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PRACTICAL GRAINING
With Description of Colors Employed and Tools Used
Illustrated by Forty-Seven Colored Plates
Representing the Various Woods Used in Interior Finishing
by
WILLIAM E. WALL
Grainer to the Trade.
Philadelphia:
House Painting and Decorating Publishing Co.
Eighteen-Ninety-One.
Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1890 by
The House Painting and Decorating Publishing Co.
in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, D. C.
All Rights Reserved.
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
CHAPTER I.
Groundworks for graining; graining compared with plain
painted work; removing old paint; mixing ground colors 5
CHAPTER II.
The graining color; imitating simple woods; graining
color for light oak; mixing graining color; applying
the color; representing champs or lights of oak 9
CHAPTER III.
Quartered oak; overgraining; heart of oak; use of the
check roller 13
CHAPTER IV.
Graining oak in distemper; the light veins in oak;
graining ash; putting in heart work; over-graining
ash; ash in distemper; matching white ash 16
CHAPTER V.
Hungarian ash; burl ash in water color and in oil 19
CHAPTER VI.
Chestnut; colors for graining chestnut; wiping the
hearts and blending; chestnut in water color; bird's-eye
maple; putting in lights and shades; putting in the
eyes; curly or rock maple; silver maple 21
CHAPTER VII.
Satinwood; groundwork for satinwood; putting in the mottling 26
CHAPTER VIII.
Pollard oak; cherry; cherry in distemper; glue size
for distemper binder 27
CHAPTER IX.
Black walnut in oil; black walnut in distemper 31
CHAPTER X.
French walnut burl in distemper 32
CHAPTER XI.
Mahogany; Honduras feathered mahogany; stippling
in mahogany; feathered mahogany 35
CHAPTER XII.
Rosewood; the use of the bamboo brush; imitating
rosewood in water color; cypress wood 37
CHAPTER XIII.
Hard pine; white wood 40
CHAPTER XIV.
Varnishing over grained work; cracking of varnish
on inside work 42
CHAPTER XV.
Graining considered as a fine art; graining sometimes
condemned; the artistic merit of graining 46
CHAPTER XVI.
The tools used by grainers; combs; overgrainers;
badger blenders; castellated overgrainers; mottlers;
cutters; stipplers; check roller; fresco bristle
liners 48
CHAPTER XVII.
Patent graining machines; patent roller process; the
Mason pad; objections to machine graining; stencil
plates; gransorbian transfer process; transfer paper 54
CHAPTER XVIII.
The imitation of carved work, mouldings, etc. 59
LIST OF COLORED ILLUSTRATIONS.
1. Grounds for Graining Hungarian Ash, Maple, Light Ash and Light Oak.
2. Grounds for Graining Chestnut, Dark or Pollard Oak, Black or French
Walnut, Stained Cherry, Mahogany and Rosewood.
3. Plain or Wainscot Oak, Light.
4. Flaked Oak, Light.
5. Flaked Oak, Light.
6. Heart Growth Oak, Light.
7. Heart Growth Oak, Pencilled.
8. Flaked Oak, Light, Shaded.
9. Heart of Oak, Checked and Shaded.
10. Flaked Oak, Light Shaded.
11. Flaked or Quartered Dark Oak, Shaded.
12. Heart of Light Ash, Wiped Out.
13. Heart of Light Ash Wiped Out and Shaded.
14. Heart of Ash, Dark, Pencilled.
15. Hungarian Ash, Wiped Out and Pencilled.
16. Burl Ash in Water Colors.
17. Dark Ash, Pencilled and Combed.
18. Hungarian Ash, Wiped Out.
19. Bird's-Eye Maple, Overgrained.
20. Chestnut.
21. Bird's-Eye Maple, Mottled Ready for the Eyes.
22. Bird's-Eye Maple with the Eyes.
23. Chestnut.
24. Satinwood Mottled.
25. Satinwood Mottled and Overgrained.
26. Curly Maple Mottled to Overgrain.
27. Curly Maple Overgrained.
28. Pollard Oak.
29. Pollard Oak.
30. Cherry Mottled in Oil before being Overgrained.
31. Cherry Mottled and Pencilled in Oil.
32. Cherry Mottled and Pencilled in Oil.
33. Cherry Mottled and Pencilled in Oil as Finished.
34. Cherry Wiped Out and Pencilled in Oil.
35. Walnut Stipple.
36. Black Walnut Pencilled.
37. Walnut Wiped Out and Pencilled.
38. Curly Walnut.
39. French Walnut Burl.
40. Mahogany Straight.
41. Mahogany Mottled.
42. Mahogany Feathered.
43. Rosewood as Outlined to Overgrain.
44. Rosewood as Finished.
45. Cypress in Oil.
46. Hard Pine.
47. Whitewood in Oil.
[Illustration: MAPLE OR SATIN WOOD. LIGHT ASH. LIGHT OAK. HUNGARIAN
ASH.
GROUNDS FOR GRAINING.--IN ILLUSTRATION OF ARTICLE BY WM. E. WALL]
PRACTICAL GRAINING.
CHAPTER I.
GROUND-WORKS FOR GRAINING
The following remarks, while not claiming to be anything new or
startling, will perhaps be of interest to those who seek to improve
themselves in the modern style of imitating the grain of wood. The
ideas set forth in these pages are founded on the observation and
every-day experience of a grainer to the trade who does not claim to be
the best in the world, but who offers his suggestions for the good of
the craft.
Graining is often overlooked in the rage for stained white wood or
olive greens in interior work, but it will always find favor with those
who have experienced its wearing qualities as compared with plain
painted work; for should the varnish be of good quality and not crack,
the work, if properly done, will stand for years and will not fade in
the manner that paint does, and where the work is properly done on new
wood it cannot be chipped off unless the wood is taken off with it. It
can be scoured off, but will not come off otherwise. Where graining is
done over old paint or over work that has been previously grained the
case is different, as, if knocked or bruised, it will chip off to the
coat beneath, and where the work has formerly been white the effect is
very bad and is hard to remedy; but if care is taken when grounding the
work, it may to a great extent be prevented.
In preparing old work for graining one of the first things requisite is
to have the surface made as smooth as possible; this may be done with
sand-paper or--what is better--lump pumice stone.
In case the graining is done over old paint that has cracked the best
thing to do is to remove the old varnish or paint by the application of
a strong solution of washing soda or a weak solution of potash. Some
painters use spirits of ammonia or burn off with a burning-lamp. After
thoroughly softening or removing the old paint or varnish with either
soda or potash, the work should be washed off with a weak solution of
vinegar (about a pint of vinegar to a pailful of water), in order to
remove all traces of the alkali and prevent its future action on the
paint. Some painters think that this is too much trouble and assert
that they cannot get paid for doing work in this way, but in the end it
will prove to be the best way, as it will greatly add to the appearance
and durability of any job so to prepare it. In any case the work should
be thoroughly sand-papered and made as smooth as possible before
receiving the first coat; this, of course, is for old work. The
ground-color should be thinned with about half spirits of turpentine
and half oil, with the addition of sufficient drier for old work, and
oil, with an extra quantity of drier, for first coat on new work, using
some spirits for the second and third coats.
The writer has found by experience that on the cheapest jobs (of
two-coat work) where the wood is sappy and the work has been rendered
rough by the painter using a large quantity of drier in his priming
coat, a much better surface is made to grain over by this method. It
will not spot or look cloudy when rubbed in to grain, as two-coat work
often does on new wood.
A little "elbow-grease" and sand-paper between coats make a vast
difference in the looks of a job when finished, and the ground-work
should always be lightly sand-papered before it is rubbed in by the
grainer.
[Illustration: CHESTNUT. DARK OR POLLARD OAK. BLACK OR FRENCH WALNUT.
STAINED CHERRY. MAHOGANY. ROSEWOOD.
GROUNDS FOR GRAINING.--IN ILLUSTRATION OF ARTICLE BY WM. E. WALL]
In mixing the ground-color for graining never use dry colors where it
can be avoided, as the work will be more or less gritty, and there is
really no saving in their use. A pound of color ground in oil will go
much further than one of dry color, is more easily applied and is much
better to grain over. Of course much depends on the purity of the
colors employed, and the painter will find that the best colors are
none too good for his use, as they go further and work better than do
the cheaper grades. It is a good plan always to strain the color before
thinning, whether the colors used be dry or ground.
The foregoing may seem superfluous to the good workman, as he himself
has probably found out more than this; but it may put some beginner on
the right track, and none of us are expert enough to miss learning a
point if we can.
MIXING OF THE GROUND COLORS.
The ground-work for oak is made by adding yellow ochre to lead till the
color is deep enough. In matching the real wood a _little_ raw umber
will help to bring it to the desired color, but is better without the
umber for light work.
In matching very light oak chrome yellow may be substituted for ochre.
For dark oak use the same colors as for light and add Venetian red and
burnt umber; the same color will do for pollard oak. For green oak (_á
la furniture_) do the same as for ordinary work, and when grained shade
it over with a thin wash of chrome green or add a little black to the
ground color. For ash use the same color as for light oak, but do not
get it quite so yellow; a little raw umber will counteract this. A
little chrome yellow may be added for Hungarian ash. For chestnut use a
similar color to that for ash, but deeper and with a little red. For
maple the ground-work should be very light. To an ordinary pot
two-thirds full of lead well broken up add about a teaspoonful of
chrome yellow and about half that amount of burnt sienna; some
grainers prefer a _very little_ Venetian red instead of the burnt
sienna. In matching the wood get the ground-work as near the lightest
color on the wood as possible, and you cannot go astray. For satin-wood
the ground-work is similar to maple, but deeper in color. For burl ash
use the same color as for ash, or slightly deeper.
The ground-work for cherry is probably mixed differently by every
painter--at least, that is my experience--and it is hard work to make
any workman believe that his is not the right way. In different parts
of the country the popular idea of what "cherry color" is, varies
greatly. In the majority of cases what has been called "the color of
the fruit" is wanted, so we must make the ground-work to suit the
demand. Cherry in its natural color is but little darker than ash, and
the ground-work may be made in the same way or by adding raw sienna to
the lead instead of yellow ochre and umber. The cherry that grainers
have to match is often finished by furniture-makers, and is as dark as
mahogany; in such cases the ground-work must be made with yellow ochre
for the basis of the color and darkened by Venetian red. It will want
little if any lead for the darker kinds of stained cherry, but will
stand some for the lighter shades. In priming new work add considerable
lead for first coat, as it gives more body. Three thin coats are none
too many for new work, and they should be applied without leaving
brush-marks. There is nothing more aggravating to the grainer than to
find that a job is full of streaks of thick paint, as it is almost
impossible to do a good job on such a ground-work.
The foregoing remarks apply to priming coats on new wood for graining
any kind of wood.
The ground-work for walnut is made by taking yellow ochre for the base
of the color and adding a small quantity of Venetian red and a little
burnt umber; for very light work a little lead may be added. The same
ground will do for French walnut. For mahogany the ground-work is made
of yellow ochre, Venetian red and red lead. For rosewood chrome yellow,
red lead and a small quantity of Venetian red. The foregoing are about
all the woods that a grainer in New England is called upon to imitate;
and if I mistake not, it is so elsewhere. Of course all painters or
grainers may not agree with me in using the colors named for preparing
the ground-work, but good work can be done on such grounds. One thing I
wish to say is, Never use Indian red in a ground-color, as it is not
transparent and makes the work look muddy. In grounding work for cherry
or walnut, where the old paint is not removed, it is well to add some
red lead to the color, which should be frequently stirred, or the red
lead will deposit on the bottom of the pot.