_Seventh_: Mere grinding of the stone is not sufficient to attain a
complete preparation through gum alone. Therefore, if an otherwise clean
stone has some places after grinding where the fat has soaked in deeply,
and one coats it with gum, the stone will take color after a time on
these fatty places, as soon as the inked rag has been rubbed over the
stone many times. However, this taking-on of color is only slight if the
gum solution is thick, and long-continued cleaning will transform it
into complete preparation.
_Eighth_: From both preceding observations we learn:--
Printing forces the color to sink considerably into the stone. If such a
stone is required for new designs, it is not practicable to grind it so
much that all the fatty places can be ground away. Therefore it is
ground only till it is thoroughly even again. Then it must be well
etched; otherwise it may happen that in printing the surface will rub
away and the entire previous writing or design will appear again, a
trouble hardly to be remedied.
If the stone is dirty in the middle, it can be cleaned in many cases by
pouring on a few drops of oil of turpentine and the same quantity of gum
solution, and rubbing it clean with a woolen rag. Then it must be washed
with a wet sponge, after which it is inked. If it has not lost the smut,
the only remedy is new preparation. As this must be done differently for
each different lithographic style, it will be described in its place.
If fat has soaked well into the stone in places where it is not desired,
it is always very difficult to remove it without injuring adjoining
parts. Correction of crayon work, if it has been etched and used for
printing, is especially difficult. It is true that the defective parts
can be cut out easily with a sharp instrument, but then these places
must be prepared again. If weak etching fluid is used, it will not
suffice. If strong fluid is used, the fine parts are easily attacked,
and at the same time the surface will become roughened so that the stone
often blackens entirely in the corrected parts. To avoid this trouble,
and to facilitate corrections, I made many experiments to discover an
acid composition that should prepare a stone anew and perfectly and yet
not roughen the surface. I found the best material in phosphoric acid,
especially when mixed with finely crushed nutgall.
Water in which phosphorus has been kept a long time becomes acid and
etches the stone. The acid can be obtained more quickly by burning the
phosphorus and catching the smoke. This method is somewhat expensive,
but one does not need much, as it is used only for correcting defects.
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