Re: iron stain, dying wood

[Dana S Emery <emery@onyx.si.edu>]

Those of you with access to back issues of Fine Woodworking will also enjoy
the several letters and columns containing George Frank anecdotes.

>I have seen a number of other books over the years.  One problem
>with many such books is the use of traditional names for chemicals;
>e.g., copperas for iron sulphate or muriatic acid for (I think)
>hydrochloric acid.  These can be tricky to translate.

In many cases they not only refer to specific chemicals, but also to
specific forms of that chemical, in the case of muriatic acid I beleive the
dilution is appropriate for plumbers to use in cleaning copper pipe prior
to soldering it.

Interesting how the same problem arises with renaissance and medieval
accounts ranging from cooking to descriptions of musical instruments, one
might conclude that Latin is a challanging medium for technical writing
:-).

--
Dana S. Emery
Smithsonian Institution
Laboratory of Molecular Systematics
MRC-534, MSC A2000
Washington DC 20560

(301) 238-3444     (voice)
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