Books › Violins and other stringed instruments : how to make them ; with numerous engravings and diagrams, 1906 › scan 69
Scan 69
Violins and other stringed instruments : how to make them ; with numerous engravings and diagrams, 1906
6 lines. Read by computer on 29 August 2026. Printed page 65. See the scan on archive.org.
1in two half pints of methylated spirit; filter through cotton-wool or fine muslin. This elastic spirit varnish gives the violin the warm amber colour so much sought for. Lay on the varnish carefully with a large, round, camel-hair brush, avoiding streaks, and not going twice over the same place. It will dry very quickly, and a coat may be put on daily till the desired colour is reached; rub down with finely sifted pumice-powder and water and a woollen rag after every third coat. When a good body of varnish is on, the surface must be rubbed down with the pumice-powder till the varnish is dull and smooth all over; the pumice is then thoroughly washed off. The final polish is obtained with tripoli and water, or crocus and linseed oil, on a rag, as before. After this is cleaned off, a brisk rub with the heel of the hand will give a surface like glass.
3The above instructions are applicable also to re-varnishing an old violin; but then it is necessary, in the preliminary papering process, entirely to remove all traces of the old varnish. When that has been done, the work is identical with the above.
5The process described above is probably the most convenient for the amateur violin maker, but the following, too, is easy, and has been warmly recommended: Place a small quantity of Howard's essential oil of turpentine in a cup, and put this in a water bath on a gas stove or other gentle source of heat. Then carefully dissolve as much gamboge as the oil will take up, and then lay a coat on the violin. In three hours, the first coat being dry, apply another coat of the same varnish. Two days afterwards the varnish will be quite hard—a beautiful yellow; the grain should not have risen, and will be quite bright. Having a good foundation, now apply coat after coat of varnish composed of the saturated alcoholic solutions of dragon's blood, sandarach, and benzoin (rubbing each coat down with wet pumice powder on a piece of oiled felt), until the varnish is quite solid and brilliant.
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