Books › Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883 › scan 303
Scan 303
Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883
4 lines. Read by computer on 27 September 2026. Printed page 289. See the scan on archive.org.
1nished. In order not to carbonise the colour, especially that from sandal wood, it is absolutely necessary that the temperature of the water be always under boiling point (212 Fahr.). It is sufficient that the alcohol alone should boil. A larger quantity of coloured alcohol than of essential oil is given, because it is necessary to colour not only the latter, but also the resins to be dissolved and the oil to be added in making the varnish. If the operator is a chemist, a Bunsen valve fitted to the flask would be found useful in preventing the aqueous vapours from falling back into the liquid, and if one had to make a large quantity of varnish every year, and did not wish to lose the alcohol in making this coloured essence, a Liebig's condenser could easily be fitted to the flask, but the loss of alcohol in making a couple of pints of varnish, with which about twenty violins could be covered, is not a matter for serious consideration. Like the fixed oils, though in a greatly less degree, the essential oils undergo a modification in winter, which renders them less capable of mixing with colour, especially red, which they abandon more readily than orange. It is, therefore, advisable to perform these operations in summer and in dry weather. The essential oil of turpentine could be oxidised during the early months of spring, and the coloured essences made from the 1st July on to October, and even later, if the summer is a long one. Failing the oxidised oil of turpentine, the essential oil of rosemary mixes at once with alcohol of the degree of richness indicated, and yields very good results.
3The various tints visible on the old Italian instruments may be comprised in a gamut whose degrees
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.