Practical Carriage and Wagon Painting / A Treatise on the Painting of Carriages, Wagons and Sleighs, Embracing Full and Explicit Directions for Executing All Kinds of Work, Including Painting Factory Work, Lettering, Scrolling, Ornamenting, Varnishing, etc., with Many Tested Recipes and Formulas

by M. C. Hillick

SWEATING.

Sweating is the taking on of a gloss after the varnish coat has been rubbed. The principal cause of varnish sweating is rubbing it before it has sufficiently hardened. Varnish laid over a coat of color or of varnish that lacks somewhat of being dry is prone to sweat. When a coat of varnish has been rubbed and allowed to stand for some time—over night, say,—in a close paint or varnish room atmosphere, it will take on a sort of a gloss or greasy scum which comes under the head of sweating. It would be in the highest degree dangerous to permanent or brilliant results to flow a coat of varnish directly over a sweaty surface. The sweat that overspreads a rubbed varnish surface by reason of the absorption of atmospheric impurities can be quickly removed by lightly rubbing with a little rotten stone and water. The sweating out of a surface rubbed before it has adequately hardened can only be remedied by allowing the surface to become hard and then re-rubbing.