HOW TO PREPARE THE SURFACE.

For illustration, let us suppose the back and edges of the cock at Fig. 39 are coated with shellac and it is laid flat on a piece of paper about a foot square to catch the excess of mastic.  Holes should be made in this paper and also in the board on which the paper rests to receive the steady pins of the cock.  We hold the sieve containing the mastic over the cock and, gently tapping the box A with a piece of wood like a medium-sized file handle, shake down a little snowstorm of mastic dust over the face of the cock C.

Exactly how much mastic dust is required to produce a nice frosting is only to be determined by practice.  The way to obtain the knack is to frost a few scraps to “get your hand in.”  Nitric acid of full strength is used, dipping the piece into a shallow dish for a few seconds.  A good-sized soup plate would answer very nicely for frosting the bottom plate, which, it will be remembered, is 6” in diameter.

HOW TO ETCH THE SURFACE.

After the mastic is sifted on, the cock should be heated up to about 250 deg.  F., to cause the particles of mastic to adhere to the surface.  The philosophy of the process is, the nitric acid eats or dissolves the brass, leaving a little brass island the size of the particle of mastic which was attached to the surface.  After heating to attach the particles of mastic, the dipping in nitric acid is done as just described.  Common commercial nitric acid is used, it not being necessary to employ chemically pure acid.  For that matter, for such purposes the commercial acid is the best.

After the acid has acted for fifteen or twenty seconds the brass is rinsed in pure water to remove the acid, and dried by patting with an old soft towel, and further dried by waving through the air.  A little turpentine on a rag will remove the mastic, but turpentine will not touch the shellac coating.  The surface of the brass will be found irregularly acted upon, producing a sort of mottled look.  To obtain a nice frosting the process of applying the mastic and etching must be repeated three or four times, when a beautiful coarse-grain mat or frosting will be produced.

The shellac protection will not need much patching up during the three or four bitings of acid, as the turpentine used to wash off the mastic does not much affect the shellac coating.  All the screw holes like s s and d, also the steady pins on the back, are protected by varnishing with shellac.  The edges of the cocks and bridges should be polished by rubbing lengthwise with willow charcoal or a bit of chamois skin saturated with oil and a little hard rouge scattered upon it.  The frosting needs thorough scratch-brushing.

[Illustration:  Fig. 40]