Formula No. 4.—Sponge with water top and side panels or curtains; permit to partly dry and then coat with lead and oil coloring strongly in the direction the final color is to be. Reduce the quantity of oil in the next coat, and in lettering use enough oil in the colors employed to give the requisite elasticity.
To paint on enameled drill, mix the pigment with raw linseed oil and gold size japan, equal parts, and thin to the proper consistency with turpentine. In judging the quantity of oil used, a close determination of the percentage of oil contained in the lead should be made, otherwise an excessive quantity of oil is apt to be used.
The wagon painter frequently has to letter on canvas, duck, or some other material of similar texture not dressed in the raiment of paint. To do this successfully various expedients are resorted to. Some workmen practice moistening the cloth with water and then putting on the letters in paint having plenty of oil in it. Others draw the cloth tight and firm and size it with a solution of starch and water. Proportions, 3/4 water; 1/4 starch. Allow this size to dry considerably before beginning to letter. Mix the lettering pigment to a paste form in elastic rubbing varnish and thin with turpentine. Still others make a size of cooked starch and glue water, and sponge the parts that are to be lettered. After the letters have been placed, if the cloth should prove to be stiff and inelastic, sponge with moderately warm water, in this way abstracting the surplus size.
CHAPTER XIII.
VEHICLE REPAINTING: HOW THE VARIOUS CLASSES OF WORK ARE DONE—MATCHING COLORS—BURNING OFF PAINT—MATERIALS USED IN PAINTING—TREATMENT OF TOPS AND DASHES—WASHING FINISHED WORK—SCHEDULE OF PRICES, ETC.
The re-varnishing, re-painting, etc., of vehicles constitutes an important source of revenue for the carriage and wagon painter. Many first-class paint shops connected with high grade carriage manufacturing establishments do a heavy business in re-painting vehicles. The writer has in mind a firm of carriage builders located not far from the office of The Western Painter, which employs a force of from sixty to eighty painters. In addition to painting and finishing the manufactured output of the establishment, consisting, it may be said, of anything in the carriage line from a tiny road buggy to a dashing four-in-hand coach, the force is yearly credited with from $30,000 to $40,000 worth of re-painting, etc. From this it will be assumed that vehicle repainting, rightly directed, affords substantial profits. Were it otherwise the firm in question would not make it a part of their business.
TOUCH-UP-AND-VARNISH.
The touch-up-and-varnish job is supposed to reach the paint shop showing but few evidences of grim-visaged service. The fact that it doesn't uniformly do so furnishes the painter with about as much difficulty in satisfactorily handling this class of work as he encounters in doing those classes which have a more troublesome look to them.
The best profits to be gleaned from this class of work are realized when the room space will admit of locating the job in a position where it can be handily worked at without much unhanging, and where plenty of light may be secured. A simple removal of the shafts, wheels, and, if necessary, top, together with such interior furnishings as carpet, cushion storm apron, etc., will, in a majority of cases, suffice to clear the way for active work upon the job, provided sufficient room space is at command. The unhanging of some of these "touch ups" is sometimes an expensive item, especially when rusty bolts are to be taken out and replaced. Therefore, the least possible unhanging should be practiced. Once the necessary parts are removed, proceed to clean off the grease smears, wiping axle arms bright, and looking well to the fifth wheel. Benzine is a good, quick liquid agent for loosening grease, etc. If top is left upon the job (and it should be in most cases, when possible), dust out the lining carefully, clean outside well, then clean out the body interior, after which give the outside body surface a light pumice flour and water rub as the most effective means of ridding it of possible greasy patches, dirt nibs, etc. A close, hard rubbing should be avoided, as upon a majority of surfaces it is prone to disclose checks and fissures, minute or otherwise, which a single coat of varnish will only serve to bring out more clearly, rather than to conceal. The body rubbed and washed thoroughly, the running parts are given a careful rinsing and drying off with the chamois skin.