The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1890-02-08

the stick, the wood
must be quite half dry before it can be treat
ed. To bark stick, lay it in hot water for
an instant, then pull out and Immediately
rub the stock down with piece of course
canvas until perfectly clear OF bark. If too
tough, the knife must be used. When the
bark IS allowed to remain on the stick 1t
must be perfectly dry before an attempt is
made to turn it; this may be done to taste
with a sharp jack-knife. In this way knots
are pruned down and the knob or handle
worked into shape. This latter portion
should be made to fit the hand comfortably
and should be made to feel smooth to the
touch by being slightly worked over with
fine sandpaper. If any carving is to be done
now Is the time to do it. When carving
handle. choose, some design that will be
smooth to the hand. AS examples, try
mans head. One of the most extraordinary
collections of walking-sticks ever made was
formed by Scotchman named Robertson,
who was popularity supposed to be daft"
Ii was MS practlce to carve on his stitch the
head OF any friend or foe he met with, and
wooden heads, which proved the cause of
much wonderment to his visitors, for every
patch he entertained had their features
promptly reproduced in oak or hazel.
AS sutlble designs for stick heads there
may be instanced dogs heads, birds heads,
particularly broad-beaked ones, such as
goose and albatross, snakes heads, fishes,
and squirrel and beaver tails, To get good
results, proper carving-tools should be used,
cutting up instead OF down with the grain
but capital work can be done with an Ordi-
nary penknife, the secret of success consist
ing In never cutting away chip unless its
removal has been well thought over. Cary
ing stick-head is not like carving panels.
and fine work is out Of the question with
regard to them.
Stick which have been 'barked" should.
when thoroughly dry, be rubbed down with
very fine sandpaper. If any cracks, knot
holes, or other defects appear in the stick,
these should pc stopped up with a filling
parts Walking sticks can be stained any
color, for which purpose the ready prepared
stains procurable at the paint stores are very
usefnl, being handy aud clean. Dragons
blood. gum procurable at the same nlace
may however be used to stain a stick brown.
red, and yellow-Ochre for satinwood tint To
eboniza a stick, procure half pound of lor
wood chips and boil for little over half an
| hour in pint of water, and then coat the
stick with the w not aye s A nni, to dry and
| an ounce of green copperas in a quart of hot
| water. and coat the stick again with the 81.
| luton, when it should assume an Intense
| black. Dry for twelve hours away from
| heat, then give coat of boiled linseed iii
and allow several days to eat thoroughly dry.
when it is ready to receive coat of French
polish or varniSh.
For the purpose some French polish should
be procured at the paint store, or 1t mny
made as follows: Mix an ounce and
of shellac with a quarter of an ounce Of
mastc, and dissolve them slowly In half a
pint Of wood alcohol 1t is then ready for
use. The stick should be sized with weak
glue size before polishing: After polishing
| comes the vanishing, which, for light Sticks
should be white. hard, spirit varnisb, and for
dark sticks, brown hard spirit varnish. In
using spirit varnishes the work must be
done quickly, as drying as they do almost
Instantly, if the same part Is gone over twice
it will rub the half-dried varnish up, causing
an uneaven appearance. and, perhaps. spoii.
ing the stick. 1t is not always necessary to
polish stick previous to vanishing. and
other varnishes may be used beside the above
mentioned.
Strength Of the Breath.
The following experiment will show the
strength of the breath and prove of benefit
to the lungs by forcing air into every cell
Lay on the edge of a table long and mar.
row paper bag and place. some heavy
upon the closed end Blow into the bap