WHITEWOOD.
It is seldom necessary to imitate whitewood, as the original is so cheap, and because there is as much difficulty in matching the color of the wood as that of the grains. The ground-color is about the same as that for light ash, and the graining-color can be mixed with raw sienna and raw umber, adding black or blue; or yellow ochre can be used for the basis of the color, adding raw umber and a little black for the dark streaks. The work is then put in with a fitch tool and blended softly, or a piece of pointed wood like a pencil may be used, the point being covered with a thin cotton rag, and the heart grains put in with this, taking care to have the grains subdued and not appearing prominent. The grains of whitewood generally appear sunken; they are simply outlined, and not softened with the rag.
Plate 47.
WHITEWOOD IN OIL.
Whitewood sometimes assumes a blistered appearance peculiar to itself and somewhat like the grain of Hungarian ash. This kind of whitewood is very difficult to imitate, as the high lights are so strong and brilliant as to require touching up with the ground-color after the work is dry. This kind is seldom imitated.
[CHAPTER XIV.]
VARNISHING OVER GRAINED WORK.
When a job of graining is finished; if it is deemed necessary to varnish it, the question arises, "What kind of varnish shall be used?" and this is a subject on which widely different opinions prevail. Almost every master painter has his favorite kind of varnish and is slow to accept anything contrary to his own idea of what should be used; and right here I will say that if you have something that, like the joke of the clown in the circus, has withstood the test of time, do not look farther, but "hold fast to that which is good."
There are many kinds of varnishes and finishes made especially for application to exposed work, outside doors, etc., but my experience with many of them has been anything but satisfactory. There may be some particular kind of varnish that will stand exposure in this climate without cracking or turning white, but I have never seen any such. I would like to find some article that will withstand the changes of temperature to which it would be subjected in the New England climate—say one hundred and twenty to one hundred and thirty degrees annually—and I do not expect ever to find any such, as, when the varnish has been applied to exposed work and the gum has become thoroughly hardened, cracking will of necessity ensue, for the reason that heat causes the expansion of the material to which the varnish is applied, and, the varnish being thoroughly hardened, so that it cannot expand, it must crack in obedience to the law of nature that heat expands. Cracking may result from inability to contract after having expanded from heat. This is allowing for no internal complications in the varnish, and what is written above wholly applies to varnish that is exposed to the weather, and is based on what seems to be practical experience.
I am living in a house that is grained in oil on the outside; the clapboards and trimmings on the southwest side were chosen for testing the varnish. To prevent any misunderstanding, I will state the manner in which the work was done. The clapboards are No. 1 spruce, the trimmings are pine and cypress. The carpentry work was done in July, 1886, and stood three days before being primed. The priming color was mixed as follows:—One hundred pounds of white lead, to which were added about twenty-five pounds of yellow ochre, a small quantity of japan drier, and thinned with best raw linseed oil. After being primed for two weeks, the work was grounded, using the priming color that was left, with enough lead added to make a groundwork for oak. The trimmings are done in cherry. The work was not grained until October, 1886, and neither wax nor anything else was used for megilp. The varnishes were nearly all applied on the tenth day after the work was grained; the day was warm and bright, and each varnish was put on just as it came from the factory, without thinners of any kind. Each was poured into a clean vessel and a new brush was used, so as to give each kind of varnish an even chance; and the result is below stated.
Seventeen kinds of varnishes, hardwood finishes, spar composition, etc., were applied as stated, and the result was highly disastrous, as, with two exceptions, they all cracked in less than twelve months. The two exceptions were, first, a mixture of linseed oil two parts to japan drier one part; second, a preparation said to contain ninety per cent. of linseed oil. This is the only thing on the side of the house to-day (February 29, 1888) that has any gloss; all the others except the oil and the drier are in various stages of imitation of alligator skin, or they have cracked so minutely as wholly to destroy the gloss. Some of the hardwood finishes cracked in twenty-eight days after being applied, and their makers claimed that they could be used on outside work without danger of cracking. The longest time that any varnish stood without cracking was slightly over eleven months, and that kind cost five dollars per gallon, and was sold for wearing body varnish.[A] I have some of these varnishes and finishes applied to inside work, and at present they show no signs of cracking, but I am afraid that it will be only a question of time when they too will crack. For interior work I am in favor of using shellac over grained work in preference to varnish, and I have shellac applied to the doors of my rooms, the casings, etc., being finished with first-quality varnish; so that I will have an opportunity of observing their respective merits and durability. Shellac finish is less glaring than varnish, and has the advantage of drying quickly; so that it escapes the dust which is invariably present in new buildings. It can be rubbed down, if necessary, in the same manner as hardwood, and where graining is done to match wood finished in shellac it makes the work look uniform. I have yet to see a job of new work that has cracked after being shellacked if properly grounded. There are some of the old-fashioned varnishes that stand without cracking on inside work. One case I remember where an office had been grained and varnished when the factory was built, and, so far as known, had been revarnished but once for thirty-two years afterward. There was no sign of cracks in the varnish, and those people who profess that the cause of cracking is due to wax in the graining color would be surprised to see that the graining color in this case appeared to contain plenty of wax.
Varnish may stand for a long time on inside work without cracking; but the reverse is the rule in my experience; for varnish that has been bought from the factory expressly for inside work, and for which a good price has been paid, has cracked in less than six months after being applied, and this was on new wood; so that there was apparently nothing to hasten its early decay.
Some seven years ago I varnished a table-top which had been grained. I chose what a master carriage painter called one of the best makes of rubbing varnish, and applied three coats to the table, rubbing it on the third day after each coat. It looked nicely when finished, but in less than four months it had cracked. The cracks finally became so deep that they were faced up with putty; and this was a solid walnut table-top which had been thoroughly planed off and shellacked before being painted and grained. This is but one of many instances which have led me altogether to discard varnish for any work I wish to preserve; and where interior work is not too much exposed to wear I prefer to leave it as grained in oil or to shellac it, and for exterior work to give it an occasional coat of oil and drier rather than to varnish it.
I have not mentioned the names of the makers of the varnishes, but they were some of the representative makers of the country, and most of the labels expressly stated that the contents of the packages would not crack, blister or turn white.
I hope that the experience of others has been more favorable than has mine, but we must speak of things as we find them.