A good cheap stock black paint or varnish for ironwork is prepared, as follows:  Clear (solid) wood tar, 10 lb.; lamp black or mineral black, 1-1/4 lb.; oil of turpentine, 5-1/2 quarts.  The tar is first heated in a large iron pot to boiling-point, or nearly so, and the heat is continued for about 4 hours.  The pot is then removed from the fire out of doors, and while still warm, and not hot, the turpentine, mixed with the black, is stirred in.  If the varnish is too thick to dry quickly, add more turpentine.  Benzine can be used instead of turpentine, but the results are not so good.  Asphaltum is preferable to the cheap tar.

To make another good black varnish for ironwork, take 8 lb. of asphaltum and fuse it in an iron kettle, then add 2 gallons of boiled linseed oil, 1 lb. of litharge, 1/2 lb. of sulphate of zinc (add these slowly, or the mixture will boil over), and boil them for about 3 hours.  Then, add 1-1/2 lb. of dark gum amber, and boil for 2 hours longer, or until the mass will become quite thick when cool.  After this it should be thinned with turpentine to the proper consistency.

VARNISHES FOR IRONWORK.

A reliable authority gives the following as a very good recipe for ironwork varnish.  Take 2 lb. of tar oil, 1/2 lb. of pounded resin, and 1/2 lb. of asphaltum, and dissolve together, and then mix while hot in an iron kettle, taking all care to prevent the flames getting into contact with the mixture.  When cold the varnish is ready for application to outdoor ironwork.  Another recipe is to take 3 lb. of powdered resin, place it in a tin or iron vessel, and add thereto 2-1/2 pints of spirits of turpentine, which well shake, and then let it stand for a day or two, giving it an occasional shake.  Then add to it 5 quarts of boiled oil, shake it thoroughly well all together, afterwards letting it stand in a warm room till it gets clear.  The clear portion can then be drawn off and used, or reduced with spirits of turpentine till of the requisite consistency.  For making a varnish suitable for iron patterns, take sufficient oil of turpentine for the purpose of the job in hand, and drop into it, drop by drop, some strong commercial oil of vitriol, when the acid will cause a dark syrupy precipitate in the oil of turpentine, and continue to add the drops of vitriol till the precipitate ceases to act, after which pour off the liquid and wash the syrupy mass with water, when it will be ready for use.  When the iron pattern is to be varnished, it must be heated to a gentle degree, the syrupy product applied, and then the article allowed to dry.

A fine black varnish suitable for the covering of broken places in sewing machines and similar articles, where the japanned surface has become injured or scratched, can be made by taking some fine lamp-black or ivory-black, and thoroughly mixing it with copal varnish.  The black must be in a very fine powder, and to mix the more readily it should be made into a pasty mass with turpentine.  For the ordinary repairing shop this will be found very handy.