temper color, can, however, be beautifully grained upon prepared plain wood, with results almost equal to work done upon painted grounds. As in most of these dark varieties it is necessary to first stain the wood a general color, the pigments and fluids most serviceable for plain staining purposes may be considered from the painter's and grainer's point of view, not from the polisher's.
Preparation for plain staining is a matter of circumstance, depending upon the nature of the wood to be stained and of that to be imitated. If the wood is of the poorest quality, soft and sappy, coat it with patent glue size of fair strength. All common staining requires to be sized to enable the varnish to bear out. It is, however, advisable that, for floors and all similar surfaces exposed to hard wear, the stain should be applied first; otherwise, instead of sinking into the wood, the color is merely lying on the surface, and is more easily worn away. In oil staining ordinary house woodwork and cheap panellings, apply the size before the stain. When the former is dry, it will be found that the oil stain, which now is graining color, also can be spread much better and more regularly, and that those sappy places which would otherwise have absorbed much stain are scarcely noticeable. In sizing white or stained wood, poor work often results from the quirks and mitres of mouldings receiving too much of the froth of the warm size. This can be easily avoided by adding one teaspoonful of turpentine to every pint of size. For preparing a higher class of woodwork whose color it is chiefly the desire to alter, there are several better methods available. For staining a good specimen of pitchpine to a walnut shade, first coat with either japanners' gold size, diluted with one-third of turps, or with raw linseed oil, a little turps, and about one-tenth part of good liquid driers. The dilute gold size is the most costly and quickest, as it may be stained upon in a few hours, but for permanence and cheapness the drying oil is the best. Both are brushed
