CHESTNUT.
This wood is not frequently used as an interior finish, but sixteen
years ago it was almost the only hardwood used for interior finish in
the New England States; and any grainer who succeeded in matching it
was considered very skilful. It is a highly-porous wood, and on that
account is undesirable, as, if not entirely protected from the changes
in temperature by being thoroughly filled, it will warp or swell; and I
have seen doors concave or convex as much as three inches in a two foot
eight inch door. It also turns very dark with age, and its hearts or
prominent grains are very coarse. I have seen specimens which measured
eighteen inches from point to point at the heart. The colors used are
raw sienna, burnt umber, Vandyke brown and a little burnt sienna. There
is some resemblance to ash in the finer growth of chestnut, but its
general characteristics are more angular--that is, the hearts run more
to points than those of ash--and in most of the hearts a faint outline
appears between the points. The combing also is much coarser than that
meant for ash. Chestnut can be done in either oil or water color. I
think it can be done best in oil, using the rag to wipe out the color
and combing in the edges of the hearts with a rubber comb covered with
a thin piece of rag. This comb should not be over two inches in width,
and the teeth should be about five to the inch. When the hearts are
wiped out and lightly-blended, the fine outline may be put in between
the points in the hearts by using a sharp-pointed stick or the round
corner of a steel comb. The work, when dry, may be lightly stippled in
distemper, or a thin glaze of color without stippling may be applied to
bring the work to the desired depth of color; this shading-color may be
mixed in oil or water color.
In imitating this wood in water color the work should first be stippled
in very fine and allowed to dry; then put in the growths with the small
fitch tool, and use the overgrainer for the same purpose as that for
which the comb is used in oil color to follow the edges of the hearts,
and to produce the "combed" work; a piped bristle over-grainer will be
found useful for this purpose.
BIRD'S-EYE MAPLE.
To my mind, this is the most beautiful of our native woods, and it is a
shame that it is often cut down for firewood; however, it seems to be
growing in favor among the furniture-makers, and is far more generally
used in the interior of horse-cars and railway-cars than it was ten
years ago. The colors used in representing maple are raw sienna, raw
umber, a little Vandyke brown or ivory black and a little burnt sienna,
to be added to the color when over-graining or putting in the
pencil-work and the eyes.
[Illustration: Plate 19.
BIRD'S-EYE MAPLE, OVERGRAINED.]
[Illustration: Plate 20.
CHESTNUT.]
[Illustration: Plate 21.
BIRD'S-EYE MAPLE, MOTTLED, READY FOR THE EYES.]
This wood is almost invariably imitated in water color, as oil is too
slow in drying to be used with any success. Stale beer is the best
vehicle with which to apply the color. The implements needed are a good
sponge, a piece of soft cotton rag or chamois leather, a brush to apply
the color, a large and a small mottler or cut tool, a badger blender,
an overgrainer and fitch tool, and a camel's-hair pencil. First
dampen the ground-work over with the sponge, which has been wrung out
of clean water, or of beer and water; then rub in the color, doing a
panel or a small piece at a time, and while wet wipe out the high
lights and put in the shadows with the sponge or the mottler or the
backs of the fingers, or draw the color up into small bunches or
clusters with the blender or mottler and blend lightly crosswise. When
the lights and the shadows are dry, the eyes are put in. By observing
the real wood it will be found that the eyes invariably appear in the
darker portions of the grain, and that the shadows seem to slope away
from them. Very often the shadows all slant one way and the eyes in the
same way; this must be taken into consideration in imitating maple. Do
not have all the eyes and all the shadows slanting the same way in
different panels, as is often seen in the interior of cars, but reverse
the style, bringing the opposite panels to balance with each other.
The best manner of imitating the eyes is a matter of doubt among
practical workmen. The amateur grainer will tell you that he can put
them in by striking the ends of his fingers against the color while
wet; this is the way the wood is most frequently misrepresented, and
such work looks feeble compared with that done by either of the
following methods: After the lights and shadows are dry take some of
the dark color from the bottom of your pot and add to it a little burnt
sienna; the color should be put in a shallow vessel, such as a saucer.
Thin the color, so that it works freely; then take a medium sized
camel's-hair pencil which has been "docked" by cutting off the hair
about one-quarter of an inch from the quill with a sharp knife, leaving
the ends of the hair perfectly square. Then burn out the centre of the
brush with a red-hot wire, leaving the hair round the circumference
with which to represent the "eyes." The pencil is then dipped in the
darker color, and the eyes are put in where desired.
Another way is to cut a piece from a block of soft rubber, make a hole
through it and with a sharp knife trim the edges of the rubber till it
can be used to take up the dark color. Make the eyes in the same manner
as with the pencil brush. The eyes can be put in with a small pencil by
describing circles, but care must be taken to have them of uniform
size, or nearly so. Another--and probably the best--way is to take a
thin piece of chamois leather or a soft piece of cotton rag and wet it
in the graining-color; then take a piece of wood four or five inches
long and not over half an inch thick; whittle it round and taper it to
a point at one end; then wrap the rag or the leather around the stick,
keeping a folded edge at the sharp end of the stick; and when the cloth
or leather has made one circuit around the stick at the sharp end, wind
it farther up the stick, so that only one circle of the folded rag or
leather is at the sharp end of the stick. Some of the thick color may
then be placed in about the middle of the rag, and by keeping the rag
or the leather well wet above the thick color and squeezing the rag as
often as necessary, so that the color descends toward the point of the
stick, the eyes may be rapidly and accurately put in by striking the
end of the folded rag or leather against the work; and a pair of panels
may easily be done by once filling the rag with color. This method has
the advantage of making any sized "eye," from the largest to the
smallest, by simply altering the thickness of the folds; or the eyes
may be made in any shape desired, from a circle to an oval. After the
eyes are put in the work is over-grained, the color mostly being burnt
sienna. The heart grains are put in with a camel's-hair pencil. Some
grainers use a crayon pencil for this purpose, which should be soaked
in beer or vinegar and used moist; the various over-grainers are also
used in putting in the heart grains. The "eyes" should always be
noticed--that is, the over-grainer should describe some part of a
circle in passing the "eyes," so as to have them in harmony with the
general features of the wood. All water-color work should be lightly
gone over when dry with the hand, to remove any roughness in the
graining-color. Some grainers prefer to touch up the high lights around
the "eyes" with some of the ground color after the graining is dry, but
it must be done very carefully or it shows badly.
[Illustration: Plate 22.
BIRD'S-EYE MAPLE WITH THE EYES.]
[Illustration: Plate 23.
CHESTNUT.]
CURLY OR ROCK MAPLE.
This wood somewhat resembles bird's-eye maple, and is often used in the
same piece of furniture. It differs from bird's-eye in having but few,
if any, "eyes" in it, and is mostly mottled and over-grained. A
five-inch mottler that will cover the stiles of an ordinary door is a
very necessary tool, as one that is not wide enough necessitates going
over the work twice, and then it will not look so well as if done with
a brush of sufficient width to cover the whole stile. The colors used
for bird's-eye maple will answer for this wood, but the general tone is
darker.
SILVER MAPLE.
This wood is represented by using ivory black for the graining-color;
the groundwork should be almost white. The work is mostly mottled and
very lightly over-grained. Eyes are sometimes put in, and the effect of
the work is very showy when carefully done.