If the piece of furniture requiring to be re-polished should be in bad condition, it is best to clean off thoroughly, using the liquid ammonia (see page [94]), or by the scraper and glass-paper. The indentations may be erased by dipping into hot water a piece of thick brown paper three or four times doubled and applying it to the part; the point of a red-hot poker should be immediately placed upon the wet paper, which will cause the water to boil into the wood and swell up the bruise; the thickness of the paper prevents the wood from being scorched by the hot poker. After the moisture is evaporated, the paper should be again wetted if required. If only shallow dents, scratches, and broken parts of the polish present themselves, carefully coat them two or three times with a thick solution of shellac, and when the last coating becomes hard carefully paper down with a piece of old glass-paper and a cork rubber.
If the surface should be in good condition, it is necessary only to remove the viscid rust; this is done by friction with a felt-covered rubber and pure spirits of turpentine; by this means the polish remains unsullied. If the surface should not be in very good condition, a flannel should be used smeared with a paste of bathbrick-dust and water, or a paste made of the finest emery flour and spirits of turpentine. After cleansing, and before the polish is applied, it is a good plan to just moisten the surface with raw linseed-oil; this will cause the old body to unite with the new one.
In order to carry out the process of re-polishing with facility, it is necessary to disunite all the various parts, such as panels, carvings, etc., before commencing the operation. The polish is applied in the usual manner, and when a good body is laid on the work should be set aside for twelve hours, after which it can be finished. It should be particularly observed that in polishing no job should be finished immediately after the rubbing-down process; a sinking period should always be allowed. If the work should be immediately finished, the consequences are that in a few hours all the marks and scratches of the paper, etc., will be discernible, and the polished surface will present a very imperfect appearance, although looking perfect when first finished.
Holes and crevices may be well filled up with a cement made in the following manner: In a large iron spoon place a lump of beeswax about the size of a walnut, a pinch of the pigments mentioned on page [5], according to the colour required, a piece of common rosin the size of a nut, and a piece of tallow as large as a pea; melt, and it is ready for use. Some add a little shellac, but much will make it very brittle. A similar substance to the above can be bought at the French warehouses.
CHAPTER VI.
SPIRIT VARNISHING.
Most polishers are agreed that to obtain a good surface with varnish it is necessary to give the work, where it is possible to do so, a rubberful of polish first, and to thoroughly dry the rubber; but in most carved work the surface is not accessible, and the brush must be used. Sometimes the carving is extremely coarse, and with an open porous grain, in which case it is best to oil it first and then to fine-paper it down; by this process a thin paste is formed by the attrition, which materially assists in filling up the pores. Before commencing to use the varnish have ready an earthenware dish or box,—one of the tins used for the preserved meats or fish will answer the purpose,—with two holes drilled so that a piece of wire can be fastened diametrically across the top; this is called a "regulator," and when the brush is passed once or twice over this it prevents an unnecessary quantity of varnish being transferred to the work.
Varnishes.—The ingredients for making varnish are very similar to those for making polish, but the proportions are somewhat different. Furniture varnish consists of two kinds, viz.: the brown-hard and the white-hard; the former is used for dark woods, such as mahogany, walnut, rosewood, etc.; whilst the latter is used for the light-coloured woods, in conjunction with the white polish. A few years since the brown-hard varnish was made from these ingredients: