Books › Violins and other stringed instruments : how to make them ; with numerous engravings and diagrams, 1906 › scan 72
Scan 72
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 68. See the scan on archive.org.
1with spirits of turpentine. Amber varnish should be permitted to dry surface hard at a temperature of 90° F., but may be allowed to harden at a much less temperature, say about 65° F. Should the grain rise, rub down with No. 0 glasspaper.
3Oil varnishes generally improve or mature with age, but are apt to thicken. When this occurs the varnish should not be thinned down with an excessive quantity of turpentine, or the brilliancy and elasticity of the varnish will be lost. Place the varnish in a suitable metal vessel, and heat over a fire to about 200° F., 1 part of turpentine (American) being added to 18 parts of varnish. When the varnish possesses poor drying properties, the finest quality of terebine obtainable should be used instead of turpentine. The quantity stated should not be exceeded; or the work will crack and lose its durability.
5To remove unsatisfactory varnish from a violin, well rub it with flour emery or finest-grade pumice-stone powder moistened with water and applied with a woollen cloth. With care, the top coats of varnish may thus be removed without injuring the under coat or spoiling the colour, or by continued rubbings the whole of the varnish can be removed until, with fine-grade glass-paper to smooth down the grain, a clean white surface is left. Care must be taken to avoid excess of water likely to soften the glue joints. Generally it is not advisable to remove old varnish when it is merely a case of matching repairs. Repaired goods are usually doctored up by equalising the colour. First rub the bare places with Venetian red and raw linseed oil; then take a small quantity of white hard spirit varnish or transparent polish and dragon's blood, and apply several coats to the light places. Should the tone thus gained be too glaring, other colouring substances may be added, such as may be obtained by bismarck brown and red sanders; or pigments, as vandyke brown, amber, yellow ochre, or black. When the colour has been equalised and a fair body of varnish laid on, allow it to get quite hard; then
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