Marcli 2, 1912





RECORD   AND   GUIDE





433







BUILDING   SECTION





VARNISH: A TROUBLE MAKER OR A PLEASURE GIVER.

The Truth   Aboul   This   Little   Understood   Building  Material—The
Story of a Ruined  Building—Fearful Risks and How to Avoid Them.





VARNISH applied is the outward visible
sign of the inward degree of build¬
ing quality. Therefore it is necessary
that the jjeauty of good wood be brought
out in all it.^ pristine splendor or its de¬
fects be safely hidden and not be made
worse by ugly white scars, scratches and
abrasions, the sure result of using in¬
ferior varnishes.

But Ihe average user of varnisli is not
equipped to differentiate between good
and inferior wood preservatives, and the
onlv test he has is to apply the varnish
first and then await results. In the case
of the architecL, however, he, of course
knows the value of varnishes and in spe¬
cifying them he insists upon using the
varnish that positively will not check or
crack or become streaky when moisture
strikes it or scratch white  when scraped.

The best test of a varnish, no matter
what the purpose to which it is applied,
is the reputation of the manufacturer as
shown by the stability of his name in the
trade and the number of years he has
been in business. Reliability is the speci¬
fier's surest safeguard. The architect in¬
sisting upon the use of a certain bi'and
in effect guarantees satisfactory results
to his client. Therefore he must know
bis varnish.

Varnish applied on the interior of a
home is the basis upon which the owner
or occupant fixe.s his pride and satisfac¬
tion. If there are blemishes on those
parts of his home upon which his eye
constantly rests no ainount of good basic,
or rough construction, iflreproofing, or
vista will appease his disappointment and
disgust. Therefore it is of prime import¬
ance that the architect and owner give
thoughtful consideration to the kind of
vai-nish he specifies.

The experience of a wealthy business
man, whose name is known to almost
every broker in Wall street, is illustrative
He has just completed a palatial home in
a suburban New Jersey town. In that
home he put the very best wood he could
find for trim. This wood was imported
in some instances. In others, it was
brought from California, from Oregon,
from South America and from Africa. A
large sum of money was spent in work¬
manship, to make the panels match in
grain.    Then he bought some varnish.

When this varnish dried, a mere bump
of an umbrella handle against the surface
of that magnificent wood was sufficient
to leave a scar that was not eraseable.
The appearance of moisture tlirough an
open door or window, changes the face of
those costly panels a sickly white. A
thumbnail pressure will leave a roslnous
streak that cannot be effaced.

The remedy? Absolutely none. It
would cost as much as the repurchasing
of a new ordinary hardwood trim
throughout to escape ithose costly panels
bare of varnish and apply good material,
and even then the process would forever
destroy  the   beauty  of the  wood.

An expert carefully studied the varnish
used, followed it up even back to the
very varnish kettles where it was made
and found that tlie failure was due to
lack of personal professional supervision
in   its manufacture.

Which leads us to the mysterious realm
of varnish manufacture, of which no de¬
pendable instruction on how to make it
ever has been put on the printed page.
Three times the art of making varnish
has been lost and even to this day the !
manufacture of varnish from amber is
attended by so many fatal accidents that
it has not been perfected except to the
extent of producing it for exceedingly
high-priced violins and similar musical
instruments. The ancients knew this se¬
cret, but it died with them.

WhHt   is   Varulali?

Varnish is tbe product of a gum, found
in New Zealand, Afrida, Batavia and
Singapore, where the white damar gums
come from, and a little from South
America, Most of it conies from New
Zealand today.

This gum is of a resinous nature, and
here i't should be stated clearly that there
is a very great difference between the
words "Resin" and "Rosin." The Cen¬
tury dictionary says "resin is a hardened





By ALLEN E. BEALS.

secretion found in many species of plants,
or a substance produced by exposure of
secretions to the air. It is allied to and
probably is derived from a volatile oU.
The typical resins are oxidized hydro¬
carbons, amorphous, brittle, liaving a
vitrious fraccure insoluble in water, and
freely soluble in alcohol, ether and vola-
cile oil. They unite with alkalies to form
soap."

■'Rosin, is obtained from turpentine by
distillation. In this process the oil of
the turpentine comes over and the rosin
remains behind. Chemically it is the
■anbydrid of abietic acid, and has many of
the physical and chemical properties of
■resins." It is the product of the Georgia
pine tree in this country. Rosin is the
name of a very low grade of resinous
gums. Rosin costs 2 cents a pound, but
resinous gums cost 3-5 to 40 cents and up.

The resinous gum found today is of
fossil character. Like cOal, it is the prod¬
uct of irees which lived and passed out
ot existence ages before man began to
tread the earth. Originally it was in the
form of a sap which ran down the bark
of prehistoric trees and was deposited in
tbe sandy soil at their foot. Even now
tbe gum is found within four feet of the
surface of the earth and is sought by na¬
tives with sharp pointed sticks in the
countries where- it grows. But unlike
coal, there is only a limited supply of this
gum left for the world's use and already
this materia! is so scarce that had not a
substitute for th's gum in the nature of
China wood oil, been found in compara¬
tively recent years, it is not improbable
that varnish would now be so valuable
thai   only  the  very   wealthy  could   use it.

Transportation costs are high and the
expense of getting it into the country
and shipped to various plants is a serious
item, even with the use of this alterna¬
tive material.

John' D. Rockefeller when upon the
stand at the time the Standard Oil Com¬
pany was under investigation by the
courts, stated that one reason why oil
prices were maintained at the level com¬
plained of was because ne'ther he, nor
any one else, could tell what morning he
would wake up to find the supply of
petroleum    exhausied.          So    it    is    with

varnish gums. There is no telling when
the end of the visible supply will come.
Every day it is harder to find and the
natives who hold the secret of location of
these gum mines, will not reveal it to
those who would purchase it in larger
quantities.

This gum comes to manufacturers in
20n-pound boxes. When it arrives at the
factory it is put into large copper kettles,
where it is heated to about 500 degrees
to fuse it. Pure linseed oil is then added
according to the grade of finished var¬
nish required, more for outside than for
inside varnishes. Turpentine is then
added as a vehicle for holding the gum
in solution and di-yers are supplemented
according to the kind of varnish speci¬
fied.

Foritiiilns    TrnuMiiittfMl:    iVe-ver    P^iIlt(^a.

Every manufacturei' lias his own
form'ula for the manufacture of varnish.
It is his stock in trade. It is equivalent
to a college education because W'lien a
fa.ther hands his varnish making foniiula
to his son. that young man is as fully
equipped to go out into the world to make
his way as is the young man who spends
four or five thousand dollars in a college
education. He is able to command a
salai-y of ¥-^,nOO a year if his formulaes
are good ones. Expert varnish makers are
scarce and for that reason a manufac¬
turer will hold on to a good varnish
maker iis long as he can.

There have been formulaes published,
but without actual kettle experience they
.are worthless. That was the trouble with
the varnish used in the suburban home
cited. The manufacturer tried to get
along without the services of an expert
varnish maker with whom he had been
associated  for a quarter of a century.

The formulaes cover, roughly speaking.
four grades of varnish; spar, for exterior
work; rubbing, interior finish, railroad,
carriage or automobile, furniture and lith¬
ographers'   varnishes.





I'riniary   Reqiiiremcnts  ot  "Vnruish.

The requirements of varnish are, (1)
general wearing qualities; (2) they must
be proof against moisture; (3) they must
be   proof   against   checking   or   cracking;

(4)    they   must   dry   hard   and   stay   hard;

(5)  they must have elasticity, that is, they
must work out well under the brush; (6)
they must be pale so as not to hide, but
rather, to bring out the beauty of the
woods they are designed to preserve; (7)
tbey must  be non-scratchable.

Unlilve paints, varnishes arc never
guaranteed to spread over a certain area
per gallon. This is something that can¬
not be accurately estimated because of
the character the surfaces to be covered
are varied according to whether the sur¬
face is beaded or plain. The manner in
which the flller has been applied aiso has
much to do with this point. It is always
safe, therefore, to discount the statement
of any manufacturer,' salesman or dealer
who makes unconservativc claims regard¬
ing the capacity of his varnish to spread.

Few varnishes are guaranteed. Only
those manufacturers who have facilities
for adequately supervising their batches
can afford to back up their varnishes with
a guarantee. But in every case the
guarantee has the provision that it must
be used direct from manufacturer's can
or barrel without adulteration by painter.

SuliMtitiite.'^  ITsed  in  Vuriiish  i>Iauutncture>

Failures in varnishes are due to im¬
proper manufacture. When a painter
thins down his product to make it cover
more area, he is applying a varnish in
which failure is almost sure to result. An¬
other reason why otherwise good var¬
nishes sometinies go wrong is because the
painter has been careless about admit-
iiing moisture or permitting the room
to become too cool before the varnish
dries. Sometinies a painter will have
to wash off dirt and stains from wood. If
he applies the varnish or the filler before
the wood is perfectly dry, he is sure to
have  trouble.

It is essential that rooms that are being
varnished _should have a temperature of
between (So and 70 degrees F. for perfect
results. The same temperature is desira¬
ble  for  exterior  w'ork.

.Substitutes or "Dopes" are sometimes
applied by painters. In such cases kero¬
sene or benzine is used. They sometinies
will'tell the architect or the owner of a
building that this does not harm the var¬
nish at'all. merely making it dry quicker.
As a matter of fact, tbis adulteration is
a prodLicer of larger profit for the painter
if he buvs the varnish and, such adulter¬
ated varnish is sure to check or crack un¬
der exposure to the sun. quickly varying
temperatures or it will abraise or bruise
easily. The only way left to the archi¬
tect or the owner or the householder who
uses varnish in small quantities is to sup¬
ply his painter or contractor with whole
cans of the brand he wants used'and di¬
rect him to use it from the original pack¬
age. It is highly important that this
reservation be made a part of the specifi¬
cations for painting and varnishing so
that your instructions will have to be
lived up to.

Wliut   the   Cliinese   War   Hiis   Done  to
Buiiacrs.

There would seem to be a far cry be¬
tween the war in China and a New York
householder who has occasion to use a
half pint of varnish and the architect who
would require a hundred barrels of it. yet
every user of varnish is indirectly paying
a tribute to the cause of the Chinese
revolution.

I have said that the supply of resinous
s-ums is rapidly becoming exhausted. It
it But way over in the thinly populated
pl'ains of jSIongolia there grows a small
nut    not   unlike   the   Brazil   nut   or     Nig-





substitute for these precious resinous
-uut; which were constantly advancing
fn price as its scarcity daily became more
anoarent When science followed the
fiaVs of all nations into this unknown
lanci they discovered, what they supposed
to  be  the  secret   of   the  manufacture   of