Make a mixture of white lead in oil, 1 part; varnish, 3/4 part; turpentine, 1/4 part, and add sugar of lead as a dryer.  Make a very thin paint of this and use a broad, flat brush, says Master Painter.  With care you may succeed in getting the paint on quite evenly all over, which is desirable.  One coat will do.  If it becomes necessary to remove this coating for renewal, it may be effected by an application of potash lye, or the old may be renewed by a coating of a mixture of 2 parts hydrochloric acid, 2 parts white vitriol, 1 part sulphate of copper (blue vitriol) and 1 part of gum arabic, applied by means of a brush.

** Draw before Cutting [294]

A detail drawing made of a piece of furniture before starting the work will often save time and mistakes.

** Making “Spirits” Play a Violin [295]

A very pretty trick, that can be worked in your own parlor, will produce as much sensation as a fake “medium.”  In all appearance, a violin, mandolin or guitar, placed on a table, will begin to produce music simply through stamping the foot and a few passes of the hand.  The music will not sound natural, but weird and distant.

The trick is done by placing the end of a small stick on a music box in the basement of the house and allowing the other end to pass up through the floor and table top so it will project about 1/16 in.  The stick may be placed by the side of, behind or through the center of a table leg.  Be careful not to have any obstruction in the way of the stick.  The instrument is placed sideways on the protruding end of the stick.  The “fake” work of invoking the “spirit” is performed and ended by stamping the foot, which signals the operator in the basement to start the machine, and the violin seemingly produces music without anyone touching it.

So impressive are the results, that many people really think the spirits of the departed are playing the violin with unseen hands.  The music is transmitted through the stick from the music box to the violin.

[Illustration:  The Music Produced by the Phonograph is Transmitted to the Viohn on the Second Floor by the Aid of a Long Stick]

** Sizing a Threaded Hole [295]

It sometimes becomes necessary to transfer the size of a threaded hole from some out-of-the-way place to the shop in order to make a piece to fit it.  With proper tools this is easy; without them, it might be difficult.  One thing is always at hand and that is wood.  Whittle a stick tapering until it starts in the hole.  Then turn it into the hole and a fair thread will be made on the wood.  The stick can be carried in the pocket without risk of changing the size, as would be the case with ordinary calipers.

** Leaded-Glass Fire Screen [295]

The main frame of the fire screen shown in Fig. 1 is made from two pieces of 1/2-in. square bar iron.  The longest piece, which should be about 5-1/2 ft. long, is bent square so as to form two uprights, each 28 in. long and measuring 26 in. across the top.  The bottom crosspiece can be either riveted or welded to the uprights.  Two pairs of feet, each 6 in. long and spread about 8 in. apart, are shaped as shown in Fig. 2.  These are welded to the lower end of the uprights.