Japanning. Japanning is a kind of varnishing or lacquering, practiced in perfection by the Japanese, whence the name. The only difference between varnishing and japanning is that after the application of every coat of color or varnish, the object so varnished is placed in an oven or chamber called a stove, at as high a temperature as can safely be employed without injuring the articles or causing the varnish to blister or run.

3019. To Prepare Metal for Japanning

3019.    To Prepare Metal for Japanning. Metal requires no other preparation than cleaning with turpentine, to free it from grease or oil, unless the latter should happen to be linseed oil, in which case the cleaning is generally dispensed with, and the articles are placed in the stove and heated until the oil is baked quite hard.

3020. To Prepare Wood for Japanning

3020.    To Prepare Wood for Japanning. Wood that is intended to be used for the best japanned work, requires to be thoroughly dried before it is made up, otherwise it will be subject to all the evils of shrinking, warping, and splitting, when exposed to the heat of the stove. To avoid these evils, the wood, after having been well seasoned in the usual manner, by exposure to the air, is sawn out nearly to the required forms, and baked for several days in the japanner's stove, the heat of which is gradually increased; and the wood is afterwards worked up into chairs, tables, trays, and similar articles, which are afterwards again exposed to the heat of the

I stove, and any cracks or other imperfections, that may be thus rendered apparent, are care* fully stopped with putty or white lead before the japanning is commenced.

3021. To Prepare the Ground for Japanning

3021.    To Prepare the Ground for Japanning. For black japanned work, tho ground is first prepared with a coating of black, made by mixing dross ivory black to a proper consistence with dark colored anime varnish, as this gives a blacker surface than could be produced by japan alone. If the surface is required to be polished, five or six coats of japan are necessary to give sufficient body to prevent the japan from being rubbed through in polishing.

3022. To Make Black Japan Varnish

3022.   To Make Black Japan Varnish. Melt together 50 pounds Naples asphaltum and 8 pounds dark gum anime, and boil for 2 hours in 12 gallons linseed oil; then melt 10 pounds dark gum amber, and boil it with 2 gallons linseed oil; add this to the other, with a sufficient quantity of dryers, and boil for 2 hours longer, or until a little of the mass, when cooled, may be rolled into pills; then withdraw the heat, and afterwards thin down with 30 gallons oil of turpentine. This is excellent for either wood or metals.

3023. Flexible Black Japan Varnish

3023.    Flexible Black Japan Varnish. A good black japan is made of burnt umber, 4 ounces; true asphaltum, 2 ounces: and boiled oil, 2 quarts. • Dissolve the asphaltum at first in a little oil, using a moderate heat; then add the umber, ground in oil, and lastly, the rest of the oil, and incorporate thoroughly. Thin with turpentine. It is a flexible japan, and may be used on metal work which requires to be bent somewhat.