To grain and varnish yellow deal a light oak, first kill all knots by applying a coat of shellac (knotting) over them; then prime with light colour. When the priming is dry, putty holes and make joints good, etc. Now paint a second time with light colour; when this is dry, lay on a ground made of 11b, of white lead, 2 oz. of patent driers, and 2 oz. of Oxford ochre. Thin with oil or turps (some grainers prefer a dead ground, others a bright ground to grain upon). Forty-eight hours after the ground is dry, rub down slightly with fine sandpaper. The work is now ready for graining. The graining colour should consist of 2 oz. of vandyke brown or 2 ox. of burnt umber. To this should be added, for a warm shade, loz. of burnt sienna; for a cold shade, 1 oz. of raw sienna. Thin with equal parts of oil and turps, and add driers in the proportion of about loz. to lpt. Brush over the work sparingly with the above colour, getting it as even as possible. Now draw a coarse graining comb down the board or panel the way the grain is to run; then with a line comb go over the coarse combing in a zig-zag manner; this will cut up the combing like the fine fibres seen in real wood. Now take a piece of rag, fold it over the thumbnail, and wipe out the lights.

The most important thing in graining is to get clean joints. Even if the work is otherwise well done, a bad joint spoils it. The work is then ready for coating with copal varnish.