oil and half turps, rather thick, and add a little japan. To
stipple strike the paint evenly and continuously with the square
end of a large brush, made for the purpose; a new clean duster will
do. Let the stippler follow the painters. The coat of glue size
saves two coats of paint. It is put on after the prime to keep
moisture and air from the glue, otherwise it would be liable to
decay.
Use boiled oil in all coats except priming coat. Have only enough
difference in the color of the different coats, so you can see
where you have painted, and not leave holidays; especially in rooms
where the light is not very good.
Some painters advocate (especially on hard finished wall) a good
filling of clear linseed oil, before any paint is put on to keep
the surface from fire cracking.
It is risky business to paint a _new hot_ wall; in such cases if it
must be done before the lime has become somewhat neutralized, give
it a coat of vinegar, and let it stand a day or so before you put
on the prime. The vinegar will neutralize the lime and not hurt the
priming.
TO PREPARE A ROUGH SANDY WALL FOR PAINT OR PAPER.
If you have a rough brown mortar wall to paper and want to make
the job look smooth as possible, first go over it lightly with No.
2 paper to knock off the loose and most prominent grains of sand;
then with No. 2 paper rub down all “cat faces” and trowel marks;
level up all hollows with plaster paris wet up in thin glue size
or vinegar, and you will be ready to put on the lining paper. This
paper should be soft and porous so that it will quickly absorb
paste and not blister; good white blank wall paper having but
little color will answer very well for this purpose. Start in to
hang it with half a strip in width so as to break joints with the
next coat; use sufficient paste to make the paper stick to the
wall; butt the edges and be sure when the paper is dry that there
are no loose places. Right here is the turning point of your job
for “good or for bad.”
Pound the lining paper down so closely that all the prominent
grains of sand will show through, and be sure to make it stay there
until dry. When the lining paper is dry, go over it with good sharp
No. 1½ sandpaper and cut out all the prominent grains of sand
which show through the paper, being careful to rub no more than is
necessary to take out the sand; the idea being to cut through to
the prominently projecting grains of sand, and rattle them out.
Some walls will need a second coat of lining paper and another
sandpapering, before they are smooth enough for anything like a
fine job. If the owner refuses to stand the expense of putting
on lining paper, glue size the wall, and when dry, knock off the
prominent grains of sand with sandpaper and knife in plaster paris
putty on the rough places. In either case, take extra pains with
portions of the wall where there are side lights, which always
magnify rough places. Sandy walls may be leveled and smoothed
somewhat with a coat of kalsomine to hold light bodied paper.
Make a kalsomine of good white glue, 1 pound to 15 pounds of
whiting and half a pound of alum. Dissolve the glue and alum in the
usual way. When the kalsomine is dry, give the surface a thin coat
of glue size to stop the suction. Let the glue size dry, then put
on the paper; use light paste, and be sparing of it as you can and
make the paper stick. I have often noticed that too much or too
little paste is used in paperhanging; some walls and some papers
require more paste than others. Too much paste on a smooth wall, or
too little on a rough one, makes bad work. If you use a roller for
seams have it covered with short plush. To paint on a wall covered
with lining paper as above described, first put on a coat of glue
size.
TO PAINT OVER NEWLY PLASTERED CRACKS IN WALLS.
When the painter has to paint over holes and cracks in walls
recently filled by the plasterer, he will be likely to have to
deal with plaster made in part of fresh lime. In such cases, it
is always best to soak the newly plastered places _with strong
vinegar, to kill as much as possible the caustic properties of the
lime_. Put on the vinegar plentifully and let it soak in; when dry,
give the new plaster a coat of size made of linseed oil, japan
and turpentine; when dry, put on a coat of white shellac before
painting.
FLASHED GLASS SIGNS.
Flashed glass is clear on one side and colored on the other;
the colored glass forming only a thin film on one side of the
clear glass. We can make elegant signs on this glass by etching
the letter through the colored portion of the glass, making the
letters clear and the background colored; or by etching out the
background and leaving the letters colored. Lay out the letters on
paper, and place it under the glass as a guide to work by; then,
with asphaltum varnish cover the background and leave the letters
free and clear; in other words, “cut around them.” If you want a
clear background with colored border and colored letters, cover
the letters and border and leave the background free and clear.
Then melt some beeswax, and when it begins to cool, take up a small
portion of it with a putty knife and scrape it off on the edge of
the glass, and repeat the operation until a wall or dam is made
all around the glass, to hold the acid you are about to put on
the glass, from running off; then pour on a little hydrofluoric
acid, and it will etch out the colored glass not covered by the
asphaltum in about one hour; then you can pour the acid back into
your bottle, to be used again. Next wash the glass by pouring water
over it; then scrape off the wax, and take off the asphaltum with
turpentine. Some painters use a varnish made by melting together
equal parts of paraffine and asphaltum and thinning to working
consistency with turpentine.
FLUORIC ACID, TO MAKE FOR ETCHING PURPOSES.
You can make your own fluoric acid (sometimes called hydrofluoric)
by getting the fluor spar, pulverizing it and putting as much of it
into sulphuric acid as the acid will cut or dissolve.
Druggists through the country do not keep this acid generally, but
they can get it in the principal cities. One ounce will do at least
fifty dollars worth of work. It is put in gutta percha bottles or
lead bottles, and must be kept in them when not in use, having
corks of the same material. Glass, of course, will not hold it, as
it dissolves the glass, otherwise it would not etch upon it.
LIQUID WOOD FILLERS FOR CHEAP WORK.
Corn starch and cheap varnish are the principal ingredients of
many cheap wood fillers; the corn starch is mixed with the varnish
and thinned with turps until workable. _You can experiment on this
idea._
_Corn starch in shellac_ in proportion of 1 pound to the gallon
_doubles its capacity as a filler_. I have made and used a filler
for cheap work in this way: Pale rosin, 2 pounds; boiled oil, 1
gallon; japan, 1 pint. Melt the rosin in the oil, take the kettle
outside, and add ½ gallon turpentine; stir and when cold add ½
pound of corn starch. Thin with turps until workable. Add more
or less starch, according to the surface you want to fill. These
mixtures are all the better if run through a paint mill.
ANOTHER PASTE FILLER.
Corn starch mixed to a paste with one part linseed oil, two parts
each japan and rubbing varnish; thin to working consistency with
turpentine.
CARRIAGE PAINTING IN THE VILLAGE SHOP. NEW WORK.
Prime with white lead, mixed thin in oil, add a little japan
and turpentine to make the paint dry hard and quick; when the
priming is dry and hard, putty up with hard putty as directed on
another page. Then follow with two coats of keg lead thinned with
turpentine; add a little japan to make it dry hard, and a little
oil to make it work well. Carefully mix and strain your paint.
Give the body five coats of rough stuff, made as directed on page
144 and a guide coat, and when dry, proceed to cut down the rough
stuff. For this purpose your tools will be several pieces of pumice
stone, a pail of water, a large flat file, a good sponge and a
chamois. Flatten one side of your stone for a grinding surface
and have no thin edges, because they will keep breaking off and
be liable to get under the stone, and scratch your work. Now, two
of the most important things you will have to guard against is
cutting through the rough stuff and lead coats, and scratching the
surface. There is a great difference in pieces of pumice stone.
Some are hard and full of flint like particles, which will scratch
the work; others are softer and of more even grit; the light
colored and fairly open grained pieces are the safest to use. You
can tell a fast cutting stone by its open grain and lightness. The
finer grades of German rubbing brick and English rubbing stone are
also used in rubbing rough stuff. A stone with a broad surface is
preferable for large surfaces.
Have small pieces to rub around the bolt heads and other places
which are difficult to get at with the large stone. The practiced
workman can tell the moment a stone begins to scratch, both by
the sound and by the feeling to the hand, and you may train your
ear and nerve to this degree of sensitiveness; until you do so,
you will have to look sharp, and frequently rub your stone on the
file, and clean off your work with a sponge full of water to see
the condition of the work. Also by passing your hand back and forth
across it to determine the condition of it, or if there is any
large grit on it, liable to get under the stone and scratch. Rub
until the brush marks are gone, etc., which your guide coat will
show you. Use plenty of water while rubbing. Thoroughly wash the
body inside and out. When dry, sandpaper lightly over the body to
remove any grit which may be left on, and to clean out around the
irons and panels, also to sand off the irons which you have not
rubbed. Dust and wipe well, and when ready, put on a coat of drop
black, ground in japan. In mixing your drop black, stir it before
you add any turps, then add a little turps, and stir again until
it is beaten to a smooth, soft paste; then add sufficient turps to
make a workable paint, thin enough to go on easily with a camel
hair brush, which for body work on buggies should be not less than
one and one-half inches wide and double thick. Painters disagree
as to the use of oil in this coat. I like to use a very little good
raw oil, say a teaspoonful to a pint of color. It is a good idea
to keep a brush on purpose to coat the inside of the body, because
it is not usually made as smooth as the outside. Some practice
putting on the color coat in the morning and the color varnish
towards evening, but I prefer a longer time, say twenty-four hours
at least, and more, too, especially when I use a little oil in
the color coat. Rub the color with curled hair or hair cloth,
dust well, and put on your color varnish; some say with a bristle
varnish brush, but I prefer to mix it so I can use a camel hair
brush. For this coat mix drop black to a workable paint with equal
parts of turps and good body varnish. When this coat is dry, give
the body a coat of good rubbing varnish, using a fine bristle
varnish brush. Flow on a free coat, lay off to right and left, and
finish with up and down strokes across the work. Never put a full
brush at the lower edge of the body, because in that case, you will
be apt to get a fat edge. Watch for sags or runs, which you can
brush out, if discovered before the varnish sets. If a sag or run
should get the start of you on this coat, and you see it after the
varnish begins to set, squeeze the varnish out of your brush, wet
the point of it in turps, and carefully work out the sag or run.
Now, dust off the running parts, and put on a coat of color. Some
say, have a little more oil in the color for the gear than for the
body, but I would not advise the use of more. When dry, put on a
coat of color varnish. When dry, rub down with hair or hair cloth,
and your gear is ready to stripe.
To paint a wheel, paint one spoke at a time, paint both sides and
the edge next to you, then take your brush in your left hand and
paint the back edge, and so on, until the spokes are finished.
Next paint the hub, then the outside and inside of the felly, then
finish the gear, being careful to leave no laps. Use only fine
lines for striping a buggy. On the springs, bars, spoke faces, hubs
and tongue is all the striping needed. Orange chrome, red, gold,
bronze and light green, all harmonize with black, and either may
be used for striping a black rig. When ready to varnish, set your
gear on trestles. Varnish the wheel with a fine bristle varnish
brush, and flow on a full coat. When done with a wheel, set it
running on the spindle, and commence the next, and start it off
again two or three times, while working at the next wheel, and so
on with all the wheels; by this method you may avoid runs, and
be able to flow on a fuller coat than you otherwise could. For a
finer job, give the gear a coat or two of clear rubbing varnish,
and rub each coat down with curled hair or hair cloth. For a cheap
job, rub down the body with hair cloth, but for a finer one, rub it
out with finely powdered pumice stone in water. For this method,
you will need a pail of clear water, some finely powdered pumice
stone and a felt pad. The object of this work is to take the gloss
off the rubbing varnish, and leave a smooth coat for the finishing
varnish. The particular knack is to rub just enough, and then
stop; a little too much will cut through, and spoil the job; and
not enough will not give you the best possible foundation for your
finishing coat of varnish. Keep the work washed off as you go, so
you can see defective places, and rub them out. When done rubbing,
the next thing is to wash the body perfectly free from grit. Your
water brush comes in play here to wash around irons, etc., where
the pumice might lodge; then with a pail of clear water, rinse the
body and wipe dry with a chamois skin. Right here is a good time
to give the inside of the body a coat of color varnish, and to put
on your transfers, if you use any. Some painters use a barrel for
a body stand, but one made on purpose, of boards, is better. You
want to look out for dust in every stage of the work, but right
here you must be especially careful, because you are about to put
on the finishing coat, which can neither be sandpapered nor rubbed
down. You will learn from experience, if not before, that you
cannot rely altogether upon the dust brush to free your work from
dust and specks. A large soft dry chamois kept for the purpose,
and never wet, can be used to advantage to wipe off the dust left
by the brush. A hand bellows is very effective in taking dust out
of corners where the brush or wiper cannot be worked. When you
have done all you can with the brush and wiper, rub the work over
with your _hand_ and the sensitive nerves of your fingers will
detect any specks which may still adhere to the surface. Some other
essentials to a good job of varnishing are a clean room, free as
possible from dust, clean brushes, and cups, and the person of the
varnisher so dressed that he will not shed material for specks.
Have one cup to hold your varnish and another to wipe your brush
in. Use good varnish and never try to varnish a body with the
temperature below 70 degrees F. Have a quill sharpened to a point
to pick out any specks which you may discover on your work, because
it requires very favorable conditions, and a mighty slick workman
to prepare and varnish a body, and not have it show _at least a
speck or two_. Use a fine chiseled bristle brush and know that it
is absolutely free from specks before you commence. Now, when you
are ready, don’t be timid or try to see how far you can make your
varnish go. Keep in mind from the start that the nearer level--that
is, a uniform thickness--you can have your coat of varnish the less
liable it will be to sag or run. Put on your varnish with a full
brush, laying it on right and left, and brush as level as you can,
then finish with up and down strokes, being careful to chisel off
the surplus at the lower corner to avoid a flat edge. _Note_--A
friend of mine, after laying on his varnish right and left,
finished with diagonal strokes across the surface at an angle of
45 degrees, then crossed it again at the same angle in an opposite
direction. He had uniform good success.
For an extra fine job, give the work more coats of rubbing varnish,
and rub each coat with curled hair, or hair cloth; or you may knife
on a coat of putty made of keg lead and equal parts of turps and
japan; rub it well in with the flat blade of the knife, and when it
sets or flats, scrape off all surplus. Sandpaper when dry. This may
go on in the place of third lead. You may, when the job requires
it, knife on a coat of hard putty, work it down smooth, let it dry
and cut down with sandpaper.
OLD WORK.
There are so many degrees of badness in repair work, that it is not
possible to cover the entire ground in a work of this kind. They
run all the way from the touch up and varnish job, to the cracked,
scaled and almost paintless old rigs. For a touch up and varnish
job, at least one which is in decent shape for such work, wash the
body, give it a rubbing down with fine powdered pumice stone, clean
off and carefully putty cracks, dents, etc., if any; then touch up
with color, using a small camel’s hair pencil, and cover only where
necessary. When dry, give a full coat of body varnish. For a better
job, give the body a coat of black rubbing varnish (provided the
body is black), then finish with a good coat of wearing body. The
gear may be treated the same as the body if in like condition, but
if the felloes are worn bare, lead them up and color as you would
new work, then touch up the balance and varnish.
The great plague of the paint shop is cracked work, which is
otherwise solid. Where the varnish is hard but peeling, take it off
with ammonia; to do this, take a side of the body at a time, pour
out some ammonia in a cup, and put it on with a clean brush kept
for the purpose. Keep the side wet, until you can slice off the
varnish with a putty knife; if it fails to come off, you must keep
it wet longer. If the varnish is dead and soft, sandpaper down to
a solid foundation, then if cracks show sheet up with quick _hard
putty_ made soft enough to put on with a brush, and scrape off with
a knife when set. When dry, sandpaper and if the cracks are not
full, give it a second application of putty in the same way. Then
for a cheap job give it a coat of color varnish, a coat of rubbing
and a coat of body varnish.
If you are to do a fine job, and can get pay for it, and you find
the body cracked, burn off the old paint, and commence at the
foundation as in new work. For a cheap job, lead up the bare places
on the gear and wheels, give a coat of color and a coat of color
varnish and finish with heavy gear varnish. For a fine job, if the
old paint is cracked or scaled, take it off and work up from the
wood as on a new job.
ROUGH STUFF.
1. To make one coat per day rough stuff, take three pounds of
RENO’S filler and one pound of keg lead. Mix to stiff paste with
equal parts of rubbing varnish, and first-class japan, thin with
turps. Some painters add a little raw oil. Grind the filler fine.
2. French yellow ochre dry, 5 pounds; keg lead 1½ pounds. Mix to
stiff paste with equal parts gold size, or best brown japan and
rubbing varnish; thin with turps and add a gill of raw oil. _Grind
fine._
CLEANING PHAETON CUSHIONS.
This old phaeton cushion is too dusty for any use, did you say? I
agree with you; the old cloth-covered phaeton cushion is one of the
unmitigated nuisances which we are often compelled to tolerate in
the paint shop. When such a cushion is once filled with dust its
capacity for “shedding” seems to be unlimited. The more you beat it
and the longer you brush it, the more dust comes to the surface.
You can take off a buggy cushion and relegate it to the backroom,
but the genius who invented that complicated vehicle called a
phaeton, nailed the cushions fast to the body, and we must take
them along with the job, dust and all, from the cleaning floor to
the varnish room.
When I am so unfortunate as to have an old phaeton brought to my
shop, about the first thing I do after cleaning it up is to go
for the cushions with the sprinkler and wet them down with clean
water, repeating the operation as often as may be necessary to keep
in the dust.
Spoil the cushions? No! When you run the rig out of the shop the
owner will wonder what you have done to his cushions to make them
look so bright. The same operation works well on an old cloth-lined
top. After you have brushed all you think you can afford to, and
the dust keeps coming to the front, turn the top bottom side up and
give it a shower from the sprinkler, and I will guarantee the dust
to lie still long enough for you to dress the top and paint the
bows. Dust is the natural enemy of the paint shop, and water is one
of our best weapons to fight it with.
MIXING QUICK COLOR.
A quick-drying color can be slowed up and made to dry to any
required time without injuring it, while if ground in a slow drying
preparation, it cannot possibly be quickened without injuring
more or less the working and covering properties. The working
is certainly important, and the covering more so. The covering
property should be strong, because the fewer coats of color on a
job the better. Thus a quick dryer saves both labor and time.
Japan colors are best when ground stiff, or with barely enough
liquid to bind them firmly, because after being reduced to thinness
with turpentine alone they will cling to the surface and will not
smut. The color will then have its greatest covering power. Now,
by the addition of sufficient pure raw oil to give the best working
property, and being also made to dry flat, the color is as near
perfection as possible, and the further addition of _anything_
weakens the covering power. When an excess of japan is used in
grinding, the color is thin, there being less pigment to the pound;
and it is of less value to the consumer, while it affords more
profit to the manufacturer than when prepared as it should be.
BLACK VARNISH FOR GASOLINE STOVES, ETC.
Asphaltum two pounds, boiled linseed oil one pint, turpentine two
quarts. Melt the asphaltum in an iron pot, heat the oil, and add it
to the asphaltum while hot. Stir well. When partly cool, add the
turpentine and four ounces of good japan.
BLACK STENCH INK.
Shellac two ounces, borax two ounces, soft water twenty ounces,
gum arabic two ounces, lampblack and indigo sufficient. Boil the
shellac and borax in the water until dissolved, then add the gum
arabic; dissolve and take the mixture from the fire; when cold, add
enough lampblack to give it color and proper consistency, and a
little powdered indigo. Keep in glass or earthenware vessels.
BRONZE FOR BRIGHT METALS.
Red aniline (fuscine) ten parts, purple aniline five parts, alcohol
95 per cent. one hundred parts, benzoic acid five parts. Add the
anilines to the alcohol, and dissolve by placing the vessel in a
sand or water bath. As soon as dissolved, add the benzoic acid and
boil for five or ten minutes, or until the greenish color of the
mixture is turned to a brilliant light bronze; spread with a brush
on bright metal.
VARNISH TO FIX PENCIL DRAWINGS.
Gum mastic three ounces, alcohol one pint. Dissolve and apply with
a brush.
RUST SPOTS ON MARBLE.
Apply a mixture of 1 part nitric acid and 25 parts of water, then
rinse with 3 parts water and 1 part ammonia.
WHITEWASH TO SOFTEN.
To soften old whitewash which you wish to take off, wet it
thoroughly with a wash made of 1 pound of potash, dissolved in 10
quarts of water.
WATER GLASS FOR FLOORS.
Clean the floor, fill cracks with water glass cement made of
water glass and whiting, then put on a coat of water glass, to be
followed by second coat; when dry rub the last coat with pumice
stone and oil.
TO FINISH REDWOOD.
Take one quart of spirits turpentine; add one pound of corn starch;
quarter of a pound burnt sienna; one tablespoonful raw linseed
oil and one tablespoonful brown japan. Mix thoroughly, apply
with the brush, let it stand, say, fifteen minutes, rub off all
you can with fine shavings or a soft rag, let it stand at least
twenty-four hours that it may sink into and harden the fibers of
the wood; afterward apply two coats of white shellac, rub down well
with fine flint paper, then put on from two to five coats best
polishing varnish; after it is well dried rub with water and pumice
stone ground very fine; stand a day to dry; after being washed
clean with a chamois rub with water and rotten stone; dry; wash as
before clean, and rub with olive oil until dry. Some use cork for
sandpapering and polishing, but a smooth block of hardwood like
maple is better. When treated in this way, redwood will be found
the peer of any wood for real beauty and life as a house trim or
finish.
MARKING INK.