Practical House, Wagon and Automobile Painter / including sign painting, and valuable hints and recipes

by W. F. White

When the painter has to paint over holes and cracks in walls recently filled by the plasterer, he will be likely to have to deal with plaster made in part of fresh lime. In such cases, it is always best to soak the newly plastered places with strong vinegar, to kill as much as possible the caustic properties of the lime. Put on the vinegar plentifully and let it soak in; when dry, give the new plaster a coat of size made of linseed oil, japan and turpentine; when dry, put on a coat of white shellac before painting.

FLASHED GLASS SIGNS.

Flashed glass is clear on one side and colored on the other; the colored glass forming only a thin film on one side of the clear glass. We can make elegant signs on this glass by etching the letter through the colored portion of the glass, making the letters clear and the background colored; or by etching out the background and leaving the letters colored. Lay out the letters on paper, and place it under the glass as a guide to work by; then, with asphaltum varnish cover the background and leave the letters free and clear; in other words, “cut around them.” If you want a clear background with colored border and colored letters, cover the letters and border and leave the background free and clear. Then melt some beeswax, and when it begins to cool, take up a small portion of it with a putty knife and scrape it off on the edge of the glass, and repeat the operation until a wall or dam is made all around the glass, to hold the acid you are about to put on the glass, from running off; then pour on a little hydrofluoric acid, and it will etch out the colored glass not covered by the asphaltum in about one hour; then you can pour the acid back into your bottle, to be used again. Next wash the glass by pouring water over it; then scrape off the wax, and take off the asphaltum with turpentine. Some painters use a varnish made by melting together equal parts of paraffine and asphaltum and thinning to working consistency with turpentine.

FLUORIC ACID, TO MAKE FOR ETCHING PURPOSES.

You can make your own fluoric acid (sometimes called hydrofluoric) by getting the fluor spar, pulverizing it and putting as much of it into sulphuric acid as the acid will cut or dissolve.

Druggists through the country do not keep this acid generally, but they can get it in the principal cities. One ounce will do at least fifty dollars worth of work. It is put in gutta percha bottles or lead bottles, and must be kept in them when not in use, having corks of the same material. Glass, of course, will not hold it, as it dissolves the glass, otherwise it would not etch upon it.

LIQUID WOOD FILLERS FOR CHEAP WORK.

Corn starch and cheap varnish are the principal ingredients of many cheap wood fillers; the corn starch is mixed with the varnish and thinned with turps until workable. You can experiment on this idea.

Corn starch in shellac in proportion of 1 pound to the gallon doubles its capacity as a filler. I have made and used a filler for cheap work in this way: Pale rosin, 2 pounds; boiled oil, 1 gallon; japan, 1 pint. Melt the rosin in the oil, take the kettle outside, and add ½ gallon turpentine; stir and when cold add ½ pound of corn starch. Thin with turps until workable. Add more or less starch, according to the surface you want to fill. These mixtures are all the better if run through a paint mill.