Part 8

_Corn starch in shellac_ in proportion of 1 pound to the gallon _doubles its capacity as a filler_. I have made and used a filler for cheap work in this way: Pale rosin, 2 pounds; boiled oil, 1 gallon; japan, 1 pint. Melt the rosin in the oil, take the kettle outside, and add ½ gallon turpentine; stir and when cold add ½ pound of corn starch. Thin with turps until workable. Add more or less starch, according to the surface you want to fill. These mixtures are all the better if run through a paint mill.

ANOTHER PASTE FILLER.

Corn starch mixed to a paste with one part linseed oil, two parts each japan and rubbing varnish; thin to working consistency with turpentine.

CARRIAGE PAINTING IN THE VILLAGE SHOP. NEW WORK.

Prime with white lead, mixed thin in oil, add a little japan and turpentine to make the paint dry hard and quick; when the priming is dry and hard, putty up with hard putty as directed on another page. Then follow with two coats of keg lead thinned with turpentine; add a little japan to make it dry hard, and a little oil to make it work well. Carefully mix and strain your paint. Give the body five coats of rough stuff, made as directed on page 144 and a guide coat, and when dry, proceed to cut down the rough stuff. For this purpose your tools will be several pieces of pumice stone, a pail of water, a large flat file, a good sponge and a chamois. Flatten one side of your stone for a grinding surface and have no thin edges, because they will keep breaking off and be liable to get under the stone, and scratch your work. Now, two of the most important things you will have to guard against is cutting through the rough stuff and lead coats, and scratching the surface. There is a great difference in pieces of pumice stone. Some are hard and full of flint like particles, which will scratch the work; others are softer and of more even grit; the light colored and fairly open grained pieces are the safest to use. You can tell a fast cutting stone by its open grain and lightness. The finer grades of German rubbing brick and English rubbing stone are also used in rubbing rough stuff. A stone with a broad surface is preferable for large surfaces.

Have small pieces to rub around the bolt heads and other places which are difficult to get at with the large stone. The practiced workman can tell the moment a stone begins to scratch, both by the sound and by the feeling to the hand, and you may train your ear and nerve to this degree of sensitiveness; until you do so, you will have to look sharp, and frequently rub your stone on the file, and clean off your work with a sponge full of water to see the condition of the work. Also by passing your hand back and forth across it to determine the condition of it, or if there is any large grit on it, liable to get under the stone and scratch. Rub until the brush marks are gone, etc., which your guide coat will show you. Use plenty of water while rubbing. Thoroughly wash the body inside and out. When dry, sandpaper lightly over the body to remove any grit which may be left on, and to clean out around the irons and panels, also to sand off the irons which you have not rubbed. Dust and wipe well, and when ready, put on a coat of drop black, ground in japan. In mixing your drop black, stir it before you add any turps, then add a little turps, and stir again until it is beaten to a smooth, soft paste; then add sufficient turps to make a workable paint, thin enough to go on easily with a camel hair brush, which for body work on buggies should be not less than one and one-half inches wide and double thick. Painters disagree as to the use of oil in this coat. I like to use a very little good raw oil, say a teaspoonful to a pint of color. It is a good idea to keep a brush on purpose to coat the inside of the body, because it is not usually made as smooth as the outside. Some practice putting on the color coat in the morning and the color varnish towards evening, but I prefer a longer time, say twenty-four hours at least, and more, too, especially when I use a little oil in the color coat. Rub the color with curled hair or hair cloth, dust well, and put on your color varnish; some say with a bristle varnish brush, but I prefer to mix it so I can use a camel hair brush. For this coat mix drop black to a workable paint with equal parts of turps and good body varnish. When this coat is dry, give the body a coat of good rubbing varnish, using a fine bristle varnish brush. Flow on a free coat, lay off to right and left, and finish with up and down strokes across the work. Never put a full brush at the lower edge of the body, because in that case, you will be apt to get a fat edge. Watch for sags or runs, which you can brush out, if discovered before the varnish sets. If a sag or run should get the start of you on this coat, and you see it after the varnish begins to set, squeeze the varnish out of your brush, wet the point of it in turps, and carefully work out the sag or run. Now, dust off the running parts, and put on a coat of color. Some say, have a little more oil in the color for the gear than for the body, but I would not advise the use of more. When dry, put on a coat of color varnish. When dry, rub down with hair or hair cloth, and your gear is ready to stripe.

To paint a wheel, paint one spoke at a time, paint both sides and the edge next to you, then take your brush in your left hand and paint the back edge, and so on, until the spokes are finished. Next paint the hub, then the outside and inside of the felly, then finish the gear, being careful to leave no laps. Use only fine lines for striping a buggy. On the springs, bars, spoke faces, hubs and tongue is all the striping needed. Orange chrome, red, gold, bronze and light green, all harmonize with black, and either may be used for striping a black rig. When ready to varnish, set your gear on trestles. Varnish the wheel with a fine bristle varnish brush, and flow on a full coat. When done with a wheel, set it running on the spindle, and commence the next, and start it off again two or three times, while working at the next wheel, and so on with all the wheels; by this method you may avoid runs, and be able to flow on a fuller coat than you otherwise could. For a finer job, give the gear a coat or two of clear rubbing varnish, and rub each coat down with curled hair or hair cloth. For a cheap job, rub down the body with hair cloth, but for a finer one, rub it out with finely powdered pumice stone in water. For this method, you will need a pail of clear water, some finely powdered pumice stone and a felt pad. The object of this work is to take the gloss off the rubbing varnish, and leave a smooth coat for the finishing varnish. The particular knack is to rub just enough, and then stop; a little too much will cut through, and spoil the job; and not enough will not give you the best possible foundation for your finishing coat of varnish. Keep the work washed off as you go, so you can see defective places, and rub them out. When done rubbing, the next thing is to wash the body perfectly free from grit. Your water brush comes in play here to wash around irons, etc., where the pumice might lodge; then with a pail of clear water, rinse the body and wipe dry with a chamois skin. Right here is a good time to give the inside of the body a coat of color varnish, and to put on your transfers, if you use any. Some painters use a barrel for a body stand, but one made on purpose, of boards, is better. You want to look out for dust in every stage of the work, but right here you must be especially careful, because you are about to put on the finishing coat, which can neither be sandpapered nor rubbed down. You will learn from experience, if not before, that you cannot rely altogether upon the dust brush to free your work from dust and specks. A large soft dry chamois kept for the purpose, and never wet, can be used to advantage to wipe off the dust left by the brush. A hand bellows is very effective in taking dust out of corners where the brush or wiper cannot be worked. When you have done all you can with the brush and wiper, rub the work over with your _hand_ and the sensitive nerves of your fingers will detect any specks which may still adhere to the surface. Some other essentials to a good job of varnishing are a clean room, free as possible from dust, clean brushes, and cups, and the person of the varnisher so dressed that he will not shed material for specks. Have one cup to hold your varnish and another to wipe your brush in. Use good varnish and never try to varnish a body with the temperature below 70 degrees F. Have a quill sharpened to a point to pick out any specks which you may discover on your work, because it requires very favorable conditions, and a mighty slick workman to prepare and varnish a body, and not have it show _at least a speck or two_. Use a fine chiseled bristle brush and know that it is absolutely free from specks before you commence. Now, when you are ready, don’t be timid or try to see how far you can make your varnish go. Keep in mind from the start that the nearer level--that is, a uniform thickness--you can have your coat of varnish the less liable it will be to sag or run. Put on your varnish with a full brush, laying it on right and left, and brush as level as you can, then finish with up and down strokes, being careful to chisel off the surplus at the lower corner to avoid a flat edge. _Note_--A friend of mine, after laying on his varnish right and left, finished with diagonal strokes across the surface at an angle of 45 degrees, then crossed it again at the same angle in an opposite direction. He had uniform good success.

For an extra fine job, give the work more coats of rubbing varnish, and rub each coat with curled hair, or hair cloth; or you may knife on a coat of putty made of keg lead and equal parts of turps and japan; rub it well in with the flat blade of the knife, and when it sets or flats, scrape off all surplus. Sandpaper when dry. This may go on in the place of third lead. You may, when the job requires it, knife on a coat of hard putty, work it down smooth, let it dry and cut down with sandpaper.

OLD WORK.

There are so many degrees of badness in repair work, that it is not possible to cover the entire ground in a work of this kind. They run all the way from the touch up and varnish job, to the cracked, scaled and almost paintless old rigs. For a touch up and varnish job, at least one which is in decent shape for such work, wash the body, give it a rubbing down with fine powdered pumice stone, clean off and carefully putty cracks, dents, etc., if any; then touch up with color, using a small camel’s hair pencil, and cover only where necessary. When dry, give a full coat of body varnish. For a better job, give the body a coat of black rubbing varnish (provided the body is black), then finish with a good coat of wearing body. The gear may be treated the same as the body if in like condition, but if the felloes are worn bare, lead them up and color as you would new work, then touch up the balance and varnish.

The great plague of the paint shop is cracked work, which is otherwise solid. Where the varnish is hard but peeling, take it off with ammonia; to do this, take a side of the body at a time, pour out some ammonia in a cup, and put it on with a clean brush kept for the purpose. Keep the side wet, until you can slice off the varnish with a putty knife; if it fails to come off, you must keep it wet longer. If the varnish is dead and soft, sandpaper down to a solid foundation, then if cracks show sheet up with quick _hard putty_ made soft enough to put on with a brush, and scrape off with a knife when set. When dry, sandpaper and if the cracks are not full, give it a second application of putty in the same way. Then for a cheap job give it a coat of color varnish, a coat of rubbing and a coat of body varnish.

If you are to do a fine job, and can get pay for it, and you find the body cracked, burn off the old paint, and commence at the foundation as in new work. For a cheap job, lead up the bare places on the gear and wheels, give a coat of color and a coat of color varnish and finish with heavy gear varnish. For a fine job, if the old paint is cracked or scaled, take it off and work up from the wood as on a new job.

ROUGH STUFF.

1. To make one coat per day rough stuff, take three pounds of RENO’S filler and one pound of keg lead. Mix to stiff paste with equal parts of rubbing varnish, and first-class japan, thin with turps. Some painters add a little raw oil. Grind the filler fine.

2. French yellow ochre dry, 5 pounds; keg lead 1½ pounds. Mix to stiff paste with equal parts gold size, or best brown japan and rubbing varnish; thin with turps and add a gill of raw oil. _Grind fine._

CLEANING PHAETON CUSHIONS.

This old phaeton cushion is too dusty for any use, did you say? I agree with you; the old cloth-covered phaeton cushion is one of the unmitigated nuisances which we are often compelled to tolerate in the paint shop. When such a cushion is once filled with dust its capacity for “shedding” seems to be unlimited. The more you beat it and the longer you brush it, the more dust comes to the surface. You can take off a buggy cushion and relegate it to the backroom, but the genius who invented that complicated vehicle called a phaeton, nailed the cushions fast to the body, and we must take them along with the job, dust and all, from the cleaning floor to the varnish room.

When I am so unfortunate as to have an old phaeton brought to my shop, about the first thing I do after cleaning it up is to go for the cushions with the sprinkler and wet them down with clean water, repeating the operation as often as may be necessary to keep in the dust.

Spoil the cushions? No! When you run the rig out of the shop the owner will wonder what you have done to his cushions to make them look so bright. The same operation works well on an old cloth-lined top. After you have brushed all you think you can afford to, and the dust keeps coming to the front, turn the top bottom side up and give it a shower from the sprinkler, and I will guarantee the dust to lie still long enough for you to dress the top and paint the bows. Dust is the natural enemy of the paint shop, and water is one of our best weapons to fight it with.

MIXING QUICK COLOR.

A quick-drying color can be slowed up and made to dry to any required time without injuring it, while if ground in a slow drying preparation, it cannot possibly be quickened without injuring more or less the working and covering properties. The working is certainly important, and the covering more so. The covering property should be strong, because the fewer coats of color on a job the better. Thus a quick dryer saves both labor and time.

Japan colors are best when ground stiff, or with barely enough liquid to bind them firmly, because after being reduced to thinness with turpentine alone they will cling to the surface and will not smut. The color will then have its greatest covering power. Now, by the addition of sufficient pure raw oil to give the best working property, and being also made to dry flat, the color is as near perfection as possible, and the further addition of _anything_ weakens the covering power. When an excess of japan is used in grinding, the color is thin, there being less pigment to the pound; and it is of less value to the consumer, while it affords more profit to the manufacturer than when prepared as it should be.

BLACK VARNISH FOR GASOLINE STOVES, ETC.

Asphaltum two pounds, boiled linseed oil one pint, turpentine two quarts. Melt the asphaltum in an iron pot, heat the oil, and add it to the asphaltum while hot. Stir well. When partly cool, add the turpentine and four ounces of good japan.

BLACK STENCH INK.

Shellac two ounces, borax two ounces, soft water twenty ounces, gum arabic two ounces, lampblack and indigo sufficient. Boil the shellac and borax in the water until dissolved, then add the gum arabic; dissolve and take the mixture from the fire; when cold, add enough lampblack to give it color and proper consistency, and a little powdered indigo. Keep in glass or earthenware vessels.

BRONZE FOR BRIGHT METALS.

Red aniline (fuscine) ten parts, purple aniline five parts, alcohol 95 per cent. one hundred parts, benzoic acid five parts. Add the anilines to the alcohol, and dissolve by placing the vessel in a sand or water bath. As soon as dissolved, add the benzoic acid and boil for five or ten minutes, or until the greenish color of the mixture is turned to a brilliant light bronze; spread with a brush on bright metal.

VARNISH TO FIX PENCIL DRAWINGS.

Gum mastic three ounces, alcohol one pint. Dissolve and apply with a brush.

RUST SPOTS ON MARBLE.

Apply a mixture of 1 part nitric acid and 25 parts of water, then rinse with 3 parts water and 1 part ammonia.

WHITEWASH TO SOFTEN.

To soften old whitewash which you wish to take off, wet it thoroughly with a wash made of 1 pound of potash, dissolved in 10 quarts of water.

WATER GLASS FOR FLOORS.

Clean the floor, fill cracks with water glass cement made of water glass and whiting, then put on a coat of water glass, to be followed by second coat; when dry rub the last coat with pumice stone and oil.

TO FINISH REDWOOD.

Take one quart of spirits turpentine; add one pound of corn starch; quarter of a pound burnt sienna; one tablespoonful raw linseed oil and one tablespoonful brown japan. Mix thoroughly, apply with the brush, let it stand, say, fifteen minutes, rub off all you can with fine shavings or a soft rag, let it stand at least twenty-four hours that it may sink into and harden the fibers of the wood; afterward apply two coats of white shellac, rub down well with fine flint paper, then put on from two to five coats best polishing varnish; after it is well dried rub with water and pumice stone ground very fine; stand a day to dry; after being washed clean with a chamois rub with water and rotten stone; dry; wash as before clean, and rub with olive oil until dry. Some use cork for sandpapering and polishing, but a smooth block of hardwood like maple is better. When treated in this way, redwood will be found the peer of any wood for real beauty and life as a house trim or finish.

MARKING INK.

Asphaltum, dissolved in turpentine to a thin fluid, will give you an excellent marking ink for all purposes; dries quickly, does not spread, and is nearly indestructible.

FORMULAS FOR MIXING COLORS. (SELECTED.)

It is impossible to give infallible recipes for mixing colors, on account of the difference in the tone and color strength of pigments, both dry and in oil, many samples having as high as fifty per cent. of barytes or other white makewright material, which not only lessens the color strength of the mixture in proportion to their volume, but weakens the color, in a small measure, by their presence as white material. Hence, color formulas are made subject to modification, not only to please the taste of the mixer, but on account of the presence of poor, weak and adulterated pigments.

The writer has selected a few formulas from which the learner may gain some knowledge of colors, which he can improve upon by experiment.

NOTE.--Part means in bulk, not by weight.

_Plumb._--White lead 2 parts; Indian red, 1 part; ultramarine blue, 1 part. If too dark, add more white lead. (Outside.)

_Brick._--Yellow ochre, 2 parts; Venetian red, 1 part; white lead, 1 part. If too dark, add more ochre. Don’t depend upon the common ochre of the stores. It has but little tinting power. Use French ochre ground in oil. (Outside.)

_Bronze Green._--Chrome green, 5 parts; lampblack, 1 part; burnt umber, 1 part. If too dark, use more green. (Outside.)

_Jonquil Yellow._--White lead tinted with chrome yellow and vermilion.

_Lead Color._--White Lead, 16 parts; ultramarine blue, 1 part; lampblack, 2 parts. (Outside.)

_Light Buff._--White lead tinted with yellow ochre (Outside.)

_Lemon._--Lemon chrome yellow, 5 parts; white lead, 2 parts. (Outside.)

_Brown._--Indian red, 3 parts; lamp black, 2 parts; yellow ochre, 1 part. If too dark, use more ochre or less black. (Outside.)

_Chestnut._--Venetian red, 2 parts; lamp black, 1 part; medium chrome yellow, 4 parts. (Outside.)

_Lilac._--Light Indian red, 3 parts; white lead, 3 parts; ultramarine blue, 1 part.

_Purple._--Light Indian red, 4 parts; white lead, 3 parts; ultramarine blue, 2 parts.

_London Smoke._--Burnt umber, 2 parts; white lead, 1 part; Venetian red, 1 part.

_Brown._--Venetian red, 3 parts; drop black, 2 parts; chrome yellow, 1 part. (Outside.)

_French Gray._--White, tinted with ivory or drop black. (Outside.)

_Olive Yellow._--Burnt umber, 3 parts; lemon chrome yellow, 1 part. For lighter shade, add more yellow.

_Pearl._--White lead, 6 parts; Venetian red, 2 parts; lamp black, 1 part. If too dark, add more lead. (Outside.)

_Olive._--Lemon chrome yellow, 10 parts; ultramarine blue, 1 part; light Indian red, 1 part.

_Cream Color._--White lead, 8 parts; French yellow ochre in oil, 2 parts; Venetian red, 1 part. (Outside.)

_Tan._--Burnt sienna, 5 parts; medium chrome yellow, 2 parts; raw umber, 1 part. If too red, add more raw umber.

_Pea Green._--White lead, 5 parts; chrome green, 1 part. Vary the proportions to suit.

_Drab._--White lead, 10 parts; burnt umber, 1 part. Vary to suit.

_Canary._--White lead, 6 parts; lemon chrome yellow, 2 parts, or less, as you like it. (Outside.)

_Fawn._--White lead, 8 parts; chrome yellow, 1 part; Indian red, 1 part; burnt umber, 1 part. (Outside.)

_Grass Green._--Lemon chrome yellow, 3 parts; Prussian blue, 1 part.

_Peach Blossom._--White lead, 1 part; light Indian red, 1 part; ultramarine blue, 1 part; lemon chrome yellow, 1 part.

_Light Gray._--White lead, 10 parts; ultramarine blue, 1 part; lampblack, 1 part. Make lighter or darker by using more or less white lead, as the case may require.

_Purple Brown._--Dark Indian red, 4 parts; ultramarine blue, 1 part; lampblack, 1 part. Light up with white lead to fancy. If too purple, use less blue; if too red, use more black. (Outside.)

_Leather Brown._--Venetian red, 2 parts; yellow ochre, 4 parts; lampblack, 1 part; white lead, 2 parts or more, to suit. If too dark, use less black. (Outside.)

_Dregs of Wine._--Tuscan red with a little lampblack and white lead.

_Leaf Bud._--Equal parts white lead, orange chrome and chrome green. If too dark, add more lead. (Inside only.)

_Coral Pink._--Vermilion (English), 5 parts; white lead, 2 parts; chrome yellow, 1 part. (Inside.)

_Maroon._--Tuscan red, 3 parts; ultramarine blue, 1 part. If too red, add more blue.

_Myrtle._--Dark chrome green, 3 parts; ultramarine blue, 1 part. Light up with white lead.

_Stone._--White lead, 5 parts; French yellow ochre, 2 parts; burnt umber, 1 part. Tint to desired shade with raw umber; a very little will do. (Outside.)

_Snuff._--Medium chrome yellow, 4 parts; Vandyke brown, 2 parts.

_Rose._--White lead, 5 parts; carmine, 2 parts. (Inside only.)

_Portland Stone._--Raw umber, 3 parts; yellow ochre, 3 parts; white lead, 1 part. (Outside.)

_Ashes of Roses._--White, lightly tinted with black, blue and lake. (Inside only.)

_Silver Gray._--Tint white lead with lampblack and indigo.

_Fine Chocolate._--Tint the best burnt umber with Munich lake. (Inside only.)

_Fine Maroon._--Tint any deep red lake with a little orange chrome yellow.

_Vienna Smoke._--Tint fine burnt umber with lemon chrome yellow and a little Venetian red.

_Quaker Green._--Chrome green, 3 parts; lampblack, 1 part; Venetian red, 1 part; medium chrome yellow, 1 part.

_Chamoline._--Lemon yellow, 1 part; raw sienna, 3 parts; white lead, 5 parts.

_Clay Drab._--White lead, raw sienna, raw umber, equal parts. Tint with chrome green.

_Pearl._--White lead, tinted with ultramarine blue and lampblack.