BAR′WOOD

A red dye-wood imported from Angola and other parts of Africa. It closely resembles cam-wood and sanders-wood in its colouring matter being of a resinous nature, and scarcely soluble in water. In dyeing this difficulty is obviated by taking advantage of the strong affinity existing between it and the proto-salts of tin and iron. Thus, by strongly impregnating the goods with pro to chloride of tin, either with or without the addition of sumach, according to the shade of red desired, and then putting them into a boiling bath containing the rasped wood, the colour is rapidly given out and taken up, until the whole of the tin in the fibres of the cloth is saturated, and the goods become of a rich bright hue. In like manner the dark red of bandana handkerchiefs is commonly given by a mordant of acetate of iron followed by a boiling bath of this dye-stuff. See Dyeing , Mordants , .