processes must
follow each other in a corresponding haste.

A coating of shellac is then given the whole work, light on the panels
and dark on the body work, and when it has dried and hardened, which it
does very soon, it may be rubbed down. This process of "rubbing down"
should be done evenly and carefully, so as not to rub through the
shellac at any point, and be done with the finer grades of sand-paper
for the cheaper class of work, particularly at first, but at a later
period of the process, and for the better class of articles in all
cases, hair-cloth should be used, the material for the "rubbing down"
being pumice-stone moistened with raw linseed-oil for the best work, and
the lubricating oil, before mentioned, for cheaper work, or the covered
parts of the better grades. This rubbing down involves labour, wear of
fingers and finger-nails, and is carried on with an ordinary bit of
hair-cloth, the smooth surface next the wood, and not made in any
particular shape, but as a wad, ball, or otherwise. In the corners and
crevices where the hair-cloth will not enter it will be necessary to use
sand-paper of the finest grades, and worn pieces only.

Three coats of shellac are put on, followed each time by this
rubbing-down process, each one giving the work a smoother feeling and a
more perfect appearance. Afterwards, to complete the whole, a coating of
japan thinned with benzine is applied, which gives to the work a clean
appearance and the dead glossy finish.

There is this objection to the above style of finish, that the japan
catches all the dust which touches it, and holds it permanently, so that
many of the best workmen will not have work finished in this way for
their own private houses, preferring the brighter look given by shellac
and varnish without rubbing down the last coat, believing that the work
can be kept much cleaner.

=Finishing Veneered Panels, etc.=--The large oval panels of desks, etc.,
covered with French veneer, are generally taken out and finished by
themselves. The process is similar to that above given, with successive
coats of shellac and varnish, and the oil and pumice-stone rubbing down;
but the final part of this latter process is a rubbing down with
rotten-stone; then the merest trifle of sweet-oil is applied all over
the surface and wiped off. (See Rosewood, etc., farther on.)

_For Light Woods (Dead Finish)._--Apply two or three coats of white
shellac; rub down with pumice and raw l