# Cyclopedia of Painting/Staining

STAINING.
The practice of staining light and inexpensive woods to the colors of more rich and costly varieties is a branch of graining, and the advantage of being able to get a permanent and decorative finish upon new wood without preparatory painting is apparent to all.
Under the above heading are two distinct treatments, in one, the color effect alone is sought after, and in the other, the figure and characteristics of the wood are also imitated. Both of these methods have their proper sphere and limitations. The description and quality of the wood stained is a most important factor of its successful treatment. For instance, white wood may be stained with the colors of light oak or maple, and a rich and satisfying effect obtained. Apply, however, the same transparent glaze to sappy and knotty deal, or to light pine with a strongly marked grain, and at once it is obvious that color and grain do not agree. Ordinary pitchpine may be improved greatly by staining to the effect of walnut, but if afterwards the figure of ordinary knotted or Italian walnut were grained upon it, then an unnatural attempt at combination would be apparent. The very common and popular red staining of cheap furniture, presumably in imitation of mahogany, strikes in the mind at once a note of discord. Mahogany is an expensive wood, and therefore imitations of its color on common stuff are rather objectionable. Then, again, the color of even the cheapest mahogany cannot be obtained by a bare coating of stain, so that it is not satisfactory from either point, consistency or appearance. Mahogany, walnut, maple, and other choice woods, particularly those which are imitated best in ​distemper color, can, however, be beautifully grained upon prepared plain wood, with results almost equal to work done upon painted grounds. As in most of these dark varieties it is necessary to first stain the wood a general color, the pigments and fluids most serviceable for plain staining purposes may be considered from the painter's and grainer's point of view, not from the polisher's.
Preparation for plain staining is a matter of circumstance, depending upon the nature of the wood to be stained and of that to be imitated. If the wood is of the poorest quality, soft and sappy, coat it with patent glue size of fair strength. All common staining requires to be sized to enable the varnish to bear out. It is, however, advisable that, for floors and all similar surfaces exposed to hard wear, the stain should be applied first; otherwise, instead of sinking into the wood, the color is merely lying on the surface, and is more easily worn away. In oil staining ordinary house woodwork and cheap panellings, apply the size before the stain. When the former is dry, it will be found that the oil stain, which now is graining color, also can be spread much better and more regularly, and that those sappy places which would otherwise have absorbed much stain are scarcely noticeable. In sizing white or stained wood, poor work often results from the quirks and mitres of mouldings receiving too much of the froth of the warm size. This can be easily avoided by adding one teaspoonful of turpentine to every pint of size. For preparing a higher class of woodwork whose color it is chiefly the desire to alter, there are several better methods available. For staining a good specimen of pitchpine to a walnut shade, first coat with either japanners' gold size, diluted with one-third of turps, or with raw linseed oil, a little turps, and about one-tenth part of good liquid driers. The dilute gold size is the most costly and quickest, as it may be stained upon in a few hours, but for permanence and cheapness the drying oil is the best. Both are brushed ​on in the same manner as varnish is applied, only rather more sparingly. When plain staining or varnishing white wood, it is often necessary to avoid all possible after-discoloration arising from the oil darkening with age, and, since it is prepared from the same source, the gold size is liable to the same defect. In such a case, then, clear size or patent size should be substituted, and the whitest copal oil varnish used for the finish. One drawback common to sizing is the tendency of the fluid to raise the surface grain of the wood, this being particularly the case when the size is used hot.
Mixing oil stains, namely, stains prepared with a drying oil and painter's pigments, is a simple matter. Take 3 parts oil to 1 part of turpentine, add the liquid, or even paste, driers as before mentioned, and then the simple addition of the pigment or stainer completes the mixture. As advised for the preparatory coating, japan gold size and turps may be used for the liquid, or, better still, copal varnish may be stained and diluted with turps. The advantage of using the two last mentioned is their quickness of hardening; whilst the cheaper oil mixtures are far better for spreading evenly and regularly over large surfaces. Herewith are a few particulars of color stains, which, with the foregoing, should suffice for all ordinary purposes:
Light oak oil stain may be made from raw sienna, with the addition of a little raw Turkey umber.
Medium oak oil stain may be made from raw sienna and burnt Turkey umber.
Dark oak oil stain is best made from burnt Turkey umber alone; the yellow cast of the copal varnish, which should be used for finishing this class of work, is here sufficient to give the required trace of yellowness.
Antique oak stain is a mixture of ivory black, finely ground, with a very little burnt sienna. Vandyke brown alone makes a deep rich stain, its color, when ground in oil, being not so red as when used in distemper. This ​pigment, being a notably bad drier, requires fully double the usual quantity of terebine added to the oil fluid.
Walnut oil stain for varnishing upon, without any after glazing and figuring, may be colored with burnt Turkey umber and a little ivory black. For a ground color stain, that is, one on which walnut figure is to be grained, raw umber is the better pigment, since its subdued tone contrasts more naturally with the after figure work.
Pitchpine oil stains for use on light wood are formed with raw sienna, with the addition of a little burnt sienna; a little burnt umber can be added if the siennas alone are too red. In most instances the pine is cheaply prepared, and varnished with copal. The presence of so much resin and matter of a discoloring nature in pitchpine soon causes a very appreciable darkening of the original color, hence, when it is desirous to keep the wood permanently light, the copal varnish used should be of the whitest make, and the size be either strong parchment, or the special light japanners'. All holes should be carefully stopped with common putty of two shades, colored to match both the ground and grain of the wood, after the sizing. Allow it to harden for a day or so before varnishing. When the real pine is desired to be stained much darker, besides the umbers, Vandyke brown, and black pigments, use may be made of diluted washes of either black japan or Brunswick black. Use only those of a thoroughly good quality, and then with pure turpentine. When staining pine dark, it is preferable to use the stain before sizing, if the grain is desired to be very prominent, a full coat should be spread, and then shortly afterwards all the stain lying on the surface may be rubbed off with old cloth or rag free from fluffiness.
Mahogany oil stain can scarcely be obtained of a good color by ordinary brush staining. Burnt sienna alone is somewhat garish, and the only perfect substitute for the victoria lake used in distemper graining is madder lake, which is too expensive for ordinary use. Whenever cheap ​mahogany stain is required, it should be made to match ordinary baywood as nearly as possible. For furniture and better-class work, a good mahogany effect may be obtained by oil staining with burnt sienna and Vandyke, and, when dry, over-glazing with ordinary victoria or mahogany lake in water. If the wood is at all sappy and strong in markings of a nature contrary to mahogany, it must first be sized, stopped, and then oil-stained.
Cheap water stains may be made easily from any of the above pigments, which, whether used in oil or water mixtures, should always be purchased ready ground. Nearly all these colors have a natural binding quality with water alone, but the addition of a little beer will easily bind ivory or vegetable black. Water stains must always be applied directly upon the wood, and therefore there is a double disadvantage in using them. The stain itself has no filling power, so that a second coat of either size or varnish is necessary, and water stain does not spread so well with the brush as oil. Preferably, water stain is applied with a piece of sponge, and superfluous stain should be wiped off the surface.
Maple and satinwood imitations, when grained on white wood, are executed with the same water pigments and process as upon paint. The wood for these two varieties must be free from grain or knot, and must first be once sized and varnished with the whitest materials. This gives a non-absorbent ground for working the distemper stains upon. When the figure is completed another good coat of varnish gives a capital surface.
Walnut, mahogany, and similar dark woods must have the grounds sized, and then colored with oil stain to the shade nearest to the usual grounding paint. The size and stain together will suffice for working upon, but two coats of varnish are required for dark imitations of this kind. With walnut and mahogany the first coating is applied ​sparingly before the glazing, and a final flowing coat afterwards.
Flat varnishing or dull polishing may be used to much advantage in finishing any kind of copal-varnished or oil-stained surface. A simple preparation of the former can be made from a piece of genuine beeswax the size of a walnut dissolved, and thoroughly mixed by heat, in ½ pint of pure turpentine, and 1 ounce of copal varnish added thereto. Dull polishing may be done by carefully dulling either varnish or polish with finely ground pumice-stone and felt, or a piece of soft cloth, used with water, and then rubbing with putty-powder and oil to obtain a soft gloss.
Matching. The purpose of this process, is, as its name implies, to make the different pieces of wood of which any piece of furniture is made up, match or correspond, so that they may be of a uniform color. It will therefore be understood that some parts may require lightening, and others darkening. For the first, make a strong solution of oxalic acid in hot water, and add a few drops of spirits of nitre, and wash this carefully over the parts which are to be lightened, when quite dry, the surface should have two or three coats of white polish. Give the parts to be lightened a wash of a clear white stain, and another of white varnish, give the intermediate parts a coat of common varnish, and oil the untouched white parts, bring all up to an equal tint by a darkening stain, if necessary.
Darkening. The darkeners generally used are logwood, lime, brown, soft-soap, dyed oil, and various chemicals, such as aquafortis, sulphate of iron and nitrate of silver. An intelligent manipulation, however, of the stains themselves will render special darkeners unnecessary, for in most cases the required depth of color can be obtained by repeating the stain, or by darkening it for a second wash, and a small quantity of coloring matter may also be mixed up with the varnish.
When it is desired to deepen the natural color of woods, ​or to restore such as may have become discolored by time or other circumstances, the process called Improving is adopted, and this differs in no essential particular from staining, excepting that its object is merely to improve the color and bring out the natural grain of the wood itself, instead of attempting to make it represent another from which its veining may entirely differ. Barberry root boiled in water, Gamboge or Turmeric dissolved in spirit, give good yellow stains adapted for the purpose. A good red oil for rubbing discolored mahogany or rosewood, or for deeping the color of bay-wood, may be made in the following manner: Tie up some Alkanet-root in a muslin bag, and let it soak over night in some sweet oil. The oil which is then pressed from the bag will impart a beautiful red color to all the rest. The grain of the wood is well brought out by its being rubbed with ammonia before the oil is applied. Rectified naphtha, colored with Camwood dust, is another good red tint. Discolored ebony may be improved by washing over it a strong decoction of gallnuts in which a quantity of steel filings has been immersed, this liquid should be allowed to stand a day, and should then be carefully strained, and, as before stated, a little indigo should be added to the French polish. Raw oil mixed with a small quantity of turpentine serves to improve most woods when well rubbed into them, and this may be greatly enhanced in value by grinding up with it a small quantity of the color which it is desired to impart to the wood, or by mixing with it oil previously colored in the manner already described.
The well-known pigment called Gamboge is a gummy and slightly resinous exudation from the young wood of the Gamboge-tree. Though not a dye-stuff. Gamboge is much used in coloring, forming a valuable water-color, and is also used in coloring lacquer for varnish for brass-work. There is some reason to believe that Gamboge is made from more than one species. There are three kinds of Gamboge: ​Pipe Gamboge, which is the best, it comes from Siam in rolls one inch and a half in diameter and about twelve inches long, through which there is a hole about half an inch in diameter. Lump Gamboge, in masses weighing about one or two pounds, and having the appearance of a hardened yellow paste. Gamboge in tears or small drops.
Turmeric is the rhizone, or root-stalk, of a plant called the Curcuma longa. There are several varieties, of which the China and Bengal are considered the best. The colors produced by Turmeric are various and very beautiful shades of yellow. It is not as a dye-stuff considered permanent, but in the stains, when oiled or varnished, this failing is materially remedied.
Alkanet-root. The plant from which this root is obtained is of a diffuse character, rarely attaining a height of a foot. It is much cultivated in the south of France, and some portions of Germany. Its chief use is in giving a fine crimson color to perfumery and woods, for which purposes it is soaked in oil in the manner above described.
Cam-wood. This tree is a native of Sierra Leone, and has shining leaves and white flowers. It is of considerable size, often attaining the height of fifty feet. The stem is the part used, it is cut into logs about four feet in length, and these, after the removal of the bark and outer wood, are split and trimmed square for exportation, they are of a deep red color, and yield a brilliant red dye, which is rendered much deeper by sulphate of iron.