The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1896-10-09
TO STAIN FLOORS.
A. NIT of Housewife Lore of Service ~
This season.

This season.
The knowledge Of the use OF stains
and varnishes and how TO polish and
clean furniture is invaluable to an
economical housekeeper, who can
easily, with the help of an intelligent
maid, keep her house clean and bright
and freshen 1t up when need be. with
out calling in the aid of an expensive
workman. Formerly stains were con-
fined to the colors nearly resembling
natural woods, but of late all colors are
used-greens, blues, reds and yellow
which partake in no sense OF the ma
ture of the paint, but stains pure and
simple, showing the grain of the wood
The most fashionable stain at pres
ent for cottage furniture is green, not
sage green, but good old-fashioned
regular green, which when rubbed well
into the pores OF the wood and then
polished is really beautiful. The two
transparent colors, Prussian blue and
raw sienna, make, when mixed to-
gether, an excellent green, or II
brighter tint is desired, gamboge and
Prussian blue. A very little OF the
latter goes great way, as it is alto
gether the most powerful color known
and completely overcomes any other
pigment if mixed in equal proportions.
In staining, it should be borne in mind
that it is not paint, but stain, and that
a very little should be used, pound
being sufficient to stain a whole set
OF furniture.
/ To get good color the wood must be
light. Oak, yellow or white pine, ma
pie, any of these are suitable. and the
more grained the better, the MORE
/ effect of birds'-eye maple, the heavy
markings of oak and the picturesque
knot so often seen in yellow pine all
coming out particularly well through
the translucent color,
The best way to apply stain and
bring out the grain of the wood is to
put it on quite thick and rub it Off
with a linen or cotton rag, and It is
absolutely necessary that the wood
should be in its natural condition with
out paint or varnish. BY sending a
special order to the manufacturers it
is easy to get sets of furniture with
out either; but il il is an cid piece
that is to be renovated it must be
thoroughly scraped After staining, a
coat OF hard oil finish may be applied
as Il filler. and then, after it is dry,
it should be rubbed all over with the
prepared teoswax that comes in cans
for floors, and then rubbed with a
flannel cloth until it is quite shiny
and bright After the wax is rubbed
on it should be allowed to harden be-
fore polishing it, Prussian blue alone
makes a very pretty peacock blue
stain, raw sienna yellow or orange
according to the amount of color used
crimson lake a lovely red burnt sien-
ma an almost exact imitation of new
mahogany. All these are what are
called transparent colors, and are
therefore, especially adapted for stains
: but even Opaque colors, if put on thin
enough to show the grain of the wood
produce sometimes very pretty effects
White on certain woods has a milky
opalesque coloring that is very har
yaorious with delicate chintzes. Ligh
blue, canary yellow, apple green anC
pink all may be used on woodwork al
s.ains if applied in the way that hous'
painters call printing is, ont
coat Of paint put on so thin that j
) shows the markings of the wood be
meath. Georgia pine looks particular
ly we'll when treated in this way.