When you put clamps on to hold your veneers, as you always should, be careful, if your wood is soft, that you do not set the clamps so tight as to sink the veneer into the lower wood, for the result will be an uneven surface, that nothing can remedy.
Be careful to have clean glue and clean surfaces if you wish to make sound work. Dust or grit ruins glue so that it will not hold.
CHAPTER XX.
GENERAL SUMMARY.
In polishing metals, whether brass, iron, steel, or of whatever nature, it is essential that the tool marks and scratches of files, or other agents, should be entirely removed before the final gloss is given, otherwise the work will have a cheap look that detracts very much from its appearance.
If emery of the finest character (flour) is used, with oil, the result will be very beautiful, but this makes a mess about the lathe it is desirable to avoid. Polish with oil is softer in appearance than dry polishing, and is much more durable, being not so liable to rust and tarnish. Dry polishing is performed with sand paper of various grades, running from ½ to 0. This gives a very bright, dazzling finish, that is easily rusted. Brass must be treated with rotten stone and oil to be nicely polished, and after this the burnisher should be used. Lacquers are employed for the purpose of preserving the polish unimpaired, and are made as follows:
LACQUERS.
2 gals. Alcohol, proof, specific gravity not less than 95 per. cent.
1 lb. Seed-lac.
1 oz. Gum Copal.