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GRAINING
ANCIENT AND MODERN
BY
Wiehe WALL
GRAINER TO THE TRADE; AUTHOR OF
“PRACTICAL GRAINING”’
% OLDEST PAINT SHOPS IN MASSACHUSETTS ”
Second Edition — Revised and Enlarged
SIXTY-EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS
SOMERVILLE, MASS., U.S.A.
PeowioieD. BY. LHE AUTHOR
1924
‘4 -
vie
. i
Ss
y
CopyRIGHT, 1905, BY 4
WILLIAM E. WALL, Somervitte, }
Aut RicHTs REsEI VEE
}
;
\
Pie EAC hr
THE chief object of the writer of this book is to pro-
vide instruction for those of our trade, especially young
men, who desire to become proficient in graining, for in
these days little opportunity is provided to learn any
trade in the building line, least of all in the specialty
of graining.
A series of articles by the writer entitled ‘ Practical
Graining”’ were published in 1889-1890 in the House
Painting and Decorating Magazine of Philadelphia, Penn-
sylvania. They were later issued in book form and have
been out of print for several years.
Frequent requests for copies have induced the writer
to issue the present volume, which will be found to con-
“tain added information on this subject.
My thanks are due to Mr. James Kay of St. Louis,
Missouri, for information concerning the antiquity of
graining; also to The W. J. Dobinson Engraving Co.
of Boston, for excellent plates; and to The Norwood
Press for excellence of typography and composition.
WILLIAM E. WALL.
Pec TO SECOND. EDITION
Several new illustrations have been added to the Second
Edition and numerous additions made to the text.
WILLIAM E. WALL.
ill
IST
IST
IST
IST
IST
ibe
PRIZE:
PRIZE:
CUTS} OF VEDA
Diploma Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics’ Associa-
tion, 1881.
World’s Fair, Chicago, Bronze Medal, 1893.
Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics’ Association, Silver
Medal, 1895.
World’s Fair, St. Louis, Silver Medal, 1904. °
Lewis & Clark Centennial, Portland, Oregon, Gold Medal,
1905. :
Jamestown Centennial, Va. 1907.
of hy ly
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Xx VIT.
XVIII.
XIX.
XX.
CONTENTS
ANTIQUITY OF GRAINING . 3. 4 :
IMITATIONS . : ;
EMINENT GRAINERS OF THE LAST CENTURY
GROUND-COLORS . : 4 : ;
GRAINING COLORS é 4 : : ‘
THINNERS FOR OIL COLORS : . ‘
MEGILP FOR OIL COLOR . ° A -
TOOLS . ‘ s : ; - ‘.
RUBBING IN OIL COLOR.
RUBBING IN WATER COLOR : :
COMBING IN OIL COLOR
COMBING IN WATER COLOR
GRAINING CRAYONS
WIPING OUT HEART GRAINS IN OIL COLOR ~
CURLY MAPLE
BIRD’S-EYE MAPLE
SILVER MAPLE . : fs 5 .
“*WHITEWOOD x s ° °
SATINWOOD . : ‘ ‘
WHITE MAHOGANY . ; * °
ASH . : : A ; A
HUNGARIAN ASH ‘ ° A A :
Buri AsH . , : 2 * bs °
QUARTERED OAK : : : “
WIPING OUT IN OIL COLOR
GRAINING QUARTERED OAK
FOURTEEN WAYS OF IMITATING QUARTERED OAK
vii
Viil CONTENTS
CHAPTER . PAGE
XXI. ENGLISH OAK . . . . ° ° trees 6
POLLARD OAK : - . : ° . - SOG
RooT OF Oak 2 : ‘ : . ‘ a Ge
XXII. HEART, OR SAP, OAK . ‘ . ; : oN,
WIPING OUT HEART GRAINS OF OAK . ° 2 og
XXIII. CHESTNUT , ; : 5 3 : Aerie |
XXIV. WHITE OREGON CEDAR - : . ; epee
XXV. YELLOW PINE - f : : : . Pa
PITCH PINE, OR HARD PINE. A 2 . 2
XXVI. CYPRESS. : : 4 : ° : 7 Pik ame
XXVII. QUARTERED SYCAMORE. 2 . ° . ergs:
AA VIL: CHERRY S : : : ‘ 4 ‘ : mS ERE
XXIX. CURLY BIRCH . : . . ° . aes
XXX. BLACK WALNUT . ; : * 4 3 ; ee
CRAYONS FOR WALNUT GRAINING . . én
CURLY WALNUT . ‘ . . : : me:
FRENCH WALNUT BURL é . : . Pigeee<| |
ITALIAN WALNUT . - : A . : aet* i
CIRCASSIAN WALNUT . . : * ° ery ee
XXXI. MAHOGANY 5 «so 9) 00S
DORE Se EEA tie : ° . . . . ° nha?
AXMAITI]. RoOSEwoop . Pee daa rs F ° . ‘ rae eS
XXXIV. OVERGRAINING : “ : - . : ie fioy
XXXV. CEILINGS : : i ‘ si 4 : ad o>:
XXXVI. FLOORS = A ; ’ : ; : » 104
MANILA PAPER FOR COVERING A POOR FLOOR . 106
VARNISHING A GRAINED FLooR . . é - 108
XXXVII. PATENT GRAINING DEVICES . : ; : + as
XXXVIII. SHOW PANELS . . . +-ieRees . Se |
XXXIX. GRAINING ON GLASS : ; : mi ; Pe ee
XL. IMITATIONS OF CARVING ; . , ‘ eae et
IMITATIONS OF MOULDINGS . ‘ : : oo Tis
XLI. CAUSES OF CRACKING IN GRAINED WORK . oun (6
CONTENTS ix
CHAPTER PAGE
XLII. THE GRAINER IN FICTION . ‘ : : : wae ile
XLII]. GRAINING A DOOR QUARTERED OAK : ; eS
XLIV. Netw METHODS . : : ; : ; : J) 124
XLV. JOURNEYMEN : : é : : : , aed 27
XLVI. BICYCLE FOR CITY OR COUNTRY WORK . : eke
XLVII. BUTTERNUT : ; : Bap ats : : ey) se)
NOTES : : ‘ 2 ‘ : : ; : ‘ wdiat bey
ORIGINAL PoEM. (F. A. HARTFORD) . ee d el 30
GRAINERS’ ASSOCIATION OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, AND
VICINITY... : : ‘ : F 4 : ; -/ I40
INDEX : ‘ . ° : ° : : ¢ : ~ eIAT
i
PLATE
TOOLS
1. Stippler. 4. Bone comb (for separating bristles 6. Small mottler.
2. Large overgrainer. of overgrainer). . Badger blender.
on
3. Short-haired overgrainer. 5. Large mottler . Piped overgrainer.
ea
Brevik OR sEL ALES: =
———
PLATE PLATE
Author’s Photograph, with 7, fine steel split comb;
Signature. /yvontispiece. 8, medium steel comb; 9,
Cuts of Medals (5 cuts): medium split steel comb;
Massachusetts Charitable Io, coarse steel comb; 11,
Mechanics’ Association, selvedge of straw matting ;
1895 (2. cuts).
World’s Fair, Chicago, 1893
(2 cuts).
World’s Fair, St. Louis, 1904
(1 cut).
N.B.— Gold medal awarded
Lewis & Clark Centennial,
Portland, Ore., 1905.
fea tools:
Cut (Photographic) :
I,stippler ; 2, large over-
grainer; 3, short-haired
overgrainer ; 4, bone comb
(for separating bristles of
overgrainer); 5, large
mottler; 6, small mottler ;
7, badger blender ; 8, piped
overgrainer.
2. Cut?
I, flat fresco bristle liner;
2, short-haired liner or fitch
tool; 3, sash tool (oval) ;
4, rubbing-in brush; 5,
check roller; 6, sponge;
16.
1
18.
12, rubber comb.
. Large Oval Table-top (Com-
pass Centre).
Smaller Oval Table-top (Card
Centre).
“Jersey Oak,” Cambridge,
Mass., done in 1845.
Curly Maple — Mottled
Overgrain.
to
. Curly Maple— Mottled and
Overgrained.
Bird’s-eye Maple —First Stage.
Bird’s-eye Maple — Over-
grained.
. Bird’s-eye Maple — Finished.
. Whitewood.
Satinwood — Feather Panel.
. White Mahogany.
. Quartered Sycamore.
. Light Ash—Wiped out and
A.
Pencilled.
Ash — Hungarian Ash Panel.
Ash — Bur] Panel.
Dark Ash.
36.
Overgrain.
Cherry — Mottled and Over-
grained.
xil ORDER OF PLATES
PLATE PLATE
Ig. Chestnut. 37. Cherry — Mottled and Over-
20. How Quartered Oak is Sawed. grained.
21. Oak-— Combed, ready for] 38. Butternut.
Quartered Veins. 39. Cypress.
22. Light Quartered Oak—Over-| 40. Curly Birch.
grained. 41. Oregon Cedar.
23. Light Quartered Oak — Over-| 42. Yellow Pine.
grained. 43. Pitch Pine, or Hard Pine.
24. Quartered Oak — Dark Panel. | 44. Mahogany — Mottled Panel.
25. Quartered Oak. 45. Mahogany — Figured.
26. Quartered Oak—in Water| 46. Mahogany — Feathered Panel.
Color. 46 Mahogany — Feathered
27. Quartered Oak — Light. Panel.
28. Light Quartered Oak. AG qe eae
29. English Quartered Oak — Pol-| 48. Stippling for Walnut or Ma-
lard Oak Panel. hogany.
29 A. English Oak — Root of Oak} 49. Black Walnut — Overgrained.
Panel. . 50. Curly Walnut.
30. Dark Quartered Oak. 51. Black Walnut — Burl Panel.
31. Dark Quartered Oak. 52. Italian Walnut.
32. Dark Quartered Oak. 53- Circassian Walnut.
33. Heart of Oak — Light. 54. Rosewood — First Stage.
34. Dark Heart of Oak. 55. Rosewood — Overgrained.
35. Cherry— Mottled; ‘ready to] 56. Imitation of Carving.
Grainers’ Association Photo;
also, O’Hearn, Hughes,
and Wall.
PLATE 2
10
TOOLS
!. Flat fresco bristle liner. 5. Check roller. 9. Medium split steel comb.
2. Short-haired liner, or fitch tool. 6. Sponge. 10. Coarse steel comb.
3. Sash tool. 7. Fine split steel comb. 11. Selvedge of straw matting.
4. Rubbing-in brush. 8. Medium steel comb. 12. Rubber comb,
GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
Gh beet
ANTIQUITY OF GRAINING
ECENT discoveries in Egypt and elsewhere show
the inherent disposition of the earliest races of man-
kind to provide themselves with imitations of precious
stones, etc., but it is not generally known that the ancient
Egyptians were expert grainers.
In a book entitled ‘‘ Museum of Antiquity,” a description
of ancient life three thousand years ago written by L. W.
Yaggy, M.S., and T. L. Haines, A.M., and published by
Weaver and Company, in Kansas City, Missouri, and Chi-
cago, Illinois, in 1882, we read on page 350, — “ Carpenters
and cabinet makers were a numerous class of workmen and
their occupation forms one of the most important subjects
in the paintings which represent the Egyptian trades.”
“For ornamental purposes, even sometimes for doors and
boxes, foreign woods were employed. Deal and cedar
were imported from Syria, and part of the contributions
exacted from the conquered tribes of Ethiopia and Asia
consisted in ebony and other rare woods which were
annually brought by the chiefs deputed to present their
countries’ tribute to the Egyptian Pharaohs.” “ Boxes,
chairs, tables, sofas, etc., were often made of ebony inlaid
with ivory, sycamore, and acacia veneering, with thin layers
and carved devices of rare wood added as ornament on
inferior surfaces; and a fondness for display induced the
I:gyptians to paint common boards to imitate foreign
I
2 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
varieties, so generally practised in other countries at the
present day. The colors were usually applied on a thin
coating of stucco or a ground smoothly laid on prepared
wood, and the various knots and grains made to resemble
the wood they intended to counterfeit.”
This account would appear to indicate that grainers
were a professional class of artisans over three thousand
years ago.
There is shown in the British Museum in London a bill
of account several centuries old, for painting and graining
a room in the Tower of London.
Undoubtedly, the art of graining came to England from
Continental Europe several centuries ago, and, without
doubt, its finest exemplars have been developed in the
“tight little isle.” Their progeny have gone all over the
world, and wherever they have travelled have “made their
mark.”
The banishment of the Huguenots from France (a.pD.
1666-1789) and their settlement in England has been
referred to by some writers as a period when England’s
skilled workmen received a great stimulus, and many of
the arts and crafts were benefited: by recruits added to
their ranks from these skilled artisans of France. Doubt-
less there were among them skilful grainers who imparted
to the trade the impress of their skill; but I feel sure the
beginning of graining in England does not date from the
days of the exodus of the Huguenots from France, but
that it had existed long before their advent.
Examples of imitations of wood and marble are said
to be found in the old cities of Continental Europe, which
date back for several centuries. Asa rule, nearly all the
ancient graining was done in distemper or water colors,
and when properly protected, it is in all respects as durable
as oil colors, and many woods can be more successfully
imitated in water colors than in oil colors.
One of the old school of water-color artists of the
PLATE 3
‘97P'‘TI ‘sa0aId Jo JaqUINN ‘PI ‘payuesoide1 poom Jo sonaue/A
SGOOM CIVINI LNASHYdayy OL dCaNIvyo
‘SoyoUu! Th x BT ‘do} Jo 9zIS
dOL STgVL
GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 3
eighteenth century, whose name I do not now recall,
was a great opponent of the school of oil painters. He
claimed that it was folly to paint pictures in oil colors, as
the seeds of destruction were sown in every brush of oil
color which was applied to canvas and in time it would
certainly crack and destroy itself ; while water-color work,
which contained no gums or oil varnishes, would remain
durable for centuries and its colors would remain compara-
tively unimpaired.
I have seen water-color graining done sixty-two years
with but little varnish applied over it (which doubtless was
its chief salvation) which was in good condition at the end
of that time.
The Chinese and Japanese were probably among the
earliest imitators of wood. I have seen a cheap cabinet
bought in China, which appeared to be made of fine-
grained cedar, but which, on careful examination, proved
to be made of inferior wood covered with very thin rice
paper on which had been printed an excellent imitation of
figured cedar-wood. The cabinet was finished without
varnish, and the effect was similar to that of smoothly
finished cedar-wood.
It would be safe to say that such imitations had been
done by hand or printed for many centuries in both China
and Japan.
House painters were among the earliest artisans who
came to America, and some of them must have possessed
a knowledge of graining as it was practised in the larger
cities of Great Britain or Continental Europe; their de-
scendants have carried on the work in the larger cities of
the country, and their numbers have been increased from
the constant stream of emigrants who have been arriving
each year.
OLD-FASHIONED GRAINING
The panel on the opposite page (Plate 5) is a photo-
graphic copy of work done in the first High School building,
4 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1845. It was called “ Jersey
Oak.” This work was done in water colors and is a type
of the average job of that time. Later, in the fifties, the
advent of several British grainers to Boston, who were
expert workmen in both oil and water color, showed the
possibilities of good work and gave the trade a high stand-
ard of workmanship which has not been wholly lost to this
day, although all but one of these men have passed to the
great majority. . Between 1850 and 1860 there came to
Boston, Massachusetts, Walter and William J. McPherson
of Scotland, William Munro Ross of Scotland, William
Hopson of England, and James Keleher of Ireland. These
men all followed graining for the trade, and all were ex-
pert workmen.
CHAPI ER
IMITATIONS
ICCOLO POUSSIN, the eminent painter, born at
N Audsly, Normandy, in 1594, declares that “ Paint-
ing is an imitation, by means of lines and color on
some superfices, of anything that can be seen under the
sun, its end to please, — principles that every man capable
of reasoning may learn.”
Here is a plain, unvarnished statement from an eminent |
authority directly bearing on the question of imitation, and
to the ordinary mortal it would appear to be a sensible one.
If it be true, as the poet Keats wrote, ‘“ A thing of beauty
is a joy forever”’ (a statement that few will antagonize),
why condemn a cleverly executed imitation of wood or
marble, which admittedly is beautiful, on the ground that
PLATE 4
“S87S
‘sooald jo 1aquinN ‘ZI ‘payuesoidas Ppoom JO SoljolIEA
Sd0O
2
M CIVINI LNASSYdagyeY OL GaNIVYND
"soyoul Ze x ZZ ‘doy jo azig
SaOl Atay
GRAJNING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 5
it is “false in art,” when the best of painted art, according
to the above authority, is merely an imitation.
It has often been affirmed that all art is, in a sense, imi-
tative, and it requires an extremely fine perception to dis-
cover the dividing line separating the talent required to
execute a finely grained panel from that required to paint
a picture.
Despite all that has been said and written against grain-
ing, on the ground that it should not be tolerated, being a
sham and a deception and thus reprehensible, it will always
find its place in decorative work, and when properly done
will plead its own cause.
I have noticed in the last twenty years a growing ten-
dency on the part of some distinguished Royal Academi-.
cians to make a background of imitation marble one of the
features of their pictures, especially on large canvases. Is
it any less artistic to paint in imitation of marble on the
wall of a staircase than on the canvas of a picture?
We are told that the fault of the painted marble on the
wall is that its primary intent is to deceive. Admitting
that, is it any less beautiful? And must we be content
with plain surfaces of unadorned paint for fear that if we
grain or marble them, some one may be deceived thereby ?
Suppose a lady buys a set of oak furniture for her
dining room. The table, chairs, and sideboard are made
of quartered oak; now if the woodwork of that room has
been painted white or stained red, or whatever the color
may be, what treatment will our artistic friends suggest
that can so well harmonize the woodwork with the oak
furniture (and possibly the oak floor) as to grain the room
to correspond with the furniture? A recent writer says
to use a scumble or oak-graining color, but to attempt no
figures on the work. Why not have some suggestion of
the grain of the wood as well as the color? The effect of the
color is to deceive, and is it any worse to add the figures?
A book may be composed of sheets of blank paper, and,
ee.
6 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MOQERN
as Lord Byron wrote, “ A book’s a book although there’s
nothing in’t.” There is an element of romance in grain-
ing. The oak color alone on a room would be as a book
of blank paper to the novelist, while the grained room
would tell a story and either be true to nature or border
on the romantic, according to the skill and ability of the
erainer.
Again, suppose for certain reasons it is found necessary
to place iron doors and frames in the corridors or halls of
a building; if the surrounding woodwork is finished in
natural wood, how will we manage to make the iron doors
correspond with the other doors and the adjacent wood-
work in any other manner so well as by properly graining
them? Must we paint them black or a “wood color”
because, being made of iron, it would be “false in art”’ to
make them appear as wood?
There are things often seen in architecture that are as
false as graining. This would not justify the use of grain-
ing; but some of its critics forget their own shortcomings
in their haste to follow the rules laid down by their teach-
ers, and condemn graining because it is “ false.”
The near future may bring us doors made of wood-pulp,
compressed, and with all panels, mouldings, etc. in one
piece. According to our artistic friends it would be wrong
to paint these doors in imitation of wood. Yet I believe
that such doors will be made and many of them will be
grained.
1 Clipping from Boston Herald, 1914, says:
“Newspaper Row is getting an illustrated lesson on our modern method of
erecting an office building and then hanging on it what seem to be its supports.”
From “ Essays and Memorials,” by John W. Simpson:
“ Architecture is no mere ornamentation which can be applied to an unsatisfac-
tory structure in order to beautify it. It is either inherent to the composition or
irremediably absent.”
PEATE 5
1845
”
"
a
a
oe
=
es
<
O
Pa
ea
Y)
m~
ea)
-)
in Cambridge,
Done
F
GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 14
Cols eG 1 Oa ead AB
EMINENT GRAINERS OF THE LAST CENTURY
MONG the earliest of the celebrated grainers of the
A last century who have passed to their reward, perhaps
it would be well to mention Hay of Edinburgh as
among the first. He was an artist in his day and genera-
tion, and brought the art of graining toa high plane. He
is reputed to be the inventor of steel graining combs.
Leather and horn had been previously used. He was an
all-round artist, and decorated some of the finest buildings
in Scotland. My respected friend, the late John Smith, a
trade grainer of New York City and an excellent workman,
having served his time in Edinburgh and later worked in
some of the best shops in London, wrote me the Oa
anecdote of Hay.
It seems that Abbotsford, the residence of Sir Walter
Scott, was being decorated by Hay (probably between
1815 and 1825). I will give Mr. Smith’s own words:
“Hay of Edinburgh, where McPherson of Boston served
his time, was perhaps the most scientific painter that Scot-
land ever produced. He was Sir Walter Scott’s painter
when the latter was in the height of his fame. You may
have heard the story of him and Scott. Hay had painted
the library at Abbotsford, ceilings and walls, etc., in imita-
tion of oak, to match the bookcases, but before Scott came
home he gave the walls a coat of kalsomine. Everything
pleased Scott except the library walls, but perhaps he could
suggest nothing better. Hay suggested making them to
match the woodwork and bookcases — just the idea — so
when the “ Wizard” was gone, the kalsomine was washed
off, and in the morning Scott was astonished, and when it
was explained to him, he said it was as good as ae gune in
his books.”
8 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
Apprentices of Hay’s were as a rule excellent workmen,
and many of them were known as artists in their profes-
sion in whatever portion of the world they had settled.
The late William J. McPherson of Boston, and his brother
Walter, both of whom were grainers to the trade in Boston,
Massachusetts, in 1854, were graduated from Hay’s shop.
Bennett and Bogle of Glasgow were known as excellent
grainers and marblers. The late William Munro Ross, a
trade grainer of Boston, who died in 1878, and an artist
of no mean ability, was one of their apprentices. His son,
William M. Ross, also an expert trade grainer, died March
2, 1905. The firm of J. B. Bennett and Sons) successor
of Bennett and Bogle, is still known for the excellence of
its work in the specialties of graining and marbling.
Undoubtedly the late Thomas Kershaw of London, Eng-
land (born at Standish, near Wigan, Lancashire, in 1819,
died at London, 1898), has done more for graining than
any one man of modern times by bringing it to the atten-
tion of intelligent people as a pleasing form of decorative
art; and by his exhibitions of graining and marbling at the
first great exhibitions of the world’s industries in London,
1851, Paris, 1855, and London, 1862, he exemplified to the
world that such work was worthy of a place in the most
artistic residences. Mr. Kershaw, when but twelve years
of age, was apprenticed for nine years to Mr. John Platt of
Hall Street, Bolton, Lancashire, his father paying £4 23
(or $115), a large sum in those days, for the privilege
of having his son taught the mysteries of painting and
decorating. -No eight-hour law was in force in those days,
and it is said that after working for ten or more hours a
day for his master at such drudgery as the apprentice of
his time had to do, he found time to work two, three, or
four hours extra in his own room, studying the’ grains of
woods and endeavoring to successfully imitate them, and
so well did he succeed that long before his apprenticeship
expired his fame as a skilful grainer had reached beyond
his own shire. |
GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 9
His example should be an incentive to all young work-
men who aspire to be grainers. Study the wood. Imitate
no man’s work. In a letter to me, written by Mr. Ker-
shaw in 1893, he says: —
‘‘T never studied another man’s work or his method of
working. I went direct tonature. She has been my only
schoolmaster, and anything in the shape of woods and
marbles this side of Heaven or the other place I deter-
mined to tackle and make a business of it, but for the last
thirty-eight years left it off and commenced house paint-
ing, having served nine years to the trade I felt more
entitled to this than a lot of counter-jumpers who are not
practical except in lying. I find your prices for graining
are reasonable and compare favorably with prices here for
ordinary work, and if you work at high pressure, steam-
engine rate, you should earn good money. Grainers
nowadays work with their coat on and take life much
easier than in my graining days. I will not say what I
used to do, you would not believe it. Should you ever
come, I will tell you that I found no royal road to fame.
If you are an enthusiast, full of energy, take a trip to this
small city, call upon me, and I will show youa large room
full of specimens of my own work done before you were
born. I received the Painter’s Magazine you sent me and
am much obliged.
“From yours truly,
“THOMAS KERSHAW.”
Mr. Kershaw was awarded medals at the London Exhi-
bition of 1851, Paris, 1855, London, 1862, and in 1860 the
Painters-Stainers Company gave him the freedom of the
city of London, an honor seldom conferred upon a prac-
tical grainer and marbler. Let us hope that the youth of
to-day will by persistent efforts strive to attain the heights
he succeeded in scaling.
The late Mr. John Taylor, of Birmingham, England, was
10 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
a keen rival of his elder contemporary, Thomas Kershaw,
and I have heard it stated by men competent to judge that
Mr. Taylor’s marble panels excelled those of Mr. Kershaw.
Both men worked from natural woods and marbles and
cut out new paths in methods and tools, and each in his
way was known and respected for his ability in the three
kingdoms. Mr. Taylor was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in
1830, and died in Birmingham in 1901. He was early
apprenticed to the painter's trade. In serving his time he
worked at scene painting, and later, on reaching London,
he worked for the trade as a grainer and marbler. He
received medals for his work at the great exhibition, Lon-
don, 1851, 1862, 1870, and in Paris, 1887, and in 1898 was
given the freedom of the city of London. He settled in
Birmingham in 1860 and did much for the artistic welfare
of that town. He was a skilful picture painter and a
member of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists.
His work had been hung and sold in the London Bet
and in other large cities.
A friend of mine competent to judge assured me that
the mantle of Kershaw had fallen on Taylor, and I doubt
not that at the time of his death he was considered the
greatest exponent of graining and marbling in the United
Kingdom,
Would that the best grainers of this century would emu- _
late their example and give ocular evidence wherever
opportunity offers that skilful graining is not wholly a lost
art. An. object lesson in graining done by an expert is
more convincing to the beholder as to the decorative possi-
bilities than all the arguments that are arrayed against it.
Doubtless any of the larger cities of Great Britain or
Ireland in the years from 1850 onward possessed skilful —
and accomplished workmen as grainers and marblers. I
have heard personally of many such, but the names of
Kershaw and Taylor deserve special recognition, because
from youth to mature age they never failed to champion
CHERRY.
MAHOGANY. LIGHT OAK.
GROUNDS FOR GRAINING.
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the cause of skilful graining, and at no small expense. to
themselves prepared and exhibited to the public such won-
derful imitations of wood and marble as justly to gain for
themselves the title of artists in their chosen calling.
Their work also acted as a stimulus to the efforts of
those who were faithfully endeavoring to imitate nature in
this special direction, however feebly; hence the merit of
their work had a twofold value: beautiful to the beholder
in or out of the trade, and especially stimulating to those
within the trade, as it revealed the possibilities of the art;
“for whatever man has done, man may do,” and the hum-
blest of us can be helped and encouraged by the work of
men whose God-given skill we may never hope to fully
attain.
CHAPTER-IV
GROUND-COLORS
NE of the first essentials for a successful imitation
of wood is that the ground-color, or foundation on
which the graining is applied, should be similar in
color to the wood it is desired to represent.
Too little care is given to this feature of the work. The
grainer is often asked to do dark oak on a light oak ground-
color. Many an excellent piece of work has been rendered
ineffective by the use of a ground-color unsuited to the
wood to be represented. |
So strong is tradition that excellent workmen will often
adhere to a color scheme which could be vastly improved,
simply because in their early years they were shown by
their masters that certain colors and proportions must be
used to prepare ground-colors for graining certain woods.
These remarks are not made to condemn the work of
the older school of painters or grainers, but it is a fact that
| GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
few of these men saw good examples of the wood they
were asked to represent and hence were liable to mistake
in preparing the ground-color. .
Undoubtedly the first requisite for good work is a properly
mixed and properly applied ground-color. Without this
it is impossible to produce a good job. The professional
or trade grainer is frequently asked to “doa good job”
ona ground-color that makes good work impossible. The
primary principle, the shade or tone of the ground-color,
has been neglected. It is extremely difficult for the most
expert grainer to even approach the color of the wood in
his work unless some effort has been made to have the
ground-color similar in tone to the lightest part of the wood
to’be represented; yet many painters pay little attention
to this feature of the work and then blame the grainer for
an imperfect job.
One general principle for preparing ground-colors may
safely be laid down for any sort of wood: the color of the
ground should be similar in tone and, if anything, slightly
lighter than the lightest color to be seen in the wood it is
desired to represent —not the unfinished wood, but wood
filled, shellacked or varnished, and finished.
In matching the doors of a room to the standing finish of
natural wood it would be better to first complete the stand-
ing finish, or at least up to the last coat of shellac or var-
nish, before graining the doors. Then remember that, as
a rule, the grained work on interiors of dwellings often
retains its original color for years, while the natural wood
invariably turns darker by absorbing the oil from the var-
nish and by exposure to light and air.
It is not uncommon to see grained doors which, when
first done, matched fairly well in color with the natural-_
‘ wood finish by which they were surrounded, but when
done for a dozen or more years, they frequently appear
_ several shades lighter than the natural wood, for the
reasons above stated. Bearing this in mind, it is wise to
GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 13
have the color of the grained doors, when finished, slightly
darker rather than lighter than the wood to be matched.
On outside exposure nearly all hard wood turns dark, es-
pecially if it receives frequent coats of oil or varnish.
If the work to be done is on new wood and the wood is
clear white pine, spruce, or whitewood, the work may be
prepared for light graining by giving it two thin coats of
white shellac; or a coat of white glue-size may be given
it, although it is not recommended, as it raises the grain of
the wood and can only be used successfully where the
eraining is to be done in oil colors, as the glue-size would
soften up and mix with the water-graining color, thus
allowing no proper foundation for the work.
In preparing the ground-colors for graining use nothing
but the best of finely ground white lead and colors ground
in linseed oil. Any time or trouble expended in the care-
ful preparation of the groundwork is amply repaid in the
improved appearance of the finished work, and good work
cannot be done without pains being taken at each stage of
its progress. After mixing the color it should always be
strained through fine muslin. The manner of thinning
the ground-color will depend on the condition of the work.
If the wood is new, only a small amount of turpentine will
be required in the color for the first coat. Such work
ought to receive three thin coats, but as a rule it is
prepared with two coats on ordinary work, Always use
plenty of dryer in the priming coat. The second and
third coats should be thinned with not more than one part
linseed oil to three parts spirits turpentine. If a little
good varnish is added, it helps to harden the work and
leave it in better condition for graining.
If the work is to be done over old paint, a thorough
sandpapering is necessary. If the old work is badly
cracked or chipped, all the old paint should first be re-
moved; it costs a little more in the beginning to do this,
but it is worth while in the end.
14 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
There are many patent removers in the market, but the
old-fashioned compound of lime and soda will often remove
anything of an elastic nature, but for old hard paint it is
not sufficiently caustic. Beware of removers having either
bisulphide of carbon or wood alcohol in their formula, as
both are dangerous to health.
The burning lamp or torch if carefully used is often
quite effective in removing old paint, and it has the merit
of leaving the work ready for the brush after sand-
papering.
In case the paint is removed by the torch the thinners
for the priming coat should be about one-half raw linseed
oil and one-half spirits of turpentine with plenty of dryer,
as the torch will have drawn out most of the sap from the
wood, leaving it very dry. The excess of turpentine in the
priming coat is more likely to be drawn into the wood.
Foo much oil might cause trouble later.
If old work is to be repainted and grained without re-
moving the old paint, it should first receive a thorough
washing with a weak solution of washing soda— about
one pound of crystals of soda to three gallons of water.
Rinse off this solution with clean water to which has been
added one-half pint of vinegar to the gallon. This will
neutralize the action of the soda if any should be left on
the work. |
Sometimes a job is done on one coat of groundwork
over old paint or old graining, but it is unwise to do this.
If it must be done, first touch up all bare places, dents,
bruises, etc., with quick color mixed rather thin, and in
applying the ground-color don’t try to put on too much
paint at once.
The grainer would rather have a smooth surface fairly
well covered than a rough, ropy one, however well covered.
Then again ropy or rough groundworks always show up
very badly after the varnish has been applied. Don't
forget that smooth work cannot be done unless care is
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GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 15
taken with each coat and sandpaper has been used between
coats.
It is customary for the grainer to lightly sandpaper the
ground-work before applying his color; but on very light
work this must be very carefully done or omitted altogether,
for if any scratches are made in the ground-color, they will
show in the finished work on such light colors as maple,
satin wood, etc.
The use of red lead is recommended for mixture with
dark ground-colors where the old paint is not removed.
It helps to bind the color more firmly to the old paint.
The color should be kept stirred to prevent settling.
In some cases a badly cracked foundation can be helped
by using color thinned, about half linseed oil and half
spirits of turpentine with plenty of dryer added. Thicken
this color with bolted whiting and after coating in a panel
rub it with a block of pumice-stone which has been faced
smooth on one side with an old rasp. Draw the pumice-
stone down the panels after having thoroughly rubbed to
the work. This will leave the crevices and cracks filled
with the thick paint and fine particles of pumice-stone. It
also helps to amalgamate the new paint with the old. Do
not use the brush to smooth up, as it will draw the paint
out of the cracks. Use a scraping knife and leave all the
color you can in the cracks. When the work has dried
thoroughly, sandpaper and apply two coats of ground-
color mixed in the ordinary way. For a hurried job this
method will be found useful.
_ Many of the washable distemper paints are recommended
by their makers as being suitable for groundworks for
graining ; but their use is not recommended, as they often
contain soda or other alkaline matter that is destructive to all
subsequent coatings of oil color, both graining and varnish.
Then again, if moisture attacks the work from beneath, it
is likely to cause the water-color paint to loose its hold and
force it and all succeeding coats away from the wood.
16 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
CHAPTER W.
GRAINING COLORS
FTER many years of careful investigation the writer
A has for several years used only the finest dry colors in
mixing his graining color. (Burnt sienna, Vandyke
brown, and black are excepted.) There are several reasons
for this. First, he can use his own formula for mixing the
proportions of each color. The adulteration of dry colors
can be more readily ascertained than if the colors were
ground in oil, and a recent advertisement declares that
colors can be ground dry as fine or finer thaninoil. Then
the color is never fatty nor are there ever any skins of color
in the pot. If there are any coarse particles in the color,
they are deposited in the bottom of the pot. Anothe1
advantage is that the work can be done in either oil or
water color from the same base. The mixture of the vari.
ous dry colors being carried in one receptacle, where the
work is largely of one kind of wood the prepared color
has only to be thinned to be made instantly ready for use.
If cheapness were to be considered, this also would recom-
mend this method. But it is not for this reason that the
writer has adopted this plan, but chiefly because he can
readily ascertain the purity of his colors, knowing that they
are not ground in fish oil nor petroleum, and he can pro-
duce certain mechanical effects by their use that are not so
readily obtained where colors ground in oil are used.
The reasons for using burnt sienna, Vandyke brown, and
black, ground in oil or in water, are that the first two are
naturally gritty and require grinding and the latter is in
more compact form as well as being smoother from
being ground in oil.
GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 49
allowing the centre of the nail to be covered by the rag,
but the inside edge of the nail is not covered. Draw the
loose ends of the rag with the other hand, and using that
hand to steady the other, outline the work with the thumb,
making sweeps of the arm. The outside edge of the wiped
outline should be cleanly cut. The inside edge may later
be softened by using the rag on the ball of the thumb.
Draw the outlines carefully and carry out the lines on the
outside edges of the heart grains with a two-inch comb of
rubber covered with a thin piece of rag so that the panel
will have the same appearance all over. A common fault
in doing this work is that the places where the comb has
been used can readily be distinguished from the work done
by the rag on the thumb.
When the outline of the grain is completed, the rag can
be placed over the tip or on the ball of the thumb, and the
inside edges of all the outline softened by removing por-
tions of the color. Look carefully at the natural wood and
notice how to do this. Do not remove too much color.
When the work has been cleanly outlined and softened,
a medium steel comb may be used to slightly serrate the
lines of combing on the sides of the heart grains, but this
is not always necessary. Then take the rubbing-in brush
and blend the work lightly, always drawing the brush
toward the points of the heart grains, which will slightly
sharpen them and give them a more woody appearance ;
when the work is dry, it may be overgrained.
The heart grains of ash may also be pencilled in oil color,
or the pencil can be used to interline the work wiped out
by the rag, and when properly blended, it greatly improves
the appearance of the wiped-out heart grains.
The flat fresco bristle liner shown in cut of tools is an
excellent tool for this purpose or for making the heart
grains of any wood. The pencilling color should be slightly
darker than the graining color with which the work was
rubbed in. A soft piece of rag may be used to wipe off
50 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
the color previous to putting in the grains, or the color
may be left as rubbed in. It should be slightly set before
the pencilling color is applied, otherwise it is likely to
run together too much. Draw carefully the outline of the
heart grains. Hold a sash tool in the left hand and as
each dip of color is taken in the fresco liner, rub it lightly
on the sash tool so that the latter absorbs some of the color
and leaves the liner sufficiently supplied with color with-
out being too full after taking each dip. ,
When a panel or piece of work has been outlined with
the liner, use the dry rubbing-in brush for a blender and
blend lightly so that a sharp edge is formed on one side of
the lines made by the liner. The blending is done toward
the inside of the outlined heart grains, brushing the sharp
edges of the color toward the outside of the heart grains.
This will be found to resemble the grains most frequently
seen in the natural wood. There are frequently excep-
tions to this rule, and careful attentions to the grains of
the wood will show the student the best way to imitate it.
Never allow the color to become so set that when the
blending is done it will lift the color and show the ground-
color too plainly. Such work is too scenic to be natural,
and while admired by the amateur, is not so good an imita-
tion of the wood as is more modest work.
Overgraining greatly improves the work. Take some
of the rubbing-in color, thin it with spirits of turpentine,
add a little black if necessary, and give a thin wash of color
to the more prominent heart grains and wipe out any high
lights. Refrain from attempting any knots either in the
wiped-out work or in the overgraining. Knots are rarely
seen in ash.
The work can be overgrained in water colors and, while
it is a slower process on account of first having to dampen
in the work with a sponge and a little whiting mixed with
beer and water, it is most effective, and has the merit of
keeping the oil color off the oil graining, so that a surplus
PLATE SA
PENCILLED
— WIPED OUT AND
LIGHT ASH
—_
GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 51
of oil color is not applied under the varnish, which in time
might cause the varnish to crack.
Aim to produce a woody appearance of the work as a
whole. Do not overcrowd the doors with strong heart
grains, and keep all joints and divisions cleanly cut.
Ash may be represented very successfully in water colors.
In this case, little or no wiping-out is done, the heart grains
being applied with the bristle liner. Thin the color with
one part stale beer to two parts clean water. If the color
crawls or creeps on account of lack of affinity with the
groundwork, it may be remedied by rubbing the work with
dampened whiting, or a cake of soap may be used, and
the rubbing-in brush rubbed frequently on the soap... When
the color is applied, it may be lightly stippled with the
long-haired stippler, or if the work is very light, the stip-
pling may be omitted. If stippling is done, the color should
be very thin and the stippling finely done, not coarse.
The heart grains can then be put in with the bristle
liner and the work blended with the badger blender. The
short-haired overgrainer is used to carry out the lines on
sides of panels. Where the liner has been used in the
centre, they can also be used for the same purpose as the
combs, and used in oil color. If the color is thickened,
the rubber combs may be used with success. When the
graining color is dry, it may be overgrained in thin oil
colors. Crayons are sometimes used for making the heart
grains, generally in water color.
HUNGARIAN ASH
Ground-color.—White lead, yellow ochre, chrome yellow.
Graining Color. — Raw sienna, raw umber.
Tools. — Similar to those for ash.
This wood is a native of southern Europe. It is more
yellow in tone than light ash, and some varieties sold
for Hungarian ash are undoubtedly American ash of a
curly variety. Sometimes an old knurly ash log is cut
52 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
into veneers by cutting around the circumference of the
log, and the figure produced is similar in character to
Hungarian ash, but is much bolder.
This wood can be imitated in either oil or water color.
If done in water color, the work must first be mottled,
using a thin wash of raw sienna and raw umber. Use the
mottler or small fitch tool. Do not make the mottles too
strong, as they can easily be darkened later on if necessary.
Use a crayon to put in the grains on the mottling, or a
camel’s-hair pencil dipped in some darker color. The
blender must be used to soften the lines made by the
camel’s-hair pencil. When dry, it may be overgrained in
oil color and the mottling accented.
In graining Hungarian ash in oil color, the color may be
applied in the usual manner, and the outline of the work
wiped out with arag. This is a tedious and intricate pro-
cess and can be surpassed by work done by a camel’s-hair
pencil, or by the bristle lining fitch or a crayon pencil. In
fact, the more I study the heart grains of any wood, the
more | feel convinced that more successful work can be
done by the application of color to a properly prepared
foundation than by the removal of color from a similar
foundation.
If the figure is to be applied with a pencil, first mottle
the work, taking off the surplus color with a soft rag and
blending lightly with the rubbing-in brush. This mottling
can be allowed to dry if necessary or the grains can be
pencilled in at once. The pencilling color should be slightly
darker than the rubbing-in color, and it is well to thicken
it with a little whiting or by the addition of fine, dry, raw
sienna and raw umber. Pencil in the grains and blend
lightly with the rubbing-in brush. A split steel comb may
be used to break up the continuous lines and represent
more faithfully the pores of the wood. Be sure and keep
the teeth of the comb well cleaned. When this work has
been allowed to dry, it may be overgrained in oil or in
PLATE. 16
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ASH — BURL PANEL
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GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 53
water color, but take pains not to get the work too dark,
and endeavor to keep the color slightly different from
that of the plain ash. The use of this wood is confined
almost wholly to panelled work, so its imitations should
only be found on similar work. Do not confound this
wood with a species of curly ash which is similar in color
to light ash but whose grains are different.
BURL ASH
Ground-color, graining color, and tools similar to ash.
Burl ash is an excrescence or abnormal growth which
sometimes appears on the side of an ashtree. The late
Professor Horsford of Harvard University, in his work on
the Norsemen and their early occupancy of the North
American continent, claims that one of their chief indus-
tries was the cutting of these burls from ash and oak trees
and their sale in European countries, where the wood was
used to make spoons and other articles of household utility.
The grain of burl ash is best represented in water colors.
Sponge in the work and rub in the color, not too dark.
Take a small sponge with medium-sized pores and dip it
in some darkened graining color. Have a plate or palette
and put the sponge on it to remove surplus color. Then
apply the color to the panel evenly and endeavor to repre-
sent the little knots or dots that appear in the work.
After going over the work, allow it to dry and then go
over it a second time in a similar manner, using color
darker than that used the first time.
If the panel isea large one, introduce a plainer grain
toward the edge of panel and use the overgrainer to
suggest the grains of the wood, merging the grains into
the burl grains. When dry, rub the hand lightly over
the work to remove any surplus color, and if necessary over-
grain in oil color and slightly darken some of the clusters
of dots or knots. There is very little light and shade in the
average specimen of this wood.
54 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
Burl ash can be imitated in oil color by using a sponge
in the manner suggested for water color. First dip the
sponge in water and wring out dry, then take up the oil
color on one side of the sponge only. When the work is
finished, the sponge can readily be cleaned by the use of
soap and hot water.
Burl ash panels, like those of Hungarian ash, should be
used chiefly on interior work and then only in the panels
of doors or wainscots. It is unwise to imitate them on
outside work, as the real wood would rarely be used for
that purpose.
—_—__~>——__
CHAPTE Re Xo.
QUARTERED OAK
Ground-color. — For light oak: white lead, yellow ochre,
and a touch of burnt umber. For dark oak: white lead,
yellow ochre, raw sienna, burnt umber. By varying the
quantities of these colors the ground-color can be made as
dark as necessary.
Gratning Color. — Raw sienna, Vandyke brown, drop-
black, burnt umber.
Lools for Oil Color.— Rubbing-in brush, sash tool, fitch
tools, bristle liner, combs, rags, etc.
Lools for Water Color. — Sponge, rubbing-in brush, sash
tool, fitches, bristle liner, overgrainers, combs, blender, etc.
Quartered oak, or more properly quarter-sawed oak, is
produced by sawing the wood parallel or nearly parallel
to the medullary rays which radiate from the centre of the
tree toward the bark. The log is usually halved or quar-
tered, and boards sawn from the flat sides of each quarter
until the section is cut away. The nearer the wood is
sawn parallel to the medullary ray, the more prominent
and eccentric appear the grains of the wood. Undoubtedly
PATE 20
1. HEART OF OAK LOG SHOWING QUARTERED OAK ON EDGES
2. END OF OAK LOG SHOWING HOW QUARTERED OAK IS SAWED
~~
7
PLATE .21
OAK — COMBED
Ready for quartered ve
ins
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PLATS 22
OVERGRAINED
LIGHT QUARTERED OAK
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GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 55
the locality and soil in which an oak tree grows affects in
no small degree its markings. The white oak tree of New
England and the Middle West when grown in favorable
soil produces when properly sawn the boldest effects of
quartered oak, many of the medullary rays appearing in
the wood as large as the two forefingers of a man. The
English oak tree when similarly sawn produces grains
rarely one-fourth as prominent as those of American oak.
The character of the figure is also different. The slowly
developed English oak appears more dense in fibre and
radically different both in heart grain and quartered effect
from American oak.
In some varieties of oak the medullary rays are short
and very thin, so that although the wood may be sawn
parallel thereto, the effect produced is almost like that of
pine wood sawn in a similar manner. Such wood is usually
sawn to produce heart grains.
A section of a swamp white oak tree grown in South
Carolina, measuring four feet in diameter, was exhibited
in the Forestry Building at the World’s Fair in Chicago
in 1893, and again at St. Louis in 1904, and although
sawed directly through the centre of the tree the medul-
lary rays were scarcely discernible on the sides of the
board where they should have appeared most prominently.
A friend of mine told me an amusing story of a capital-
ist friend who had recently purchased some valuable timber
land in Tennessee. The man who sold the land said it was
covered largely with oak trees, not the common oak but
all quartered oak trees. (?)
Of all the woods that are represented by graining, oak,
and especially quartered oak, is most frequently encoun-
tered. Go where you will in the civilized, world wherever
the English language is spoken, and you will find but few
localities, especially if adjacent to large cities or towns,
where imitations of oak are not to be seen.
If samples of quartered oak, done by all the different
56 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
grainers of any large city, could be exhibited, they would
often show what a wide variety of opinion existed among
grainers as to how the wood should be imitated and what
they considered its most beautiful figures. In many cities
some able workman sets the style, and his apprentices and
imitators are more likely to follow his style than to study
and follow the grains of the wood.
Be original as far as possible. Copy no man’s style or
his work. Go to nature for your originals. Study closely
the figure of the wood, use any or all methods to attain
woody effects, but copy nature, not man.
Unless one is in love with his calling and cherishes its
secrets and methods he rarely can accomplish the best
results in his work.
A word might well be said at this point against the cus-
tom of staining wood and obscuring the beautiful figure of
quartered oak. The so-called antique oak may have been
growing as a white oak tree within twelve months of the
time it is placed on the market as furniture. It is folly
to stain it to a shade as dark as walnut and call it
“antique.” Its beauties are largely hidden, yet some of
the furniture-makers claim that their treatment ‘‘ develops
and brings out the hidden beauties of the wood.” As well
might one say that the charms of a beautiful woman might
be “‘ developed” by the application of burnt cork or stain
to her features.
The custom of staining light oak to an abnormal color
has absolutely nothing to recommend it except the vaga-
ries of a passing fad or fashion. It is similar in taste to
that of the aborigines who paint their faces and bodies,
hoping thereby to make themselves more handsome.
Some furniture manufacturers do not hesitate to stain
their oak furniture to a bilious green shade, unlike any-
thing in nature, and the grainer is sometimes forced to try
and represent it. This practice should be discountenanced
by all intelligent people. If dark wood is required, there
PLATE 23
ae
nm
PLATE 24
QUARTERED OAK — DARK PANEL
“~
GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 57
exist an abundance of varieties that are by nature dark
and can be used for any purpose. But on general prin-
ciples all natural wood should be finished as nearly as pos-
sible in its natural color. It will, as a rule, grow darker
with age, but the man never lived who can improve on
its natural color or figure. There is a growing sentiment
favorable to a return to natural effects in furniture, and to
a large extent the color of the furniture determines the
color of the finish of the modern house.
WIPING OUT QUARTERED OAK IN OIL COLOR
When the work is properly rubbed in, it may be combed
with a medium or fine rubber comb and overcombed with
the split steel comb. When the proper effect of pores of
the wood is obtained (which can readily be done as _ pre-
viously directed), a soft cotton rag is folded and the thumb
placed in the rag, the loose ends of which are held by the
left hand; the figure of the wood is then represented by
removing portions of the combed work, and the intervening
spaces can be softened by folding a small piece of rag and
softening the combing with the folded edge of the cloth.
Don’t take off too much color. The edges of the wiped-
out work may also be treated in this manner or the second
joint of the forefinger may be drawn against the edge of
each vein or flake. This will make the color appear
slightly darker and when lightly blended a very. woody
effect is obtained. A small, flat, short-haired fitch used
dry on the wet color will produce a similar effect. When
dry, the work may be overgrained in either oil or water
color. If oil color is used, some of the rubbing-in color
thinned out with turpentine may be used. Rub in the
panel and before the color sets comb with a medium-toothed
rubber comb over the veins of oak and use the split comb
to break the continuity of the lines made by the rubber
comb ; or a short-haired overgrainer may be used and the
oil color applied directly to the panel without rubbing in,
58 ' GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
and the lines made by the overgrainer may be serrated
and cut up by the split steel comb. This work must be
done with great care to produce the effect of oak wood.
Too much color will spoil the work and make it look
“Jiney ” and too regular for natural wood. Vary the shade
of the overgraining color, also the width of the lines of
color, and avoid overdoing it. Keep all joints and divi-
sions cleanly cut, and in quartered oak add a few fine, dark
- veins to some of the plain combed work, not making the
contrast too sharp.
GRAINING QUARTERED OAK
A fairly successful job of dark quartered oak may be done
on a white pine or whitewood foundation without paint by
first applying the quartered veins with white shellac, using
a camel’s-hair pencil or a short-bristle fitch. When dry,
apply your oil graining color and try to comb it before the
color strikes into the wood. If some extra megilp is used,
this is possible. The portions of the work touched by the
white shellac will appear light, and if necessary, they may
be wiped clean with a rag, or instead of trying to comb the
work it may be rubbed over with the rag and the surplus
color removed, leaving the portions light where they have
been covered with the white shellac. Such treatment can-
not be very successful unless the wood is free from promi-
nent heart grains, as they appear through the quartered
veins and destroy: the effect it is intended to produce.
The check roller may be used to advantage on such work.
A quick job can be done in this way, as a coat or two
of shellac or varnish will finish the work in a very short
time; yet the process is not recommended except in ex-
traordinary cases.
We sometimes see an exemplification of this process
on cheap oak furniture, where the wood has been sawn
to produce the heart figure and the attempt is made
to have it appear as quartered figure by the process
PEALE Zo
QUARTERED OAK
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PLATE 26
QUARTERED OAK (IN WATER COLOR)
ax
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oo
a.
GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 59
described above. The dark stain, penetrating the pores
of the wood, leaves the quartered figure represented by
the shellac standing out boldly on a heart-grain back-
ground, or the same effect is produced by finishing the
work light and after applying a dark stain wiping out the
figure of quartered oak. In either case the deception is
readily discerned.
Avoid the temptation to make bold figures all over the
work. Repose and balance are essential factors in the
appearance of any piece of figured work, whether it be
the natural wood or an imitation.
We frequently see, in the natural wood, very bold
effects ; but the effect is not pleasing when these are com-
bined in panelled work by a joiner who pays no atten-
tion to the figure of the work, but makes the boldest and
most violent combinations of figure. While we must ad-
mire the beauty and eccentricity of a bold-veined panel
of quartered oak, its beauty can be enhanced by keeping
the surrounding stiles in finer grains and less bold than
the panelled work; or if the panels are of fine-grained
figure, the stiles may be made more bold; but always avoid
the appearance of overcrowding the work.
The poet Oliver Wendell Holmes once wrote, “and
since I never dare to be as funny asI can.” It would be
well for some professional grainers to take this advice
to heart and not try to make their work too eccentric
or funny, nor try to outdo themselves in the abundance
and boldness of their work in a limited space. This is
one of the most common faults of even the professional
grainer and one of which he is often quite unconscious.
In these days when we see so much quartered oak in
furniture and interior finish, it is unwise to mingle the
heart grains among the quartered veins. If the work.
is to be quartered oak, see that no heart grains are in-
troduced unless it be on the edge of a board, as is the
case in the natural wood. There is such infinite variety
Grae GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
in the grain of quartered oak that ample opportunity is
afforded to show the skill of the workman without nec-’
essarily repeating figures. 3
FOURTEEN WAYS OF IMITATING QUARTERED OAK
1. Probably the oldest method of imitating quartered oak
was by representing it in water color by first marking out,
with a tallow candle on the painted groundwork, the figure
intended to be shown on the work. Then rub in the work
with water colors with the usual proportions of beer (one-
third to one-half), and with the blender or with overgrainers
make the effect of the pores of the wood. When the
water color isedry, a soft dry cloth is rubbed over the work,
which will remove the tallow and not disturb the water
color which has adhered to all parts of the work not cov-
ered by the tallow. The work can then be overgrained if
necessary.
2. Another method is to lay in the work in water color
without making any strong longitudinal grains and allow
itto dry. Then mark out the pattern of the quartered
oak figure with a tallow candle and sponge off the surplus
color. This will leave the veins dark on a light -back-
ground, which is the reverse of the first process. The
work, if carefully done, can again be gone over in water
colors, and overgrained, but it is safer to use oil color and
do the combing in the usual way. The color can then be
wiped off the veins, and a margin of the groundwork can,
if necessary, be shown, which will give the work a very
effective appearance. Avoid strong contrasts of color in
using this process.
3. The dark veins may also be represented by using a
short-haired, flat bristle fitch or a camel’s-hair pencil in
water color. First dampen in the work by using one-half
stale beer to one-half water. Add a little whiting if the
color creeps or crawls. Use little or no color in this pro-
cess. Then take a little dark color in the fitch tool or
PLATE 27
LIGHT QUARTERED OAK
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PLATE ‘28
LIGHT QUARTERED OAK
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GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 61
pencil and apply the dark veins wherever desired. Use
the blender very lightly, and when dry, overgrain in oil
color not too dark. It will be unnecessary to wipe the
color from the dark veins after the oil color is applied
unless the graining color is very dark.
4. Another method to show dark veins on a light back-
ground is similar to number 3, but instead of the tallow
candle a little beeswax is melted in turpentine and in lin-
seed oil, and the water-color work is painted with this
compound wherever the dark veins are to appear. A little
dry color added to the beeswax shows more plainly where
the brush touches the work. After sponging off the water
color the surplus oil and beeswax may be removed with
a dry cloth and the work overgrained in oil.
5. The dark veins may be painted in oil color, directly
on the groundwork, and after they are thoroughly dry the
work may be overgrained in water color or in oil color.
The spaces between the veins can be more successfully
treated at this time than if the work were all done in the
wet color.
6. Another method to produce light veins on a dark
background is to take some damar varnish, add to it a
little lampblack, and paint on the work the figures it is
desired to have appear in light color. When dry, over-
grain in water color, and endeavor to produce the effect
of the pores of the wood. When the water color has dried,
dampen a rag with turpentine and wipe off the black
veins. The turpentine will not remove the water-color
graining, but leaves the light veins clear and distinct on a
dark background. , The work can then be overgrained in
oil color.
7. Light veins may be produced on a dark background
by rubbing in the work in water color, and when dry wiping
out the figure with a wet chamois skin or with a wet rag,
_and when dry overgraining in oil colors.
8. Dark veins may be represented in the wet oil color
62 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
after the work has been combed and allowed to set a little
while, by taking a little oil color in the bristle liner and
applying it to the work, making the figures of the wood.
The rubbing-in brush is then used as a blender and the
work lightly blended in one direction. This will lift the
graining color and show a rather light vein with a dark
shadow on one side. Hence care must be taken not to
lift the color too much, unless it is desired to take it all off
and show the veins light. This can be done if the color
is allowed to set and clear thinners be used for the pencil-
ling color.
9. There is ‘perhaps no better way to represent the dark
veins of quartered oak than to paint them in oil on the
dry combed work. Use color slightly darker than the
graining color, and add a touch of burnt sienna, as these
veins are frequently of a reddish tone. A square-edged,
short-haired bristle liner makes the best tool for this pur-
pose. The combing should not be too dark or too strong,
merely a background for the color. A close examination
of the dark veins in the real wood will reveal the fact that
the background in such work, which we try to imitate by
combing, is, as a rule, very subdued, and the dark veins are
the most prominent in color of any of the grains; yet they
should not be imitated too strong — better to have them
too faint than too bold. The spaces between the dark
veins can be glazed over with some thin graining color,
and the effect of the natural wood is more frequently pro-
duced in this way.
10. Another method, and one rarely attempted, or indeed
necessary to the skilful workman, is to prepare pieces of
stout manila paper or tin-foil cut into the shape of the
veins of quartered oak and attach them to the groundwork
with weak paste. Grain the work, combing the parts
covered with the paper or the tin-foil. When it is dry,
remove these pieces from the work, and the figure will
stand out boldly, especially if the graining color is rather
PLATE 29
ENGLISH QUARTERED OAK — POLLARD OAK PANEL
PLATE 29 A
ROOT OF OAK PANEL
ENGLISH OAK
GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 63
dark. This work should be overgrained to produce a
woody effect.
II. Quartered oak may be represented on any light
wood that has a clear grain, and is free from strong heart
grains, by the use of white shellac, which is used to make
the figure of the veins, applying the shellac with a bristle
liner directly to the smooth wood, without previous prepa-
ration. When the figure has been outlined with the shellac
and allowed to dry, which will be a few moments after
being applied, the oil graining color, which has been mixed
rather oily, and with an extra portion of megilp, is imme-
diately applied to the work, and the rubber and steel combs
are used to represent the pores of the wood. The graining
color can then be easily wiped off the portions of ons work
previously coated with the white shellac.
The effect is fairly good if the wood is clear grained
and transparent, but there is generally something in the
figure of the soft wood which indicates that the work is
counterfeit.
In some cases the work is not combed at all, but the
color is allowed to sink into the wood, and the color on the
face of the shellac is rubbed off with a soft cloth. In
exceptional cases this work might pass for oak. It would
be superior to the simple staining of the wood to an oak
color, but it could not compare with work done on a painted
foundation.
12. When the grain of the wood is clear and free from
knots or sappy places, it is possible to do an excellent job
of quartered oak by giving the work two coats of white
shellac, and using that for a groundwork, graining in oil
in the usual way. There is a transparency in such work
that is lacking in any work done on a painted surface, but
the wood must be clear and free from strong grains of any
kind or the grain of the wood will spoil any attempt to
introduce quartered oak veins into it.
13. Another method of imitating quartered oak is the
64 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
so-called spirit graining, a method seldom resorted to by
the trade grainer.
Mix up bolted whiting with turpentine to a stiff paste;
add raw sienna and burnt umber to make the desired shade
of color; add some good japan dryer and a small amount
of linseed oil; thin the color with turpentine to a working
consistency. Strain the color and rub in a small piece of
the work at a time and comb it immediately. Allow it to
get well set and then use a small square-edged fitch tool
or liner which has been dipped in a mixture of clear tur-
pentine and raw or burnt sienna, and with this brush apply
the markings or veins of quartered oak over the work pre-
viously combed. When the turpentine has softened the
spirit color, which will be almost immediately, it can be
rubbed off clean with a soft rag, leaving the figure light on
a dark background. Diluted washing soda may be used
for the pencilling color instead of turpentine, but there is
danger of spoiling the work unless it is used very care-
fully. When dry, this work may be overgrained in water
color.
14. Lastly, the method followed by probably the greater
number of grainers who do quartered oak in oil color is to
wipe out the veins with a soft cotton rag folded over the
thumb nail, or with a veining horn, which is held in the
palm of the hand and lays against the under side of
the thumb, projecting slightly beyond the thumb nail and
covered with a fold or two of the rag. Some of the old
grainers use a piece of soft rubber for this purpose, but it
is difficult to prevent showing a fat edge on the work
where the uncovered rubber has been used. In some por-
tions of the world grainers fold the rag into a sort of tape
and put in the work with the rag drawn over the end of
the forefinger.
PLATE 30
DARK QUARTERED OAK
¥
PLATE 31
DARK QUARTERED OAK
GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 65
CHAPTER XXI
ENGLISH OAK
Ground-color.— White lead, yellow ochre, raw sienna,
burnt sienna.
Graining Color.— Raw and burnt sienna, burnt umber,
Vandyke brown.
Tools for Oil Color.— Flat brush, sash _ tool, fitches,
bristle liner, combs, rags, crayons.
Tools for Water Color.— Sponge, rubbing-in brush, sash
tool, fitches, bristle liner, overgrainers, badger blender.
This wood is the native British oak, grown in Great
Britain or Ireland. Its growth appears to be much slower
than that of any of its American cousins. Its grains are
often quite intricate and eccentric. The quartered oak
sawn from English oak trees differs very much in figure
from American quartered oak. As a rule, the grains are
very much smaller and more eccentric. They are also
interspersed with dark streaks, which gives the work an
odd appearance.
The work is usually done in oil color, mixing a little raw
sienna with Vandyke brown and then using the regular
thinners to the desired shade. The combing should be
more wavy than that intended to represent the grain of
American oak and should be well cut up with the split
steel comb. Next, wipe out the fine quartered veins with
a rag and blend lightly. When dry, overgrain in water
color and apply the streaks of short, dark grains with the
lining pencil; blend at once with the badger blender.
When dry, overgrain in the usual manner with a thin
wash of oil color. N
66 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
POLLARD OAK
Ground-color.— White lead, yellow ochre, raw sienna,
burnt umber.
Graining Color.— Raw sienna, burnt umber, Vandyke
brown, drop-black.
Tools for Oil Color.— Rubbing-in brush, ‘sash tool, fitches,
bristle liner, combs, etc.
Tools for Water Color. — Sponge, rubbing-in brush, sash
tool, fitches, bristle liner, overgrainer, blender, crayons, etc.
This wood is the product of intelligent cultivation of the
oak tree in European countries. The small limbs that
extend outward are polled or cut into rounded heads close
to the tree. As the tree grows, these polls or heads are
included in its growth, and when the tree is cut for timber,
these heads are cut through by the saw and the result is
a very beautiful figure of knotted oak.
Pollard oak may be imitated in either oil or water color.
The former method is that most commonly used. One of
the best jobs I have ever seen was done in water color.
It is most frequently represented by doing the first work
in oil color and overgraining in water color. The figure of
the wood consists of groups of dotted knots of greater or
less diameter and masses of light and shade with both
quartered figure and heart grains interspersed among
them. To make these groups in oil color, darken some
color with burnt umber and a touch of Vandyke brown,
and apply it to the work in irregular patches with a sash
tool or fitch tool. Then take a soft rag and work out the
darker portions to resemble groups of knots. Remove
some of the color from between the groups of knots and
comb with the rubber and steel combs. Heart grains of
the finer figures of quartered oak may be introduced among
this work.
When the oil color is dry, the work should be overgrained
in water color and the knots worked up to show the light
PLATE .32
DARK QUARTERED OAK
GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 67
and shade. Some of the lighter portions of the combed
work may be covered with the water color, and when dry,
the figure of quartered oak may be represented by using
a wet chamois skin, a wet rag, or a slice of raw potato,
either of which will remove the water color from the
work. The crayon pencil encased in wood is an excellent
help in doing this wood, and it may be used in either oil
or water color.
ROOT OF OAK
Same colors and tools as for Pollard oak.
This wood presents more eccentricities of figure than
Pollard oak. It is seldom imitated, but its grain is dis-
tinctly different from that of Pollard oak. There is in
this wood a much larger element of twisted and curved
_ lines than those seen in Pollard oak. The light and
shade is also more sharply defined. It can be well repre-
sented in either oil or water color in the same general
manner as in the process describing the imitation of Pollard
— oak.
CHAPTER XXII
HEART, OR SAP, OAK
EART, or sap, oak is the grain as it appears when
sawn the length of the log from bark to bark. As
the centre of the log is approached the quartered
- grains begin to appear toward the bark of the tree, disap-
pearing as they approach the heart or centre of the tree.
In ordinary white oak, and in much of the red oak, these
quartered grains are very pronounced when the log is sawn
parallel to what botanists call the medullary rays. These
are the hard, bright flakes that appear most plainly in the
68 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
end of a piece of oak, and which always radiate from the
centre of the tree toward the bark. In most of the oaks
used for timber, the log, when cut in this manner, produces
the most beautiful effects in quartered oak. There are,
however, some kinds of oak wood in which the medullary
rays are so short that, although the tree may be sawn per-
fectly parallel to the medullary rays, the figure produced
is so fine as to be almost invisible except at very close
‘inspection. Such oak, when used for interior finish or
furniture, is usually sawn to produce the heart grains, which
are often very peculiar and seldom as graceful as those of
_ white or red oak.
While it must be conceded that the finest work of art is.
inferior to the works of nature, yet in imitating the grains
of wood it is unwise to spend time and labor in represent-
ing the inferior patterns of the grains to the neglect of the
superior ones. After we have done our best we are often
far enough away from our copy, yet we ought at least to
have an ideal, and that ideal should be to faithfully repre-
sent the grains of the particular wood we are imitating
and endeavor to produce the effect of the more beautiful
figures of. that wood; not entirely ignoring the plainer
grains, but whenever the finer figures are called for in the
work, we should be able to reproduce them. This means
that all grainers should not only start with well-defined
ideas of the grains of the different woods ordinarily used
in interior finish, but they should also possess panels of
these woods and constantly study them. Keep them in
view. Let them not be relegated to some obscure corner
nor hung close to the ceiling of some smoky old shop or
office. Lose no opportunity to add to their number when-
ever you can do so. They need not necessarily be all of
one size, but secure them as large as you can.
It is difficult to remove our first impressions, and if
these impressions can be made to conform to the grain of
the natural wood rather than to somebody’s idea of the
PLATE 33
HEART OF OAK — LIGHT
=
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GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 69
wood, we have at least the satisfaction of having started
right, and are more likely to stick to nature for our ideals
than to the work of the most skilful grainer, and to make
all the criticisms of the work of ourselves and others from
the standpoint of the natural wood rather than from any
technical excellence of the work.
WIPING OUT HEART GRAINS OF OAK
There are a variety of methods of representing the
grains of this wood. It is probably represented in oil
color more frequently than in water color, and an excellent
representation can be made by either method or by grain-
ing in oil color and overgraining in water color, or vice
versa.
For some varieties of quartered oak it is difficult to excel
work done with a crayon if rightly used. ;
In wiping out the heart grains in oil color the same
general method is used as for wiping out the hearts of
ash as described in a previous chapter.
_ The rag is folded and held over the thumb nail and the
grains are outlined by removing the graining color from
‘the ground color. The heart grains of oak are, as a rule,
serrated and less rotund than those of almost any other
wood. They also vary from very coarse to very fine
and are often found taking an eccentric formation on
either side of the main heart. Often there are small knots
in the work, but asa rule these appear on the outside edges
of the board.
It would be impossible to fully describe all that can be
done with a rag and comb in wiping out the heart grains of
oak. Nothing but diligent practice and careful observation
of the real wood will help the learner to become proficient
in this method. |
The work should be well outlined with a clean-cut outer
edge. When the color sets slightly, the inside edge of the
outline can be softened with the rag folded or by covering
70 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
the point of the thumb with the rag. Do not remove too
much color. When the lines are carried out on the sides of
the work with a rubber comb, the split steel comb may be
used to further serrate the outer edges of the heart grains,
or the blending comb previously described may be used.
Blend the work lightly with the rubbing-in brush, and
when the work is dry overgrain it to put in any lights and
shades. If necessary, use a camel’s-hair pencil to make the
fine checks or medullary rays on the work. The check
roller can also be used for this purpose.
Another method of imitating the heart grains is to comb
the work with a coarse steel comb, overcomb it with the
medium split steel comb, and put in the heart grains with
the bristle liner, using some of the rubbing-in color slightly
darkened with dry burnt umber. Blend immediately and
draw the color to a dark edge on the outside of the figure.
If the lines look too continuous, the split steel comb may
again be used to cut up the lines to resemble the pores of
the wood.
Heart grains of oak, especially of some of the western
oak, may be well imitated in water color; as a rule an
undercoat of faint stippling is necessary. Use one-third
beer to two-thirds water and a little burnt umber. When
this has dried, the heart grains may be put in with the
bristle liner and carefully blended with the badger blender.
Care must be taken not to work up the underneath color.
The work must be done expeditiously.
The grains are sometimes put in with oil color on the
water-color stippling. Nothing but continued experiments
will enable the learner to discover the method best suited
~~ to his taste or that in his opinion appears to represent the
wood more closely.
A thin wash of overgraining color should always be
applied over the heart grains to produce the most woody
effects.
A very good imitation of the dark heart of oak is made
PLATE 34
DARK HEART OF OAK
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PLATE. 19
CHESTNUT
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GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN vas
by using crayons in oil color. Rub in the work with but
little color in the thinners and make the heart grains with
a crayon. Cut up the lines with a split steel comb and
blend lightly with the rubbing-in brush. When dry, the
work should be overgrained in either oil or water colors.
Crayons can also be used dry on the stippled: background
in water colors. After the work is outlined, fill a medium-
sized overgrainer with clean water and draw it lightly over
the work toward the points of the hearts; this will wet the
crayon lines. Blend immediately with the badger blender :
this will draw the wet crayon lines to a sharp, dark edge
on one side of the work. Steel combs may be used, if
necessary, to break up the lines.
Si ee
CHAPTER XXIII
CHESTNUT
Ground-color.— White lead, yellow ochre, raw sienna,
burnt umber.
Graining Color.— Raw sienna, burnt sienna, Vandyke
brown.
fools for Oil Color.— Rubbing-in brush, sash tool, fitch
tools, bristle liner, combs, rags, etc. |
This wood is a native of nearly all temperate ‘climates
and makes a good wood for timber. It has a very Coarse
grain and is very porous, hence it is difficult to keep it
properly filled so that the weather will not affect it.
It may be represented in either oil or in water color.
If the latter, the work should first be finely stippled and
the heart grains put in with the bristle liner and immedi-
ately blended with the badger blender. The plain portions
of the wood may be represented by using the overgrainer.
For oil graining the color is mixed of two-thirds raw
sienna to one-third Vandyke brown, adding a little burnt
72 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
sienna if necessary. Thin with the regular thinners, and
when the color has been properly applied and allowed
to set for a little while, the heart grains can be wiped out
with a rag in the manner directed for ash. Do not wipe off
too much color. To make the fine secondary grain that
usually is seen in this wood, use a thin piece of wood
sharpened to a point, blend in lightly with the rubbing-in
brush. Use the combs as directed for ash. There is very
little fine combing seen in chestnut.
—_—_—_——_
¢
CHAPTER XXIV
WHITE OREGON CEDAR
Ground-color. — White lead, yellow ochre, venetian red.
’ Make a warm shade, not too much lead.
Graining Color. — Raw sienna, burnt sienna, rose pink
or crimson lake, drop-black.
Tools for Water Color. — Sponge, rags, brushes, fitches,
overgrainer, mottler, blender.
Tools for Oil Color. — Usual brushes and combs.
This wood, which grows on the northern Pacific coast,
is becoming more common in the eastern part of the
United States, owing to the scarcity of native white pine
of good quality. It is doubtful if the wood is as service-
able as white pine, it being very soft, exceedingly light in
weight, and readily takes a dent or a bruise. It also splits
easily if not carefully nailed. It is, however, one of the
most durable of woods.
A photograph is exhibited by a Lumberman’s Associa-
tion of California, showing a man at work cutting out
shingle sections of sound lumber from a fallen log of
cedar; arched over the log are three growing cedar trees,
each estimated to be fifteen hundred years old, showing that
PLATE 41
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GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 73
although the log had lain all those years it had not rotted,
but remained sound timber.
For water color, use beer one part, water three parts;
dampen with a sponge, rub in with brush dipped in a little
of each of the colors named, lay out for light and shade
and general direction of grain; blend, and when dry put
in dark figure of heart grains, which almost always appear
dark on a lighter ground. Overgrain sides to meet the
dark pencilled work, taking care not to show a joint or lap.
When dry, the work can be lightly overgrained in oil,
accenting the shadows or mottled places in the work. As
a rule, these seldom appear in the natural wood; the gen-
eral effect is quite plain, the variations in color being the
chief characteristic of the wood.
In oil graining the work is rubbed in with a mixture of
the colors named above, the color being of a light shade
and spread out rather sparingly. The rag can now be
used to indicate the general direction of the grain. This
is done by folding the rag loosely in the hand and describ-
ing on the work the direction of the figure. Have a little
of the rubbing-in color darkened with burnt sienna and
lake and slightly thickened with bolted whiting. This
color is applied with the flat fresco bristle liner to produce
the figure, and is immediately blended with the rubbing-in
brush or with a badger blender. Combs may be used to
carry out the grains on the sides of heart grains or an oil
overgrainer may be used for this purpose. Some of the
rift grains are extremely plain and some of the figure work
quite bold; it depends on how the timber is cut. A slight
overgrain in oil or water gives depth and transparency to
the work. Some varieties show mottled or bird’s-eye
figure, and can be imitated in the manner directed for
maple or cherry.
There is considerable difference in the color of different
boards of this wood; the colors range from very light to
very dark. The light shades are similar in color to cypress
74 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
or light ash, generally of a warm tone, and the dark shades
are a rich reddish brown approaching to black.
CHAPTER XXV
' YELLOW PINE
Grounda-color. — White lead, medium chrome yellow.
Graining Color.—Yellow ochre, raw sienna, burnt
sienna, rose pink.
Tools for Oil Color.— Rubbing-in brush, sash tool,
fitches, bristle fresco liner, combs, rags, etc. |
Tools for Water Color.— Sponges, rubbing-in brush,
sash tool, fitch tools, bristle liner, overgrainers. _
This wood is a native of the southern portion of the
United States. It is often the drained pitch pine or long-
leaved pine tree which has been killed by taking away
the sap to make turpentine.
This wood is used much more frequently in the United
States than formerly, partly because of the scarcity of
white pine and partly because of its boldness and variety
of figure. For the latter reason it is finished in varnish,
and often takes the place of white pine, which formerly
was painted and grained to imitate oak in kitchens and
rooms of ordinary dwellings. It is difficult to make a door
of this wood which will stand extreme changes of tempera-
ture. The joints open and look badly in a comparatively
short time, so that often doors of another wood are used,
and are painted and grained to represent the yellow
pine. No door stands atmospheric changes so well as
one made from white pine, unless we except the doors
which we are promised in the near future which are
to be made of compressed wood-pulp without joints,
the mouldings being compressed with the door. This
PLATE 42
YELLOW PINE
GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 75
wood has a figure very similar to that of Norway pine,
and the colors used are similar; for some of the warm,
soft tones a little crimson lake must be used, also a very
little drop-black, but care must be taken not to produce a
greenish tone if the black is used over a bright yellowish
ground-color. The lake is best used as a shading color to
be applied over the work in a thin wash to bring it to the
desired shade. The faint mottled effect peculiar to this
wood is obtained in a similar way, using the mottler in
water color, or a soft rag if oil is the vehicle.
This wood may be represented in either oil or water
color, but my preference is for the former. First, because
it can be more quickly rubbed in and also because you do
not have to, wait for the weather should the temperature be
below freezing. ° |
Mix the graining color with a little raw sienna, a little
yellow ochre, and a touch of burnt sienna; thin with the
thinners previously described. The work is combed with
a rubber comb, and the grains applied with a fitch tool or
bristle liner.
PITCH PINE, OR HARD PINE
Ground-color.— White lead, chrome yellow, venetian
red.
Graining Color.— Raw sienna, burnt sienna; burnt
umber.
Zools. — Rubbing-in brush, sash tool, fitch tool, bristle
liner, overgrainer, combs, rags, etc.
This wood is the long-leaf pine of the South Atlantic
and Gulf states, and from its sap is made the spirits of
turpentine.
This wood is used for floors more than any other wood
in the United States, and for this purpose is generally
sawed in a manner similar to quartered oak. The rings of
annual growth are intersected by the saw as nearly as pos-
sible at right angles, so that the grains run very nearly
76 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
parallel and wear much more evenly for floors than when
cut with a heart figure.
For standing finish the wood is sawed in the usual man-
ner, and the grains are often very bold and strong, showing
strong contrasts. It issometimes necessary to add a little
venetian red to the pencilling color to make it sufficiently
dense and opaque to match the dark heart grains.
Prepare a mixture of one-third raw sienna, one-third
burnt sienna, and one-third burnt umber, and thin it toa
very fluid consistency — in fact, a mere wash. This is for
the rubbing-in color. Add to this color about one-half gill
of raw linseed oil for each half pint of color which has
been thinned with the regular thinners. Spread this color
rather sparingly on the work. Then take some thick color,
made mostly of burnt sienna and burnt umber (with a touch
of venetian red if necessary), and pencil in the strong heart
grains, using the flat fresco bristle liner; blend with the
rubbing-in brush. It is sometimes necessary to remove
nearly all the rubbing-in color with a rag before beginning
to pencil in the color. In fact, excellent work can be done
by pencilling the color on the dry ground work, and when
dry, rub in lightly and comb or mottle the work whenever
necessary. |
When the work is to be combed, it will be necessary to
slightly thicken the color. An overgrainer may successfully
be used in oil colors. Fasten a bone comb, teeth upward,
on the inside edge of the pot, the teeth of the comb being
slightly above the edge of the pot. Dip the overgrainer in
the color and draw it through the teeth of the comb; this
will separate the bristles so that the color can be evenly
applied. The piped overgrainer can also be used with
SUCCESS.
To produce the best effect the work, when dry, should
be overgrained, using some very thin color and-if necessary
adding a little crimson lake and drop-black to the over-
eraining color.
or Hard Pine
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GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 77
This wood can be well represented in water color; but my
preference is for oil color, as the heart grains are bold and
prominent and ample time is allowed to blend the work
in oil color without drawing up the color to a thin, sharp
edge.
CHAPTER XXVI
CYPRESS
Ground-color.— White lead tinted with raw and burnt
sienna.
Graining Color.— Raw sienna, burnt sienna, and drop-
black.
Tools for Orl Color. — Rubbing-in brush, sash tool, bristle
liner, overgrainer, combs, rags, etc.
Tools for Water Color. — Sponge, rubbing-in brush, sash
tool, fitches, overgrainers, blender, and bristle liner.
This wood grows plentifully in the southern portions of
the United States and is being used for interior finish much
more frequently, owing to the scarcity of white pine and
its increased cost; it isalso much more in evidence than in
former years, largely for the reasons stated for the increasing
use of yellow pine. Some of its figures are very beautiful ;
but it is a very soft and porous wood and easily bruised or
dented, and hence is not as desirable for interior finish as
pine. We rarely find it properly finished, being composed
of alternate layers of soft and hard fibres. The grain will
lift unless it is properly filled in the beginning, and this
filler should be a hard, non-porous substance and sufficiently
transparent not to obscure the natural beauty of the wood.
The grain of cypress resembles that of hard pine, but is
broader in the heart and finer grained; there is also more
contrast between the light and dark portions of the growth.
The ground is slightly darker and more yellow than that
78 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
used for oak. The graining color is made of raw and
burnt sienna and burnt umber, and is mixed in oil. When
the color is rubbed in, the hearts are wiped out in the
usual manner or pencilled in. A rubber comb can be used
to make portions of the heart by occasionally using it in
the finer portions of the wiped-out hearts. Great care
should be taken that the lines made by the comb closely
follow those made by hand, and that they are equally dis-
tinct. The fitch tool is often used in matching cypress;
the combing is mostly fine and rather straight. Never use
the steel combs over the lines made by the rubber comb.
The work may be shaded with some of the graining color
to which some black has been added and the whole thinned
with turpentine, but the work is ordinarily finished without
shading.
le
CHAPTER XXVII
QUARTERED SYCAMORE
Ground-color. — White lead, raw sienna, burnt sienna.
Graining Color.— Raw sienna, burnt sienna, and drop-
black.
Tools for Water Color.— Sponge, sash tool, rubbing-in
brush, stippler, blender, bristle liner, camel’s-hair pencil,
crayons.
Tools for Owl Color.— Rubbing-in brush, sash tool, fitch
tools, flat fresco bristle liner, camel’s-hair pencil, crayons.
This wood grows plentifully in the northern portion of
the United States and is found in nearly all temperate
climates. It attains great height and girth, but with age it
invariably decays in the centre. It is found plentifully in
Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Senator Voorhes of Indiana
was called by his colleagues at Washington “the tall syca-
more of the Wabash.”
PLATE 14
QUARTERED SYCAMORE
A
Pek
GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 79
If the tree is sawed in the ordinary manner, it presents
a very subdued grain and scarcely any figure is shown;
but when cut from the centre of the log toward the bark,
r “quarter sawed,” as the lumbermen call it, the figure
produced by the medullary rays is exceedingly beautiful
and is very difficult to imitate, as it is full of minute grains
which cannot be ignored if a faithful imitation is to be
produced. :
My preference is for water color if the work is to be
well done. Use one-fourth stale beer to three-fourths water,
or the same proportions of vinegar and water. First dampen
in the work with the sponge or rubbing-in brush, use dry
whiting if it crawls, and take sparingly, on a sash tool, a
little raw sienna and a touch of burnt sienna; add a little
drop-black, or keep the black in a separate fitch tool and
blend in with the other colors. A background of shaded
veins must be made similar to those in mahogany, but much
less pronounced. Draw the blender lightly through these
veins and blend lightly across the grain. This should pro-
duce a background effect for the fine veins which are
formed by the medullary rays in the natural wood. The.
stippler or the badger blender may be lightly used across
the grain to suggest the fine quartered veins. In some
pieces of the work the longitudinal streaks or veins may
be omitted and a cross-stippled background produced, but
it must be done with very thin color and present a faint
suggestion of the quartered veins.
When this has been allowed to dry, the dark veins,
which make the beauty of the grains, are put in with a
brown or a reddish brown crayon pencil. The work can
then be varnished before being overgrained, or it may be
overgrained in oil color directly over the watercolor. Care
must be taken to have the brushes clean and the color very
thin, merely a wash of one-third linseed oil to two-thirds
turpentine, adding a sufficient quantity of liquid dryer.
The brush should, not be too much worn or it will be
80 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
coarse and rub up some of the fine crayon markings. A
camel’s-hair pencil may be used in water color or in oil
color to put in the fine quartered grains, but the crayon
process is by far the most rapid.
In doing the work wholly in oil the groundwork should
be nearly flat. The graining coloris prepared very thin and is
composed of a very little raw sienna, burnt sienna, and drop-
black. When a panelis rubbed in, take a sash tool charged
with some darker color and block out the background of
longitudinal veins. They must not be made too dark. Two
or three shades darker than the rubbing-in color is suff-
ciently strong. Then take a soft rag and remove portions
of the color between the dark veins; blend the panel length-
wise with the rubbing-in brush and then lightly crosswise
and always in one direction. The crayon pencil can then
be used, and if the ground-color has been properly pre-
pared and applied, the dark veins can be represented with
considerable accuracy. If the ground-color is too glossy,
the crayon color will not adhere to the work and the color
must be applied with a very small bristle fitch tool or with
a camel’s-hair pencil. The work should, in all cases, be
overgrained if the best results are to be obtained. The
overgraining color being only a thin wash to give depth
to the work, dark veins can be produced in the overgrain-
ing, or those already put in can be accented if necessary.
Especial care should be taken in imitating this wood to
have the bolder figures appear in the panels, and the
grains in the stiles, especially in the long stiles or rails,
should be more subdued. It is well to use crayons of
different shades, putting the darker figures on the panels,
and, in case the panel is very large, using two or more
crayons on the same panel.
By close observation of the real wood we will find that
often in the same panel there appear streaks or veins of a
lighter or darker shade from those on either side. We can
represent this peculiarity by using different colored crayons,
PLATE 35
CHERRY — MOTTILED
Ready to overgrain
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GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN SI
or, in case we are using the camel’s-hair pencil, by darken-
ing the color or by making it lighter.
Quartered sycamore is seldom imitated and a good imi-
tation might cost nearly as much as the real wood, as a man
could easily spend a whole day on one side of a door if the
work was to match some fine specimen of the wood.
CHAPTER XXVIII
CHERRY
Ground-color. — White lead, yellow ochre, venetian red.
Graining Color.— Raw sienna, burnt sienna, burnt
umber, drop-black. |
Tools for Oil. —Rubbing-in brush, sash tool, fitches,
combs, rags, bristle liner, overgrainer.
Tools for Water Color.— Crayon, sponge, rubbing-in brush,
sash tools, fitch tools, blender, bristle liner, overgrainer.
This wood grows throughout the northern portion of
the American continent, and when finished natural is
often as light in color as ash and its markings are very
subdued and quiet in character. It is seldom finished in
its natural color, as the popular idea of cherry color is one
much nearer to the color of the fruit than of the color of
the wood, so that it is more frequently stained to a mahog-
any color, and being a dense hard wood it can be most
successfully stained to any depth of color.
Furniture made from this wood and stained is frequently
sold for mahogany, and it often requires a close inspection
to detect the deception. |
Cherry may be well imitated in either water color or oil.
The base of color for a natural cherry is raw sienna
deepened with a little burnt sienna and a touch of drop-
black. If avery light shade is desired, burnt umber will
82 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
darken the color sufficiently. If the color is to be a deep
reddish shade, the base of the graining color will be burnt
sienna deepened with. burnt umber, adding a little black if
necessary. The color should be applied rather sparingly,
if oil color is used, as most of the figure is pencilled on the
work with the bristle liner and if there is a surplus of color
on the work, it will not blend successfully.
For oil color, rub in as usual; then take a little of the
graining color and darken it slightly by adding dry burnt
umber. Mix the colorin a separate tin and use it to apply
the figured grains to the work. The flat fresco bristle
liner is an excellent tool for this purpose, although some
grainers prefer a camel’s-hair pencil.
The mottled effect of cherry may be obtained in oil
color by using a fitch tool with a little of the rubbing-in
color or a little of the darkened pencilling color, and with
it apply the mottled dark markings in the general direction
of those seen in the wood. Blend lightly crosswise with
the rubbing-in brush in the general direction of the mot-
tlings ; then blend lightly one way, lengthwise of the grain.
If a pencilled growth is to be applied over the mottling,
care must be taken to blend it in the same direction, length-
wise, as the mottling, otherwise the effect of the mottling
is largely destroyed. |
The color should be allowed to set slightly before either
mottling or pencilling is attempted, as if done too soon the
colors will blend together and the sharp and clean effect of
the grains will be lost. On the other hand the work must
not be allowed to set too much, as the wet color will lift
the grain too much and the effect will be too pronounced
and unnatural.
The piped overgrainer, or the short-haired overgrainer,
may be used in oil very successfully in imitating this wood.
Mottle the background as directed, and when slightly set,
use the overgrainer in oil color and blend quickly with the
rubbing-in brush. |
PLATE 36
CHERRY — OVERGRAINED
GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 83
Combs can be used to represent the light, plain portions
of the wood, the medium and fine steel combs being best
suited for this purpose. The straw matting may also be
used and will be found useful in carrying out the fine lines
on either side of a panel where the pencil has been used to
put in the heart grains.
Some of the finer heart grains may be wiped out with a
rag, but the wood can best be represented by pencilling in
the color. In fact, the heart grains of nearly all the hard
woods can be most successfully imitated by pencilling
rather than by wiping out the color. There is, in cherry, a
fine secondary grain which must not be ignored.
The mottled effect of cherry wood can be very closely
represented by using a mottler in water color on the eround-
work and overgraining in oil color. In fact, the whole of
the work can be done in water color, and an oil glaze of the
proper shade gives it the necessary depth to make a very
natural appearance.
A close examination of this wood will reveal the fact
that its heart grains are very finely outlined, and a very
small fresco liner and rather thin color should be used or
the grains will be made too prominent. The crayon pencil
encased in wood, or the soft crayon of home manufacture,
may be used with success for all heart grains in both oil
and water colors.
In graining this wood wholly in water colors the work
is first sponged over with stale beer diluted with one-half
clean water; then apply the graining color very thin, and
while wet lay out the mottled effect, using the fitch tool
with color slightly darkened, or gathering the color with
the mottler and blending lightly with the badger blender.
When the mottling has dried, the grains can be put in with
the bristle fresco liner or with the piped or short-haired
overgrainer. Care must be taken to blend the work
quickly and draw the color to a sharp edge on the outside
of the heart grains. By using two-thirds stale beer in the
84 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
mottling color, and little or none in the pencilling color, the
underneath color is not so readily softened by the wet
pencil, and if carefully blended will not lift the underneath
color to any great extent.
Some grainers use an oil pencilling color over the water-
color mottling. Thin the pencilling color with raw linseed
oil and benzine to which a little liquid dryer has been
added. This color does not blend so well as the water
color, but has the merit of lessening the danger of rubbing
up the dry mottled color.
To obtain the best results, the work, whether done in oil
or in water color, should be overgrained. Fora very bright
shade a little crimson lake with a touch of drop-black may
be added to the regular oil color and the whole thinned
forty to fifty per cent with turpentine. Give the work a
very thin coat of this color, taking pains to spread it evenly
and quickly, being careful that it does not rub up the
underneath color, if the latter has been done in oil.
In dismissing this wood from further consideration, a
word of advice to young beginners will not be out of place.
Try to make.a difference in both the character and the
relative thickness of the grains of cherry from that of any
other wood except birch or maple. The most common
fault of imitations of cherry is that the heart grains are made
too prominent as well as too thick. Look at the wood and
see how fine some of the heart grains appear ; nothing less
wide than a fine camel’s-hair pencil or a fine crayon could
be used to represent such grains.
A faint stippled or porous effect is often observed in
some varieties of cherry. There are also some portions of
the tree which show, when cut parallel to the medullary
rays, a very pronounced quarter-sawed effect similar
in character to quartered sycamore. But the veins in
cherry, as a rule, are light on a darker ground, while those
of sycamore are, as a rule, just the opposite. A similar
effect is produced by using the stippler to make faint
CHERRY — OVERGRAINED
at
GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 85
checked markings across the grain, stippling lightly across
the panel, having very little color on the work. This
should only be done on the work at rare intervals. The
faint porous effect obtained by stippling in the usual man-
ner is much more frequently seen. The stippling color
should be very thin or the effect produced is liable to sug-
gest mahogany rather than cherry.
—_@—_—_
CHAPTER XXIX
CURLY BIRCH
Ground-color. — White lead, raw sienna, venetian red.
Graining Color.—Raw sienna, burnt sienna, burnt
umber, drop-black. |
Tools for Oil Color.—Rubbing-in brush, sash tool, fitch
tools, flat fresco bristle liner, combs, rags, piped and short
bristle overgrainer, crayons.
Tools for Water Color. — Sponge, rubbing-in brush, sash
tool, fitch tools, flat fresco bristle liner, blender, overgrainer,
crayon.
This wood grows in northern North America and in
nearly all temperate climates. It is very similar to cherry
in general character and often is stained to represent
stained cherry. Being of about the same density, it makes
a very successful imitation. The mottlings of curly birch
are invariably more pronounced than those of cherry, and
if the wood is stained, the mottled effect is very positive, on
account of the stain penetrating the ends of the pores
of the mottled wood, which readily absorb it.
If the wood is to be represented in its natural color, three-
fourths raw sienna and one-fourth burnt umber may be
used, thinned to a transparent stain; but if a stained effect
is wanted, burnt sienna and burnt umber must be used ;
86 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN |
also a little drop-black, the shade of color depending on the
color of the wood to be matched.
For oil graining the work is first rubbed in and allowed
to set slightly, then the mottled effect can be produced by
using the fitch tool in color slightly darkened with a little
burnt umber. This color is lightly blended with the rub-
bing-in brush and allowed to set still longer. Then pencil
in the growth with the bristle liner, blending one way.
Carry out the side lines of the heart grains with combs
or with the overgrainer.
The piped overgrainer or the short-haired overgrainer
may be used in oil over the mottling with excellent effect.
There is, in some varieties of curly birch, a warm pink-
ish tinge which cannot successfully be matched with burnt
sienna. In such cases a little rose. piak or crimson lake
may be used to advantage. A little drop-black should be
mixed with the lake and the color thinned to a very fluid
consistency ; it is best used as an overgraining or glazing
color, although a little of the lake may be added to the
graining color. The pinkish portions of the wood are
found more rarely than the reddish brown to gray toned
portions, hence it would not be wise to stain all the color
to a pinkish tone; but where such pieces are desired, use a
little of the lake or pink to brighten the color already
_ applied to the work.
Before the heart grains are put in with the pencil, brush,
or bristle liner it is well to outline with a soft rag the gen-
eral direction in which the heart grains are to run. Fold
the rag several times and with sweeping strokes wipe off
portions of the color, so that when the pencilled work is
put in the color will not run. If mottling is to be done
on such portions, it should be done before the pencilling is
applied. ‘
To represent this wood in water color, the colors to be
rubbed in should be kept in separate vessels and a little of
each color taken up in the large sash tool. This can be
PLATE. 40
CURLY BIRCH
oh
GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN . 87
spread out with the rubbing-in brush and a mottler or fitch
tool used to represent the mottled curly markings. Care
must be taken to have the mottling irregular and not run-
ning too parallel. The mottlings of curly birch, while very
pronounced, are also very irregular, and the color must be
broken up into patches of strong mottles intersected with
bright portions of the wood. When the mottling is dry,
the heart grains can be put in with the bristle liner or
with the camel’s-hair pencil and blended to bring the
dark edges of the figure on the outside of the grain.
The piped overgrainer or the short-haired overgrainer
can be used to overgrain the mottled work or to put
the grain in the plainer portions of the work. A thin
glaze of overgraining color is necessary to finish the
work whether it be done in oil or in water color.
CHAPTER XXX
BLACK WALNUT
Ground-color. — Yellow ochre, white lead, venetian red,
burnt umber.
Graining Color.— Burnt umber darkened with Vandyke
brown. .
Tools for Water Color.— Sponge, rubbing-in brush,
stippler, mottler, blender, overgrainer, pencil fitch, sash
tool, bristle liner, crayons.
Tools for Oil Color. — Rubbing-in brush, sash tool, fitch
tool, flat fresco bristle liner, combs, rags, crayons.
This wood is a native of the middle portion of the
United States and of the southern portion of Canada west.
It is now seldom used for finish in the East, owing to its
scarcity and consequent high price.
When the proper ground-color has been applied and
88 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
allowed ample time to dry, the work should be lightly
sandpapered and stippled in water color. Use Vandyke
brown ground in water and burnt umber in equal parts.
For a lighter shade of walnut the Vandyke brown may be
omitted. The colors ought to be thinned with not more
than one-third to one-half stale beer to one-half to two-
thirds clean water. This is amply strong to bind the color
to the work. The figure can then be put in by using fitch
tools and overgrainers directly on the work as stippled,
which is the method preferred by many artistic workmen.
Or, when dry, it may be rubbed in in oil color, using straight
burnt umber for the graining color thinned with one-third
raw linseed oil to two-thirds spirits of turpentine, adding
about one gill of good liquid dryer to the half gallon of
thinners. The grains can then be put in with fitch tools
and overgrainers. Combs can be used and the work
finished, or it may be wiped out with a soft cotton rag.
Some old grainers prefer graining the work in oil, and
stippling in water color when the oil color is dry.
In some parts of the country the colors used for black
walnut are burnt sienna and lamp black in varying propor-
tions, but with such colors it is easy to produce striking
contrasts rather than a good imitation of the wood. There
is no doubt that a skilful workman can do a good job with
these colors, but the average shade of black walnut is
much nearer the tone of burnt umber than that of burnt
sienna or black or either of them in combination.
The average grains to represent heart growths are much
too strong, nor is there the contrast between the edges of
the figure and the general tone of the wood that some
erainers seem so anxious to produce. The quiet and sub-
dued growths are far the most numerous. The bolder
figure challenges attention, and is more readily discovered
to be an imitation.
The custom of plentifully besprinkling imitations of
American walnut with knots is most absurd. It is true —
PLATE 48
STIPPLING FOR WALNUT OR MAHOGANY
PLATE 49
BLACK WALNUT — OVERGRAINED
PLATE 49A
BLACK WALNUT
GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 89
that an occasional knot may be found in the wood, but
some grainers seem to delight in putting more knots into
one walnut door than could be found in a cart load of
walnut timber. A knot may be beautifully imitated, but
it is generally considered an imperfection in the natural
wood, and bears the same relation to an otherwise fine
panel that a wart or mole would on the face of an other-
wise beautiful woman. There are many lights, shadows,
and curly places in the wood that are not imperfections,
but which add to its beauty, and these can be represented
with good taste, and the imitation of knots can be left to
the amateur.
Sharp color contrasts are to be avoided if the repose
and general effect of the work is to be considered. It is
always permissible to make a slight difference in the color
of the stiles and rails of a door, but not a violent contrast.
We seldom see such effects in a hard-wood door, and no
intelligent joiner would, of his own choice, put into one
door such various colored pieces of wood as we sometimes
see imitated by clever grainers.
Then again, some men will always want to have the
mouldings a lighter or a darker shade than the rest of the
door, so that in conjunction with the other shades the effect
produced is far from reposeful, and although finely exe-
cuted, may lack the primary suggestion of being natural’
wood, which should be the first consideration in all imita-
tions of wood. |
The foregoing remarks as to color effects may apply
with equal force to all woods, but particularly to walnut or
other dark woods.
I have heard of two carpenters who spent a week in
sorting over oak timber, to which a coat of oil had been
applied, in order to select the wood as nearly as possible
of the same shade so that one large room should be finished
in the most artistic manner. This is quite opposite in effect
from that which some grainers strive to obtain when they
go GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
make the color contrasts we frequently see in one room.
It is wise to refrain from extremes in graining, as in other
things, and a temperate course is, in the main, apt to give
the best satisfaction. The work should not look insipid
nor lack character; still, it need not offend by presenting
too violent contrasts. Aim at quiet and reposeful effects
rather than at pronounced and glaring work. Keep all
joints and divisions clean and the effect will be repaid by
a more woody appearance.
CRAYONS FOR WALNUT GRAINING
A very good imitation of black walnut may be produced
by the use of crayons in either water or oil color. If used
in water color, the stippling is first done in the usual man-
ner on the groundwork, and when dry the crayon is used
on the dry stippling to put in the heart grains. The out-
line should not be too bold and the fine lines at the open
ends of the growths can be carefully put in. A soft piece
of rag or a stiff dust brush should be used to slightly soften
the harshness of the lines, as left by the dry crayon, other-
wise the work is apt to appear too bold. An overgrainer
charged with water color, the bristles having been divided
with a bone comb, may be used to carry out the lines, on
either side of the hearts, to the edge of the panel. Care
must be taken to have the color in the overgrainer as
nearly as possible of the same shade as that of the crayon.
It may be kept a little lighter rather than darker. When
dry, glaze over with a thin wash of oil thinner, using a small
portion of burnt umber in the color. If the crayon is used
in oil, the work must first be grounded in rather flat; when
thoroughly dry, rub in with very thin color mixed about
one-half oil and one-half turpentine, adding a very little
dryer. Then outline your hearts with the crayon; blend —
and fill in the sides with overgrainer in oil, or rub in the
sides of panels with a little darker color and use combs.
PLATE 50
CURLY WALNUT
Aeccle,
PEATE!
GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN OI
When dry, the work ought to be shaded or glazed in oil,
using one-third oil to two-thirds turpentine and very little
dryer.
CURLY WALNUT
Ground-color.— Yellow ochre, white lead, venetian red.
Graining Color.— Burnt umber darkened with Vandyke
brown.
fools for Water Color.— Sponge, rubbing-in brush,
stippler, mottler, blender, overgrainer, pencil fitch, sash
tool, bristle liner.
Lools for Oil Color.— Rubbing-in brush, sash tool, fitch
tool, flat fresco bristle liner, combs, rags.
_ This wood, in America, is a fine variety of black walnut,
and grows in the same territory. It is generally obtained
from an old tree, but the effect may be produced by a
method of cutting veneers from a log on the outside,
always following the circumference of the log. The
American variety is less pronounced in its lights and
shades than the European, and the colors, as a rule, are
much lighter. The same colors used for black walnut will
answer for this wood, and the same general method of
treatment will suffice. The strong shadows across the grain
may be put in wholly in the oil color, or they may be done
in the water color and accented in oil after being over-
grained. In all cases the work should first be stippled in
water color to produce the effect of the pores of the wood.
FRENCH WALNUT BURL
Ground-color. — Yellow ochre, white lead, venetian red.
Graining Color.— Burnt umber darkened with Vandyke
brown.
fools for Water Color. — Sponge, rubbing-in brush,
stippler, mottler, blender, overgrainer, pencil fitch, sash
tool, bristle liner.
Q2 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
Tools for Ou Color. — Rubbing-in brush, sash tool, fitch
tool, flat fresco bristle liner, combs, rags.
This wood, as its name implies, is grown in France, and
is secured from excrescences or burls which form on the
side of the tree. These are sawed or cut, and the grain
produced is very fine.
This wood was formerly very much used on the better
class of furniture, for panels, and it was sometimes used
on doors. Being, as a rule, but a thin veneer, it is unsuit-
able for use in exposed situations or in any climate of
extreme temperatures. The burl is a wart or excrescence
which is cut from the side of the tree and sawn or sliced
into thin veneer.
French walnut may be represented in either water color
or oil, Most grainers prefer the former method, as the
work can be executed more expeditiously and _ over-
grained at once. The tools are the same as those used for
black walnut, as are also the colors— burnt umber and
Vandyke brown. For the very light portions a little burnt
sienna may be added to the color. If the work is to be
done in oil, rub in the color rather dry, and with the sash
tool dipped in some dark color cover the portions of the
work which you desire to appear dark; then with a piece
of soft rag remove the color where the light places are to
appear, and work up the dark places with the rag until the
desired effect is obtained. Blend lightly with the dry
brush, and add lines and curves with the fitch tool. Then
stipple the light places with the flat brush. When the oil
color is dry, the work may be shaded or overgrained in
either oil or water color.
If the work is to be done in water color, use a sponge
for blocking out the lights and add dark color with a fitch
tool; mottle and blend lightly, and with the fitch tool and
overgrainer put in the grains over the mottled work.
When dry, it may be lightly varnished and overgrained in
water color.
PLATE 52
ITALIAN WALNUT
PLATE 53
CIRCASSIAN WALNUT
GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 93
A careful study of the grains of this wood will show that
the darker lines or veins are Sharp on one edge and
softened on the other. Or, in many Cases, a vein seems
to come from below the surface, and appears only as a
sharp edge on the work. Do not have the figures too bold.
Vary the work and reverse it in Opposite panels, as that is
the method most frequently adopted by the joiners in con-
structing the natural wood.
Years ago this wood was frequently represented on the
panels of outside doors, but of late years in this vicinity
very little French walnut is imitated. Dark oak is the
reigning favorite for outside work.
ITALIAN WALNUT
Colors and tools the same as for black walnut.
This beautiful wood is seldom seen in this vicinity and is
very seldom imitated. Its grains have many features
similar to those of French burl walnut.
It can be represented in water colors. It will be neces-
sary to use a little drop-black in the graining color, mostly
in the pencilling color, as these grains appear quite dark on
the lighter background.
Rub in the work and with a sponge block out the general
direction of the grains. Follow these with the fitch tool
and blend lightly, always using the badger blender for
softening the harsh look of the work. The mottler should
_be frequently used. When dry, overgrain lightly and
blend.
CIRCASSIAN WALNUT
Colors and tools the same as for black walnut.
This wood is found in the southern portions of Europe,
and is usually a thin veneer applied to a background of
inferior wood.
_ It is best represented in water colors, and when dry may
be lightly overgrained in oil. A little drop-black may be
04 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
necessary in making the darkest lines or veins, but, as a
rule, the lines while very pronounced are very thin and
should be drawn to an edge with the blender. The tone
of the color of the wood suggests the use of more black in
our color if we would faithfully represent its natural color.
CHAPTER XXXI
MAHOGANY
Ground-color. — Yellow ochre, orange chrome, venetian
red, red lead, and white lead.
Graining Color.— Burnt sienna, rose pink, Vandyke.
brown, crimson lake.
Tools for Water Color. — Sponge, rubbing-in brush,
stippler, mottler, cut tools, sash tool, fitch tools, bristle
liner, overgrainer, blender.
Tools for Oil Color. — Rubbing-in brush, fitch tools, sash
tool, bristle liner, overgrainer.
This wood is a native of America, and some of its most
beautiful timber is sawn from logs cut in Honduras and
Mexico. It also grows in Cuba and in central and
northern South America. There are also several varieties
which are found in Asia and in Africa.
The old feather-grained mahogany of Honduras is
probably the most beautiful of all the varieties and is
exceedingly difficult to imitate. I have been told that the
wood at the butt of the old Honduras mahogany tree is so
dense and so difficult to cut that the natives build a plat-
form around the tree some distance from the ground and
cut the tree from that point owing to the wood ae softer
and more easily chopped away.
Of the many varieties of mahogany that are used for
furniture we find but few that are used for interior finish.
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PLATE 44
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PLATE 45
MAHOGANY — FIGURED
GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 95
These are generally of the lighter shades of the wood and
frequently they lack any bold figure. Such mahogany is
most frequently stained in color, to represent the more
valuable timber from which the best furniture is made.
This variety is not so difficult to imitate as the mottled
or feathered variety. A good background and _ proper
stippling are the essential elements of success. Prepare
the stippling color with Vandyke brown ground in water,
and thin with one part stale beer to three parts water.
Stipple in all portions of the work intended to be finished
plain; where the feather is to be represented, the main
part of the work must be done in water color. After the
stippling is dry, the oil color may be applied; this is made
by mixing one part burnt sienna, one part rose pink, and
one part Vandyke brown thinned with the regular oil thin-
ners. Apply this color evenly. Then take some Van-
dyke brown thinned with turpentine and liquid dryer (as
this color is one of the slowest to dry), and with a fitch
tool put in the darker veins. Blend with the flat brush
lengthwise, then lightly crosswise, drawing the color toa
sharp, dark edge on the sides of the darker veins. If
necessary, the flat brush may be used as a stippler in the
oil color and the work lightly stippled across the grain or
lengthwise as may be preferred.
If the mottled effect is desired, it may be produced by the
use of a small fitch tool in the thin color, making the mot-
tlings across and between the darker veins, or the stippling
color may be bound down with a thin coat of varnish and
the mottling done in water color on the dry varnish.
The short bristle overgrainer may be used to overgrain
the work in oil, and when so used, the work must be blended
lightly across the grain and always in one direction.
The feather veins of mahogany can be represented
wholly in water color; when the panel is sponged in, the
_ work may be rubbed in with the rubbing-in brush. Then
darken the centre of the panel where the feather is to be
96 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
represented, using the clear Vandyke brown for this pur-
pose. Use a sponge to remove portions of the color in the
general direction of the finished work; then with the cut
tool or mottler, work out the general direction of the
feathered work and blend in the edges of the darker veins.
If the color dries before the work is satisfactory, it can
_be carefully wet over with clean water applied with a
short-haired overgrainer and the cut tool or mottler again
used to bring out the bright portions of the work.
It is impossible to describe with accuracy the exact
method to produce this intricate and complicated wood.
Nothing but a careful and painstaking study of actual
examples of the wood will give the student the proper
ideas of how it ought to be represented. When the
mottled and veined effect of the feather grain is dry, it
should be overgrained with some thin Vandyke brown,
using the piped overgrainer or the short-haired over-
grainer. The latter is preferable, as the hair can be
divided into irregular portions by the bone comb and the
work will look less mechanical than if done wholly with an
overgrainer with one width of lines. The piped over-
grainer may occasionally be used in connection with the
other overgrainer, but care must be taken to have the color
in each brush of precisely the same shade on the same
panel, otherwise the work will look patchy. The color
must be quickly applied with the overgrainer, following
the general direction of the grains previously done, and the
badger blender must be used at once to draw the over-
grained work to dark edges similar to the figure seen in
the natural wood. Have the light and dark veins well
laid out in the primary stages of the work and take pains
not to get the work too dark, as it can easily be brought
to any depth of color by overgraining, or shading; but if
too dark at the beginning, it cannot well be lightened with-
out repainting.
In doing fine work it is best to apply a thin coat of
PLATE 46
MAHOGANY — FEATHER PANEL
wt
PLATE 46 A
MAHOGANY — FEATHERED PANEL
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GRAINING, ANCLENT AND MODERN a7.
varnish to the work after the first graining, and when dry,
apply the overgraining color, or, if necessary, first go over
the graining again and accent any of the primary work.
When the water-color work is dry, it may be lightly glazed
over in oil color, using a little crimson lake in the color.
This will give both depth and brightness to the work. Use
but little oil in the color, mostly turpentine and a little
liquid dryer if necessary. The darker shades can be again
worked over and details of figure added. It will take many
attempts and an abundance of patient work before even a
tolerable success can be gained in the imitation of feather-
grained mahogany. Secure, if possible, a good specimen
of the real wood and have several panels grounded in color
similar to the lightest shade in the real wood,.then prac-
tise to obtain the effect of the light and shade of the wood.
Try some panels with a light stippled background done with
thin Vandyke brown in water color. When dry, give thema
thin coat of varnish, and when that is thoroughly dry and
hard, grain in water color as previously directed. Notice
whether the effect of the stippling is too pronounced by
comparison with the work done on the panels without stip-
pling, and compare both panels with the wood. You will
then be able to determine whether your stippling on the
groundwork is an improvement over that done without
stippling. The stippling can be added to such portions of
the work as appear to need it by applying the stippling
color with a round blender or with a round or oval sash
tool, not first rubbing in the work, but having some color
in the brush and lightly touching the sides of the brush
against the places to be stippled.
98 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
CHAPTER XXXII
TEAK
Ground-colov.—Yellow ochre, venetian red, chrome
yellow, and a little white lead. |
Graining Color.— Burnt sienna, Vandyke brown, and a
little rose pink.
Tools for Oil Color.— Rubbing-in brush, sash tool, fitch
tools, bristle liner, piped and short-bristle overgrainers.
Tools for Water Color.—Sponge, rubbing-in brush,
stippler, sash tool, fitches, bristle liner, blender, over-
erainers.
This wood is a native of India and has a grain somewhat
similar to that of mahogany. It resembles the latter wood
in many particulars. It is a very hard, dense wood, hold-
ing its color well and taking a high polish. It is used
suincipalle on steamships for covering of sides or tops of
deck-houses, cabin doors, etc. It stands exposure to the
weather much better than mahogany.
It may be represented wholly in water color by first
stippling on the groundwork a thin wash of Vandyke
brown ground in water and thinned with one-third stale
beer to two-thirds water. The graining color is composed
of Vandyke brown and burnt sienna in equal parts. The
grains of the wood may be applied to this background with
the fitch tool or bristle liner, and the lines on the sides of
the heart grains may be carried out by using the over-
grainer charged with the same color as the liner.
The work must be blended at once, using the badger
blender, taking care not to lift the color too much from
the stippled background. When dry, it may be over-
grained in oil color with a little of the rose pink added to
the graining color and the whole thinned with turpentine.
For oil color graining it is best to first stipple the work
PLATE 47
tad
GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 99
in water color to produce the porous effect, and when dry,
rub in the graining color in oil. The color should be com-
posed of about equal quantities of burnt sienna and Van-
dyke brown, adding a little rose pink if necessary.
When this has been properly applied, the heart grains
may be put in, using the bristle liner for this purpose and
blending the color with the rubbing-in brush. Many of
the grains of the wood are extremely plain, showing no
sign of any other grain than the strong stippled or porous
effect.
Teak is seldom imitated in Massachusetts, and when done,
is generally on some transatlantic steamer.
The work may be done wholly in oil colors, but the
stippled effect is more successfully produced by using
water color for the under coat.
———._>————_-
CHAPTER XXXIII
ROSEWOOD
Ground-color. — Orange chrome, red lead, white lead.
Graining Color.—WVandyke brown, rose pink, drop-
black.
Tools. —Sponge, rubbing-in brush, sash tool, fitches,
mottler, overgrainers, camel’s-hair pencil, black crayon.
This wood grows in tropical climates. The best speci-
mens come from Africa. It is a very dense and close-
grained wood. Its color varies from a light orange to
a jet black. There are probably more variations of color
in this wood than in any other that is used for finish
or furniture. It is very seldom used as a finish for rooms,
and in thirty-three years’ experience I have seen but one
rosewood door and frame used on any building on which I
have worked.
100 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
The grains of this wood when finished natural are very
beautiful. The figures run in streaks or veins and seem
to interlock in most eccentric fashion. The outer edges
of these veins are frequently black and stand out promi-
nently on a lighter background. In some of the veins of
figured work the background assumes a pinkish tinge
which is well imitated by the use of rose pink.
The color is first applied sparingly with the sponge or
flat brush, using diluted Vandyke brown for the color.
One-third stale beer or vinegar to two-thirds water will
suffice to bind the color to the painted surface. Remove
portions of the color with the sponge and put in veins of
drop-black with a fitch tool. The blender is then used to
soften the outlines and it may be drawn through some of
the veins inside the outer edges. If it is desired to have
some of the veins of a pink shade, a sash tool charged
with rose pink is used to apply the color. The background
of some of the veins may be faintly stippled, or the stip-
pling or checking may be done in the overgraining color.
The black crayon pencil does excellent work for this
purpose.
When the outlined veins are dry, the overgrainer (either
piped or short haired) is charged with diluted drop-black
and the color is applied in the direction of the fine grains
seen in the wood; the overgraining is immediately blended
with the badger blender. If carefully done, this will draw
the color to sharp edges and produce an effect very similar
to the grain of the wood. Without a bright background,
it is useless to attempt to grain rosewood, as the color effect
depends so largely on the transparent brilliancy of the
ground-color and on this brilliancy depends in no small
degree the success of the work.
The camel’s-hair pencil is used to put in some of the
border heart grains, also to sharpen the edges of the dark
veins. The work must be immediately blended.
I have read instructions for graining this wood in which
‘PLATE 54
a4
ROSEWOOD
First stage
PLATE 55
ROSEWOOD — OVERGRAINED
PLATE 55A
ROSEWOOD
70
GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN IOI
the ground-color is stated to be black, the graining color is
also black, and it gives one a chance to wonder how black
graining color would appear on a black ground.
CHAPTER XXXIV
OVERGRAINING
‘N these days of hurry and rush, opportunity is seldom
given to finish the work, and even expert grainers get
into the habit of considering their work finished without
being overgrained; yet it is a fact that scarcely any wood
can be so well done at one treatment as not to be vastly
improved by being overgrained. The light and shade,
however effectively disposed at the first treatment, can be
made much more effective by judiciously overgraining. A
common fault, even among expert grainers, is that they try
to do too much at once.
It is not the intention of the writer to disparage in any
way the work of skilled men nor the processes which, by
careful experiment and years of practical application, they
have evolved and adopted; but it is none the less true that
their work would often look better if the effects striven
for in oil color were applied in the overgraining rather than
in the first treatment and the time consumed would only
be slightly greater.
Care should be taken in oil overgraining to have as little
linseed oil as possible in the color, as an excess of oil often
acts disastrously on the varnish, causing it to crack. All
that can be done in oil overgraining can be done equally
well in water color, but strong beer or vinegar should never
be used for this purpose. It requires but very little bind-
ing material to hold the water color to the oil graining.
One part beer or vinegar to four parts water will make
102 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
the color adhere sufficiently to allow it to be varnished
without rubbing up. If the work is done wholly in water
color, one part beer or vinegar to two parts water will bind
the color to the groundwork so that it can be varnished
with safety. |
eta es
CHAPTER XXXV
CEILINGS
(aoe whether of plaster, wood, or metal, may
be grained to represent wood. When a cornice is
at the top of the wall, it should be included with the
ceiling, or, if treated alone, it can be made to correspond
with the woodwork of the room. |
No more effective method of decorative treatment can
be suggested for the ceiling of a modern dining room. So
much oak is now used for furniture, picture frames, mould-
ings, etc., that a ceiling harmonizing in color effect and
general character with the furniture gives a reposeful and
harmonious effect which is preferable to some of the costly
but rather bizarre effects sometimes produced by alleged
decorations.
A ceiling properly grained will last for many years and
can be easily cleaned and renovated at a slight expense.
Simple effects are often best suited to a ceiling. If
flat, lay out the work in forms best suited to the surround-
ings. A simple plan is to divide the ceiling into four parts
from the centre and parallel to the walls, then represent
boards running at angles diagonally across the four squares,
the boards meeting on the centre lines.
Panels may be laid out and mouldings and carved work
represented in light and shade, but it is unwise to do this
unless the room readily lends itself to such treatment.
Much of the effectiveness of the finished work will depend
GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 103
on its quiet and modest appearance. Unless for special
reasons it is unwise to represent a variety of woods on a
ceiling; better err on the side of modesty and represent
but one wood, or two at most, than to challenge attention
and close inspection by imitating too many varieties of wood.
When thoroughly dry, it should receive a thin coat of var-
nish. Use good coach varnish and dilute it with turpen-
tine, adding a little raw linseed oil. This will allow more
freedom in spreading the varnish and the finished work
will not be as lustrous as if the varnish were used clear.
Another reason for the use of a small quantity of linseed
oil is that the varnish is applied in a thinner film, and in
process of time, should cracking ensue, the cracks will be
less conspicuous and finer than if a thicker varnish were
used. |
Dead or flat varnish is not recommended, for these
reasons: it is exceedingly difficult to avoid laps in a large
surface where flat varnish is used; if they fail to appear
immediately after the work is done, they are likely to
appear in bold prominence perhaps a year afterward.
The transparency of the work is often seriously im-
paired by flat varnish, and if compounded on a wax basis,
it is extremely difficult to clean the smoke and dust from
the work without injury to the varnish, while work done
with hard varnish can readily be cleaned with a diluted
solution of washing soda without injury to the work. In
case flat varnish is used, it is better to first apply a coat
of bright varnish, and when thoroughly dry, apply the
flat varnish.
104. GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
CHAPTER XXXVI
FLOORS
F late years the advent of so many quartered oak
() floors has made quite a demand for grained floors,
and more are being done each year. If the old
floor is at all smooth, and the boards sound, a very fair
job can be done; but if the boards are rough, it is best
to plane them before beginning to paint. If the cracks
at joints are very pronounced, the floor ought to be relaid
and the joints made tight. If this is impracticable, fill
all cracks and openings with a mixture of rye meal and
fine sawdust mixed to a paste with weak glue-size. There
are several patented crack fillers for floors and they will
do the work equally well.
Oil putty is not the best thing in the world for wide-
open joints in a floor, as the edges of the boards absorb
the oil out of the putty and the dry putty is likely to get
loose.
Having properly prepared the wood for painting, the
floor should receive a first coat of color with not more than
one-half linseed oil and one-half turpentine with plenty of
dryer. When this is thoroughly dry and hard, a second
coat can be given thinned with not more than one-fourth
linseed oil and three-fourths turpentine with sufficient
dryer. For an ordinary floor one-half pound litharge
added to the color will harden it more than liquid dryers
and leave it less sticky. The floor will seldom require a
third coat of ground-color; but if it does, the color should
be thin and laid on smoothly. ——_
CHAPTER XXXVII
PATENT GRAINING DEVICES
ACHINES and other devices have been invented
for imitating the grains of wood. Many of them
are impracticable for ordinary work, and others are
effective only when the work can be done on the boards
before they are cut up to be made into interior finish.
GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 109
About 1855 a grainer in London, England, conceived
the idea of having the figure of quartered oak engraved on
the soft side of sole leather and attaching the leather to a
cylinder about ten inches in diameter. The graining color
was applied to the work, and the cylinder, made of wood
with a metal handle, was pushed over the work, and wher-
ever the leather came in contact with the wet surface, it
absorbed the color and left the pattern on the work.
The chief difficulty with this, as with all roller processes,
is that the cylinder cannot be gotten into the ends of panels,
nor can it be successfully used unless the cylinder is just
the size or slightly smaller than the width of the panels.
The principal objection to all mechanical graining is its
repetition of pattern, for while the individual piece of work
may be excellent, it becomes monotonous when repeated
over and over again.
The Mason pad graining machine was in use in 1864,
and was made of convex shape similar to an oscillating
blotting pad. It was composed of a framework of wood,
covered on the convex side with a sheet of plastic com-
pound similar to the material used in a printer's roller. On
this surface was engraved the pattern, and it was impressed
on the wet graining color by placing one end of the convex
pattern at the bottom of a panel, and by rocking the frame,
which had handles at either end, the pattern was made in
the graining color.
In cold weather the composition on the face of the pad
would freeze so hard that it would make no impression on
the wet graining color, while in hot weather it would almost
melt and run together.
Callow’s stencil plates have been in use thirty years or
more, and if properly handled, will produce fair to good
work. They can be used with greater success by a grainer
than by any amateur. The objectionable repetition is their
chief fault.
The smooth-faced, large, cylindrical roller, which is
v
I1O GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
covered with a composition similar to that used on printers’
rollers, is one of the best methods of imitating porous
woods. The wood to be imitated must be quite porous,
and if the pores are not sufficiently deep, they must be
eaten deeper into the wood with a strong solution of potash.
The board used for the pattern must be perfectly smooth,
clean, anddry. Spread the graining color evenly over the
board to be imitated, carefully filling all the pores of the
wood. Then use a thin piece of wood to scrape off the sur-
plus color, leaving the pores filled. The roller is then
passed over the board and picks out sufficient color from
the pores to make a well-defined pattern on the roller.
This pattern is in turn transferred to the door or other
place prepared to receive it by simply rolling the cylinder
over it.
Transfer paper of various kinds has been invented for
imitating the grains of wood. Some of it is undoubtedly
copied from wood, but more of it is imaginary,
The most successful mechanical graining I have ever
seen, other than the transfer roller, was the invention of a
grainer, William Shannon of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, who
invented a machine for representing the grains of oak, in
both heart and quartered grains. His machine chopped
the pores into soft wood, having first compressed the grain
of the wood on the surface, reducing an inch board to
seven-eighths of an inch, then chopping in the pattern
with a set of knives, the pores being sunk into the wood
one-sixteenth of an inch deep. The machine was made
from a second-hand planing machine, and the pores
were filled by the same machine while the board was
travelling through. The board entered the machine white
pine and came through on the other end apparently quar-
tered oak, filled, and ready to be nailed up and shellacked
or varnished. :
A patent had been granted to W. W. Greer of Hulton,
Pennsylvania, for an ingraining machine, which was a
GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN III
cylinder covered with fine teeth which, when rolled over a
board, produced imitations of pores in the wood. It was
claimed that Mr. Shannon’s machine infringed on Mr.
Greer’s patent, and I believe Mr. Shannon was prevented
from doing business with the machine.
Some of the piano manufacturers now have a process of
stamping the figure of quartered oak into the grain of rock
maple. The figure is made by steel plates with project-
ing teeth and is sunk deeply into the wood by the use of
jack-screws; when these artificial pores are filled and the
color of the wood made similar to that of dark oak, it is not
easy to detect the deception.
A patent was issued for a belt roller machine which
took up the pattern from an etched sheet of plate glass and
transferred it to the work by a process similar to that
describing the large, smooth-faced roller.
When original pictures are painted entirely by machin-
ery, then and not till then will good hand graining cease to
be in demand.
CHAPTER XXXVIII
SHOW PANELS
O grainer worthy of the name and no young man who
aspires to be a grainer should neglect to procure
some panels of wood or cardboard and endeavor to
faithfully represent both the color and the grain of natural
woods, taking for his copy as good examples of the natural
woods as he is able to secure.
Much of the idle time of young men in the dull seasons
or in the long winter evenings could be put to an excellent
use if they would try to improve their work. Sometimes
two young men working together will help each other, but
112 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
individual, patient, painstaking effort is the surest road to
success.
If the young grainer is really in love with his business,
he will probably have panels done when he first began to
work, and they are worth saving; for they will show
whether he has corrected his early faults, also the progress
he has made, which can be seen by comparison with his
panels of later years.
Always have a few panels on hand grounded ready to
grain, and then some day when you feel like doing some-
thing of a high order or making a copy of some nice
piece of wood, you can bring out your panels and begin
to work. If you have to first ground the panels, the
chances are that something will intervene to prevent you
from doing them at once. In these days we can pur-
chase heavily calendered pasteboard with a coated face
that readily takes paint and which in some respects is
superior to wooden panels, as it will not warp or split
and is beautifully smooth. Coat such panels with a
rather oily first coat with plenty of dryer or soak them
in linseed oil; don’t use shellac for a first coat, it makes
the cardboard brittle. One more coat of color mixed one-
third oil and two-thirds turpentine will cover the panel
and prepare it for graining.
It is a good plan to look at your work in a mirror.
You can then see how it looks reversed and it may show
you chances to improve.
The size of the panels should be about 10 in. xX 30
in., or larger if you choose. If made of wood, put a
screw eye in the end or make a hole in top of centre
of panels so they can be hung up on a nail.
It is a good plan to exchange panels with men in the
same line of business in your own or other cities.
A friend of mine, an excellent grainer now deceased,
told me about a Grainers’ Association of which he was a
member many years ago, on the other side of the Atlan-
GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 113
tic. They held monthly meetings, and at every meeting
each man brought a panel grained to represent whatever
wood was designated for that meeting. The panels were
all the same size and were brought tied in paper, and
none but the man who received them knew from whom
they came. At the proper time the paper was removed,
and each member passed his criticism on the panels, not
knowing (unless he was very keen) whose work he was
criticising, except his own.
This is an excellent plan and one that might be fol-
lowed with profit by grainers on this side of the ocean.
We are all very likely to adopt certain mannerisms or
eccentricities in our work, and intelligent criticism is a
healthy thing for us to undergo.
CHAPTER XXXIX
GRAINING ON GLASS
VERY effective imitation of wood or marble may
be done on a smooth piece of glass. Plate glass is
the best for this purpose. The work is done on the
back of the glass and in just the reverse order from the
ordinary way.
The overgraining is first applied, then the graining
color, and last of all the ground-color, which backs up the
work and brings into view the transparent color already
applied to the glass.
A piece of paper or cardboard the size of the panel to
be grained should first be prepared with the ground-color.
This is placed beneath the glass while the overgraining
is being done, and allows the progress of the work to be
clearly seen.
114 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
It is wise to sponge the glass over with a wash of vine-
gar before any color is applied. The overgraining may
then be done in water color. If the graining is done in
oil color, it may, when dry, again be overgrained or shaded
in oil color; when the graining color is dry, apply the
ground-color.
Excellent imitations of inlaid work may be done by
this method, and it is an interesting study when time will
permit.
ieee ees
CHAP TH Ra as
IMITATIONS OF CARVING
HE illustration on the opposite page is a fairly accu-
rate drawing of a ruffed grouse shot by the writer
and placed in the position shown by the engraving.
In rooms or halls where the light is rather subdued such
work can be successfully done, and it requires considerable
skill to produce the proper effect.
There are often places on walls or ceilings where the
skill of the grainer can be shown in imitating carved work
and mouldings, but it should be carefully done, having due
regard for the surroundings, or the effect is disappointing.
IMITATIONS OF MOULDINGS
The grainer is seldom called upon to imitate mouldings,
but should he be requested to do so, he should not be
found lacking in ability. Considerable technical skill is
required to successfully imitate mouldings. A steady
hand and a correct eye are very essential.
The beginner should carefully study the light and shade
of mouldings whenever he sees them and endeavor to fix
in his mind the principles which govern this special line
of work. It is well to study the work of some skilful
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GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN I15
fresco painter and see how he produces the effect of
mouldings in light and shade. Asarule the mouldings
imitated by the grainer are not as elaborate as those done
by the fresco painter.
Mouldings on a grained surface can be laid out by a
chalk line or by a lead pencil, and the lines painted with
the bristle liner, using a straight edge. It is a good plan
in laying out the mouldings to remove nearly all the grain-
ing color from two sides of the moulding, leaving the other
two sides in the shade. A careful consideration of the
situation of the work will determine the proper manner
to dispose the light and shade. If the work is seen mostly
at night, the source of artificial light cannot well be ignored,
but the disposal of the light and shade should be governed
by the direction from which the light comes.
Do not paint the colors too strong. Make them har-
monize as far as possible with the light and shade on the
real mouldings of the adjacent work. After having laid
out the mouldings, the lines may be painted in either oil
or water colors. The latter method is a good plan if the
time is limited, as the work can be at once overgrained in
oil and finished. The ground-color with which the work
has been prepared will suffice for all high lights on the
mouldings, as nothing lighter than the ground-color can
possibly be seen on the real mouldings which are grained
in the same color.
A short-haired, flat, fresco bristle liner is the best tool
for painting the lines of imitation mouldings. The straight
edge should not be more than thirty inches in length, and
should be bevelled on the back edge so that the color from
the brush cannot gather and touch the work. It should
be wiped with a rag after every line is drawn to remove
any graining color that may have adhered to it.
The grainer who really has at heart the desire to excel
in his work must acquaint himself with all the possibilities
of his calling, and in his leisure time, when business is dull
118 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
crack, when its elasticity has departed. Therefore, for the
past twenty years I have advocated that an outside door
grained in oil should be let severely alone for thirty days
or more, and then a thin coat of linseed oil, with a few
drops of liquid dryer added, will prove a more durable
coating than any varnish, because cracks will not appear to
destroy the graining and the work can be revived by a coat
of linseed oil once a year if necessary.
CHAPTER YXET
THE GRAINER IN FICTION
ANY persons of intelligence have peculiar ideas
M about graining and the methods by which it is
done. But two cases have come to my notice in
which reference to grainers is made in the works of writers
of fiction. Both are in the writings of the novelist, Charles
Reade. In his story, “ It’s Never Too Late to Mend,” he
tells us how one Tom Robinson, a character who had been
put in jail for stealing, was able by diligent study of the
grains of pieces of natural wood (which were supplied him
by the kind-hearted chaplain), and being furnished with
the proper tools, etc., to become an expert grainer, or
“ingrainer,”’ as he calls him. After being sent as a con-
vict to Australia he obtained a ticket of leave and went
about graining front doors walnut, oak, mahogany, or satin-
wood, to the admiration of all beholders. He prepared the
ground-color, grained and varnished the door, and got his
money all in one day.
Such a rapid execution of the work, while not impossible,
would be plainly so if he used oil paints, and the inference
is given that such paints were used.
GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 119
A wager was made by a friend of mine that he could
apply two coats of paint to a door, grain, and varnish it in
five hours, and he won the wager with hours to spare, doing
it in less than three hours. He grained the door mahog-
any, preparing the groundwork with dry white lead and
dry colors thinned with diluted shellac, following one coat
of ground-color as soon as the first coat was dry, graining
the wood in water colors, and varnishing immediately.
Some of the water-color washable paints are said to make
good groundworks for work that is to be rapidly prepared,
but as a rule they are not recommended, for reasons given
elsewhere.
Ina volume by Charles Reade, entitled “‘ Good Stories,”
one short story is called ‘“ Singleheart and Doubleface”’
and among other characters is one James Mansell, a painter
and grainer, who was the successful suitor for the heroine
of the story. Mr. Reade writes “‘ Mansell had three trades.
In one of them (graining) he might be called an artist.
He could imitate the common woods better than almost
anybody, but at satinwood, mahogany, and American
birch, he was really wonderful.”
After marrying the heroine and settling down he ac-
quired the habit of indulgence in intoxicating liquors to
such an extent that he lost both his self-respect and his
customers. Mr. Reade writes, ‘‘ Mansell was styled the
first grainer in the place and the tradesmen would have
employed him by preference if he could have been relied
on to finish his jobs, but he was so uncertain; he would go
to dinner and stop at a public-house, would appoint an
hour to commence, and be at a public-house.” ‘“ He tired
out one good customer after another, the joint income
declined in consequence, and, as generally happens, their
expenses increased, for Mrs. Mansell potting no help from
her husband was obliged to take a servant.”
‘“‘Often in the evening she would close her shop early,
leave her child under strict charge of the girl, and go to
120 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
some public-house and there coax and remonstrate, and
get him away at last.”
* * * * * * * * *
“ At last it came to this, that nobody in the town who
knew James Mansell would employ him.”
* * * * * * * * *
“This man’s vanity was prodigious; it equalled his
demerit.”
Mansell finally died a drunkard in America.
Here is faithfully portrayed for us, by a master hand
in fiction, the end that often follows the course of the
grainer who allows himself to be led away by his aBpey
tite for strong drink.
It is the curse of many a skilful workman and particu-
larly in the graining trade. Many such I have known,
and their work I have admired, but in no case was strong
drink any help to such men. On the contrary, it was
their ruin. No man ever did, or in my opinion ever will,
excel in whatever sphere of usefulness his work lies while
he is in an artificial condition. The man who totally
abstains from intoxicating drinks, while he may not have
the natural talent that is the gift of many, yet his work,
if conscientiously and faithfully done, will often surpass
the work of the man who is brilliant and mediocre by
fits and starts, according to the condition of his mind
when doing his work. It is often possible, by careful
examination, for an expert grainer to tell with tolerable
accuracy the physical and mental condition of the man
who did a piece of work.
A word of advice to all young men who aspire to be
grainers: abstain from intoxicating drinks and I warrant
your work will be improved thereby. Nor is the use of
tobacco in any way essential to your success. A man’s
mind ought to be entirely free to allow him to concen-
trate all his efforts to the successful accomplishment of
GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN [21
the work in hand, and making a chimney of the mouth
is in my opinion ‘‘a wasteful and ridiculous excess.” It
is neither eating nor drinking. It takes time and money
from the workingman, and unless prescribed by a physi-
cian, for some special reason, I can see no use for it. I
have heard an intelligent master painter, himself an in-
veterate smoker, say that the man who did not use
tobacco was worth ten cents a day more than the one who
used it, for he could devote all his time to the work and
was not disturbed by seeing others smoking or chewing
tobacco.
CHAPTER XLIII
GRAINING A DOOR QUARTERED OAK
An Illustrated Talk given at the Second Annual Convention of the Master
House Painters and Decorators Association of Canada held at Ham-
ilton, Ontario, July 25, 26, 27, 1905.
Mr. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN : —
I don’t wish to present myself to you to-day as anything
else than an humble imitator of nature; but if any of the
little things shown are new to you, it may be of some help
in getting closer to nature in your work.
First, we should have a proper foundation of ground-color,
which should be strained through fine cloth before being
applied and thinned with about one-fourth raw linseed oil
to three-fourths spirits of turpentine for old work, adding a
larger proportion of linseed oil for new work. A little
varnish may be added to the last coat, as it tends to hold
the color and gives a better surface to work on. A suff-
cient quantity of dryer is also added. When the last coat
is dry, it should be lightly sandpapered, and then we are
ready to apply the graining color. For representing
122 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
quartered oak this color is generally mixed in oil, although
good work can be done in water colors, but by a different
process. In case a fair to good job is wanted, and we can-
not spare time to come back and overgrain the work,
we may first apply a thin glaze of water color directly to
the groundwork. I will treat this panel in this way,
leaving the others plain.
For the glazing color we use a little diluted aoe black,
ground in water and thinned with one part stale beer and one
part water. If the color creeps or crawls or will not readily
attach itself to the ground-color, we will use some bolted
whiting, which, on being rubbed over the panel, will effectu-
ally stop the cissing or crawling. If the oil color crawls,
the same treatment may be given, or a better plan is to
first dampen the work with benzine. This is the most
effective process to prevent the crawling of any kind of
paint or varnish and it in no way effects the durability of
the work.
We now take a short-haired overgrainer, and after wet-
ting it and charging it with the thin color we separate the
hair with an ordinary bone comb and apply the color to the
panel. Before the color has time to dry use a steel comb
to serrate the regularity of the lines. ;
We will now mix our oil graining color. Supposing we
want to have the work of a medium shade, the color can be
mixed about one-third burnt umber to two-thirds raw sienna,
adding a little drop-black to subdue the brightness of the
other colors. This color we will thin with a mixture of two-
fifths raw oil to three-fifths turpentine, using about one-half
pint of good liquid dryer to the gallon of mixture. In this
mixture we dissolve about two-thirds of an ounce of yellow
beeswax, which we first cut in shavings and melt in an iron
vessel, adding turpentine slowly after taking it from the
fire, or the wax may be cut in shavings placed in a wide-
mouthed glass bottle, and the bottle filled two-thirds of its
height with turpentine. If this be done overnight and kept
WM. E. WALL GRAINING DOOR
2d Annual Convention Canadian Association Master House Painters and Decorators,
Hamilton, Ont., July 27, 1905.
James J. O’HEARN, rubber-in. STEWART N. HuGueEs, boss.
Zz
GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 123
in a warm room, the turpentine will have so softened the
wax by morning, that a few violent shakings of the bottle
will finish its dissolution. It can then be added to the
gallon of thinners. For many reasons I prefer the finest
grade of dry colors, except black and burnt sienna, in
preparing graining color.
We now work in our flat rubbing-in brush, and apply the
color in the usual way. When it has slightly set, we comb
it with a rubber comb and intersect the tracks of the rub-
ber comb with the steel comb. This gives the porous
appearance of the wood, and we imitate the quartered veins
by wiping off the color with the rag drawn over the end of
the thumb nail. We can blend the edges of the work by
using the second joint of the forefinger, or we canusea short-
haired fitch for this purpose. We can blend the work
lightly with a rubbing-in brush, always in one direction.
A piece of straw matting makes an excellent fine comb
for quartered oak. To get a darker effect for some of the
veins we take some of the rubbing-in color, and with a flat
fresco lining fitch apply the color directly to the combed
work and blend it quickly with the rubbing-in brush. The
effect produced is not as good an imitation of wood as if
the work is done on dry color, but it gives variety to the
work, and if carefully done, is a fair representation of the
darker veins of quartered oak.
In graining the cross stiles of the door we must take
pains to go well beyond the joints, and if the long stiles
_ are to be done light, we cover the coarse or medium-toothed
steel comb with one thickness of the rag and draw the
mitre lines cleanly, combing the rest of the stiles with the
same comb, or if necessary using the rubber comb-outside
the mitre joints. We then overcomb the tracks of the
rubber comb with a finer steel comb. The work of wiping
out the veins or putting them in with a fitch can then be
done.
If the long stiles are to appear as slightly darker than the
124 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
cross stiles, use a sash tool to cut the mitres, having a dip
of color from the bottom of the pot. The most effective |
process is to do the long stiles of the same color as the rest
-of the work, and when dry, overgrain them to the depth of
color desired, or they can first be glazed with a thin wash
of water color as previously described.
If the doors in a room are nearly or quite dry before we
leave the job, we can overgrain the more prominent por-
tions of the figured work by using the short-haired over-
grainer in the oil color, separating the bristles with a comb.
Take care to have the color quite thin, and the steel comb
can be used as directed in the use of the overgrainer in
water color. A good imitation of any kind of wood is
rarely done without being overgrained. Some kinds of
woods require more attention in this respect than others,
but all can be helped by overgraining. Two or three days
should elapse before the work should be varnished.
Gentlemen, I have briefly tried to show you how a fair
imitation of quartered oak may be done, and I trust you
may have gained something in the way of information from
what you have seen and heard.
GCHAPTERaxtiy
NEW METHODS
N the development of new methods a fertile field is
I available for study to those who care to depart from
conventional lines of working. The patient investigator
will find that the field has been well worked over by his
predecessors. Still, he will find ample opportunity to
improve his work, and possibly his method of working, by
a diligent study of the wood as he finds it in his particular
locality.
GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 125
The grain of many woods is naturally affected by the
soil in which it grows, or by its geographical location. An
oak tree grown in Canada may have very different mark-
ings in its grain from that of a similar species of tree
grown in a southern clime and on a different soil. The
layers of wood in trees grown in temperate climes are, as
a rule, produced in annular rings; yet a friend of mine, a
botanist, and one not likely to be mistaken, informed me
that he had seen pine trees growing in the rich alluvial
bottom lands of Arkansas that added three tops to their
erowth annually. This meant three rings to the growth
of the tree, so that a grove of trees whose age he estimated
to be thirty years were in reality planted but ten years.
They had been set out by the man in charge,of the estate,
and my friend told me that he would not have believed
that the trees were so young had he not seen the marvel-
lous rapidity with which they grew. |
Some varieties of quartered oak may require an entirely
different method of treatment from that ordinarily used in
order to make a successful imitation. It is a wise pian to
endeavor to be versatile and not accustom one’s self
to a particular method of working. Be governed by cer-
tain principles rather than by rules. One man may fail to
achieve success by the process which he is taught, and yet
he may accomplish excellent results by another process,
possibly by one he may himself have developed. In any
case the persistent study of the grains of wood is essential
to any person who desires to become an expert imitator.
Examine the same piece of wood in a strong sunlight, also
by artificial light. Notice the play of light and shade that
often travels across it as you move the board or change
your point of view.
The grainer cannot produce (except to a very limited
extent) this iridescence, but he should know as much as
possible about it and endeavor to adjust his work in con-
formity to the markings he observes in the wood. These
126 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
shadings are often represented much stronger and darker
than they appear in the wood, but this is a great mistake.
One of the oldest methods for producing an iridescent
effect is to have a metallic leaf groundwork. Gold or
silver leaf is usually employed. Aluminum leaf or bronze
is more frequently used in these later days. It is better
to leave the work as grained, or, if done in water color, to
oil it over and wipe off any surplus oil with a soft cloth, as
varnish largely destroys the effect.
In imitating light to medium, or even dark, quartered
oak, it is doubtful if a more effective process can be em-
ployed.to produce the iridescence than to use for a founda-
tion for the work some light, clean-grained wood, such as
clear pine, spruce, or whitewood. It may be prepared by
a thin coating of white glue-size or, better, by two thin
coats of white shellac. When dry, apply the graining color
and grain in either water or oil color, varnishing as usual;
or it may be finished in white shellac, which is probably
the better plan, as it avoids the possibility of the cracking
of the varnish due to lack of affinity with the shellac under
coats. Care must be taken to use as little linseed oil as
possible in the graining color.
The work may also be prepared by coatings of liquid
filler or pale oil varnish. The former often contains ele-
ments which utterly destroy not only the graining, but all
subsequent coats of varnish, hence its use is not recom-
mended. The oil in the varnish is apt to discolor the new
wood more than white shellac. This is a factor not to be
overlooked where it is desired to keep the work as light as
possible. It is very seldom that this process can be suc-
cessfully applied to an entire room, as the wood is rarely
sufficiently free from imperfections to allow its use over
large surfaces. It is better adapted to panels or compara-
tively small surfaces, but when carefully done, it surpasses
in woodiness and transparency work done on any solidly
ae groundwork.
GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN joa
In passing it may be worth while to notice that the
mottled effect of nearly all woods, and. the shadows that
appear in connection with the heart grains of nearly all
woods, are due to the angle at which the fibre of the grain
approaches the surface of the wood. When the fibre runs
parallel, the grain is apt to appear without mottled effect.
The open ends of the fibre present a dark appearance, and
when the undulations in the tree are intersected by the
saw, an effect is produced more or less mottled, according
to the character of the wood.
CHAPTER XLV
JOURNEYMEN
N the early days of the trade guilds, centuries ago, a
workman was known and recognized by his ability
rather than by the quantity of work he was able to
accomplish in a given time. After faithfully serving his
apprenticeship, generally for a term of seven years, he
was still not recognized as a journeyman until he had, as
the name implies, made a journey of many miles and
worked at his trade in several cities. On his return
home he was recognized as a full-fledged journeyman and
considered competent to be admitted to fellowship with
his fellow-workers. In his travels he was provided by the
guild with credentials certifying that he had duly served
his apprenticeship. Wherever a workman in his trade
was needed, he was given employment, and the local guild
looked after his welfare. This system broadened the
ideas of the young craftsman and allowed opportunity for
comparison to be made between the work and methods of
his late master and those of skilful craftsmen of other
cities and towns. It also put him on his mettle and stimu-
128 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
lated him to do the best and prove his claims to be an
expert workman.
These facts are cited to draw attention to the great
benefit to be derived by the young grainer in studying
work and methods of skilled grainers in cities or towns in
their vicinity or in any city in which they may find them-
selves ; the object being not to copy the work of any man,
however excellent in itself, but to study the process by
which results are attained, to avoid any fault observed,
and, if possible, to improve on the work examined — always
in the direction of a closer imitation of nature.
To the expert workman, in his examination of a piece of
finished work, it need not be necessary to explain the pro-
cess by which it was done. Oftentimes he can determine
with tolerable accuracy the methods employed and tools
used, also the number of stages through which the work
passed before it was completed. It is true that even the
most expert grainer may be mistaken in his opinion of how
the work was done, but this is seldom the case. Even the
bank clerk is sometimes mistaken and allows a counterfeit
bill to pass his scrutiny without detection.
It is often a revelation to the aspiring young craftsman
to observe the results obtained by a workman of another
school from that in which he was taught. Tools and
vehicles for applying the color may be radically different
from those he may have considered as standards. It is a
wise man who can profit by the mistakes of others or who
will try and correct his own shortcomings. It is remark-
able how a simple process may be used to produce effects
which to the beginner seem marvellous. He should, as
far as possible, acquaint himself with all known processes
by which wood can be imitated and endeavor to master
them so that his work shall not appear as a mere copy of
the work of his master, but shall at least suggest the grains
of the wood which he is trying to imitate.
GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 129
CHAPTER XLVI
BICYCLE FOR COUNTRY OR CITY WORK
HE grainer who works for the trade outside the very
larger cities is losing an opportunity to earn extra
dollars if he fails to use a bicycle. There are many
occasions when he can get home to dinner and save both
time and money by using a bicycle. A grainer’s kit is so
small that it is not difficult to carry it on a wheel, anda
little practice will soon give one confidence so that he can
safely go from place to place and save hours of valuable
time.
Possibly the grainer of the future may ride to and from
his work in an automobile, and his “rubber in”’ may act in
the dual capacity of rubber in and chauffeur, but the prices
now paid for work will have to be raised one hundred per
cent before such things are likely to transpire.
Notre. This prediction has come true. The trade grainer now rides to
work in an automobile, his ‘‘rubber-in”’ acting as chauffeur, and prices have
advanced over one hundred per cent in ten years.
CHAPTER XLVII
BUTTERNUT
Grouna-color. — White lead, raw sienna, raw umber.
Graining Color.— Raw sienna, raw umber, burnt umber.
Tools for Oil Color. — Rubbing-in brush, sash tool, fitch
tools, bristle liner, combs, rags, crayons.
Tools for Water Color. — Sponge, rubbing-in brush, stip-
pler, blender, sash tool, fitch tools, bristle liner, crayons,
overgrainers.
130 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
This wood is found in the middle western states and is
sometimes called white walnut. Its grains are quite similar
to those of black walnut, but are as a rule more angular
in the heart grains, and the outline of the grains is much
less vigorous. There is but little mottle to its grain, ang
it has a quiet and subdued effect.
Some of its grains are not unlike those of white mahog-
any. It is seldom seen in the East nowadays. |
For oil color mix about one-third each of raw sienna, raw
umber, and burnt umber. Thin with the regular thinners,
making the color very thin.
The work can then be rubbed in, and the faint stippled
effect can be produced with the dry rubbing-in brush on
the color which has been allowed to set slightly.
The heart grains can then be put in with the flat fresco
liner and the work blended with the rubbing-in brush, care
being taken not to lift the color too much in blending.
Combs can be used for the finer grains, and the sides of
the rubbing-in brush can be used to remove portions of the
color. The stippling with the dry brush can then be done
over the combing.
For water color graining. the work is first sponged over,
using one-third beer to two-thirds water and rubbed in with
a mixture of raw sienna, raw and burnt umber, using the
rubbing-in brush, and applying the color very sparingly.
Stipple at once, and when dry, the heart grains may be put
in with the bristle liner, and blended quickly, or the dry
crayon may be used for this purpose.
The plain grains can be represented by using the short
haired overgrainer.
Remember that the outline of the heart grains should not
be too pronounced. The crayon outline is often nearer to
the natural grains than is the work done by the brush.
BUTTERNUT
BLATE, SZ
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GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 131
CHAPTER XLVIII
GUMWOOD
Ground-color. — White lead, raw umber, raw sienna.
Graining Color. — Raw umber, drop black.
Tools. — Sponge, rubbing-in brush, blender, sash tool,
fitches, overgrainers, medium steel combs, straw matting,
soft cotton rags.
This wood is a native of the southern parts of the United
States and in recent years has come into fashion for in-
terior finish and for furniture. Much of the furniture now
sold for walnut is really gumwood with a thin walnut
veneer on the more important surfaces.
The grains can be represented in either water (} vinegar)
or oil colors. The figures are slightly darker than the
background of the wood and often interlock in a most
peculiar manner. These grains are generally longitudinal
and seldom have any mottled appearance. In some re-
spects they resemble the figures of rosewood.
In working froma water-color base, asmall portion only can
be done at one time. Rub in the color (composed almost
wholly of raw umber) and with a sponge clean off or lighten
up longitudinal streaks and blend softly, then with color
darkened slightly with a touch of drop black introduce the
figures with the fitch tools and blend again before the color
dries. This process can be used again after the color is dry,
but do not overdo the work nor make too strong contrasts.
In working in oil colors, make the raw umber very thin
and with a soft rag remove portions of the color and blend
softly with the rubbing-in brush. If necessary, use the
steel combs (always covered with thin cotton cloth) or the
straw matting for the plainer portions of the work, then,
having darkened the color with a very little drop black, put
in the darker veins with the fitch tool or bristle fresco liner.
132 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
It is sometimes necessary to add a little dry zinc to the
oil color to produce the gray shades seen in the wood.
Bolted whiting helps to produce this effect.
CHAPTER XLIX
DOUGLAS OR OREGON FIR
Ground-color.— White lead, yellow ochre, raw sienna.
Graining Color. — Raw sienna, burnt sienna, raw umber.
fools. — Rubbing-in brush, sash tool, fitch tools, rubber
and steel combs, soft cotton rags.
This wood is now much in evidence for doors and stand-
ing finish in modern houses. It grows in the northwestern
portions of the United States and is a sound and durable
timber. Much of it is used in a veneer form, being cut
from the log around the outer circumference, and in this
way it presents a wonderful diversity of grain, always con-
tinuous, and sometimes of gigantic size; and again it will
run very fine in grain.
It can be represented very faithfully in oil color. Mix
raw sienna and raw umber and thin to a very light stain;
rub in cleanly and rather sparingly, then with a soft piece
of cotton rag remove portions of the color in the general
directions of the grain of the wood. Add a little burnt
sienna and a touch of raw umber to the graining color
(keep this in a separate vessel), and try to imitate the
figures produced by the peculiar way the veneer is cut.
When partly set, blend lightly with the rubbing-in brush,
and if necessary use the combs to carry out the lines on
the outer edges of the work. .
The plain grains can be made with the rubber or steel
combs (the latter always covered with a rag), and blended
lightly, always lengthwise of the grain.
PLATE 58
OREGON OR DOUGLAS FIR
?
GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 133
DESCRIPTION OF PHOTO OF GRAINERS’ ASSOCIATION
1. FRANCIS A. HARTFORD was born in Massachusetts in 1857, and
early in life learned the painting business, specializing in lettering and
graining. For twenty-five years or more, he grained for the trade
and did excellent work.
He could paint a fair picture and had a keen sense of color value.
His work was done chiefly in South Boston, where he resided.
He retired from business about 1912 and went to Beloit, Wisconsin,
where he died September 16, 1913, aged fifty-six years.
2. WILLIAM HOPSON was born in Newbury, England, in 1834. He
received a fair education and, having served his time as a painter and
grainer, came to Boston, Mass., in 1852, and worked at his trade. By
an accident he broke his leg, and returned to England, returning to
Boston in 1858. cob
He had qualified as a grainer in his native land, and ‘on his second
arrival in Boston, he began to grain for the trade, and so continued for
over fifty years. He was the first President of the Grainers’ Associa-
tion of Boston and vicinity, and held the office until he retired from
business in 1907.
He spent the remainder of his days on a farm in Randolph Center,
Vermont, where he died April 22, 1915, aged eighty-one years.
Few men had the wonderful technique possessed by Mr. Hopson.
His pictures of quarter-sawed oak have seldom been surpassed by
grainers in any country, at any time. He won the Centennial Medal
at Philadelphia, in 1876, for his excellent work.
4. WILLIAM M. Ross was born in Boston, Mass., October 30, 1856,
and learned his trade from his father, William Munro Ross, a grainer
to the trade, who served his time in Bennett & Bogle’s shop in Glasgow,
Scotland, in the early fifties.
Mr. W. M. Ross succeeded to his father’s business on the death of
the latter in 1878, and followed it until his death at Somerville, Mass.,
March 2, tgos, aged forty-nine years.
He had unquestioned ability as a workman and could paint a very
clever water-color picture of dead game birds.
He was one of the most rapid workmen that ever practiced the art in
Massachusetts. His work always bore the imprint of native ability,
coupled with close observation of the grains of various woods. He left
no successor to his business.
134 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN
5. FRANCIS VINCENT was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, October 2
1833, and came to Boston, Mass., about 1851. He first worked as a
journeyman painter, but having excellent ability and a love for imitating
the grains of wood, he soon started in business as a grainer to the
trade, and continued to work until a few days before his death, which
occurred August 11, I911, at his home in Malden, Mass., aged seventy-
eight years.
He was a modest and retiring man, always willing to commend the
work of others, and himself an excellent workman.
He left no successor to his business.
6. JoHN E. PATTEN was born at Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1854, and
came to Boston at an early age. He served his time in Christopher
Needham’s shop, and under the skilful instruction of his master, his
native talent was soon developed. He began to grain for the trade in
Boston and vicinity about 1876, and in later years conducted a shop for
general painting, still doing graining for the trade.
He had marked ability asa grainer. His work never looked slovenly,
but was clean and crisp, and wonderfully true to nature.
He died in Boston, Mass., January 25, 1916, aged sixty-two years,
being at that time President of the Grainers’ Association of Boston and
vicinity. He left.no successor.
MEMBERS WHO JOINED AFTER PHOTO WAS TAKEN
CHARLES A. MORGAN was born at Charlestown, Mass., in 1849, and
early in life came to live in Lawrence, Mass. After serving his time
in a paint shop, he worked for some time as a journeyman painter, then
became a shop grainer, and later established himself as a grainer to the
trade. His services were in demand in many adjacent towns, where
good examples of his work may yet be seen.
By judicious investments in real estate, he was enabled to retire from
business in 1917. He died May 22, 1922, aged seventy-three years, and
at the time of his death was President of the Grainers’ Association of
Boston and vicinity.
RICHARD HOLLAND was born in Ireland in 1842, and came to
America in 1854. At the age of eighteen he was apprenticed to Lucius
Richmond, a prominent master painter of North Bridgewater, now
Brockton, Mass.
Mr. Richmond was captain of a battery in the Massachusetts Volun-
teer Militia, and on the outbreak of the War of the Rebellion, Mr.
rcceomnt ER OOOE ES RE. OF
|
GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 135
Holland enlisted and went to the front with his master. At the close
of the war, both returned safely home and again entered the ranks of
producers in gainful occupations.
Mr. Holland was a man of quiet and studious disposition, a very
close student of the grains of wood, and a very excellent imitator of
these grains.
He also possessed the rare faculty of great skill as a picture painter,
both in oil and water colors.
His pictorial work is in evidence in the memorial gallery of war pic-
tures in the Brockton City Hall.
Mr. Holland joined the Grainers’ Association in 1904, and died after
a brief illness, January 16, 1906, aged sixty-three years. 3
He left no successor.
om
NOTES
1. Always bear in mind that the graining on no piece of wood on
which you are at work should appear to begin or end. The tree from
which the board is cut is encircled with rings of annual growth, and it is
impossible to find the end of any grain except where a board is cut at
some angle to the growth of the tree. Remember that although the
board may be cut off, the grain is continued to the other piece. The
work of many grainers suggests the thought that the wood begins to
grow where they start to represent it and the growth stops where they
leave off.
2. Never work on Sunday unless in a case of great necessity. Many
people have a habit of getting mechanics to do work on Sunday simply
as a matter of convenience for themselves ; do not encourage them; re-
member the commandment “ Thou shalt do no manner of work in it.”
Also remember that you are not keeping the Commandment if you leave
your books and accounts to be written up on Sunday; that should be
the day to worship God and to rest from labor, “for what shail it
profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul.”
3. In graining the panels of doors, where both sides are grained to rep-
resent the same wood, attention should be given to the fact that a thin
panel if made of solid wood would present somewhat similar markings
on both sides. In the case of ash, yellow pine, or walnut the figure
would be almost identical. It is well to consider this in attempting to
imitate the wood, for a good grainer should be consistent, and not vio-
late mechanical laws, but make his work conform as nearly as possible
to what he sees in the natural wood.
4. An excellent way to carry the kit, without causing objection when
travelling in trains or on the electric cars, is to have a round sole-
leather case made slightly over twice the height of the pot used in mix-
ing the color, thus giving room for two pots. That containing the
mixed color can be placed in the bottom of the case, the dry pot with
colors and brushes on top. This will ieave room for rags, combs, etc.,
and when the cover is strapped down, the kit can easily be carried and
the leather case is good for years of service.
137
138 7 NOTES
5. In using oil graining color in warm weather the surplus color on
combs, rags, etc., is often transferred to the hands, and if allowed to re-
main for more than three or four hours, it is difficult to remove. It is
wise to wash the hands thoroughly both at noon and at night after using
oil colors. To remove the graining color from between the fingers noth-
ing is better than a pad of curled horsehair, such as is used by uphol-
sterers. This can be rubbed against the hand at any point where the
graining color has adhered, and by the use of a good lather of soap and
some hot water the hands can be effectually cleaned.
If no curled horsehair is available, place a saucer full of granulated
Indian meal in the sink, and after having made a good lather of soap and
hot water on the hands, dip them in the dry meal and rub thoroughly.
This will be found an excellent process to remove all sorts of dirt from
the hands. If varnish or pitch gets on the hands, first use a little lard
or grease to soften it and then try the curled hair or meal.
6. A wooden wedge, about six inches long and one-half inch thick,
tapering from the point to about three inches in width, will be found very
useful to hold a door open at any position desired. It is most effective
when pushed against the edge of the door. A few thin pieces of wood
are also useful to lay on the threshold of doors to prevent the door from
shutting, especially if there are no handles on the doors, as is often the
case ina new house. On new work it is wise to carry, in the jacket
pocket, a short piece of hard wood cut so that it will fit the knob sockets
of doors, so that in case the knobs are not fitted the latch may be turned
and the door opened without waste of time.
7. Incarrying a pot of thin graining color (or paint) where no brushes
are in the color, a thin piece of wood (covering three fourths of the
surface), either round or square, if laid on the surface of the color, will
prevent slopping.
7 Original Poem
Read by Francis A. HARTFORD at the quarterly meeting of Grainers’ .
Association of Boston and vicinity, April 19, 1904.
The grainer, a merry man is he,
And his life is a round of joy,
He hustleth like a honey-bee,
And the quarter grain of the wormwood tree,
He graineth as close as close can be,
On a surface of corduroy.
To work for a country shop, tra la,
He riseth at break of day ;
He rideth the costly railway car
And goeth a distance, — very far, .
And often he getteth the merry “ha! ha!”
When he asketh for his pay.
How often he bolteth his breakfast-food
And firmly he maketh his mind
To match up his work to the “real wood,”
For the painter insisteth “it must be good,”
But he longeth to spill that painter’s blood —
For the painter is color blind.
Now the painter he taketh the grainer, and lo!
He posteth him on his job:
“You should carry your color so and so,
And this is the way wood ought to grow,
I'll have to tell you, for you don’t know,”
But that painter is a s/od.
At night the grainer he lieth down,
And dreameth a great big dream,
That the great, round earth is a graining ground,
And a million grainers gathered around,
With color and brushes and cloths all found,
Bread, beer, and cheese, and a pipe to smoke,
And all of the work is quartered oak —
And then he awoke ! ’twas his wife who spoke:
“William, get right up; Mr. Smith is downstairs
and wants you to do a job for him this morn-
ing, so he can varnish it this afternoon.”
GRAINERS’ ASSOCIATION OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS,
AND VICINITY
The Grainers’ Association of Boston, Massachusetts, and vicinity
was organized in Somerville, Massachusetts, May 27, 1903, with the
following charter members : —
. WILLIAM Hopson, Prestdent . . . . ~ Everett.
. FRANCIS: VINCENT <2) a) <7. ieee
. Joun E. PATTEN 3. 2). 20 3) Se
F. A. HARTFORD woe a aS Nr ee
. WiLL1aAM M. Ross (died March 2, 1905) . Somerville.
. Witiiam E. WALL, Sec’y-7reas. . . ~ Somerville.
WP He ANN
Since that time the following grainers have been admitted to mem-
bership : —
CHARLES A. MORGAN . «9 = 0s sun pee reeer
RICHARD HOLLAND «. «© « ©) 6) ss eestOGmcge:
INDEX
[Roman figures pages, black figures plates.]
A
Antiquity of graining, I.
Ash, 46; burl, 53; ground-colors for,
46; Hungarian, 51; wiped out and
pencilled, 48.
B
Badger blender, 1.
Bicycle, for city or country work, 129.
Bird’s-eye maple, 35; maple in water
color, 36.
Black walnut, 37.
Blending groundwork, 12.
Bristle rubbing-in brushes, 2; liners,
fitches, 2; mottlers, overgrainers, 1 ;
stippler, 1; piped overgrainer, 1.
Burl ash, 53; ash, ground-colors for,
46; ash in oil color, 54.
Burl walnut, gI.
Butternut, 129.
Cc
Camel’s-hair piped overgrainer, 1.
Case for carrying tools, 131.
Causes of cracking in grained work,
116. :
Ceilings, 102.
Champs, to put in (quartered oak),
57:
Check roller, 21, 30.
Cherry, 81; groundwork for, 81; in
oil color, 82; in water color, 83;
mottled, to overgrain, 83; mottled
and overgrained, 84.
Chestnut, 71.
Circassian walnut, 93.
Coats, thin preferable, 13.
Color, for graining, 13;
before thinning, 13.
Combing in oil color, 25 ; combing in
water color, 29; combing a back-
ground for quartered oak, 27, 28.
Combs, 2; bone, 1; cork, 21; rub-
ber, 20; steel, 20,
Covering teeth of combs, 26, 27.
Crayons for light oak and ash, 31.
Curly birch, 85; curly maple, 33;
curly walnut, 91. |
Cypress, 77.
straining
D
Dark oak, 54; ground-color for, 545
veins in mahogany, 95; veins in
quartered oak, 59-62; veins in
rosewood, 100.
“ Docked” pencil in bird’s-eye maple,
We
Dry colors for graining, 16.
Dryers in graining color, 13.
E
Eminent grainers of the last century, 7.
English oak, 65.
Eyes and shadows in bird’s-eye maple,
40.
F
Feathered mahogany, 95, 96.
Fitch tool, 21.
Flat brush for rubbing in, 2; fresco
bristle liner, 2.
Floors, 104.
I4I
142
Fourteen ways of imitating quartered
oak, 60,
French walnut burl, 91.
G
Grainer, in fiction, the, 118.
Grainers’ combs, 20, 21; tools, 20, 21.
Graining, antiquity of, 1; both sides
of the same panel, 131; colors, 16;
crayons, 31; door, quartered oak,
121; on glass, 113; over old paint,
14; quartered oak, 58.
Ground-colors, 11; for ash, 46; for
burl ash, 46; for Hungarian ash,
51; .