job, don’t fool away your time, and fill your nose with dust,
trying to do it with dry sandpaper, but take the door off its
hinges, lay it flat on horses, and keep the surface under your
sandpaper wet with benzine, and you can do in an hour what would
otherwise take half a day. The benzine softens the paint, and keeps
the paper from gumming up. If it is not practicable to take the
door off the hinges, put your benzine in a small spring-bottomed
oil can and squirt it on the work as needed to keep the paper
clear of paint and make it cut fast. Wipe off the loose paint with
rags. It works equally well on old varnish. Try it once on an old
carriage body.
If the old paint is extra hard use a mixture in equal parts of
benzine and ammonia.
CLEANING SILVER, BRASS OR COPPER.
In the course of our work we often meet with tarnished metal
ornaments, which must be cleaned to make our work look well.
This preparation is a good one:
Paris white (fine) 1 pound
Carb. magnesia 2 drams
Cyanuret potash 7 drams
Sulph. ether 3 drams
Crocus martis 1 dram
Soft water 1½ ounces
or sufficient to make a stiff paste.
Mix by rubbing, add the paris white last, then stir into the water.
Apply with a rag or sponge, and rub dry and polish with a rag or
canton flannel.
WHY DO WALL PAPERS CRACK?
Some papers are more inclined to crack than others, because they
are made of more brittle material. When selecting a paper for a
whitewashed wall or ceiling, take a pattern which feels soft and
pliable. Papers which crackle or rattle when crumpled in the hand
are liable to crack. Papers which stretch or expand the most when
wet are the most apt to crack; because when they dry and shrink
the pull is so great that the fibers give away, if great care is
not taken in putting it on. Cracking may be the fault of the paper
hanger. He may use his paste too thick, or too thin, or put on too
much or too little. Paste should be put on even and of the proper
consistency and thickness to cement the paper to the walls. Paper
is more liable to crack on rough and uneven walls. On a smooth
wall, if properly put on, it becomes, as it dries, so fastened to
the plaster that it cannot contract enough to break the fibers, but
on a rough and uneven wall there are apt to be loose places where
the air gets in, and the contraction of the paper so weakens the
fibers that it cracks.
Now, if the paper hanger will be careful to secure the paper
uniformly by using sufficient paste on rough places to hold the
paper, and be careful to brush or pound the paper down firmly, he
will greatly reduce the chances of cracking. A roller can not be
depended upon for a rough wall. Too much or not enough sizing on a
wall may be a cause of cracking. Hot paste, which thickens as it
cools, is not safe to use on such walls, because it may appear just
right when hot but will be too thick when cool and cause the paper
to crack.
OIL SIZE FOR WHITEWASH.
Oil size is good to use on a whitewashed ceiling before papering
if you don’t overdo it. A friend of mine thought, if a little was
good, a great deal would be better; so he gave his ceiling two
flowing coats of clear oil, and when dry put on his paper, but it
did not stay. Why? Because he put on so much oil that he made a
glossy surface _and the gloss could not hold the paste_. An oil
size on whitewash is all right if used right. It is a mistake to
use clear oil; 1 pint of oil, 1 pint japan and 1 quart turpentine
is better, because it will penetrate further, dry faster, flat the
surface, and have sufficient binding power to hold the whitewash
from coming off. Don’t size a wall with paste. Paste and whitewash
don’t go well together. The fact that you have to size your wall to
make paper stick proves this.
Oil size should dry hard before the paper is put on.
I find glutol, manufactured by the Arabol Manufacturing Co., No.
13 Gold street, New York, a first-class substitute for glue in wall
size and kalsomine, and prefer it to glue, because it will not
attract flies, nor spoil by standing in hot weather, and can be
mixed in cold water.
TO CLEAN BRICK.
The white powder which comes on brick can be removed by sponging
with a mixture of muriatic acid and water, equal parts. Wash the
brick in clear water and let them become well dried before painting.
TO CLEAN TARNISHED ZINC.
Mix 1 part sulphuric acid with 12 parts water and rub the zinc with
it with a rag, then rinse with clear water.
TO GILD ON WOOD.
First get a good body and a smooth surface. The work should be flat
with three coats at least on wood, and not less than two on iron
or tin. The best size for outside work is oil gold size (fat oil),
mixed with a little medium chrome yellow toned down with white
lead; put in a very little japan gold size, and thin to workable
consistency with turps; let it stand until tacky. It must be hard
enough to prevent rubbing up or sweating. The method with the tip,
gold knife and cushion requires considerable dexterity as well as
practice to do good and rapid work. The tip, or lifter, is only
a few camel hairs glued between two pieces of paste board, or
other material. The knife is a long narrow flexible blade, and
the cushion is made on a block, 6 by 8 inches, first covered with
a thickness or two of woolen cloth, and finished by stretching
a piece of chamois skin over it. Hold the gold book in the left
hand, and turn back a leaf of the book, leaving the gold exposed
on the next leaf; press the leaf of gold against the cushion and
it will remain. Then straighten out wrinkles by a slight puff of
the breath from above, cut the leaf into the required size with the
gold-knife, and lift the leaf to its place with the tip. The tip
will lift the gold better if occasionally drawn over the hair of
your head.
Another way to prepare the leaf: Cut the book through at the
binding with a sharp knife, which will leave all the leaves free
and separate. Now take up the top paper or cover, which will leave
the gold leaf on the book; lay the paper on a board and rub it over
with a piece of wax, paraffine candle, or a piece of hard soap;
either will do. Place the waxed side on to the gold, and smooth the
paper down gently; repeat until you have as many leaves prepared as
you need. Then, with good sharp shears cut them in such shape and
size as will best cover your work, and not waste the gold. Lay the
pieces on your board, gold side up. When ready, lay the pieces on
the work, rub down with the fingers, or a ball of cotton, take off
the paper and the gold will stay on the size. In this way the gold
adheres quite firmly to the waxed paper, and the size must have a
strong tack to take the gold off the paper. Experts lay the leaf
directly from the book, and you had best learn to do it that way
for general work, if you spoil half a dozen books while catching on
to the knack of it. Try it this way: Now, here is a stripe half an
inch wide, and the size is ready for the gold. Now hold the book
flat in your left hand with your thumb on top, hold the top paper
firm with your thumb. (If you let it slip, the leaf under it will
be spoiled.) If the stripe is one-half inch wide, turn back enough
of the paper to ex-pose three-fourths of an inch of the gold leaf,
crease the turned back cover down with the fingers of the right
hand, and hold it with the thumb on the back. Now cut the leaf with
the finger-nail, first rubbing it dry on your pants; then turn
the book carefully and quickly over on to the stripe, and press
the gold down gently by pressing the book. Then turn down more of
the paper, and repeat until that leaf is gone; then take another
and so on. If the book gets too limber towards the last to handle
well, have a square of cardboard to lay under the book next to the
hand; you will find this is a help even with a full book. You will,
perhaps, waste more gold in this way than by the transfer method,
but you will more than make it up in time, if you become expert.
1st. Be sure of a good foundation.
2d. Have your gold size right, and study to know when the tackiness
is just right. If your surface is not perfectly free from
tackiness, pounce with a bag of gilder’s whiting before putting on
the size, to keep the gold from sticking outside of the size.
When you lay the leaf from the book and cut the leaf with your
finger nail, turn the ball of the finger toward you and the nail
towards the gold, and run the nail close to the edge of the turned
paper; then, if the nail is not too long, the end of the finger
will hold down the paper while the nail cuts the leaf.
To prepare paper for the transfer method I rub the paper on my
hair, then lay it on the gold leaf, gently rub it with my finger
tips, and the leaf adheres to the paper.
It can then be cut with shears in any desired shape to cover the
work.
Some gold leaf is now packed in paper so prepared that the leaf
will adhere to one side of it and can be taken up in that way.
Some gilders take up the leaf by wetting the paper on the back with
turpentine to make the leaf adhere to the other side, when it can
be cut to the required shape with shears. This is done instead of
waxing the paper.
STIR YOUR PAINT.
It isn’t always your material that makes a bad job, but it seems an
easy matter to make even the best of paint the scapegoat for bad
work. The heedless workman who primes a plastered wall without
sweeping down the loose sand, or is careless about taking the
sand and dust from the tops of casings and the floors, will, if
he stops to examine, find some in the brush and some of it in his
paint pot; and then, to cover up his carelessness, he can lay the
blame on the paint. The careful painter will, when using heavy
pigments, carry a paddle, and not neglect to use it. To prevent
white lead and other heavy pigments from settling in the pot the
paint must be well mixed, and kept mixed by stirring with a paddle
as often and as much as may be necessary to _keep_ the oil or other
vehicle, and the pigment well incorporated. No one out a novice,
or a careless painter will permit a sediment to accumulate in the
bottom of his pot; no matter whether the pigment is coarse or
fine; or whether the vehicle used is linseed oil, turpentine or
benzine. The painter who goes to work without a stirring paddle in
his pot will be liable to do uneven work, and find more or less
sediment in the bottom of his paint pot at quitting time, because
there is no white lead made which does not contain more or less
particles sufficiently heavy to _commence settling_ the minute
the paddle stops, and go to the bottom of a pot of flating, as
ordinarily mixed, inside of thirty minutes, and other particles
of smaller size will follow later. If the pigment is mixed with
oil the process of settling is slower, but no less sure to take
place, and continue, if undisturbed, until clear oil stands on
top of the pigment. Don’t try to use your brush for a paddle; it
isn’t a good tool to stir paint from the bottom. Paint made of
heavy pigment must be frequently stirred with a paddle to keep it
of uniform consistency, but this operation is too often neglected.
For instance, a man starts out with a full pot in the morning and
neglects to stir his paint as he works, hence the heavier particles
commence to settle and soon get below the dip of the brush, and by
continual settling keep out of the reach of it until they reach the
bottom. When the paint is nearly all out, and the sediment at the
bottom don’t work well, he refills his pot, leaving in the coarse
pigment. At night the boss finds an inch or less of coarse paint in
the bottom of the pot, and without further inquiry complains that
the lead is sandy.
Another instance: The paint for a job stands mixed over night; the
painters fill their pots from time to time during the day, but
never stir the paint from the bottom, hence the last pot or two
filled will have all the coarse pigment of the batch. There are
cases, I admit (too many of them), where not only white lead, but
dry colors and colors in oil, are too coarse to work well, but the
best white lead and heavy colored pigments in oil or turpentine are
liable to be called sandy unless frequently stirred by the painter.
TO MAKE CHERRY STAIN.
Take annotto, 4 ounces, and clear rain water, 3 quarts. Boil in a
brass or copper kettle, new tin or galvanized iron will do, until
the color of the annotto is imparted to the water; then add ⅛ ounce
potash, and keep the mixture hot for 30 minutes; then, as soon as
cool enough to handle, it is ready for use. Now, have the work free
from dust, and spread on your stain with a brush or sponge and rub
it well into the wood.
When the work is dry, rub lightly with fine sandpaper, because the
water stain will raise the grain unless the wood has been filled.
You can suit the taste of the owner as to depth of color by
repeating the operation, or by making the stain weaker or stronger,
as the case may require.
VARNISH STAINS.
These often come very handy to the painter, not only in toning up
new wood, but in renewing the freshness of old work.
MAHOGANY VARNISH STAIN.
Spirits 1 gallon, gum sandarac 1 pound, shellac ½ pound, venice
turpentine 2 ounces, dragon’s blood 4 ounces.
WALNUT VARNISH STAIN.
Shellac 1½ pounds, spirit 1 gallon, Bismarck brown 1 ounce,
nigrosine ½ ounce. You can, by varying the proportions of the two
colors, make the shade as you like it.
(Spirit in this connection means either wood or grain alcohol.)
MAHOGANY VARNISH STAIN.
Spirits 1 gallon, shellac 1½ pounds, Bismarck brown R ½ ounce,
nigrosine 30 grains. More nigrosine will make the stain darker. If
this is too thick to work well, thin with spirits.
TO MAKE NEW OAK LOOK OLD.
Sponge it with a strong hot solution of common soda in water. This
will raise the grain, hence it will require cutting down with
sandpaper.
DARK STAIN FOR OAK.
Make a solution of bi-chromate of potash, 1½ ounces to 2 quarts
soft water. Lay on the solution with a good clean sponge and keep
the wood wet with the solution until it is dark enough to please
you. Then wash off the potash with clean soft water.
ANOTHER.
Apply with a brush, strong aqua ammonia until you get the desired
shade.
RED SAUNDERS STAIN.
Fill a bottle ⅓ full of red saunders, then fill the bottle with
either wood or grain alcohol. The more red saunders you put in,
the stronger will be the stain; you can dilute it for the lighter
shades. The longer it stands, the more color will be extracted.
Always strain through muslin before using.
Red saunders makes a good cherry stain. When used on the bare wood
it requires no binder, but when used over filled or oiled wood, put
in one-fourth as much shellac varnish as you have stain, to act
as a binder for it. If you want it to act as a filler as well as
a stain, for pine or other close-grained wood, add 1½ pounds corn
starch, to each gallon of the mixture of stain and shellac. Try a
little and if it rubs up when dry, add more shellac.
You can mix red saunders stain with asphaltum varnish, to make
black walnut and mahogany stains, using more or less of either to
give the desired shade by using turpentine to make them mix. The
asphaltum acts as a binder in place of the shellac.
The practical painter can get the shades he wants by experimenting
on this line.
TO CHANGE THE COLOR OF WALNUT TO DARK MAHOGANY.
First give it a coat of very thin asphaltum varnish, then, when
dry, give it a coat of red saunders and shellac.
You can mix the red saunders and asphaltum stain with any
turpentine varnish, or with spirit varnish, if you use turpentine
to make them mix.
Burnt umber and burnt sienna in oil or varnish make a walnut
stain. Use but little of the pigments in proportion to the oil. Too
much pigment gives the work a muddy color.
NATURAL WOOD FINISHING.
Clean up all soiled places on the wood. To be sure of a good job on
open grained wood use a Bliss Rock Wood Filler. If you use a ready
made filler, thin as per directions on the can. Whatever filler
you use, put it on with a good brush. As soon as the filler begins
to set, or show flat, commence to rub it into the grain with a pad
made by gluing a piece of harness leather onto a block; always when
practicable rub across the grain of the wood. For round work have
a long piece of leather to draw back and forth around the work.
Remember the main thing at this stage is to get as much of the
filler as possible rubbed into the wood.
Another important point is to take off the surplus filler before
it becomes too hard to wipe off, and another point is to wipe off
the surplus filler and leave the pores of the wood level full.
Hence, it is important that the filler does not dry too fast, that
the painter puts on no more filler at a time than he can handle
before it dries, and that in wiping off the surplus filler he works
his rags across the grain. Some very open grained wood requires a
second application of filler to make a good job, or at least to be
looked over and touched up. The filler should have at least two
days to dry. When dry go over it lightly with fine sandpaper to
take off all particles of filler left on the surface.
Walnut, mahogany, chestnut, oak, ash and butternut may be classed
as open grained woods, which need to be well filled with paste
filler colored to match the color of the wood. When the filler
is dry put on a coat or two of white shellac and rub down smooth
with No. 1 sandpaper, and follow with two or more coats of hard
oil or varnish, as you like; give each coat plenty of time to dry
and rub each coat with curled hair or hair cloth, except the last
coat. If you want an egg shell or half gloss, rub the last coat
with pulverized pumice stone and raw linseed oil. If you want a
dead finish rub down with pulverized pumice stone and water instead
of oil. If you want a polish, first rub with the pumice stone and
water; then with rotten stone and water, and polish with rotten
stone and oil, or furniture polish and rotten stone. If you want
a gloss finish, flow on the last coat and omit rubbing. Treat the
close-grained woods as above stated, with the exception of the
filler. The shellac also may be omitted, but it will take at least
one more coat of hard oil or varnish for the job.
Cherry, sycamore, maple, birch, gumwood, redwood, cypress, pine,
whitewood, poplar and hemlock are all close-grained woods, and need
no paste filler. Pine especially should have a coat of shellac to
keep back the pitch.
For an extra fine job of gloss finish, rub next to the last coat
with pumice stone and water, flow on a coat of good varnish, and
leave it in the gloss. In this case great care is required in
cleaning the work to keep it from showing specks.
It stands the beginner in hand to be careful and not use his
shellac too heavy to work well; shellac has good body and an
apparently very thin coat will be a good heavy one.
To do a fine job the room and work must be clean, the clothing free
from dust, and the work, brushes and varnish free from specks. If
specks show on your gloss coat call a halt, and find where they
come from.
Soft cotton rags are the best material for wiping off surplus
filler.
A felt pad of convenient size to handle is the best for rubbing
work. Get one at the furniture shop. For a cheap job omit the water
rubbing, and rub with pumice stone and raw oil.
TO MAKE BLEACHED OR WHITE SHELLAC VARNISH.
Take powdered white shellac 1½ pounds, best grain alcohol 1 gallon.
Add the gum to the alcohol, set it in a warm place and shake your
jug or bottle occasionally. Don’t put it in tin or iron; either of
them will discolor it. You can hasten the process by setting your
jug in a sand or water bath, and gently heating it; or set it by
the stove, or in the sunshine.
To make the common orange shellac of commerce, dissolve 1½ pounds
orange shellac in 1 gallon methylated spirit or grain alcohol.
This will dry in ten or fifteen minutes, and makes a hard lustrous
varnish when dry, and stands the weather better than most gum
varnishes. It makes a turbid liquid of orange brown hue and dries
rather a pale brown. For use on dark wood this is equal to the
white shellac, if not superior.
TO COLOR PUTTY.
There is no use in trying to color common putty to match the color
of natural wood. The whiting in it will not take clear tints. Use
lead putty, which you can tint with raw sienna for pine, yellow
ochre for oak, burnt umber and burnt sienna for walnut, and burnt
sienna for mahogany. Better have the putty too light than too dark.
SPOTS ON PAINT.
Poor lumber and thin painting are often the cause of spots on
paint, especially on two-coat work. On cross-grained and other
extra-porous places more of the oil sinks into the wood than on the
general surface, and the result is flat places in the paint, which
fade sooner than the glossy paint; hence, the work looks spotted.
To provide against this kind of spotting use more care in priming
and see that all extra-porous places are well filled with the prime
coat, or touch them up before the second coat goes on. A little
extra work with the brush when putting on the prime will save
trouble.
Another cause may be traced to the practice of putting on a coarse
dark priming coat, which will show through in places where the
paint is thinnest.
Mildew, or fungus growth, is another cause. This sometimes comes
from the use of too much japan, _poor or fat oil_, or when the
paint dries tacky or soft.
Adulteration of linseed oil with mineral and other non-drying oils,
has a tendency to make paint dry soft. Linseed oil, kept for a few
days in an old sour tank or in an old rancid can in the paint shop,
is liable to cause fermentation to take place, which may result in
mildew in damp weather in shaded places.
When an oil can smells sour, or there is a deposit of foots at the
bottom, it is unfit to keep oil in.
Another cause of spotting may be found in insufficient and improper
brushing or spreading the paint; especially the priming, which
requires as much care in putting on as any other coat on the job.
For instance, here is a job which shows “laps.” Now, if this prime
is right when it is put on single, it is wrong when it is put on
double, because, where the laps are, the work has at least one more
coat than the balance of the job, hence the paint is liable to
fade spotted.
PORCELAIN FINISH.--CHINA GLOSS.--GLOSS FINISH.
All different names for about the same thing. To make a fine job:
If the work is new, see that it is smooth, free from dust and
stains. Then give it a coat of priming, put on thin, so as not to
show brush marks, and rub down with No. 0 sandpaper. Next, get a
good body with keg lead, mixed in turpentine and a very little
linseed oil; put on thin coats, so as not to show brush marks;
use a fitch brush, or at least a _fine_ bristle chiseled brush.
When dry, rub down with sandpaper and flow on a coat of thin white
shellac. This is to keep back the oil in the lead coats, and
prevent chemical action between the lead and zinc coats. Next, put
on two or more coats of French zinc ground in damar varnish; enough
at least, to get a clear white. Thin with turps and a little damar
varnish, and put on thin enough to show no laps or brush marks.
Then put on a coat or two of French zinc ground in damar varnish,
thinned with 1 part damar varnish and 2 parts turpentine. Next
put on a coat of damar varnish mixed with a little zinc ground in
damar, just enough to make the varnish white. Flow on a coat, and
be careful that it does not run on your work. To avoid runs always
commence at the top of a panel with a full brush and work down so
as not to have a surplus in the lower corners of the panels; this
applies to all parts of the work. It is quite a knack to put on a
full coat of this varnish and zinc, and not have it run.
In all cases put on enough zinc coats to make a clear white before
you put on the varnish. The small quantity of zinc is put in the
varnish to take off the yellow tinge, and to keep it from turning
yellow. Use lead putty. See recipes to make it on another page.
ANOTHER WAY.
Very hard and white, for parlors.--To prepare the wood for
the finish, if it be pine, give one or two coats of the
“Varnish--Transparent for wood,” which prevents the pitch from
oozing out, causing the finish to turn yellow; next, give the
room, at least, four coats of pure zinc, which may be ground in
only sufficient oil to enable it to grind properly; then mix to a
proper consistency with turpentine or naphtha. Give each coat time
to dry. When it is dry and hard, sandpaper it to a perfectly smooth
surface, when it is ready to receive the finish, which consists of
two coats of French zinc ground in, and thinned with damar varnish,
until it works properly under the brush.
LEAD POISONING--HOW TO AVOID IT.