3061. Bed Lacquer

3061.    Bed Lacquer. Spanish annotto, 3 pounds; dragon's blood, 1 pound; gum sandarach, 31/4 pounds; rectified spirit, 2 gallons; turpentine varnish, 1 quart. Dissolve and mix as the last.

3062. Lacquer for Philosophical Instruments

3062.    Lacquer for Philosophical Instruments. Gamboge, l1/2 ounces; gum sandarach, 4 ounces; gum elemi, 4 ounces; best dragon's blood, 2 ounces; terra merita, 11/2 ounces; oriental saffron, 4 grains; seed-lac, 2 ounces; pounded glass, 6 ounces; pure alcohol, forty ounces. The dragon's blood, gum elemi, seed-lac, and gamboge, are all pounded and mixed with the glass. Over them is poured the tincture obtained by infusing the saffron and terra merita in the alcohol for 24 hours. This tincture, before being poured over the dragon's blood, etc., should be strained through a piece of clean linen cloth, and strongly squeezed. If the dragon's blood gives too high a color, the quantity may be lessened according to circumstances. The same is the case with the other coloring matters. In choosing the terra merita, select that which is sound and compact. This lacquer has a very good effect when applied to many cast or moulded articles used in ornamenting furniture, the irregularity of surface of which would render it difficult, if not impossible, to polish in the ordinary manner.

3063. To Make Lacquer of Various Tints

3063.    To Make Lacquer of Various Tints. Put 4 ounces best gum gamboge into 32 ounces spirits of turpentine; 4 ounces dragon's blood into the same quantity of spirits of turpentine as the gamboge, and 1 ounce annotto into 8 ounces of the same spirits. The 3 mixtures should be made in different vessels. They should then be kept for about two weeks in a warm place, and as much exposed to the sun as possible. At the end of that time they will be fit for use; and any desired tints may be obtained by making a composition from them, with such proportions of each liquor as the nature of the color desired will point out.

3064. Durable and Lustrous Black Coating for Metals

3064.    Durable and Lustrous Black Coating for Metals. The bottom of a cylindrical iron pot, which should be about 18 inches in height, is covered half an inch with powdered bituminous coal; a grate is then put in and the pot filled with the articles to be varnished. Articles of cast iron, iron wire, brass, zinc, steel, tinned iron, etc., may be subjected to the same treatment. The cover is then put on and the pot heated over a coke fire under a well-drawing chimney. In the beginning the moisture only evaporates, but soon the coking commences, and deep brown vapors escape, which irritate the throat. "When the bottom of the pot has been heated for 15 minutes to a dull red heat, the coal has been mostly converted into coke; the pot is then removed from the fire, and after standing 10 minutes opened for evaporation, all the articles will be found covered with the above described coating. This lacquer is not only a protection against oxidation of metals, but will stand also a considerable heat, only disappearing at beginning redness, and therefore its useful application for ovens and furnaces. The coating produced is thin, lustrous, and cannot easily bo scratched. Fine iron ware articles, such as sieves, are in this manner coated with remarkable evenness, which cannot be accomplished in any other way. Articles made of tin, or soldered, cannot bo subjected to this process, as they would fuse. Smaller articles, like hooks and eyes, receive this coating by heating them together with small pieces of bituminous coal in a cylindrical sheet iron dram like that used for roasting coffee, until they present the desired lustrous black appearance.