First, have a stick to open and shut the slats with after you commence to paint. Second, leave a place on each stile, or side rail, half way between the hinges, six or eight inches long, unpainted, except to cut in the edge next the end of the slats to take hold of when you turn the blind over or set it aside; also leave the bottom hinge unpainted. After you have set up the blind hold it up by the unpainted hinge until you finish the stiles; then lean it up against its support and touch up the hinge. In this way you need get no more paint on your hands than you would in painting a door. No time will be lost, because you can touch up the stiles in less time than it would take to wipe your hands and brush handle.
LEGLESS STEP-LADDERS.
Step-ladders without legs for outside work are good things to have on the job. Say, three of them, 6, 8 and 10 feet long. A man of good height can paint 14 feet high from the 10-foot ladder. They are much easier on the feet than a “round” ladder. You can stand straighter and reach farther when standing on a step than you can while trying to balance on a round stick; besides, a step is a handy place to set your pail on.
SUCCESS IN PAINTING.
Painting don’t pay, eh? No wonder it don’t pay, because here you are spending half your time growling. The facts in the case are, “You are not up-to-date.” If there is no possibility of making money at the trade, how is it that your competitor gets along so well? Why is it that he accumulates and you lose? He goes into the same market for labor, material and jobs that you do. He comes out every fall with his pockets full, and you round up poor as a church mouse. There must be a screw loose somewhere in your management. Will I point one out? Certainly, we have always been friends, and I can never do too much for a friend. In the first place you are too impetuous. You forget for the time that bills for labor and material will fall due, that you must live—and you take the job at losing figures. You ought to realize that the success of a contracting painter depends upon his business qualifications. To-wit: Correct and careful estimates, coolness in bidding, care in selecting materials and men, systematizing his work so as to keep each man in the right place. I don’t know how much you are getting for this job, but it looks to me that you are losing money every day by using poor material and improper handling of your men. The good business man prefers the strictly pure Dutch process white lead to the adulterated brands. He uses pure linseed oil instead of adulterated mixtures and imitations of it, and he never loses sight of the fact that a good reputation is a mine of gold to him. If he finds a man is a good hand on a ladder or swing stage he keeps him there, and if he finds a man an expert at inside work he keeps him there, and if he finds a man is a poor stick in any place he lets him go, rush or no rush. If he has high work he provides a safe and easy way to get there. If he has inside work his step-ladders are equal to the work. He knows when a man has to reach too far or stand on top of a ladder he can’t half work. Learn to manage your men, to keep the right man in the right place. Stop making ruinous bids. Open your eyes to the fact that a man who makes a losing bid on a job, to beat his competitor, acts like an idiot, and is meaner than flies in paint.
GUESSING ON WORK.
The practice of estimating work by guess has brought many a painter up with a round turn in the fall in debt. The curious part of it is that the lesson is rarely, if ever, learned. Don’t be too smart. Guessing on work is very uncertain business.
GLASS GILDING.
A practical expert in an English journal, the “Plumber and Decorator,” gives the following as his process acquired and tested by many years’ experience.