Steel tanks will not rust as rapidly as iron, but the scale is more apt to flake off by the expansion and contraction of the metal, taking the paint with it.
Heated oil, or heated oil priming, will dry faster and be more penetrating than cold. I consider heated "boiled oil" and red lead the best primer for iron.
In regard to ornamentation, my taste is governed by the fact that I work "by contract," and get no more for a highly ornate locomotive than I do for a plain one, therefore I like the plain ones best, and I hope that our "good brother Burch's" prophecy, that "the days of 'fancy locomotives' will return," will never be fulfilled until after I go out of the business. There is a happy medium between a hearse and a circus wagon, and the locomotive painter, when not tied down by "specifications," can produce a neat and handsomely painted engine without the "spread eagle" or "star spangled banner." My own ideas are in the direction of simple lines of striping, following the lines of the surfaces upon which they are drawn.
Finally, take all the time you can get, the more the better, and use oil accordingly.
"CRACKLE" GLASS.
An ingenious process of producing glass with an iced or crackled surface, suitable for many decorative purposes, has been invented in France by Bay. The product appears in the form of sheets or panes, one side of which is smooth or glossy, like common window glass, while the other is rough and filled with innumerable crevices, giving it the frozen or crackled appearance so much admired for many decorative purposes. This peculiar cracked surface is obtained by covering the surface of the sheet on the table with a thick coating of some coarse-grained flux mixed to form a paste, or with a coating of some more easily fusible glass, and then subjecting it to the action of a strong fire, either open or in a muffle. As soon as the coating is fused, and the table is red-hot, it is withdrawn and rapidly cooled. The superficial layer of flux separates itself in this operation from the underlying glass surface, and leaves behind the evidence of its attachment to the same in the form of numberless irregularities, scales, irregular crystal forms, etc., giving the glass surface the peculiar appearance to which the above name has been given. The rapid cooling of the glass may be facilitated with the aid of a stream of cold air, or by continuously projecting a spray of cold water upon it. By protecting certain portions of the glass surface from contact with the flux, with the use of a template of any ornamental or other desired form, these portions will retain their ordinary appearance, and will show the form of the design very strongly outlined beside the crackled surface. In this manner, letters, arabesque, and other patterns in white or colored glass can be produced with great ease and with fine effect.