NOTES.
Speaking roughly, about one-third of the value of a common painting job will be for labour and the rest for material.
A good priming coat for wood may be composed of ten pounds white lead, two ounces red lead, two ounces driers, and four pints of linseed oil. The following coats having about two pints of turpentine instead of an equal quantity of linseed oil and the red lead being omitted.
A mixture for removing old paint is made by taking one pound soda and quarter pound quicklime and mixing to the consistency of cream. This is applied to the paint work with an old brush and left for about an hour when it will be found to have softened the paint which will readily wash off. The work may then be washed down with weak vinegar and water.
One gallon of oil varnish may, for the purposes of calculation, be taken to cover sixty-four square yards.
Seven pounds of ordinary white lead paint may be taken to cover rather more than thirty square yards for the first coat and forty-five yards afterwards.
Seven pounds of oxide of iron paint will, if good, cover about eighty square yards on iron, but the quality of oxide varies considerably.
To prevent plaster of Paris from setting quickly mix with glue water instead of ordinary pure water. This will retard the setting considerably.
A Good Size for Plastered Walls.
—Make two solutions, the first to consist of one and one-quarter pounds of glue, dissolved in four gallons of water; the second to consist of one ounce of borax, five ounces of washing soda and twenty ounces of powdered rosin added to five quarts of boiling water, and to be kept boiling and stirred until all is dissolved. To thirty parts by measure of the first solution add one part of the second and boil them together for about one-quarter of an hour; take from the fire and strain; when it is ready for use. This size is an excellent one for the purpose.
Walnut Stain.
—Mix in a quart of hot water a quarter of a pound of Turkey umber and add two tablespoons of turpentine.
Light Oak Stain.
—Grind fine in water half a pound of raw Turkey umber and half a pound of Dutch pink. Dilute with one gallon of water and add half a pint of vinegar.
When vermilion is used in distemper it is necessary to stir it up now and again as the colour sinks to the bottom.
Cleanliness should be the first and foremost rule for every painter. It has been said that if it were not for the flies and the smoke the principal part of the painters’ occupation would be gone. It may be taken as a safe rule that all old work should be thoroughly washed down with clean water before repainting. This pays even with stucco or outside cement work.
A good priming coat for work that is to be finished in vermilion is made by mixing bright Venetian red and white lead with boiled linseed oil.