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

THE LEAD COATS.

What we shall be pleased to term "first lead" was formerly made of white (keg) lead thinned to a brushing consistency with linseed oil and turpentine, half and half. That was at a time when egg-shell gloss coats were in demand. A different principle has been established of late years in reference to the composition of the lead coats, and the egg-shell gloss is now regarded with suspicion and, to a large extent, abandoned altogether.

Consequently, the first lead should be mixed of 3/8 oil to 5/8 turps, or even with a still smaller percentage of oil if the limitations of time so direct. Apply this lead with a bristle brush and enforce rigidly the rule of smoothness and sleek brushing out.

"Second lead" means in modern paint shop lingo "flat lead"—a lead that dries to a dull, lustreless appearance, practically "dead lead." It is composed of white lead, thinned to a working consistency with turpentine, and given a binder of oil to the extent of, say 2/3 of a tablespoonful of oil to a pint of the lead. These lead coats should properly contain 1 teaspoonful of japan to a pint of the lead, and be shaded with lampblack. The flat, or dead, lead is best applied with a camel's-hair brush.