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

RUB LEAD.

In connection with these lead coats attention must be directed to the rub lead process as a part of the system of lead surfacing now practiced in the leading shops of the country. The rub lead is usually used directly upon the priming coat. There are several formulas in circulation for the mixing of the lead, but the writer thinks the one here given (used in the leading factory paint shops) covers the painter's practical needs fully. Mix dry white lead to a grinding consistency in 3/4 raw linseed oil to 1/4 japan, the liquids to be carefully measured. Add enough lampblack to give the mixture a clean slate color, then run through the paint mill, after which reduce to a brushing consistency with the proper proportions of oil and japan. Make the lead just stiff enough to brush on with a fairly stiff bristle brush. Apply to the surface and, after permitting the mixture to take on a "tack" for a quarter of an hour or more as the drying conditions of the apartment may be favorable or otherwise, proceed to rub the lead into the surface with the palm of the hand. For getting a fine, velvety, and very dense surface of pigment, the rub lead system has no rival. However, it cannot be worked over and re-coated so soon after being applied (it should be given 48 hours in which to dry) as can the knifing lead. This

KNIFING LEAD,

or "glazing lead," or "draw putty," as it is variously and locally known, renders it possible to quickly fill and level up a surface, making it compact and solid as to texture.

Knifing lead, No. 1.—Dry white lead 2/3; keg lead 1/3. Liquids, rubbing varnish and japan, thinning to the exact working consistency with a little turps.

No. 2.—Dry white lead, mixed in equal parts of rubbing varnish and japan.

No. 3.—Dry white lead 5/8; keg lead 1/4; roughstuff filler (finely ground) 1/8. Liquids, rubbing varnish 1/2; japan 1/4; turpentine 1/4. This last for large panels.

These leads should all be colored slightly in the direction of the final color to be used upon the work. Carriage and wagon painters use knifing lead on running parts very largely, and especially upon work that must be gotten out quicker than the rub lead would permit. On the panels of business wagons of the medium grade, knifing lead is used to the exclusion of roughstuff. On such panels it is advisable to apply the lead with a bristle brush, applying the lead to the surface a little heavier in body than ordinary paint, and then shortly going over it with a broad blade putty knife, pressing the pigment into the wood and removing the surplus.

Knifing lead deserves to be used and applied with circumspect care and skill if the best and most durable results would be achieved. It demands a firm pressing into the cellular fabric of the wood, accompanied by a clean, tidy removal of all the pigment not actually necessary to the full and complete development of the surface. But little sandpapering should be needed to fit it for any of the succeeding coats of material.

In the painting of running parts of the best grade, when rub lead or knifing lead is employed, the second lead, previously designated as "flat" or "dead" lead, should be employed over the rub or knifing lead, the puttying of the deep cavities and indentations being done directly upon said rub or knifing leads.