HINTS FOR PAINTERS AND PAPER-HANGERS.
There is a general belief abroad that anybody can execute all that is required of a house-painter. This is a very popular error; it is not so easy to prepare and apply a coat of paint in a thorough workmanlike manner as some may imagine. It is still less easy to paint in parti colors; and very few can produce a good piece of graining.
The painter should not only be acquainted with the method of applying paint when it is provided for him, and the brush placed in his hand, but he should know the composition of the colors; the manner in which they are made, and the colors which must harmonize with each other when they are associated together. These observations being of a practical nature and the result of experience, are commended for his perusal and study.
Preparation.—All surfaces painted should be first thoroughly dry and free from dust. All heads of nails should be punched or “set” below the surface of the wood, and after the priming is dry, the holes formed by the heads, as well as all cracks, defects, etc., should be filled up with putty made of raw linseed oil and whiting. To prevent knots or “fat” spots from showing through, they should receive two coats of shellac varnish, and when dry rubbed down with sand-paper. The shellac should be applied with a small brush. It dries soon and may be painted over as soon as dry. Shellac prepared this way is called “knotting,” and can be purchased wherever painters’ materials are kept for sale.
Materials.—The principal materials used for painting, i.e., white lead and oxide of zinc, are so well known that it is unnecessary to allude particularly to their manufacture at present. Before using them they should be mixed with pure raw linseed oil. Turpentine may be used in cold weather to make the paint work easy, as the oil is apt to chill, which thickens it and makes it difficult to apply. In warm weather, however, turpentine should not be used in priming any parts where the sun shines upon. In cold weather it is always necessary to use litharge or some other drier; or the work will remain a long time before it hardens; in summer, however, driers in most cases are unnecessary, for if the wood to be painted is as well seasoned as it ought to be there is little danger of the paint being washed off by rain, as it will mostly be absorbed in the surface.
To make satisfactory work it is imperative that all cans, pots and brushes used in painting be perfectly clean at the start, and kept so whenever the conditions will permit. A marble slab and muller will be required to grind the finer colors used. Sometimes a small cast-iron mill will be found useful not only to grind colors; but to pass the tinted color through, so that it may be thoroughly mixed. It is scarcely necessary to say that it is presumed the workman will know what brushes he will require according to the work he has in hand. His large ground paint brush, called a “pound-brush;” his half-size, for smaller work; his fitch and sash tools, duster, pallet, putty and hasp knives; oval and flat varnish brushes, varnish-pot, step-ladders and long ladders, mahl-stick, pallet-board, gilding-knife, camel and sable hair-pencils, whitewash brushes, jack for window work, cushion, tip-pole, etc., etc.
Large brushes, such as 6-0 size, should be bridled when new by winding good twine around them about one-third up the length of the bristles, and as the brush wears, this binding can be unwound. Care should be taken to use the brushes so that they will have a flat wedge-shaped point, straight on the edge. This can be done by holding the brush always in one position. If brushes are turned round and round in the hand while in use, they wear round and stubby on the point and soon become useless for fine or smooth work.