WHITE LEAD.—This is extensively manufactured in all of our principal
cities. Low priced leads are always adulterated by _chalk_, or, as it
is called in its prepared state, _whiting_. It is sometimes so largely
mixed with this, as to be worthless, and every one has observed
houses, painted for a year or so, from which the paint rubs off like
whitewash, in consequence of the use of adulterated lead. The poorest
lead is sold _without any brand_. The common article is branded as No.
1, with the maker’s name. The best article is branded with the maker’s
name, as PURE, or SUPERIOR. It is the best economy always to use the
pure lead.
OIL.—Linseed oil is that usually employed in painting. It contains a
large amount of fatty substance and of other impurity, which should be
separated from it before it is used. _This is to be done by boiling._
For outside work, the oil should _always be boiled_, no matter what
the painter says about it. Great care should be taken in doing this.
Let the kettle be set out of doors, the heat be increased gradually,
but never enough to produce violent boiling, as the oil will expand,
run over, and take fire, when nothing can save it, or the house
either, oftentimes, if you have been foolish enough to do it within
doors. As fast as impurities rise to the surface, skim them off—when
the oil has a clear look, slack off the fire and let the oil cool;
carefully turn off the clear portion, leaving the _sediment_
undisturbed.
DRYERS.—Substances used to make paint dry quickly are called _Dryers_.
For light work sugar of lead is the best; for colored paint, litharge
and red lead are employed. Spirits of turpentine is used for the same
purpose. Litharge and red lead are usually boiled in with the oil at
the rate of about a quarter of a pound of litharge to a gallon of oil.
MIXING AND LAYING ON.—Paint is purchased in kegs, containing
twenty-five pounds of lead ground in oil, and ready for mixing. The
kegs themselves make excellent paint-pots. The lead is to be mixed
according to the work to be done. If paint is laid on in heavy coats
it will crack and peel off. If several thin coats are successively
laid on, it forms a solid body. The first coat is called _priming_.
The lead is made quite thin with oil for priming. Before laying it on,
let the work be cleaned, all dust and dirt be removed. The surface is
then covered evenly with paint, and allowed to dry thoroughly.
SECOND COAT.—Let nail-holes, cracks, etc., be filled with putty; for
colored painting, red-lead putty is the best. The paint should be
mixed to the thickness of thin cream, and laid on _evenly_, but not in
too great quantities. In nice work, after this coat has thoroughly
dried, it should be rubbed down with pumice-stone or fine sand-paper.
The third coat is to be laid on as was the second. Three coats, at
least, are required for good painting. Four or five will be still
better.
Paint mixed with boiled oil usually has a glossy appearance. If it is
desired to increase this, small portions of varnish are added. This is
usually confined to outside work.
In cities the glossy surface of paint, is dis-esteemed for inside
work; and instead, a _flatted_ white is laid on. This is produced by
mixing the lead for the last coat with turpentine instead of oil, by
which a dull white is made. Flatted colors are not susceptible of
being cleaned by washing more that once or twice, whereas common paint
will endure washing, if carefully performed, for years. If painting is
_well done_, and the paint is of the best materials, it ought to last
twenty years. But the trash too often daubed upon buildings, does not
last five years.
White will keep its color best for outside work. Some tint is thought
to be more agreeable for inside work. Much judgment is required in
preparing colored or tinted paints; and verbal directions cannot well
be given for it in any moderate space. The usual pigments employed in
making up the tints most in fashion, are for _grey_—white lead,
Prussian blue, ivory black, and lake, or Venetian red; for _pea_ and
_sea greens_—white, Prussian blue, and yellow; for _olive
green_—white, Prussian blue, umber, and yellow ochre; for _fawn
color_—burned terra sienna, umber, and white.
We add two recipes taken from an English work, for a cheap paint for
inside walls.
“MILK PAINT.—A paint has been used on the Continent with
success, made from _milk_ and _lime_, that dries quicker than
oil paint, and has no smell. It is made in the following
manner: Take fresh curds and bruise the lumps on a
grinding-stone, or in an earthen pan, or mortar, with a
spatula or strong spoon. Then put them into a pot with an
equal quantity of lime, well slacked with water, to make it
just thick enough to be kneaded. Stir this mixture without
adding more water, and a white-colored fluid will soon be
obtained, which will serve as a paint. It may be laid on with
a brush with as much ease us varnish, and it dries very
speedily. It must, however, be used the same day it is made,
for if kept till next day it will be too thick: consequently
no more must be mixed up at one time than can be laid on in a
day. If any color be required, any of the ochres, as yellow
ochre, or red ochre, or umber, may be mixed with it in any
proportion. Prussian blue would be changed by the lime. Two
coats of this paint will be sufficient, and when quite dry it
may be polished with a piece of woollen cloth, or similar
substance, and it will become as bright as varnish. It will
only do for inside work; but it will last longer if varnished
over with white of egg after it has been polished.”
“_The following recipe for milk paint_ is given in ‘Smith’s
Art of House Painting:’ Take of skimmed milk nearly two
quarts; of fresh-slaked lime about six ounces and a half; of
linseed oil four ounces, and of whiting three pounds; put the
lime into a stone vessel, and pour upon it a sufficient
quantity of milk to form a mixture resembling thin cream;
then add the oil, a little at a time, stirring it with a
small spatula; the remaining milk is then to be added, and
lastly the whiting. The milk must on no account be sour.
Slake the lime by dipping the pieces in water, out of which
it is to be immediately taken, and left to slake in the air.
For fine white paint the oil of caraway is best, because
colorless; but with ochres the commonest oils may be used.
The oil when mixed with the milk and lime entirely
disappears, and is totally dissolved by the lime, forming a
calcareous soap. The whiting or ochre is to be gently
crumbled on the surface of the fluid, which it gradually
imbibes, and at last sinks: at this period it must be well
stirred in. This paint may be colored like distemper or
size-color, with levigated charcoal, yellow ochre, etc., and
used in the same manner. The quantity here prescribed is
sufficient to cover twenty-seven square yards with the first
coat, and it will cost about three halfpence a yard. The same
paint will do for outdoor work by the addition of two ounces
of slaked lime, two ounces of linseed oil, and two ounces of
white Burgundy pitch: the pitch to be melted in a gentle heat
with the oil, and then added to the smooth mixture of the
milk and lime. In cold weather it must be mixed warm, to
facilitate its incorporation with the milk.”
* * * * *
We add several recipes of various convenient kinds of paint to be
employed in particular situations, and for special purposes.
“_A coating to preserve wood in damp situations_ may be made
by beating twelve pounds of resin in a mortar, and adding to
it three pounds of sulphur and twelve pints of whale oil.
This mixture must then be melted over a fire, and stirred
well while it is melting. Ochre of any required color,
ground in oil, may be put to it. This composition must be
laid on hot, and when the first coat is dry, which will be
in two or three days, a second coat may be given; and a
third, if necessary.”
“_Gas tar_, with yellow ochre, makes a very cheap and
durable green paint for iron rails and coarse woodwork.”
“_Composition to lay on a boarded building, to resist the
weather and likewise fire._—Take one measure of fine sand,
two measures of wood-ashes well sifted, three of slaked lime
ground up with oil, and mix them together; lay this on with
a brush, the first coat thin, the second thick. This adheres
so strongly to the boards covered with it, that it resists
an iron tool, and the action of fire, and is impenetrable by
water.”
“_A flexible paint for canvas_ is made by stirring into
fifty-six pounds of common oil paint a solution of soap lye,
made of half a pound of soap and three pounds of water: it
must be used while warm.”
“_A black coloring for garden walls_ may be made by mixing
quicklime, lampblack, a little copperas, and hot water.”