Album: Damascus Repair and Restoration

From W. Greener on 'barrel staining': "There exists innumberable recipes, and in fact almost every maker has his own method. The first I have found to answer uncommonly well, and which it would be a difficult matter to excel. It consists of the following ingredients:- 1 oz. Muriate Tincture of Steel, 1 oz. Sp. Wine (Methylated Spirits), ½ oz. Muriate of Mercury, ¼ oz. Stong Nitric Acid, 1/8 oz. Blue Stone, 1 quart Water. These are well mixed, and allowed to stand a month to amalgamate. After the oil or grease has been removed from the barrels by lime, the mixture is laid with a sponge, every two hours, and scratched off with a steel-wire bruch every morning, until the barrels are dark enough; and then the acid is destroyed by pouring on the barrels boiling water, and continuing to rub them until nearly cool."

Special thanks to Paul Stevens stevensandjohnson@talktalk.net