine, will have a very good effect.

Another method for imitating walnut is as follows: One part (by weight)
of walnut-shell extract is dissolved in six parts of soft-water, and
slowly heated to boiling until the solution is complete. The surface to
be stained is cleaned and dried, and the solution applied once or twice;
when half-dry, the whole is gone over again with one part of chromate of