oon, it is rubbed carefully with fine flour glass-paper, or powdered
pumice-stone--about four coats are usually given, each one rubbed down
as directed. Third, when the surface has received a sufficient body, get
a felt-covered rubber and apply rotten-stone and sweet oil in the same
manner as you would clean brass; with this give the work a good rubbing,
so as to produce a polish. Fourth, clean off with a rag and sweet oil,
and rub dry; then take a soft rag with a few drops of spirit upon it,
and vapour up to a fine polish. With these few preliminary remarks, the
following will be easily understood.

=Use Of Fillers.=--The cost of a putty filler consists chiefly in the
time consumed in applying it. In the matter of walnut-filling much
expense is saved in the processes of coating and rubbing if the pores of
the wood be filled to the surface with a substance that will not shrink,
and will harden quickly. The time occupied in spreading and cleaning a
thin or fatty mixture of filler, or a stiff and brittle putty made fresh
every day, is about the same, and while the thin mixture will be subject
to a great shrinkage, the putty filler will hold its own. It will thus
be seen that a proper regard to the materials used in making fillers,
and the consistency and freshness of the same, form an important element
in the economy of filling.

A principal cause of poor filling is the use of thin material. By some a
putty-knife is used, and the filling rubbed into the surfaces of
mouldings with tow, while others use only the tow for all surfaces,
mostly, however, in cases of dry filling. In the use of the wet filler,
either with a knife or with tow, workmen are prone to spread it too thin
because it requires less effort, but experience shows that the greatest
care should always be taken to spread the putty stiff and thick,
notwithstanding the complaints of workmen. In fact, this class of work
does not bring into play so much muscle as to warrant complaints on
account of it. Nor can there be any reasonable excuse for taking a
longer time to spread a stiff filler than a thin filler.

Good results are not always obtained by the use of thick fillers,
because the putty is spread too soon after the application of the first
coat of oil, which liquid should be quite thin, and reduced either with
benzine or turpentine, so that when the putty is forced into the pores
the oil already in them will have the effect of thinning it. As an
illustrat