Useful Recipes for Home and the Shop. Mahogany Staining. Dead Black Varnish. Black Stencil Ink.

The Manufacturer and Builder 6, 1875

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Mahogany Staining.
Wash the wood to be stained with diluted nitric acid, 10 parts of water to 1 of acid. For rosewood, glaze the same with carmine or Munich lake. Asphaltum thinned with turpentine forms an excellent mahogany color for new work.

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Dead Black Varnish.
The preparation for blacking of the brass-work of lenses, etc., is made as follows: 3 drachms of bichlorid of platinum and 1 grain of nitrate of silver in 6 ounces of water. The brass work to be made quite clean, and the preparation must be applied with a camel's-hair pencil. When the right depth is attained, wash with clean water, dry, and finish with black lead.

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Black Stencil Ink.
Take shellac 2 parts; borax, 1 part; soft water, 10 parts, and gum arabic 1 part, then add lampblack and indigo in sufficient qualities. Boil the shellac and borax in the water until dissolved, then add the gum, and withdraw the mixture from the fire. When cold add the lampblack to bring it to a suitable color, and lastly a very small quantity of finely-powdered indigo to give it a real jet shade. When made, keep in glass or earthenware vessels.