LACQUER, a varnish either for wood or for brass, made with shell-lac and spirits of wine. Hard wood lacquer may be in the proportion of 2 lbs. of lac to the gallon. Another recipe is 1 lb. of seed-lac and 1 lb. of white rosin to a gallon of spirits of wine. For brass, the proportions are lb. of pale shell-lac to 1 gallon of spirit. It should be made without heat, but simply by agitation for five or six hours. It should then be left until the thicker portions have subsided, when the clear lacquer must be poured off, or if not sufficiently clear it must be filtered through paper. It darkens by exposure to light, so that paper should be pasted round the bottle to exclude it. A pale-yellow lacquer may be prepared from 1 oz. of gamboge and 2 oz. of Cape aloes, powdered and mixed with 1 lb. of shell-lac. For a full yellow, lb. of turmeric and 2 oz. of gamboge ; for a red lacquer, lb. of dragon's blood and 1 lb. of annotto. The colour, however, is modified by that of the lac employed. Lacquers may also be coloured by dissolving the colouring matters in spirits of wine, and adding the proper proportions of these to the pale lacquer, according to the tint required.
Mr. A. Ross prepared lacquer with 4 oz. of shell lac and a oz. of gamboge, dissolved by agitation in 24 ounces of pyre-acetic ether. The clear liquor is decanted, and when required for use is mixed with eight times its volume of spirits of wine. Hard wood lacquer is applied nearly in the same manner as French polish. In lacquering brass, the work must be cleansed from grease and oil, and, if convenient, heated to the temperature of boiling water, when the spirit evaporates, and the varnish attaches itself more firmly to the metal, producing a brilliant effect. If heat cannot be applied, the air should be dry and warm. The lacquering should follow immediately after the work is polished, otherwise it will become tarnished, and prevent the lacquer from adhering.