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Practical House, Wagon
and Automobile
Painter
INCLUDING SIGN PAINTING, AND VALUABLE
HINTS AND RECIPES
BY
W. F. WHITE
[Illustration: (Publisher colophon.)]
SHREWESBURY PUBLISHING CO.
CHICAGO
COPYRIGHT, 1919
BY
SHREWESBURY PUBLISHING CO.
INDEX.
PAGE.
Analysis of Yellow Ochre, 3
Brown Hard Spirit Varnishes, 89
Blistered Doors, to Repaint, 85
Brass, to Clean, 88
Black Varnish for Iron, 87
Blinds, to Handle when Painting, 33
Brass and Copper, to Clean, 35
Bronze for Metal, 85
Benzine, to De-odorize, 82
Bronze, 144
Blackboard Slating, 83
Blackboard Slating, Cheap, but Good, 83
Blackboard, to Make on Common Plaster, 83
Brush Cleaning Trough, 25
Brick, to Clean, 38
Brick Painting, 28
Crawling Paint, 5
Cracks in Walls, to Fill, 131
Cleaning a Room, 29
Cherry Stain, 44
Cracks in Paint and Varnish, 20
Cleaning Phaeton Cushions, 142
Carriage Painting, 134
Damp Walls, to Treat, 73
Dipping Paint, 88
Door Plates, to Clean, 84
Damar Varnish, 26, 91
Dry Ochre for Priming, 2
Estimating Work, 14
Enameled Letters, to Apply to Glass, 95
Furniture Varnish, 91
Fire-proof Paint for Roofs, 86
Fluoric Acid, to Make, 132
Gold Varnish, 90
Guessing on Work, 8
Glass, to Crystallize, 93
Gilding on Glass, 8
Gilding on Wood, 38
Grease Spots, to Kill, 34
Hard Wood Floors, to Finish, 33
Hard Putty, 121
Japan, Testing, 19
Kalsomine, 34
Kalsomine, to Make and Apply, 121
Liquid Wood Fillers, 133
Lacquers for Brass and Tin, 91
Leather Varnish (black), 91
Lead Poisoning and Symptoms, 53
Liquid Glue, 93
Lamp Black, to Mix, 87
Liquid Glue for Kalsomine and Wall Sizing, 123
Measuring a Job, 17
Mahogany Stain, 44, 45
Midsummer Painting, 67
Marking Ink, 146
Natural Wood Finishing, 47
Old Carriage Work, 140
Oil Size for Old Whitewash, 37
Old Wall, to Prepare for Paint, 124
Oak Stain, dark, 45
Oak Wood Stain, 94
Oil Rubber Paint for Cloth, 83
Painting Cars at Home, 153
Plastered Wall, to Paint, 127
Paste to Hold Labels on Tin, 31
Paint to Prevent Rotting under Ground, 82
Paint, to Remove, 35
Paper Hanger’s Outfit, 91
Price List and Measurement, 62
Paint, to Clean, 84
Porcelain Finish, 52
Paper Hanger’s Paste, 92
Putty, to Soften, 18
Putty, to Color, 50
Paste for Painted or Varnished Walls, 93
Rust Spots on Marble, 145
Red Saunders Stain, 45
Red Wood to Finish, 145
Rough Stuff, 142
Rough and Sandy Walls, 129
Sizing Walls, 94
Sign Painting, 99, 117
Scaled Work, to Repaint, 77
Sixteenth Century Oak, 55
Spots on Paint, 50
Sandpapering, 76
Stencil Border, 77
Spirit Varnishes, 88, 90
Size Muslin for Lettering, 78
Slowing the Drying of Paint, 85
Stir Your Paint, 41
Stencil Ink (black), 144
Signs on Colored Glass, 131
Strainers, 34
Silver, to Clean, 35
Stencil Staining, 26
Success in Painting, 7
Symptoms of Lead Poison, 55
Tin Roofs, to Paint, 2
Tents, etc., to Make Weather-proof, 32
Tacky Paint, to Cure, 18
Tortoise Shell, to Imitate, 61
Varnish to Fix Pencil Drawings, 145
Varnish to Imitate Ground Glass, 60
Varnish for Rustic Work, 61
Varnish Stains, 44
Varnished Paint, to Clean, 85
Very Dirty Brass, to Clean, 61
Wax Polish, 26
Whitewash, to Soften, 145
Water Glass for Floors, 145
Walnut Stain, 44
White Hard Spirit Varnishes, 89
Walnut, to Stain Like Mahogany, 46
Water Colors, to Mix, 78
White Shellac, to Make, 49
White Enamel, 60
Wall Sizing for Kalsomining, 97
Why Do Wall Papers Crack, 36
Whitewash for Outside, 33
Wax Floor Finish, 88
Zinc, to Clean, 38
Zinc, to Paint on, 32
PRACTICAL HOUSE PAINTER.
The following is an infallible and simple commercial test of the
purity of white lead:
“Take a piece of firm, close-grained charcoal, and near one end of
it scoop out a cavity about half an inch in diameter and a quarter
of an inch in depth. Place in the cavity a sample of the lead to be
tested, about the size of a small pea, and apply to it continuously
the _blue_ or _hottest_ part of the flame of the blow-pipe; if the
sample be strictly pure it will, in a very short time, say in two
minutes, be reduced to metallic lead, leaving no residue; but if
it be adulterated, even to the extent of ten per cent. only, with
oxide of zinc, sulphate of baryta, whiting or any other carbonate
of lime (which substances are the principal adulterations used) or
if it be composed entirely of these materials, as is sometimes the
case with cheap lead (so-called), it cannot be reduced, but will
remain on the charcoal in an infusible mass.
“A blow-pipe can be obtained from any jeweler at small cost. An
alcohol lamp, star candle, or a lard oil lamp furnishes the best
flame for use of the blow-pipe. This test is very simple and any
one can very soon learn to make it with ease and skill.”
JAPAN.
Always cut your japan in a little turps before you add it to the
paint. An ounce of japan, cut with turps, will do better work than
two ounces in _oil paint_, if put in clear. _Don’t add dryer to
any more paint than you can use up in a few hours_, because it
will soon commence to fatten your paint in the pot and lessen its
covering and wearing properties. Many a job has been spoiled by
using old color, doped with japan. Such paint is liable to mildew.
OBJECTIONS TO THE USE OF CHEAP DRY OCHRE AS A PRIMER.
1st. It is too dark for light colored work, because sooner or later
it will show through in spots, or darken the entire work.
2d. It leaves a rough, coarse surface which the succeeding coats
fail to completely level up.
3d. Succeeding coats are liable to scale from cheap coarse ochre
priming.
PAINTING TIN ROOFS.
When paint scales from a tin roof it is not always the fault of the
paint. It stands the painter in hand to carefully examine a new tin
roof before painting it. When the tinner uses rosin as a flux to
make his solder flow, the rosin is melted and cools again on the
tin. When such is the case, carefully scrape it off with a knife,
otherwise it will be liable to scale off, and take the paint with
it.
When acid is used in the place of rosin it is apt to corrode the
tin, hence it is best, if you want a permanent job, to clean off
the acid. To do this, first rub the seams with kerosene oil, then
wash with soap suds and rinse with clean water. If the roof is
quite new, and the tin feels greasy, go over it with a wash made of
one pound of sal-soda to six quarts of water, let it stand one-half
day; then wash the tin with clear water.
Instead of this method, I have given new tin a good rubbing with
No. 1 sandpaper to make it hold the paint.
ANALYSIS OF OCHRE.
Below is an analysis of a sample of French ochre, which is about
the average of that pigment:
_Parts._
Hydrated oxide of iron 42
Alumina 20
Silica 38
The oxide gives the color; the parts as given above are in the
right proportion to give the most stable color and durable body to
be found in ochre.
Here is an ochre, which was ground in a linseed oil substitute,
and sold to the trade at four cents per pound in twenty-five pound
cans, and retailed to the painter at _seven cents per pound_ in
cans, to-wit:
_Parts._
Barytes 58
Whiting 15
Oxide of iron, silicate and alumina 24½
Chrome yellow 2½
This so-called ochre could be ground in one-half the oil it would
take to grind yellow ochre.
ANOTHER.
_Parts._
Poor chrome yellow 8
Ochre 25
Whiting 67
Ground in snide oil, and sold to jobbers at five cents per pound,
to painters _eight and ten cents_.
ANOTHER.
_Parts._
Barytes 62.90
Ochre 40.00
Barytes is not ochre, and this was _sold as pure ochre_.
ANOTHER.
Sold as French ochre, and recommended for priming:
_Parts._
Oxide of iron, alumina 19.79
Silica 40.93
Whiting 11.57
Barytes 26.64
ANOTHER IN OIL.
_Parts._
Chrome yellow 12
Whiting 25
Barytes 63
Oil 13
The markets are flooded with such imitations of ochre, both dry
and in oil. The quantity of oil required to grind pure French
ochre makes it high-priced, hence there is a motive for putting up
barytes, which takes but little oil in grinding.
YELLOW IRON ORE.
Much of the so-called dry ochre on the market is a _yellow, iron
ore and not yellow ochre_. When mixed in oil and put on a tin roof
it will turn brown inside of ninety days. I presume you have had
experience with such stuff. This makes a bad primer; it is very
liable to scale.
CRAWLING PAINT.
When paint crawls it is because there is not sufficient adhesion
between the undercoat and the new coat, caused usually by too much
gloss on the undercoat. To prevent crawling subdue the gloss on the
undercoat by sandpapering, rubbing, or by the application of some
material which will have the desired effect; or, if on the outside,
wait until the gloss has been subdued by the elements. There is
nothing more trying to one’s patience than to have the paint let go
and crawl up in bunches after it has been carefully brushed out.
Hence, it is well to provide against such trouble in advance. The
observing painter has no doubt noticed that paint is more liable
to crawl under cornices, and upon other sheltered positions, than
elsewhere; hence, it is best in all _such sheltered places, where
the elements do not have full play, to use sufficient turpentine
to prevent a high gloss on the undercoats_.
TO PAINT BLINDS AND NOT DAUB YOUR HANDS.
First, have a stick to open and shut the slats with after you
commence to paint. Second, leave a place on each stile, or side
rail, half way between the hinges, six or eight inches long,
unpainted, except to cut in the edge next the end of the slats to
take hold of when you turn the blind over or set it aside; also
leave the bottom hinge unpainted. After you have set up the blind
hold it up by the unpainted hinge until you finish the stiles; then
lean it up against its support and touch up the hinge. In this way
you need get no more paint on your hands than you would in painting
a door. No time will be lost, because you can touch up the stiles
in less time than it would take to wipe your hands and brush handle.
LEGLESS STEP-LADDERS.
Step-ladders without legs for outside work are good things to have
on the job. Say, three of them, 6, 8 and 10 feet long. A man of
good height can paint 14 feet high from the 10-foot ladder. They
are much easier on the feet than a “round” ladder. You can stand
straighter and reach farther when standing on a step than you can
while trying to balance on a round stick; besides, a step is a
handy place to set your pail on.
SUCCESS IN PAINTING.
Painting don’t pay, eh? No wonder it don’t pay, because here you
are spending half your time growling. The facts in the case are,
“You are not up-to-date.” If there is no possibility of making
money at the trade, how is it that your competitor gets along so
well? Why is it that he accumulates and you lose? He goes into the
same market for labor, material and jobs that you do. He comes out
every fall with his pockets full, and you round up poor as a church
mouse. There must be a screw loose somewhere in your management.
Will I point one out? Certainly, we have always been friends,
and I can never do too much for a friend. In the first place you
are too impetuous. You forget for the time that bills for labor
and material will fall due, that you must live--and you take the
job at losing figures. You ought to realize that the success of
a contracting painter depends upon his business qualifications.
To-wit: Correct and careful estimates, coolness in bidding, care in
selecting materials and men, systematizing his work so as to keep
each man in the right place. I don’t know how much you are getting
for this job, but it looks to me that you are losing money every
day by using poor material and improper handling of your men. The
good business man prefers the strictly pure Dutch process white
lead to the adulterated brands. He uses pure linseed oil instead
of adulterated mixtures and imitations of it, and he never loses
sight of the fact that a good reputation is a mine of gold to him.
If he finds a man is a good hand on a ladder or swing stage he
keeps him there, and if he finds a man an expert at inside work
he keeps him there, and if he finds a man is a poor stick in any
place he lets him go, rush or no rush. If he has high work he
provides a safe and easy way to get there. If he has inside work
his step-ladders are equal to the work. He knows when a man has
to reach too far or stand on top of a ladder he can’t half work.
Learn to manage your men, to keep the right man in the right place.
Stop making ruinous bids. Open your eyes to the fact that a man who
makes a losing bid on a job, to beat his competitor, acts like an
idiot, and is meaner than flies in paint.
GUESSING ON WORK.
The practice of estimating work by guess has brought many a painter
up with a round turn in the fall in debt. The curious part of it is
that the lesson is rarely, if ever, learned. Don’t be too smart.
Guessing on work is very uncertain business.
GLASS GILDING.
A practical expert in an English journal, the “Plumber and
Decorator,” gives the following as his process acquired and tested
by many years’ experience.
The tools and materials required for glass gilding are the same as
used for gilding in oil, excepting the gold size. Oil gold size
would never do for glass work. In glass gilding the object is to
get a size or mordant which will have the least possible tendency
to destroy or mar the burnish of the gold leaf. This is absolutely
necessary, when we consider that in this kind of work the size is
before the gold, not as in oil gilding--behind it. For a mordant
nothing can be better than the best isinglass. To prepare this
for use the utmost care and cleanliness should be exercised. The
water must be quite pure--free from grease or impurities of any
kind. In preparing the size the following may be relied upon as a
first-class recipe: Boil about one pint of water in a perfectly
clean pan. Should any scum rise during the operation remove it
with a large spoon. Then add about as much isinglass as will lie
on a dime to the boiling water. This is best done a little at a
time to prevent it gathering in a mass before it has a chance
of dissolving. When the isinglass is dissolved strain the size
through a fine silk handkerchief, folded double or fourfold, or,
better still, through some white blotting paper. This straining or
filtering will remove any bits or impurities that may have lodged
unperceived in the isinglass. When cool the mordant is ready for
applying to the glass. Some gilders like to add spirit in some
form--generally spirits of wine--to their size. Their reasons for
doing this are not always very explicit. Some do it because they
have seen others do it. Others add it, they say, to give the gold
a better burnish, or to make it better adhere to the glass. This
is a delusion. The most sensible reason for its use was imparted
to me by a veteran in the trade. He used spirits of wine to take
out or kill any slight greasiness that may have been in the water
or isinglass. I must confess that until I learned this, spirits
always formed part of my mordant, because others used it. However,
on further consideration, its use has been discarded, and, if
anything, a better burnish on the gold is the result. In making
the size it must be borne in mind that the less isinglass used the
brighter will be the gilding when completed. Of course, if too
little be used, the gold will not adhere to the glass as it should,
and this would cause much damage and annoyance when the isinglass
size was floated on again to proceed with the second gilding. When
the size is too strong, or contains too much isinglass, no amount
of burnishing will remove it altogether from before the gold. These
are important points and should be carefully studied. But a little
practice soon teaches the gilder how to arrive at the happy medium.
There are a variety of purposes to which ornamental glass gilding
may be applied besides sign work, shop fronts or glass doors. It is
now much used for show cases, window tablets, druggists’ bottles,
fixtures and pilasters for shop fronts. Very often the design is
embossed or bit into the glass, and worked up with gold and silver
leaf, besides being picked out in colors. This is both a costly and
effective method of decorating, which shall have full consideration
in a future chapter. For the present it will, no doubt, be
advisable to consider the simpler form of glass gilding. When this
is thoroughly understood very little further instruction is needed
for high-class work.
For the sake of example we will suppose a glass slab about three
feet six by twelve inches is the subject to be treated. This is to
have black letters without thickness or shadow on a gold ground.
There are two methods of doing this. One is to first paint on
the glass the letters with japan black and afterwards gild the
plate. The other consists in first gilding the plate solid and
then painting in the background with japan black. By this method
the lettering is left untouched. The gold on these is then washed
off, the edges trimmed, and the letters themselves painted black
or any other desired color. This latter is, perhaps, the most
satisfactory. However, a few lines of explanation will be devoted
to each process.
First in order comes a plate, the letters on which are painted
with japan black previous to gilding. To the learner, no doubt,
the plain block letters will prove an attraction, because of
their simplicity. This should be set out correctly on a sheet of
lining paper. It will only be necessary to run in an outline of
the letters. When completed to the satisfaction of the operator it
may be pasted round the edges and fixed on the face of the glass.
The back of the glass, that is the side upon which the work is
done, should be quite clean. When the plate is fixed on an easel or
stand, which is the most convenient place for working, the letters
will, of course, read backwards. In this form they must be painted.
When quite dry and hard, should the outlines of the letters be
irregular, they may be set right in a very simple manner. All that
is required to accomplish this is a metal straightedge and a sharp
quarter inch joiner’s chisel. The straightedge is laid across the
tops and bottoms of the letters and the chisel is employed to cut
them sharp and true. The sides of the straight letters are then
similarly treated; curves must be perfected with a writing-pencil.
The paper may now be taken from the face of the glass and the plate
examined all over. Should any specks of black be found on it they
must be removed before the gilding is gone on with. The smallest
speck shows up before the gold leaf. If convenient, before gilding,
have the plate fixed at an angle of about 45 degrees. While in this
position take a flat gilder’s mop and float the isinglass size over
the glass. Then take up the cushion, take out a few leaves of gold
from the book, and whilst the glass is wet cover it with gold,
lifting the gold from the cushion as described in the last chapter.
If possible lift a whole leaf at once, but should this at first
prove troublesome try half a leaf. Keep the glass wet with the size
and overlap slightly each successive leaf of gold until the whole
of the glass is covered.
The glass must now dry before it can be re-gilded, and must then be
gently rubbed with the finest cotton wool. It is an easy matter to
ascertain whether it is dry or not. When wet the gold, if looked at
from the front of the glass, has a dead look, but if dry it shows
up bright. If possible leave the plate till next day before giving
it a second coat of gold. The advantage of this delay is obvious.
The gold has time to get hard, which materially reduces the risk of
its being removed when a second application of size is necessary.
To the novice it will, no doubt, appear at first sight both a waste
of time and gold to gild all over the work again, but if the plate
be held up to the light it will show many imperfections in the
shape of small holes, cracks and imperfect joinings. Another coat
of size floated on and another layer of gold over the whole of the
work should turn out a so far satisfactory finish. Let the glass
dry again and be subjected to a further examination for faulty
places. Should any be found cover them with more gold. But if the
work is satisfactory it is ready for the burnishing process. The
first stage is to polish the gold by gently rubbing with fine
cotton wool, care being taken not to scratch the gold. This is, of
course, only a repetition of the polishing after the first layer of
gold.
There are several methods in general use for obtaining that
brilliant burnish so much admired in glass gilding. But the one
that meets with most favor and success is what is called the “hot
water burnish.” It will be advisable to practice on the glass under
consideration. After the cotton wool polishing is completed warm
the glass either by holding it before a fire or gently pouring
warm water over it. This is only a precaution against breakage by
sudden expansion. Now let it dry, and while warm polish again with
the cotton wool. Repeat the pouring of water, hotter than the last,
and when the glass is dry, after this operation, gently rub it
again with cotton wool. This hot water flushing should be carried
on until the burnish is quite satisfactory. But it must be very
carefully done, else the gold runs a risk of being washed off in
patches.
HOW TO ESTIMATE WORK.
Measure your work with the tape-line and be sure you get all there
is in it; projections, depressions, mouldings, edges, etc.
Many a painter has dropped his profits by not taking in these
little particulars. Every bead, sunken or raised panel makes an
edge to paint. The edges of ordinary weather boarding _add ten
per cent_. to the surface, to say nothing of the edges of the
corner boards and window and door casings--the projections and
depressions in the panels of an ordinary four-paneled door, _add
at least ten per cent. to the surface_ to be painted. Then let me
say to you again, look closely for edges, projections, depressions,
hollows and rounds. They all count when you paint them; and it
is your fault if they are not included in the estimate. When you
have multiplied the number of feet around a house by the average
height and reduced it to yards you have only made a start. Measure
the cornice, follow the hollows, rounds and edges with the line.
_There is lots of surface in mouldings._ The tape-line is good
as far as you can make it go, but it can’t do it all. You must
use judgment in connection with it; and carefully estimate the
condition of the work, what per cent. is _slow_ to paint, or high
and difficult to reach. For instance, what is the condition of the
surface, is it porous and full of cracks? Is every joint gaping for
putty? Is the putty on the windows rough and broken? Is the old
paint cracked, blistered and scaling? Is the cornice ornamented
with dentils, brackets and panels? You may lose a day or a week of
extra time on a high tower or cupola if you fail to put it into
your estimate as extra hard to reach. Make the price accordingly.
Are the blind-slats stuck fast and difficult to paint? Is the
work to be done in the busy season when labor and material are
high priced and good men are hard to get; or in the dull season,
when dealers will cut prices and good men are hunting for work?
Bidding on specifications must be done with care. You can figure
the number of yards to be painted, but there are many points which
the completed job can alone disclose. A provision in your contract
to cover all changes in specifications comes mighty handy on the
day of final settlement. It is not safe to make anything like a
close bid on specifications, until the following questions have
been settled and put in your contract. To-wit: Will the building be
delivered to you at a specified time, finished and _cleaned out_
and put in good condition for the painter; or will you be expected
to commence before the work is finished and paint as the work is
put up, and spend as much time dusting and sweeping as you do at
painting? Will the machine-dressed lumber, including mouldings,
doors, window-stops, etc., be put in as it comes from the factory
rough and fuzzy, or will it be redressed and made smooth and ready
for the paint? These points may look to you like small matters, but
they count when you come to paint the work. If you are to do a fine
job stipulate in your contract that the wood-work, etc., shall be
finished in good shape. If you are to paint the work as you find
it have it so stated in your contract. Paste this motto in the top
of your hat and read it often: “It is always better to lose a job
than to get it and lose money on it.”
Two houses may be of equal dimensions, yet it may be worth 50 per
cent. more to paint one than the other; hence any definite scale
of prices for work by the yard is liable to be misleading. We may
determine by the line how much there is of the work, but we must
rely upon our judgment and experience to determine how much it will
cost to do it.
ONE WAY TO MEASURE A JOB.
Find the surface measure of the entire job, including all edges
and projections, and estimate how much it is worth per yard, on
the basis that it is all plain work, easy to get at. Next we will
proceed by what we may call special measurement. Suppose the
cornice measures 60 yards, and is finished with blocks, moulded
panels and brackets, and we estimate that the cost of painting it
will be three times that of a plain cornice, hence we will add
two measures or 120 yards to the general or first measurement.
Next, suppose each window and casing measures three yards, and
there are 20 of them to be trimmed in colors, we estimate the
work of painting them double that of plain work; hence we add to
our special measurement 60 yards. If there is a cupola high and
difficult to reach we estimate that it will be worth double the
cost of painting ordinary work to do it. Say, it measures 50 yards,
we will add 50 yards to the general measurement, and so we will
go on until we have taken in all parts of the work which will cost
more than ordinary plain work.
To illustrate: The building measures 600 yards, and as plain work
we estimate it worth twenty cents per yard to paint it. We amount
our special measurement which we will say adds up to 300 yards,
which added to the 600 yards general measurement, makes 900, which
at twenty cents per yard, makes $180. The same system may be used
inside.
TO SOFTEN HARD, LUMPY PUTTY.
Break the putty into lumps; put it in a kettle with enough water to
cover it; add a little raw oil, and boil and stir well while hot.
The putty will absorb the oil; pour off the water, let the putty
cool, then work it, and your putty will be as good as new.
TACKY PAINT ON CHURCH SEATS, ETC.
During my experience as a painter, I have been called upon to
repaint tacky seats in at least half a dozen churches. Such seats
are an unmitigated nuisance. Tacky paint may be the result of
putting too much japan in oil paint, or of using fat oil, or paint
which had been mixed a long time, especially if it had very much
japan in it, or by mixing oil and varnish, or by putting varnish on
oil paint, especially if the paint had not been given time to dry
hard before it was varnished. To harden tacky paint try this: Take
one part japan and three parts of turpentine, and give the work a
coat of the mixture. That will usually effect a cure, unless the
paint is soft clear to the wood. A coat of shellac will sometimes
do the work all right. Such seats usually seem all right until
warmed by the heat of the body; hence we may be satisfied that
the fault is in the oil used in the paint or varnish. It is best
on that account to use but little if any oil when painting seats
of any kind. Coat up with color ground in japan and thinned with
turps; varnish the part which comes in contact with the body with
shellac varnish.
I have painted seats this way, and never heard of any further
trouble with them.
To repaint tacky seats the best way is to burn off the old paint,
and coat up as above; because, if a hard drying paint is put over
the old soft paint it is liable to crack. It is well, however, to
see if the turpentine and japan will work a cure, or if a coat
of shellac will stop the trouble. To do this it is well to first
experiment on one seat, or upon a small surface.
I have killed tacky paint by rubbing it with a cloth wet with
ammonia; when dry, try it, and see if the “tack” is gone; if not,
go over it again; when dry, put on a coat of shellac varnish; this
is a pretty sure cure.
TESTING JAPAN.
If japan smells of benzine don’t buy it. Mix it with clear oil; if
it curdles, you don’t want it. Mix drop black with some of it; as
stiff as good drop black ground in japan; then thin with turps and
make a painting test, to see if it is a good binder. To see if it
will crack, paint on glass, let it dry and hold the glass between
your eye and the light. If you see fine cracks don’t buy any of it.
When you go to buy japan, ask the dealer who made it. If he don’t
know, make up your mind at once that it is a _fatherless waif_
without _a name_, and likely to be worthless. When a man makes
a good thing he is apt to send his name along with it as an
advertisement. This applies to all material. There is a great deal
of bad japan on the market, and a great amount of work ruined by
it. Buy none unless it bears the brand of a reputable maker and
will stand these tests.
I do not need to tell the practical painter that there is a great
amount of bad japan on the market, and that a great deal of paint
is ruined by it. Buy no japan unless the can bears the name of some
reputable manufacturer, and will stand the above tests.
WHY DO PAINTS AND VARNISHES CRACK?
The following paper was read by Mr. A. P. Sweet, of Iona, Mich., at
a meeting of master car painters:
SUBJECT:
“_Why do paints and varnishes crack, and what is the reason that
cracks in the latter are usually at right angles to the grain of
the wood?_”
The subject, as I understand it, relates to the cracking of
varnishes, etc., as experienced in connection with passenger
car work, and as such I introduce it for discussion before this
association.
There are many theories as to the cause of the cracking of
paints and varnishes. Some are well defined, others are not
satisfactorily explained.
I do not anticipate being able to add much to what is already
known, but will advance a few thoughts, which may call forth the
views of others on the subject.
The old adage, “It takes two to make a quarrel,” is as true when
applied to paints and varnishes as it is to individuals. A single
coat of either seldom, if ever, produces cracks. These make
their appearance only after two or more coats have been applied;
consequently, it is necessary to have a body of color or varnish,
consisting of two or more coats, before any trouble of this kind
makes itself manifest.
This being the case, it follows that the cause of the difficulty
must be sought for in the coatings themselves, either in the
quality of the material employed or in the mode of applying them.
Poor and cheap oils and japans--especially the latter--are
a fruitful source of cracking in paint; but by far the most
prolific one, in my opinion, is the hurried application of the
succeeding coats before the preceding ones are dry enough to
receive them. If sufficient time is not given, cracks will
inevitably follow such a mode of procedure.
I am of the opinion, also, that very little blame can be attached
to the wood used in the construction of cars, as most of it is
comparatively well seasoned, and its expansive and contractive
force is not sufficient to cause serious trouble. If green wood
was used there might be room for this excuse, especially where
the cracks run in the direction of the grain, and are large and
deep.
Before pursuing this subject further, it may be well to examine
a little into the theory of the drying of paint. It is purely a
chemical process, not a mechanical one, as some suppose. Paint
dries by the evaporation of its volatile parts and its absorption
of oxygen; it is heavier when dried than when in the liquid form,
having attached to itself a sufficient amount of oxygen to very
perceptibly increase the weight some 6 per cent.
The best grades of linseed oil are said to contain from 70 to
80 per cent. of substance called linoleine, a resinous and
slow-drying oil and acid which imparts to the oil its elasticity.
In the process of drying, contraction occurs. The various atoms
of which the coatings are composed move closer and closer
together; and as this contracting force is easier with than
across the grain, cracks at right angles to it are formed. This
fact suggests the necessity of so adjusting the elasticity of
the various coats that the force exerted in drying may be as
nearly equalized as possible, as their contracting force is
continued until all elasticity has left the paint and oxygen
ceases to be absorbed, all the oil acid has disappeared, and
nothing but a hard, brittle surface remains.
Under the microscope, in the first stage of cracking, the surface
presents nothing unusual except that the cracks appear clean cut
and sharp on the edges. As months pass by and the surface is
exposed to the atmospheric changes of heat and cold, wet and dry,
the cracks become more numerous; and in the last stage, when the
oil is entirely destroyed, the surface assumes the appearance of
innumerable rectangular masses, higher in the center than at the
edges, like small mounds raised by the process of contraction and
adhesion.
Cracking in color coats may, by careful attention to
preliminaries, be reduced to a minimum, provided good first-class
materials are used and sufficient time is given to each coat to
dry.
Where varnish is to be applied as a finish, all coatings should
have oil in their composition and yet be mixed to dry flat. They
should be applied very evenly and thinly, even if it necessitates
an extra coat, to cover and make a solid job.
Striping and ornamenting should be done on flat color, which
gives time for hardening, and fits it for the varnish coats to
follow. If work is done in this way, I think very little fear
of premature cracking need be entertained; at least, not until
time and weather have sufficient opportunity to play havoc
with its beauty, and natural decay of the materials themselves
necessitates a thorough overhauling and repairing.
Rubbing varnishes are another source of trouble, causing the
succeeding coats of finishing varnish to show signs of cracking
long before they otherwise would, as it does not agree with
the slower drying varnishes usually applied above it, being of
a harder and more brittle character, serving the purpose of
producing a fine, smooth surface, but sacrificing the durability
of the job.
Concerning the cracking of varnish, I have not much to say. It
seems to me that many of the reasons given above will apply to it
as well as to the paint.
Poor material in the shape of varnish is poor indeed. A
first-class article only will give first-class results.
It must be elastic, or it will crack easily and badly, no matter
how good the undercoats of paint may be.
Good varnish on good color coats will not give any signs of
cracking until, by repeated varnishings, it has accumulated a
thick coating of brittle, unelastic gum.
No painter can say truthfully that his cars never crack, as it is
a natural consequence of decay, and will come, sooner or later,
to the best of material.
That varnish cracks to a great extent at right angles to the
grain of the wood, I think is due, in some degree, to the same
reasons as given above for the cracking of paint, and after its
elasticity is destroyed by age. Vibration has a great effect upon
the hard and brittle coating of gum that remains, coupled with
expansion and contraction caused by variations of temperature and
the disintegrating influences of the weather.
BRUSH CLEANING TROUGH.
To make such a trough, take a piece of planed board, 6 inches wide
and 18 inches long, and nail on side pieces 2 inches wide; this
makes the trough. Nail this trough on a bench, box, or table, and
let one end of it project over the edge of the bench, box or table,
and place your slush bucket under the projecting end of the trough.
To clean a brush, lay it in the trough, keep hold of the handle
with one hand and with the other take a dull scraper and press the
paint out of the brush and shove it off into the slush bucket. The
advantage of this method is that you clean the whole length of the
brush and save the paint, instead of daubing it on the walls of
your shop.
FLOOR WAX.
A good preparation for waxing floors may be obtained as follows:
Yellow Wax 25 oz.
Yellow Ceresin 25 oz.
Burnt Sienna 5 oz.
Boiled Linseed Oil 1 oz.
Turpentine 1 gill
Melt the wax and ceresin at a gentle heat, then add the sienna
previously well triturated with the boiled linseed oil, and mix
well. When the mixture begins to cool add the oil of turpentine, or
so much of it as is required to make a mass of the consistence of
an ointment.
The burnt sienna may be used in smaller or larger quantity,
according to the tint desired, or may be replaced by raw sienna,
etc.
DAMAR VARNISH.
Never use damar varnish over oil paint.
Never put oil in damar varnish. See to it that your dealer does not
draw it into an oil measure, and that you do not keep it in an oily
or rancid can. Why? Because it is liable to dry tacky under any of
the above conditions.
STENCIL STAINING.
Ordinary plain staining can be done by almost any one who can
handle a common paint brush. Yet it is not generally known, even to
skilled decorators, that stain, on sound white wood, evenly planed,
can be applied to imitate the most intricate of artistic designs;
such, however, is the case. A decorator if asked to imitate in
stain on white wood a piece of parquetry or inlaid wood, might
reply that such a thing was impossible, alleging as a reason that
by employing liquid stain in the same way as a distemper--that
is to say, by the aid of a stencil to reproduce the pattern--the
stain, as soon as it became absorbed would be found to “run,” and
so giving to the pattern imitated an indistinct or blurred edge.
Yet the most elaborate patterns are successfully stenciled direct
on to pine, and the figured work on this wood has invariably come
out distinctly and naturally as to be almost indistinguishable
from the inlaid work they have so successfully sought to imitate.
The great difficulty to be overcome in stenciling with stains is
undoubtedly the “running,” but with a very little care and patience
this can be easily obviated. Say a painter has a border to stain
round an ordinary pine floor in imitation of a selected pattern of
parquetry, the colors of which are generally in two or more shades
of oak, the first thing he has to do after having properly prepared
the floor--namely, making the part to be stained as smooth and as
even as possible by filling up the crevices and nail holes--is to
stain over the work in the lightest shade shown in his pattern;
this can be done by diluting the ordinary liquid oak stain with
water to the desired tint. Next let him cut out of a piece of
lining, paper in the form of a stencil--the pattern he has to
reproduce on the floor--care being taken to oil the stencil in
order to strengthen and preserve it. He should then mix the stain
into a stiff paste or to the consistency of a distemper used for
ordinary stenciling; place a portion of this mixture on a smooth
piece of wood, take up a very small quantity of it on a stencil
brush and apply through the stencil plate in the same way he would
a distemper. If a very dark shade is required apply more stain
before removing the stencil plate.
PAINTING BRICK.
Objections: Chipping of the brick, and scaling of the paint.
The chipping may be on account of defective brick or otherwise.
Scaling may be caused by poor paint, or by _dampness in the brick_.
When called upon to paint brick, first see if the brick is dry.
See that there is no place where water leaks in from the roof or
cornice and soaks into the brick. A brick wall may look dry and
still be damp inside. If you want paint to stay on brick, give the
brick time to dry, after heavy and driving rains. It is always a
bad plan to paint brick in the fall, after the autumn rains. The
only real safe time to paint a brick wall is in summer, after a
spell of hot, dry weather. You can not always wait for that, but
you can tell the owner that it is unsafe to paint a brick wall
until it has had time to dry. Why? Because in winter the moisture,
which is shut in by the paint, will freeze, expand and throw off
the paint or chip the brick.
Prime brick work with a thin coat of good paint mixed in pure
linseed oil. Flow on the priming freely, and brush it well into the
brick; for second coat, whatever paint you use, put in at least
one-fourth white lead; make this coat one-third turps, and rub it
well out. Give it a good body. For the last coat, use your color
regardless of lead, unless you want it in to get your color. If
you want a gloss, mix this coat with all boiled oil, and flow on.
For flat, if your colors are ground in oil, use one-fourth oil and
three-fourths turps, and if it don’t show flat when painted, it
will flat in a short time. The last coat may admit of more oil or
may not take as much, and flat. This depends upon the work when
started, etc. Some painters make brick flating by breaking up the
pigment in japan, and elastic varnish for a binder, and thin with
turps. I prefer the oil for a binder, and have made the last coat
one-half oil, and had a nice flat in a few weeks. I always ridicule
the idea of painting brick flat, because it will not stand as long
as an oil finish, and the oil finish will be flat enough in a few
months.
CLEANING UP A ROOM.
Now, if I were going to teach a boy to clean up a room, the first
thing would be how to prepare himself for the job. In the first
place, he wants a damp sponge with a string through it to tie over
his head, to hold the sponge over his mouth and under the nose to
catch the dust, because it is a great deal more pleasant and a
“sight” more healthful to carry lime and other dust in a sponge
than in nostrils and windpipe. Then he wants a cotton cloth cap,
large enough to draw down over his head and ears, bib overalls and
jacket to button close about the neck and he is well fixed. In such
a rig he may look peculiar, but he had better look like a monkey
than to skin his nostrils with dust and fill his ears and hair with
lime, sand and sawdust.
For tools, he needs a good, new, fine corn broom, a wide bristle
sweeper (a ten or twelve-inch paper-hanger’s smoothing brush will
do), a good duster, a sharp tool to pick out corners, a two-inch
chiseled brush for corners. A sprinkler only turns dust to mud,
to dry in a few hours and become dust again. When you have swept
the floor with your broom and dusted your wood-work and gone over
the floor carefully with your wide bristle brush to take what you
brushed from the casings and what the broom left on the floor, look
at the air across this ray of sunlight; it is full of dust, soon
the most of it will settle on the floor and casings and window
stools. What then? Wait till it settles and _wipe it off with a
cloth_ and don’t forget the tops of the doors and casings. “Why use
a cloth?” Well, if you go in and begin to use a dust brush after
the dust settles you throw a portion of it in the air again and
it will settle on the work. And by the way, I want to say that a
wiping cloth is a very important article for a painter to carry. It
always makes me “red hot” to see a painter (?), after he has daubed
a key shield or a hinge, try to wipe it off with his thumb; I could
forgive him for the daub; the best man in the trade may sometimes
do that, but the man who will rub part of it off with his thumb and
let the rest dry ought to be sent off the job or suspended long
enough to take a lesson in the art of wiping off daubs.
I want to say further that every well regulated dusting kit ought
to have a dust pan hitched to it in some way. It will save sweeping
the dust out on the steps to be tracked in again, save the time you
would lose in sweeping the dust over thresholds, or save the time
it would take to borrow one.
PASTE FOR LABELING ON TIN.
Make a stiff flour paste in the usual way, with flour and water,
then add 2 ounces tartaric acid, and 1 pint of molasses; boil the
mixture until stiff, and put in ten or fifteen drops carbolic acid.
ANOTHER.
Wheat flour 1 pound
Alum 2 drams
Borax 2 drams
Hydrochloric acid 1½ ounces
Mix the flour, alum and borax in the usual way, to a smooth paste
in water, then add the acid and cook in the usual way with hot
water.
TO MAKE TENTS, ETC., WEATHERPROOF.
To prevent tents, wagon covers, etc., from rotting dissolve 4
ounces sulphate of zinc in 10 gallons of water, then put in
one-fourth pound sal-soda, stir well until dissolved and add
one-fourth ounce tartaric acid. Let the cloth lie in this one day
and night and hang up to dry. Don’t wring it.
TO PAINT ON CANVAS OR MUSLIN WITHOUT SIZING.
First stretch, then wet the cloth. Wipe off the drops and letter
while the cloth is damp with color mixed with japan and turps.
TO PAINT ON ZINC.
A difficulty is often experienced in causing oil colors to adhere
to sheet zinc. Boettger recommends the employment of a mordant,
so to speak, of the following composition: 1 part of chloride of
copper, 1 of nitrate of copper and 1 of sal-ammoniac are to be
dissolved in 64 parts of water, to which solution is to be added 1
part of commercial hydrochloric acid. The sheets of zinc are to be
brushed over with this liquid, which gives them a deep black color;
in the course of 12 to 24 hours they become dry, and to their now
dirty gray surface a coat of any oil color will firmly adhere. Some
sheets of zinc prepared in this way, and afterwards painted, have
been found to withstand all the changes of winter and summer.
PAINTING BLINDS.
When painting a blind never turn it upon edge when cutting in the
inside of the rail, because the paint will be likely to run into
the pivot-holes and stick the slats. When you set a blind up to
dry, set the bottom end up, and be sure to have the slats lie flat
side up. Why? Because the bottom end of the blind when hung is more
apt to drag on the window sill than the top end is to touch the jam
above. If set bottom end up, that end will dry solid and if there
are any sags it will be at the top. Keep the slats flat side up to
avoid flat edges.
TREATMENT FOR HARDWOOD FLOORS.
First see that the floor is clean and smooth; then give it a coat
of best oil, with japan sufficient to make it dry; cut the japan in
turps. Then put on a good mineral paste, filler in the usual way
by rubbing the filler well into the wood; then clean off all the
surplus. When dry, sandpaper and putty up well with colored, hard
putty, and put on a coat of shellac; if too glossy, rub down with
powdered pumice and oil. Be careful to have the putty match the
floor.
WHITEWASH FOR OUTSIDE WORK.
Take one-half pound of fresh burnt lime. Dip it in water and let
it slack in the open air. Melt two ounces of bagundy pitch by
gentle heat, in six ounces of linseed oil; then add two quarts of
skim milk while the lime is hot, add the mixture of pitch and oil,
a little at a time while hot, and stir it in; then add three pounds
of bolted whiting and stir. Add more milk if too thick for the
brush.
THE STRAINER.
Don’t forget to use the strainer. After you have put in your best
licks to clean up and sandpaper a job, it is the height of folly to
daub it up with paint full of skins and specks. Oil paint is liable
to be “skinny” in the keg. Miller’s bolting cloth makes a good
strainer, and common cheese cloth at five cents a yard does very
well for ordinary purposes.
TO KILL GREASE SPOTS ON WOOD.
Use a wash of saltpeter or a thin lime wash, then rinse with clear
water. Treat blacksmith’s smoke in the same way.
KALSOMINE.
To please an old friend I give the following recipe for kalsomine.
_He says it is good._ I never used it, so you will have to take his
word for it.
Fifteen pounds good paris white, mixed up in lukewarm water, add
one-fourth pound good glue, dissolved in the usual way, strain
through a fine sieve, then dissolve one-fourth pound white hard
soap in hot water and one-half pound of alum in cold water and mix.
Add water to give the right consistency for putting it on the wall.
TO TAKE OFF THE PAINT.