LACQUERS.
2 gals. Alcohol, proof, specific gravity not less than 95 per. cent.
1 lb. Seed-lac.
1 oz. Gum Copal.
1 oz. English Saffron.
1 oz. Annotto.
Another.
40 ozs. Proof Alcohol.
8 grs. Spanish Annotto.
2 drs. Turmeric.
½ oz. Shellac.
12 grs. Red Sanders.
When dissolved add 30 drops Spirit of Turpentine.
Directions for Making.—Mix the ingredients, and let the vessel containing them stand in the sun, or in a place slightly warmed, for three or four days, shaking it frequently till the gum is dissolved, after which let it settle from 24 to 48 hours, when the clear liquor may be poured off for use. Pulverized glass is sometimes used in making lacquers, to carry down the impurities.
The best burnisher is a piece of bloodstone ground to shape and set in a handle; they can be bought for about a dollar and a half at any watchmakers’ tool store. Rouge powder is also an excellent thing for polishing brass and German silver. German silver, in wire, also in sheet, can be had at the same place.
For silver plating fluid the workman will find that manufactured by Howe & Stevens, Boston, Massachusetts, to be the best of its class, as it leaves a thin coating of pure silver on the metal, which can be renewed from time to time, as it wears, by a fresh application.
Any articles that require to be gilt can be best done by electro platers, who will deposit as much gold on the surface as one desires, even to the thirty-second part of an inch. It is better, however, to buy a small battery, which can be had for four or five dollars, and do this for yourself. Very many other things can be electro-plated, and fac similes of medals produced at a small cost, which will be both instructive and ornamental.