TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE

This book has no footnotes; it has one ‘Note.’ which has been placed at the start of the relevant text.

Some minor changes to the text are noted at the [end of the book.] These are indicated by a dotted gray underline.

Practical House, Wagon
and Automobile
Painter

Including Sign Painting, and Valuable
Hints and Recipes

BY

W. F. WHITE

SHREWESBURY PUBLISHING CO.

CHICAGO

Copyright, 1919

BY

SHREWESBURY PUBLISHING CO.

INDEX.

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:

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:

This so-called ochre could be ground in one-half the oil it would take to grind yellow ochre.

ANOTHER.

Ground in snide oil, and sold to jobbers at five cents per pound, to painters eight and ten cents.

ANOTHER.

Barytes is not ochre, and this was sold as pure ochre.

ANOTHER.

Sold as French ochre, and recommended for priming:

ANOTHER IN OIL.

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:

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.

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.

If you have an old, roughly painted door to cut down for a fine 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:

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.

White lead may enter the human system in three ways, to-wit: Through the stomach, the lungs and the skin. In other words, it may be eaten, inhaled or absorbed, hence the stomach, lungs and skin should each be carefully guarded against it. To guard the stomach, through which you are in the most danger of taking in the poison, make it a rule to keep the mouth closed as much as possible when using white lead, and especially when sandpapering. Make it a rule to never eat or drink without first carefully cleansing your lips, and carefully removing the paint from your hands before eating. Tobacco chewers, who carry tobacco in their pockets, are in especial danger of lead poison, if working in paint, because the tobacco becomes more or less poisoned with lead from the fingers, if the painter is not careful to clean his hands before taking a chew. There is no great danger from inhaling white lead, except when sandpapering, or when dusting after sandpapering.

It is a pretty good thing to carefully guard the nose with a damp sponge while sandpapering, and to carefully free the nostrils from lead. There is no danger of poisoning by absorption through the skin, unless the painter is careless. When T see some men at work, I wonder how they can possibly escape lead poisoning. Their clothing glazed with oil paint, their hands daubed to the wrist by grasping the brush by the head, instead of by the handle; or by general carelessness in mixing and handling paints.

SYMPTOMS OF LEAD POISON.

Tired feeling, wakefulness at night, neuralgic pains, “shaky” hands, constipated bowels, bad taste in the mouth, and pain in the bowels, a blue edge on the gums, and a coated tongue. If you get the colic, see a doctor; for the other symptoms, get away from paint for a while if possible, and take the following: Iodide of potash, ½ oz.; syrup sarsaparilla, 8 oz. Dose:—Teaspoonful three or four times a day in half a cup of milk. Eat graham mush and drink milk.

TO FINISH FURNITURE AND OTHER WORK IN SIXTEENTH CENTURY OAK.

First fill the wood with any good filler. Fill it well, then take Vandyke brown 3 parts, and burnt sienna 1 part, and mix to a stiff paste with boiled oil and japan, and thin with turpentine, until you can brush it on the wood, and not have it look dauby or muddy. Give the work a light coat, and brush it out well and carefully. Too much pigment will make your work too dark. Wherever you want the light or worn spots to appear, wipe off the stain with a cloth, and with a badger blender carefully blend the stain into the edges of the worn or light spots. Don’t stain too much at once, for fear your stain may set so you cannot wipe out and blend. When the stain is dry, sandpaper lightly with No. 0 paper. Finish with two coats rubbing varnish, or with hard oil finish. Polish with rotten stone and raw oil.

A SUPERIOR GLUE (WATERPROOF).

A very superior article may be made by dissolving 3 parts of india rubber in 30 parts of naphtha; heat and agitation will be required to effect the solution; when the rubber is completely dissolved, add 64 parts of finely powdered shellac, which must also be heated in the above mixture until all is dissolved. This mixture may be produced in sheets like glue by pouring it while hot upon plates of metal, where it will harden. When required for use, it may simply be heated in a pot till soft. Two pieces of wood or leather, joined together with this glue, can scarcely be sundered without a fracture of the parts.

A VALUABLE CEMENT.

We find the following recipe good: The compound of glycerin, oxide of lead, and red lead, for mending cast-iron that has been fractured with the happiest results. It takes some little time to dry, but turns almost as hard as stone, and is fire and waterproof. For mending cracks in stone or cast-iron ware, where iron filling cannot be had, we think it is invaluable. Take litharge and red lead, equal parts, mix thoroughly and make into a paste with concentrated glycerin to the consistency of soft putty, fill the crack and smear a thin layer on both sides of the casting so as to completely cover the fracture. This layer can be rubbed off, if necessary, when nearly dry, by an old knife or chisel.

LINSEED OIL AND IRON RUST.

The oleaginous principle of linseed oil is said to be in the nature of neutral salts called linolein, consisting of linoleic acid combined with a glycerine base. Linolein is said by some writers to constitute three-fourths of the volume of linseed oil, and that the drying properties of the oil reside in the acid principle of the linolein; that is, linoleic acid has the property of attracting and combining with oxygen to form the substance known as dry linseed oil. This acid is said to be a compound of several different acid principles, combined in definite proportions. Writers seem to disagree as to what the acids are, and in what respect they differ from the acid properties of the non-drying fixed oils, but that is a question which need not be discussed here. The glycerine base of linolein seems to be common to all fixed oils, and is set down as an oxide consisting of one equivalent of water and five of oxygen; hence the affinity between the linoleic acid and its glycerine base.

Linoleic acid, like other acids, has an affinity for alkalies and the ordinary metallic oxides. It unites with them, forming neutral compounds. This affinity is said to be electrical; the alkalies and oxides electro-positive, and the acid electro-negative. The greater the contrast in this respect, the stronger the affinity; hence, some acids separate others from their bases and form new salts by precipitation. As an instance:

Drop sulphuric acid into a solution of acetate of lead. It will displace the acetic acid, form sulphate of lead and precipitate, leaving the liberated acetic acid in solution. In linolein, this acid is so constituted that the affinity, or attraction between it and its glycerine base, is too feeble to resist and keep back the oxygen of the air; hence, when linseed oil is exposed to the air in a thin layer, oxygen unites with its linoleic acid, and this process continues until the oil becomes dry to the touch. Beyond this point the process is slower, because the oil is now less penetrable; but the process goes on until the layer of oil becomes hard and brittle, no matter with what pigment it may be mixed, although the pigment may for a time retard the action of the destroying elements.

Linseed oil dries too slowly for general use by the painter, hence various ways have been devised to hasten the drying process. If the foregoing theory is correct, the process which will cause the oil to dry to a good wearing body in the time desired, and leave it in the best condition to resist the action of the elements and the absorption of oxygen, is the best. I regard the lead oxides as the best dryers for this purpose—at least according to my experience. When we add an oxide to linseed oil as a dryer in the small quantity which experience has taught us is best to use, it is evident that it is not sufficient in itself to oxidize the whole of the oil to an appreciable extent. Writers differ as to the peculiar action of the oxides upon the oil, but I think it safe to say that the dryer sets up some chemical reaction which increases the affinity between the linolein and the oxygen of the atmosphere; at any rate, there is no dispute upon the point that linseed oil in drying absorbs a large per cent. of oxygen.

A knowledge of this unanimously conceded point led me to believe that a coat of pure linseed oil might make the best possible priming coat for iron work which had commenced to rust. Why? Because iron rust is an oxide of iron, having an excess of oxygen. Spread on rusty iron, it penetrates the rust, absorbs its excess of oxygen and dries with the remaining neutral oxide held fast in its body. This is my theory; whether correct or not, numerous tests have proved to me that a coat of linseed oil will stop the rusting of iron if applied under proper conditions. When rust is thick or scaling there is no safety short of taking it off. Iron rust is more or less hydrated; to free it from moisture, give it the flame of the gasoline paint burner.

WHITE ENAMEL (SELECTED).

First, the wood is primed with a composition consisting of three parts of turpentine and one part of oil, japan gold size being used as a dryer. On this drying thoroughly the work is rubbed down until perfectly smooth. Next are applied two or three coats of pure white lead mixed entirely flat; each coat is rubbed down, time being allowed for it to dry. Equal parts of lead and zinc are used for the next coat, and three-fourths zinc and one-fourth lead for the one succeeding. After this has become thoroughly hard it is rubbed down very smooth. A thin coat of color made of zinc and turpentine is now rubbed on; for the next coat the same flat color is used, with the addition of about one-half the quantity of good light coach varnish. For the last coat enough zinc is used in the varnish to make it white if the last coat of zinc is not white and solid before varnishing. If the work is to be gilded or striped the zinc must be left out of the last coat of varnish.

VARNISH TO IMITATE GROUND GLASS.

An expert has sent the following to the British Journal of Photography: To make a varnish to imitate ground glass, dissolve 90 grains sandrac and 20 grains of mastic in 2 ounces of washed methylated ether, and add, in small quantities, a sufficiency of benzine to make it dry with a suitable grain—too little making the varnish too transparent, and excess making it crapy. The quantity of benzine required depends upon its quality—from half an ounce to an ounce and a half, or even more; but the best results are got with a medium quality. It is important to use washed ether, free from spirit.

VARNISH FOR RUSTIC WORK.

One quart of boiled linseed oil and two ounces of asphaltum, to be boiled on a slow fire until the asphaltum is dissolved, being kept stirred to prevent its boiling over. This gives a fine dark color, is not sticky, and looks well for a year; or, first wash the article with soap and water, and when dry, on a sunny day do it over with common boiled linseed oil; leave that to dry a day or two, then varnish it over once or twice with hard varnish. If well done this will last for years and prevent annoyance from insects.

TO CLEAN VERY DIRTY BRASS.

Rub some bi-chromate of potassa fine, pour over it about twice its bulk of sulphuric acid, and mix this with an equal quantity of water. The dirtiest brass is cleaned in a trice. Wash right off in plenty of water, wipe it and rub perfectly dry, and polish with powdered rotten stone.

TO COUNTERFEIT TORTOISE SHELL VERY FINELY.

In order to do this well, your foundation or ground-work must be perfectly smooth and white, or nearly so, you then gild it with silver leaf with slow size, so as to have it perfectly smooth with no ragged edges, cleaning the loose leaf off. Then grind cologne earth very fine, and mix it with gum water, common size; and with this, you having added more gum water than it was ground with, spot or cloud the ground-work, having a fine shell to imitate; and when this is done, you will perceive several reds, lighter and darker, appear on the edges of the black, and many times lie in streaks on the transparent part of the shell. To imitate this finely, grind dragon’s blood with gum water, and with a fine pencil draw those warm reds, flushing it in about the dark places more thickly, but fainter and fainter and thinner, with less color towards the lighter parts, so sweetening it that it may in a manner lose the red, being sunk in the silver or more transparent parts. When it is dry, give it a coat of varnish, let it stand for a few days, then rub it down with pumice stone and water. Then grind gamboge very fine, and mix with varnish, giving of this as many coats as will cause the silver to have a golden color, then finish with a clean coat of varnish.

PRICE LIST.

The prices of labor, and cost of material vary so much in different localities that it seems impossible to make a reliable price list for general work. The position, condition, and shape of different jobs all go towards making a general price list, an unreliable guide; also the quality of work demanded may make 50 per cent. difference in price. I have half a dozen printed price lists before me, and they generally agree to about the following prices for painting and glazing, to-wit:

PRIMING AND GLAZING SASH.

For old work where the old putty is in the sash, multiply the above figures by 3 or 4. When called out to the house to set a light or two charge for time and material. Most work of this kind is done at least 30 per cent. below the above prices.

I quote below a price list for sign painters, from a very complete report on painters’ prices and measurements, generally, by one of the ablest of local associations of master painters and decorators: