There are two chief aims which should govern all methods of wood finishing, viz., preservation of wood and artistic finish. Wood exposed to atmospheric conditions (moisture being the greatest enemy to the preservation of wood) without a suitable finish which will close the pores of the wood, and hence shut out the action of the atmosphere, will change in shape and color, and will soon decay. But with a proper treatment so that moisture cannot get into the pores, timbers will last for many years. If a block of maple is allowed to stand in a vat of boiling resin, for twenty-four hours, the pores become filled with the resin which preserves the wood against decay for ages. Not long since the writer saw this process of treating maple which was to be used under water. It is only a working out in another way of the principle of the closing of the pores in wood for preservation. A wood finish, then, to be most effective must possess this quality of preservation.

But what constitutes an artistic finish? A piece of quartered oak is stained with a suitable weathered oak stain, rubbed down so that the grain is brought out, and then waxed to close the pores and to give a smooth finish. If this work is well done, we say that the oak has an artistic finish. One wishes to paint a house. Paints are selected which harmonize and are then applied, and we say that the house has an artistic finish. Some models which are made in manual training are improved by decoration. This is especially true of some of the things that are made in soft woods. The ends of the book rack may be made more pleasing by some design put on in color. The design, however, must be appropriate, and the colors must be selected with great care. They must also be applied properly. When this is done, the book rack may have an artistic finish. There is, therefore, a wide difference in wood finishing. Some people prefer the wood finished in the natural color, others do a great deal of staining, while still others do a good deal in the way of applied design.

The field of applied design is new in manual training work and is full of possibilities, but it should not be overemphasized. It furnishes a happy relationship between the art teaching and the shop teaching. In this work the art teacher and the manual training teacher should work together in order to get the best results. It is not the purpose of the writer to go into the subject of applied design at this time, for it is too broad a subject to be treated here.

The materials used in wood finishing may be classified as paints, which are opaque, and stains, oils, and varnishes, which are transparent. Paint is a substance composed of coloring matter, lead, and oil. When applied to wood, paints possess the quality of preservation. The only artistic element in paints is the color, or combination of color, which they may give. W. W. Lawrence & Co., Pittsburg, Pa., give the following color formulae for decoration: -

Pale Tints In Oil

Buff White, yellow ocher, burnt sienna.

Blue White, Prussian blue.

Cream White, yellow ocher or medium chrome.

Drab White, burnt or raw umber (for warm or cool drab).

Fawn White, raw Sienna, vermilion.

Gray White, ultramarine, lake.

Gray White, burnt Sienna, indigo.

Gray White, vegetable black, lake.

Gray White, Prussian blue, Indian red.

Lilac White, vermilion, ultramarine.

Lavender White, Prussian blue, lake.

Pink White, crimson lake.

Pink White, vermilion.

Pink White, Indian red.

Peach White, vermilion, ocher, purple, brown.

Salmon White, vermilion, ocher.

Straw White, chrome, yellow.

Stone White, ocher, umber (as in drab).

Deep Tints In Oil

Brown White, Prussian blue, Venetian red.

Brown White, purple, brown, lake.

Brown White, indigo, ocher, vermilion.

Chocolate White, lake, vegetable black, purple, brown.

Green White, ocher, indigo.

Green White, Sienna, Prussian blue.

Green White, yellow, chrome, Prussian blue.

Lead Color White, black.

Orange White, orange, chrome, lake.

Violet White, vermilion, Prussian blue, lake.

Paints consist essentially of two parts, - the pigment, or coloring matter, and the vehicle, a liquid with which the various pigments are applied. A wax may also be a vehicle in spreading color.

The pigments are varied in character. The whites are generally white lead, the yellows are ochers, chromate of lead, etc.; the reds are the red oxide of lead, ochers, oxides of iron, red oxide of copper, vermilion, carmine, etc.; the blues are Prussian blue, ultramarine, etc.; the greens are verdigris, Paris green, borate of copper, cobalt green, green lake, etc.; the brovms are umber, bole, sepia, etc.; the blacks are lampblack, bone black, graphite, etc. The character of the paint is determined by the vehicle used. If oil is used as a vehicle, the paints are oil paints. If water is used, they are called water colors. When the colors are soluble, the preparation is more properly a stain, or dye. Paints are insoluble in the vehicle and are opaque. Stains and dyes are soluble in the vehicle and are transparent. Stains alone have no preserving effects upon woods because they do not tend to close the pores of the wood.

Linseed oil (a yellow liquid obtained from flaxseed) is used in oil paints on account of its peculiar property of oxidizing to a resinous substance when mixed with pigments and spread with a brush in thin layers over surfaces. It may be either in a raw state or boiled. The boiled linseed oil is made by boiling the raw oil with litharge and sulphate of zinc. The boiled oil dries more rapidly, is darker in color, and a little thicker than the raw oil.

Paints and stains are usually ground in raw linseed oil and put up in tin cans or other vessels for commercial purposes. The painter mixes these for use with either raw or boiled linseed oil. To these a thinner, such as turpentine, is used to give the required consistency. Sometimes driers are added to cause the paint to harden more rapidly.

Mixing paints is an art which should not be attempted in elementary manual training work. To meet this difficulty in elementary work prepared paints should be used. But the methods employed in mixing stains are not so difficult and should be taught in elementary work.

How To Prepare Stains

Brown Burnt umber,2 turpentine.

Red Burnt Sienna,3 turpentine.

Green Sylvan green, turpentine.

Black Drop black, turpentine.