_Cherry Stain._—Put two ounces of annatto in half a gallon of rain water. Boil until the annatto is dissolved, then add half an ounce of potash. This preparation is intended for wood of a light color. It may be bottled and kept for use when wanted. Nothing to do in the application but rub over the wood, let dry, and then varnish. _Oil Finish for Gun Stocks._—Mix common Spanish whiting with some kind of coloring material until it is exactly the shade of the wood you desire to finish. For instance, if it is walnut to be finished, the coloring agent will be dry burnt umber. Having the whiting ready, give the wood, which has been well finished up with fine sand paper, a coat of raw linseed oil, then sprinkle the whiting mixture over it, and with a woollen cloth rub thoroughly and hard. This forces the colored whiting into all the pores of the wood. Lastly, rub down heavily with a piece of soft white pine, and then set away to dry. It may be left in this condition, or it may be varnished, when dry, if thought desirable. _Varnishing and Finishing._—After the stock is shaped and sand-papered so that the surface is smooth and free from any marks of the rasp and scratches of sand-paper wipe it over with a cloth a little moist with water, this will raise the grain of the wood a little, when dry, sand-paper it off smooth. With a small brush, such as is used by painters and called a sash brush, apply the varnish. Shellac varnish is the kind generally used by gunsmiths. It will dry in a little time, but ought to stand about twenty-four hours before being rubbed down. This is done with fine sand-paper the same as finishing the stock, the object being to fill the pores of the wood as much as possible. It may require two, three or even four coats of the varnish to do this, each one after it is thoroughly dried, being sand-papered down to the wood. The last coat of varnish is laid on with a flat varnish brush made of soft fine hair; see that the varnish be free from dirt or specks and not too thick; put it on evenly and quickly. See that it does not run down so as to show in streaks. When this coat is thoroughly dry, rub it down smooth with powdered pumice stone applied with a rag wet with water. Take care not to cut through the varnish so as to show the wood underneath, as the pumice powder cuts very fast. When the surface is made smooth and even, wash off all traces of the pumice powder with a wet cloth, and wipe it dry. Now go over it with powdered rotten-stone applied with a rag moistened with oil. Rub until the varnished surface shows a finish or a glassy appearance, then wipe off all trace of rotten stone and oil. If a little flour be dusted over, it will better remove the oil traces that may remain; with the hand rub the surface until it presents a gloss. The hand must be soft to do this and must be free from dirt. [Illustration: FIGURE 25.]