The check roller is used for putting in the pores of oak and the dark streaks or lines in the hearts, and is used to best advantage in distemper. A well charged mottler supplies the color. The mottler is laid against the edges of the wheels, and by revolving the roller the color is transferred to the work. A guard of tin may be soldered to the mottler so that it fits the handle of the roller, being held in place by the thumb.
One or two flat fresco bristle liners ([Figs. 25] and [26]) No. 1 and 2 for putting in hearts, veins, etc., and one or two tin bound sash tools complete the list of all tools necessary for use, and any wood that grows may be represented by using the tools mentioned.
[CHAPTER XVII.]
PATENT GRAINING MACHINES.
Various devices other than those usually employed—brushes, combs, etc.—have been invented for representing the grains of wood, and some of these machines are excellent, and are so constructed that by properly using them a very good imitation of wood may be obtained. The majority of them, however, seem to have been invented for the express purpose of being sold to gullible painters. The work done by such machines bears but little resemblance to the grain of any wood, and the only merit they possess is their boasted "ease of manipulation." It would seem that the majority of the patent pads, rollers, etc., now in use were designed by persons totally unfamiliar with the various woods which they claim their machines can represent; they bear the same relation to good handwork as the schoolboy's drawing of a house bears to that of an architect. The quality of the work seems to be immaterial if it can rapidly be executed; and if there are plenty of knots in the pattern, so much the better. It is of no consequence what wood it is supposed to represent, so long as it pleases the eye of the painter, and he will often purchase at an exorbitant price that which is practically useless for ordinary housework.
I have before me a circular containing some photographic illustrations of the work done by a patent roller process; and if any wood ever grew that bears a resemblance to the illustrations, I am ignorant of its name. Aniline colors are the means employed to represent the grains, and the process is designed to obviate the necessity of first painting the work, as the color is directly applied by the roller, without the wood being prepared in any way. It is claimed that any shadows or grains existing in the wood will only add to the beauty of the finished work. This will be news to the intelligent workman. The circular says nothing about how to use the rollers on painted work, so I presume it is worthless except for new work, and nearly so for that; for the painter who attempts to represent wood in the manner described will find that in the end it costs as much as though he had employed a skilful workman; and when the job is finished, he will have but a poor imitation of wood.
So far as I am aware, the oldest machine for representing the graining of wood is the Mason pad, which consists of a convex pad with handles at either end. The face of the pad is made of a rubber composition, on which are engraved the grains, the pad being about two feet in length. The graining-color is applied to the work, and while wet the pad is pressed against it, thus removing sufficient color to show the grain. This process is now seldom used; the composition of which the face of the pad is made hardens in cold weather and in hot weather it is inclined to run together, and great care must be taken to avoid defacing the pad.
The objection common to all roller processes or machines is that they do the same work over and over again, which is contrary to what we find in nature, as the grains are always different from one another, so that it would require an endless variety of patterns to do such work as is done by any first-class grainer.
Another method for the rapid imitation of wood is found in stencil-plates, which consist of thin sheets of brass so constructed that when laid against the panel to be grained they leave no mark until a cloth is passed over the plate, when the graining-color exposed by the stencil is rubbed off, thus making the grains. This sort of work looks much better than that done by any of the pads or rollers, but is open to the same objection—viz., repetition.