In regard to using ground lead, car-painters differ, as some prefer to grind their own in the shop. I use the manufactured lead, and my reasons for doing so are that it is generally finer than any shop can grind it with present facilities, and it has age after grinding, which improves its quality. You can also get a purer lead and one with more body than you can by grinding in the shop, which is a fact that I think most painters must admit. I have tested it very fully, and am convinced on this point.
Mixing the Paints.—Permit me to make a few suggestions here in regard to the mixing of paint, which may not fully agree with others’ views. There is just as much paint that cracks by putting it on too flat as by using too much oil. Some painters mix their finishing colour so that it is impossible to get over a panel of ordinary size before it is set under the brush, and consequently the colour will rough up. Colour should be mixed up so that it will not flat down for some time after leaving it, and then you have got some substance that will not absorb the varnish as fast as it is applied to the surface. This quick drying of colour is not always caused by want of oil in it, but because there is too much japan, and a less quantity of the latter will do better work, and make a smoother finish. Give your colour 48 hours to dry between coats; always give that time, unless it is a hurried job, and experience has fully demonstrated that it is poor economy to hurry work out of the shop before it is properly finished.
Oils, Dryers, and Colours.—In car-painting, both raw and boiled oils are used, and good work may be done with either, but I recommend oil that is but slightly boiled, in preference to either the raw or the boiled. After it is boiled, if it is done in the shop, let it stand 24 hours to settle, then strain off carefully; this takes out all the impurities and fatty matter from the oil, and it will dry much better, nor will it have that tack after drying that you find with common boiled oil. Use the proper quantity of dryer in mixing your paint, and a good reliable job will be the result. In car-painting, never use prepared colours which are ground in oil, as nine-tenths of such colours are ground in very inferior oil, and they may have been put up for a great length of time, in which case they become fatty, and will invariably crack. These canned colours do not improve with age, as lead and varnish do.
Finishing colours should all be ground in the shop, unless special arrangements can be made with manufacturers to prepare them; and the colour should be fresh, not over 6 or 8 days old after being mixed, and open to the air. Enough may be prepared at a time to complete the coating on a job; but when colour stands over a week it is not fit to use on first-class work, as it becomes lifeless, and has lost that free working which we find in freshly-mixed colours. Such colour may, however, be used upon a cheap class of work, or on trucks, steps, &c., so that nothing need be wasted in the shop.
Varnishing.—Three coats of varnish over the colour are necessary on a first-class coach. The first coat should be a hard drying varnish put on the flat colour; the quick rubbing that some use I would not recommend, but one that will dry in five days (in good drying weather) sufficiently hard to rub, is the best for durability. After striping and ornamenting the car, and when thoroughly washed, give a coat of medium dry varnish. Let this stand 8 days; then rub lightly with curled hair or fine pumice, and apply the finishing coat, which is “wearing body;” this will dry hard in about 10 days, after which the car may be run out of the shop. It should then be washed with cold water and a soft brush, and is ready for the road. In varnishing, many will apply the varnish as heavy as they can possibly make it lie, when, as a consequence, it flows over and runs or sags down in ridges, and of course does not harden properly; this also leaves a substance for the weather to act on. It is better to get just enough on at a coat to make a good even coating which will flow out smooth, and this will dry hard, and will certainly wear better than the coat that is piled on heavily.
Varnishing, we claim, can be over-done, despite some painters’ opinions to the contrary. We have heard of those who put 2½ gal. on the body of a 50-foot car at one application, and we have also listened to the declaration, made by a member of the craft, that he put 2 gal. on the body of a locomotive tank. Such things are perhaps possible, and may have been done; but if so, we know that the work never stood as well as it would if done with one-half the quantity to a coat. In varnishing a car, care should be taken to have the surface clean; water never injures paint where it is used for washing; and a proper attention to cleanliness in this respect, and in the care of brushes used for varnishing, will ensure a good-looking job.
Perhaps your shop facilities for doing work are none of the best, but do the best you can with what you have. Select if possible, a still, dry day for varnishing, especially for the finishing coat. Keep your shop at an even temperature; avoid cold draughts on the car from doors and windows; wet the floor only just sufficient to lay the dust, for if too wet, the dampness arising will have a tendency to destroy the lustre of your varnish. Of course we cannot always do varnishing to our perfect satisfaction, especially where there are 25 or 30 men at work in an open shop, and 6 or 8 cars are being painted, when more or less dirt and dust are sure to get on the work.
A suggestion might here be made to railroad managers, which is that no paint-shop is complete where the entire process of painting and finishing a car is to be done in one open shop. A paint-shop should be made to shut off in sections by sliding doors, one part of the shop being used exclusively for striping and varnishing. I know from experience that nine-tenths of the railroad paint-shops are deficient in this particular, and still we are expected to turn out a clean job, no matter what difficulties we are compelled to labour under.
Importance of Washing Cars.—In regard to the care of a car after it has left the shop, more attention should be given to this than is done on many roads. The car should not be allowed to run until it is past remedy, and the dirt and smoke become imbedded in the varnish, actually forming a part of the coating, so that when you undertake to clean the car you must use soda or soap strong enough to cut the varnish before you succeed in removing the dirt. Cars should be washed well with a brush and water at the end of every trip. This only will obviate the difficulty, and these repeated washings will harden the varnish as well as increase its lustre. We know that, in washing a car, where soap is required to remove the dirt and smoke, it is almost impossible to get the smoke washed off clean; and if it is not quite impossible, the hot sun and rain will act on the varnish and very soon destroy it.
Re-varnishing.—Cars should be taken in and re-varnished at least once in 12 months; and if done once in 8 months it is better for them, and they will require only one coat; but where they run a year, they will generally need two coats. Those varnished during the hot months will not stand as well as if done at any other time. Painting done in extremely cold weather, or in a cold shop, is more liable to crack than if done in warm weather.