ROSEWOOD.
This wood is seldom imitated in this country except on piano-legs and
caskets or coffins, and then it is done in stain on the wood without
first being painted. Whitewood is given two coats of logwood stain, and
after that is dry the grains are put in with a bamboo brush, which is
made by beating the pulp out of the ends of short strips of bamboo,
leaving the harder portions of the wood, which act as bristles for
applying the graining-color. Four or five strips of bamboo an inch or
more wide are fastened together with wire, so that their edges
interlock at the point of the brush; the brush is then dipped in the
graining color, which consists of iron-filings dissolved in vinegar.
The surplus color is shaken out of the brush, and the grains are put in
in the same manner as that in which an overgrainer is used in
water-color. The darker veins are added with a sponge after the finer
grains are put in, and the work after being grained is generally filled
with rose-pink. This process can be used only on new surfaces, and is
of little value to the grainer to the trade.
The ordinary way of imitating rosewood is to do it in water color,
although it may be done in oil. I prefer to do it in distemper, as the
work can more quickly be finished in this way. The colors used are
Vandyke brown, ivory black and rose pink. The basis of the color is
Vandyke brown and a little black added to it. The ivory black and the
rose pink are mixed separately, and applied to the work as desired
while the color is wet, carefully blending where necessary. The
rose-pink is first streaked through the color and blended; then the
sponge is used to remove the color and make the lighter shades. The
black veins are then put in, and after the whole is dry the overgrainer
and the fitch tool are used to put in the fine grains. Last of all, the
edges of the dark veins are sharpened with the fitch tool, using thin
black for this purpose; this final application of black may be done in
oil. Care must be taken not to take too much black, or the effect will
be too sombre. The natural wood is almost invariably darkened by being
stained as we see it on pianos, and its beauties are obscured by so
doing. When the water color is finished and dry, the hand should be
lightly passed across the work to remove any surplus color that may not
thoroughly adhere, as, if not removed, it works up into the varnish, or
the varnish strikes in where the graining-color is thick; and for this
reason two coats of varnish are better than one coat on any dark wood
that has been done wholly in water color.
In operating entirely with oil the tools are much the same as those
used for water color; the bristle piped overgrainer is best for oil
color. The work is done in much the same manner as with water color,
using the rag where the color is to be lightened, with a little more
spirits of turpentine and japan in the color than ordinarily.
The grains of rosewood are not easily copied. The wood exhibits a
variety of grain second only to oak, and I think that, after oak, it is
the most difficult wood to imitate, as to do it justice requires the
free treatment which can be given only by a trained hand and a correct
eye. The average veins are free and graceful without being set or
constrained, and the grains are constantly interlocking and branching
off from the main hearts.
CYPRESS-WOOD
has but recently appeared in this country as an interior finish. It is
a very soft and porous wood, and is a good kind to keep out of a
house, owing to its liability to shrink and swell, but occasionally we
find rooms finished with it, with the exception of the doors, which the
grainer is called upon to match. I am informed that cypress trees have
to be girdled in the spring and killed, so that they contain but little
sap when cut in the fall, as, if cut green, they would sink in the
water before they could be floated to the mill. This shows how ill
suited this wood is for an interior finish.
[Illustration: Plate 44.
ROSEWOOD AS FINISHED.]
[Illustration: Plate 45.
CYPRESS IN OIL.]
The grain of cypress somewhat resembles that of hard pine, but is
broader in the heart and finer-grained; it also presents more contrast
between the light and dark portions of the growth. The ground is
slightly darker and more yellow than that 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. 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, taking care that the lines made by the comb closely follow
those made by hand, and that they are equally distinct, or the places
where the comb has been used can readily be distinguished from the rest
of the work, and they look very bad. There is but little use for the
fitch tool in matching cypress; the combing is mostly fine and rather
straight. The steel combs should never be used 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 spirits.
It needs but a very thin glaze, and is ordinarily finished without
shading.