W. F. White

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ To repaint a job which has commenced to scale, without taking off all the old paint, is very uncertain work, but if you have to try it, have it understood in writing, or before witnesses, that it is done at the owner’s risk. First scrape off the loose paint, then go over the job with raw oil; put it on freely and let it stand until dry; then scrape off all the paint loosened by the oil, and coat up with strictly pure white lead and oil. Avoid zinc, and mixtures of zinc, and barytes, on jobs of this kind; because they are more or less liable to crack, and pull off more of the old paint. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ New paper will, of course, cut faster than old paper, and the difference in the time gained by using sharp paper will pay for the new paper twice over. Using old dull paper is like trying to save money by using an old stub brush. Better use up fifty cents’ worth of paper than to fool away dollars’ worth of time trying to save money by using old paper.
If you have old, hard paint to cut down, which dry sandpaper will not touch, keep the work wet with benzine, and you will be surprised to see how fast the sandpaper will cut the paint. ”

“ The good business man prefers the strictly pure Dutch process white lead to the adulterated brands. He uses pure linseed [8] 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ For work to be varnished, prime as above, and coat up flat. I think blistering is often caused by flowing on too much paint having too much oil in it, in proportion to the pigment, hence it does not dry solid, the oil is softened and expanded by heat, and the coating, which is more of an oil skin than a body of paint, lets go its hold on the wood and puffs out in a blister to make room for the softened and expanding oil skin. If painters will mix their paint with good body, and use more elbow grease in rubbing it out, they will have less trouble with blisters. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 [29] 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 ”

“ 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. ”

“ Rough places in plaster take more color than a smooth wall, hence they are liable to show spots; so it stands you in hand to make such places smooth as possible; to do this take off the rough sand with sandpaper and knife or trowel on a thin coat of plaster paris, or give the rough places an extra coat or two or size. Fill all cracks and holes, and give the filling time to dry before putting on the size, because otherwise it will take more color than the balance of the wall and your work will look spotted. ”

“ 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. ”

“ SIZING WALLS.
“Anybody can do it!” Yes, but it takes an expert to do it right. It is not a difficult matter to make paper stick to whitewash, but the whitewash splits as far in as the paste goes, and a part of it invariably sticks to the paper when it comes off and a part of it is left on the wall. As a rule, if you size whitewash with flour paste and let it stand a few days it will crack and roll up. Now, pure glue size does not have this effect upon whitewash, but, on the contrary, it not only acts as a binder, but as an intervening coat between the paste and the whitewash. ”

“ The fenders and hood of a car are subjected to severe wear and the time is coming when these parts will always be painted black, regardless of the body color of the car. In fact, a great many of the new cars will be painted this way. There are thousands of cars in use that hardly need repainting, but if the hood and fenders were done over in black it would make them look almost like new cars. There is one concern making these hood and fender outfits and a novice can do a really creditable job of painting with them. They range in price from $3 to $5 and are in two coats with a suitable brush. ”

“ It is really not so complex a proposition after all. If a woman can paint furniture with enamels that are no better than they should be, a man can surely paint a car if given the proper materials to do it with, and if he be instructed in their use.
Now as to striping. This is of course out of the question for the novice. But you can black the mouldings of the body, seats, doors, hubs and rims of wheels so that the absence of striping is not noticed. So far as the striping goes, the tendency is away from it—in fact, the most expensive cars have hardly any striping. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 [16] 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 ”