Recipe for Sealing-Wax. How to make Sealing-Wax.

Manufacturer and builder (11 / 1871)

[232] RECIPE FOR SEALING-WAX. - The chief ingredient of sealing-wax is shellac, which is melted and mixed with an equal or lesser weight of Venetian turpentine; for the cheaper qualities, it is adulterated with ordinary resin; too much of the latter, however, makes it brittle. The color is given by powdered paints; for black, 1 pound ivory-black with 1 pound resin and 2 pounds shellac; for red, 1 pound vermilion, 1 pound powdered chalk, 1 pound resin, and 1 pound shellac; for yellow, 1 pound chrome-yellow, 1 pound Venetian turpentine, 1 pound shellac; for white, 1 pound white-lead, 1 pound pale resin, 1 pound Venetian turpentine, 1 pound shellac; for green, 1 pound Prussian blue, 1 pound orpiment, 1 pound Venetian turpentine, 1 pound shellac; for gold, 1 pound silver-foil, 2 pounds white resin, 2 pounds Venetian turpentine, 6 pounds shellac; the transparent yellow-brown of the shellac gives the silver-foil a gold color.

[233] HOW TO MAKE SEALING-WAX. - It is curious that we have sometimes a similar experience as the examiners at the Patent-Office, who tell us that they often receive two applications for patents for similar inventions, coming from different places; while we often receive the same query from two or three persons. We usually answer only the first inquiry, which does for the rest; but our second inquirer is in this case more careful - he does not merely ask the recipe for sealing-wax, but how to make it; he appears to have an apprehension that there is something more to know about it than a mere recipe, and he is right. Here is the information desired. It is impossible to succeed in making this article when a good shellac is not used as a basis. In order to ascertain if it is fit for the purpose, you try to melt a small wuantity over a low coal-fire; if it melts easily, thoroughly, and flows well, it is good; if not, reject it. In making sealing-wax, mix fist the paints, and let them be exceedingly well pulverized; let us, for instance, suppose that you wish to make the red sealing-wax now in the trade under the name of express company sealing-wax; take 2 pounds good vermillion, and 7 pounds Paris white, (which is very fine chalk,) mix them thoroughly, then place 8 pounds shellac in a proper stoneware vessel, and heat it carefully over a moderate fire, stirring it with an iron spatula until it has become liquid; then warm 6 pounds of Venetian turpentine, and add the same to the shellac; when well mixed, add gradually the mixture of chalk and vermilion, and stir continually till you have a homogeneous whole; it is better to use for this latter purpose a pestle. The fire must be only warm enough to keep the mass fluid. When well mixed, it is taken from the fire, when a warm, smooth stone must be ready to make the sticks; in order to do this you take with a spoon, as much as is required for a stick, and roll it between the hands till it has about the shape, then place it on the warm stone and roll it with a board or metal plate; to give it a smooth surface it is, after solidification, superficially heated over a fire or proper lamp; this is the old way to make the sticks, without using forms; if you will go to the expense of procuring proper forms, you may press the sticks in them when in semisolid condition, and give them any shape, square, flat, etc. Some experience, of course, is necessary to work with success at the right stage of heat.