=A Varnish for Musical Instruments.=—­Take one gallon of alcohol, 1 lb. gum sandarach, 1/2 lb. gum mastic, 2 lbs. best white resin, 3 lbs. gum benzoin; cut the gums cold.  When they are thoroughly dissolved, strain the mixture through fine muslin, and bottle for use; keep the bottle tightly corked.  This is a beautiful varnish for violins and other musical instruments of wood, and for fancy articles, such as those of inlaid work.  It is also well adapted for panel-work, and all kinds of cabinet furniture.  There is required only one flowing coat, and it produces a very fine mirror-like surface.  Apply this varnish with a flat camel’s-hair or sable brush.  In an hour after application the surface is perfectly dry.

=French Varnish for Cabinet-work.=—­Take of shellac 11/2 oz. gum mastic and gum sandarach, of each 1/2 oz., spirit of wine by weight 20 oz.  The gums to be first dissolved in the spirit, and lastly the shellac.  This may be best effected by means of the water-bath.  Place a loosely-corked bottle containing the mixture in a vessel of warm water of a temperature below the boiling point, and let it remain until the gums are dissolved.  Should evaporation take place, an equal quantity to the spirit of wine so lost must be replaced till the mixture settles, then pour off the clear liquid for use, leaving the impurities behind; but do not filter it.  Greater hardness may be given to the varnish by increasing the quantity of shellac, which may be done to the amount of one-twelfth of the lac to eleven-twelfths of spirit.  But in this latter proportion the varnish loses its transparency in some degree, and must be laid on in very small quantities at a time.

=Mastic Varnish.=—­Mastic should be dissolved in oil of turpentine, in close glass vessels, by means of a gentle heat.  This varnish is extensively used in transparencies, etc.

=Cabinet-maker’s Varnish.=—­Take 5 lbs. very pale gum shellac, 7 oz. gum mastic, 1 gallon alcohol.  Dissolve in a cold atmosphere with frequent stirring.

=Amber Varnish.=—­This is a most difficult varnish to make.  It is usually prepared by roasting the amber and adding hot linseed-oil, after which turpentine can be mixed if required.  But for a small quantity, dissolve the broken amber, without heat, in the smallest possible quantity of chloroform or pure benzine.  Heat the linseed-oil, remove it from the fire, and pour in the amber solution, stirring all the time.  Then add the turpentine.  If not quite clear, heat again, using the utmost caution.

=Colourless Varnish with Copal.=—­To prepare this varnish the copal must be picked; each piece is broken, and a drop of rosemary-oil poured on it.  Those pieces which, on contact with the oil, become soft are the ones used.  The pieces being selected, they are ground and passed through a sieve, being reduced to a fine powder.  It is then placed in a glass, and a corresponding volume of rosemary-oil poured over it; the mixture is then stirred for a few minutes until it is transformed into a thick liquor.  It is then left to rest for two hours, when a few drops of rectified alcohol are added, and intimately mixed.  Repeat the operation until the varnish is of a sufficient consistency; leave the rest for a few days, and decant the clear.  This varnish can be applied to wood and metals (Journal of Applied Chemistry).