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

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Title: 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
Author: Hillick, Mayton Clarence
Language: English
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Third Edition--Published April 15, 1903.

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

Profusely Illustrated

M. C. HILLICK

Chicago, U. S. A.:
Press of the Western Painter
1903

DEDICATED TO THE
=VEHICLE PAINTERS OF AMERICA=
AND THE WORLD.

PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION.

The great demand for PRACTICAL CARRIAGE AND WAGON PAINTING has already
exhausted the second edition, and orders are arriving in increasing
numbers every day. The publisher wishes to express his grateful thanks
to the trade for the generous patronage accorded the work. Not only
would we express our thanks to those who have purchased the book, but
we feel deeply grateful to the trade press for the generous reviews and
kindly expressions of approval that they have given the volume. We send
the third edition forth with the conviction that it is an improvement
over the old ones in many respects, although we think the other
editions were well worth the price charged for them.

It has been almost twenty years since a volume on carriage and wagon
painting made its appearance in this country, during which time the
enterprising carriage painter has been wide awake. He has found many
new processes and a multitude of new materials of which the workman of
twenty years ago knew nothing; he has raised vehicle painting from a
simple mechanical process, which was intended to preserve the surface
from decay, to a fine art of the highest order, and fashionable people
now take as much pride in having beautiful and stylish equipages as
they do in wearing clothing that is up to date, or in securing jewels
that are sufficiently brilliant to dazzle all beholders.

No one realized more fully than the writer that an up-to-date work
on the difficult but noble calling of the carriage and wagon painter
was badly needed, so he began to cast about for someone who was fully
qualified for the task of writing such a book. He knew that the author
of such a work should be a man of extended trade practice and one
who could divest himself of high-flown scientific terms and make his
language so plain that any workman who cared to do so could easily
comprehend the instruction given. A careful survey of the field led to
the selection of Mr. M. C. Hillick, whose work for the magazines during
the past ten or twelve years has done so much to assist carriage and
wagon painters to elevate their calling to its present high standard.
Mr. Hillick has long held a high place among the best-known carriage
painters in this country, is thoroughly posted on all the various
branches of the business, and has the happy faculty of being able to
impart his knowledge to others in such a plain, practical way that
they cannot fail to understand him. His excessive modesty came very
near causing him to decline, but he was finally induced to undertake
the work, and PRACTICAL CARRIAGE AND WAGON PAINTING is presented to a
generous public with the knowledge that its superior has never made its
appearance in this country.

It is but a short time since the demands of the times gave birth to
that great institution--the factory shop--that monster establishment
from which hundreds of vehicles are turned out daily. The writer pleads
guilty to a strong prejudice against the class of work done in these
factories, yet he is compelled to admire the finished product and
applaud the genius of the painter who can thus marshal his forces and,
by working to a set of fixed rules, seem to defy natural laws, and out
of it all bring a thing of beauty which, while it does not prove a
"joy forever," does possess a degree of durability that we of the old
school of carriage painters were led to believe was impossible. It has
remained for Mr. Hillick to take us through this great establishment,
and he describes the processes and gives us the formulas that are
employed, in such plain, helpful language, that no one can read his
words without profit as well as pleasure.

Time and space forbid (even if I had the ability to give it) a
comprehensive review of this work. It would be impossible to enumerate
the millions of good points it possesses, so it is best to let the
succeeding pages speak for themselves. They will do it much more
eloquently than I could hope to do. I am sure of one fact, and it is
that if carriage and wagon painters all over the world will read and
practice the teachings of the succeeding chapters they will become
better painters, better citizens, and our country roads, as well as
our boulevards, will sparkle with a stream of better painted and more
beautiful vehicles.

When the writing of PRACTICAL CARRIAGE AND WAGON PAINTING was committed
to Mr. Hillick, the writer expected great things of him. Now, as I
look over the chapters of the completed work, I am happily conscious
of the fact that I am not disappointed in the slightest degree, and I
wish to thank Mr. Hillick for giving to the vehicle world a work on
painting that will prove helpful to the master workman as well as to
the ambitious apprentice.

CHARLES H. WEBB.

_CHICAGO, April, 1903._

CONTENTS.

Introductory 1

CHAPTER I.

THE SHOP AND ITS EQUIPMENT.

Locating and Fitting up the Shop--System of
Ventilation--Furnishing and Equipping the Varnish Room--The "Set
Room," Etc.--With Fourteen Illustrations of Labor-Saving Devices
for the Paint Shop and Varnish Room 3

CHAPTER II.

BUYING, USING, AND PRESERVING BRUSHES.

How to Select a Brush--How to Care for It--Softening the Hard
Brush--Brush Keepers--Preserving Liquids, Etc.--With Seventeen
Illustrations 9

CHAPTER III.

THE SURFACING STAGE OF PAINTING.

Materials Used--Priming--Its Importance--Numerous Formulas
for Primers--When to Prime and How--Lead Coats--Their Office
and Significance--Rub Lead, with Full Directions for Making
and Applying--Knifing Lead, with Numerous Formulas for Making
It--Putty--Ten Formulas for Making Putty--Directions for Using
Putty so as to Obtain the Best Results--Sandpapering--How and
How Not to Do It--Sizes of Paper to be Used--Roughstuff--Many
Formulas for Making It--The Mission of Roughstuff, with Full
and Complete Directions for Applying and Surfacing It--Six
Illustrations Accompany the Chapter 17

CHAPTER IV.

COLORS.

Colors Scientifically Analyzed--Prismatic and Objective
Color--The Orders of Objective Colors and their Uses in
Vehicle Painting--Harmonizing and Contrasting Colors--Testing
Colors--Assaying for Opacity, Coloring Strength, Brilliancy, and
Durability--With a Practical Working Table for Compounding 95% of
the Most Fashionable and Popular Colors Used in Modern Carriage
and Wagon Painting 28

CHAPTER V.

THE APPLICATION OF COLORS TO SURFACES.

Detailed Instructions for Preparing the Foundation Colors--How to
get the Finest Results in Using the Ever-Popular Greens, Blues,
and the Varied Colors Belonging to the Red Order--Also Yellows,
Browns, and Blacks--Complete Information Covering the Painting of
a White Job 37

CHAPTER VI.

VARNISH, AND THE MARVELOUS THING ABOUT IT.

Virtues of Varnish--Brief Review of its Mission--Applying
Rubbing Varnish--Surfacing It, and the Tools and Appliances
Used--Importance of the Water Supply, Washing Up, Etc.--The
Tale of Fine Varnishing Made Easy--Flowing the Finishing
Coat--Varnishing Running Parts--Various Movements
Necessary--Numerous Illustrations 47

CHAPTER VII.

DEPRAVITIES OF VARNISH.

Their Causes and Cure or Prevention--Graining
Out--Cracking--Sweating--Deadening, Sinking In--Enameling,
Silking, Etc.--Pitting--Seedy or Specky--Crawling--Wrinkling,
Crinkling--Runs, Sags, Curtains, Draperies--Ridging,
Roughing--Perishing, Crumbling, Rusting--Chipping, Flaking,
Peeling--Fire Checks--Greening--Blooming--Blisters--Spotting 54

CHAPTER VIII.

STRIPING AND ITS PURPOSE.

How to Learn the Art--Directions for Making Pencils and Caring
for Them--Mixing Striping Colors--Names of Stripes--With
Thirty-Six Illustrations, including Pencils, Various Styles of
Stripes, Panel and Corner Designs, Etc. 61

CHAPTER IX.

SCROLL PAINTING.

The Passing of the Fine Old Roman Scroll and its Destined Return
to Favor--Relief and Flat Scrolls Fully Described--How to Learn
the Art of Scrolling--Scrolls in Gold, Aluminum, and Colors--The
Basis of Beautiful Scroll Work--Recipes for Gilding Size--With
Eighteen Illustrations, Including Five Full-Page Designs of
Relief and Flat Scrolls 75

CHAPTER X.

LETTERING.

Wagon Lettering as Distinguished from Sign Writing--Specific
Directions for Learning the Art of Wagon Lettering, Including
Laying Out, Spacing, Outlining, Balancing, Shading, Punctuation,
Etc.--Roman, Modified Block, Ornamental, and Grecian Alphabets,
Numerals, Etc., Shown--With Designs for Business Vehicle Panels 89

CHAPTER XI.

MONOGRAMS.

Their Antiquity, Relation to Modern Vehicle Painting,
Etc.--Designing and Painting the Monogram--Necessary
Tools--Making a Transfer Monogram--Leading Colors and Engaging
Combinations--With Eighteen Illustrations 102

CHAPTER XII.

PAINTING THE MODERN BUSINESS WAGON.

Considered as a Work of Art and as an Advertising
Medium--Practical Instructions which Cover the Various Classes of
Business Vehicles--The Factory Method Explained--Painting Heavy
Trucks and Farm Wagons--Popular Colors for Painting Business
Wagons--Numerous Formulas for Painting Canvas and Cloth Tops 109

CHAPTER XIII.

RE-PAINTING AND RE-VARNISHING VEHICLES.

Full Description of Manner of Doing the Various Classes of
Work--How to Match Colors--To Burn Off Paint--Tables of Materials
used in Painting Vehicles--Treatment of Tops and Dashes, Formulas
for Dressings, Etc.--Method of Marking Vehicles--Washing Finished
Work--Schedule of Prices for Repainting 117

CHAPTER XIV.

A PRACTICAL STUDY OF MATERIALS.

White Lead--Importance of its Purity--Quality of Colors
in General--Adulteration as Viewed from the Painter's
Standpoint--Purity of Raw Linseed Oil--Turpentine--Testing Coach
Japan--Varnish 130

CHAPTER XV.

PAINTING CUTTERS AND SLEIGHS.

Decorative Features of the Work--The Various Processes of
Painting Fully Detailed--The Anti-Kalsomine Method--Prevailing
Colors--Striping and Scrolling--Instructions Bearing upon
Re-painting, Re-varnishing, Etc.--With Nine Artistic Ornaments 139

CHAPTER XVI.

FACTS AND FORMULAS FROM THE PAINT SHOP DIARY.

Many Practical Matters and Methods Briefly Stated--Blending of
Colors--Spontaneous Combustion--The Best Varnish Room--Remedy for
Rusted Carriage Springs--Painting Metallic Surfaces--Thinning
Varnish--Painting a Natural-Wood Finished Job--Repairing Bruised
Surfaces--How to Make Varnish Go Wrong, Etc., Etc. 148

INDEX TO ADVERTISERS.

Pratt & Lambert ix
Chicago Varnish Company x
Murphy Varnish Company xi
John W. Masury & Son xii
Surrey Varnish Works xiii
Standard Varnish Works xiv
National Lead Company xv
Berry Bros. xvi
John Lucas Company xvii
The Western Painter xviii
Edward Smith & Company xix
William Sedgwick xx
John L. Whiting & Son Co. xxi
Geo. E. Watson Company xxii
Valentine & Company xxiii

_INTRODUCTORY._

In many of its elementary principles the art of carriage and wagon
painting as at present exemplified does not materially differ from the
art as it was interpreted in the remote past. Processes and systems
have changed and adapted themselves to the swifter modes of life,
but not a few of the paint materials, especially those used in the
foundation and surfacing coats, remain practically the same as used
in former times. The P. W. F.'s, as surfacing agents expected to
take the place of white lead and oil and their assistant pigments,
tossed merrily upon the topmost wave of favor for a brief period some
two decades ago, but the fiat of their decline went forth and at
the present time the great majority of carriage and wagon painters
still adhere to white lead, raw linseed oil, ochres, and regulation
roughstuff pigments for their foundation materials, as did their
instructors and predecessors.

The abbreviated time allowance accorded the painter for the painting
and finishing of a vehicle has made necessary a readjustment of
proportions of both liquid and pigment ingredients which, it must be
confessed, has operated in a way harmful to the natural durability
of the material employed. The painter, however, can in no wise be
held responsible for the general lack of durability which is said
to distinguish the painting of the present as compared to that of
the past. The great inexorable Public is the master, the painter its
unwilling but submissive servant.

Nevertheless, conditions of permanency and durability are still wrought
and achieved in the modern field of carriage and wagon painting,
conditions which conform, with a large measure of credit to the art of
painting, to the other resultant durable effects obtained along nearly
all other lines of industrial activity.

Our painting today fails to excel the painting of tradition simply
because the exactions of a wonderfully fast age tend directly to
promote failure rather than to aid success.

The job of painting which withstands fierce and continuous attacks
of service for a reasonable length of time must be justly registered
durable, regardless of what it would have been termed in the past. Past
conditions and circumstances cannot fairly be used as yardsticks to
measure what we at present call beautiful and enduring in the art of
painting.

In the matter of tools, appliances for handling work, colors and
varnishes used, carriage and wagon painting, amid the advances made
in all the other constructive departments of industry, has enjoyed
improvement. Brushes in greater variety, finer in quality, and better
adapted to the practical needs of the painter, are in evidence. Colors
of a wider range of hues, tints, shades, and incomparably finer as to
quality than were obtainable formerly, are now at the disposal of the
painter. And the varnishes--surely they have been improved, made more
reliable, more uniform in quality, better behaved and more suited to
the ever-varying requirements of service.

Carnage and wagon painting has become as much of a business as an
artistic venture. Commercial conditions have of late years so shaped
themselves that the painter, to successfully conduct a painting
business, must of necessity study the profound science of business
quite as thoroughly as he does the science of building paint structures
and developing color effects. He imparts a moral, business, and
mechanical force to the community. He now has available sources of
education more easily within his reach than at any former time. Paint
trade literature, so far as it is represented in magazine form at
least, is at hand to render him aid and encouragement. He is rapidly
becoming better fitted to meet the expanding limits of competition,
to critically analyze both the theory and practice of painting, to
become, in short, a greater power for good in the community as well as
a studious and original mechanic.

In the inseparable community of business interests, the painting of the
vehicular equipment has reached the level of a prominent industry.

Its chief attainments are, firstly, to preserve the structural parts
of the vehicle from the action of the elements; secondly, from the
remorseless and gnawing tooth of service; thirdly, to aid in making the
vehicle really beautiful, a work of art.

The mission of the following chapters will be to record the systems,
methods, and processes practiced in modern carriage and wagon painting,
to the end that the apprentice--good luck to him, and may he pluck the
peach from the sunniest side of the fence always--may be enlightened,
that the already skilled workman may be interested somewhat, and
that the trade of carriage and wagon painting may be welcomed as a
delightful guest, worthy of enthusiastic entertainment.

CHAPTER I.

THE SHOP AND ITS EQUIPMENT.

"Give ample room and verge enough."--Gray.

It would not be fit nor seemly to lay down any arbitrary rules for the
guidance of the painter in the selection or construction of the paint
shop. Conditions and circumstances here control. But so far as the
painter is able to have authority in the matter it should be directed
in favor of large, roomy apartments, high ceilings, and a fine outfit
of windows. Light is an indispensable commodity in the paint shop.
And room--there is never an excess of it. To do good work at a profit
invokes an easy, commodious working space. To this end, therefore, the
painter may well direct his best endeavors. Nor should the ventilation
be neglected. A ventilator in quite common use, old-time but effective
when the construction of the shop permits of its use, consists of the
regulation stove pipe, say 12 inches in diameter and extending 18
inches or 2 feet above the roof of the building, furnished at its upper
extremity with a revolving hood or cap. The local tinsmith usually
has an invention of his own in the way of revolving ventilators which
is workable and nicely suited to the needs of the paint shop. Where
ceiling ventilators are not practicable, apertures some 8 inches in
diameter may be made in the walls well up toward the ceiling, one or
two on each side of the room, according to the size and location, and
into these apertures insert tin frames, both ends of which are covered
with wire gauze, the gauze on the inside or room end of the fixture
being fitted to a hinged lid frame. Into this tin and gauze compartment
put clean curled hair or moss. Metal caps may be fitted to cover the
inside opening of these ventilators, so that if necessary the air can
be shut out entirely so far as entrance through these channels is
concerned. There are numerous other styles of ventilators, but they do
not call for mention, as local and individual needs will suggest the
kind most feasible to adopt.

[Illustration: FIG. 1--WHEEL JACK.]

[Illustration: FIG. 2--WHEEL JACK.]

[Illustration: FIG. 3.]

The mixing bench should be located in a light corner of the room. It
should be furnished with a slab of marble or stone, preferably marble.
A cupboard with tightly fitting doors should be over, or at the side
of, the bench with specially prepared boards on which to wipe brushes
near at hand. A first-class paint mill should be a fixture in close
proximity to the paint bench.

[Illustration: FIG. 4--LONG-ACRE BODY TRESTLE.]

[Illustration: FIG. 5--BODY TRESTLE.]

[Illustration: FIG. 6--BODY AND GEAR TRESTLE.]

The varnish room (sacred temple of the painter's hopes shall we say?),
over which men rarely fail to disagree, needs to be every inch as large
as conditions will permit. It should have ventilators, such as above
described or similar, in plenty. The gauze and tin funnel ventilators
might well be used near the floor and ceiling, thus driving the room
impurities up and out. The varnish room cannot well be too large, nor
too light, nor too cosy. Nor can it follow too closely the Quaker's
code as to furnishings, for "unadorned, adorned the most" strictly
applies to this historic apartment. It is agreed that the northeast
corner of the shop is the best location for the varnish room. The
north light is the most restful and the easiest light to work by, and
it is esteemed the best drying light. The room ought not to be placed
immediately over the smith shop. It should have plenty of windows,
north and east, and made to lower at the top. If possible, have a
hardwood floor, and oiled, with ceiling and side walls of matched
lumber, good quality and preferably painted white or some very light
color, that it will reflect the light. Personally, I am in favor of
blue colored shades for north windows and yellow ones for east and west
windows. If possible, connect a "set room," provided with abundance of
light, with the varnish room, into which the work may be removed the
morning after finishing. The varnish room requires a small cupboard for
holding varnish, cups, dusters, brushes, chamois skins, sponges, etc.,
a body trestle or two, a few wooden, low-cut horses for supporting the
varnished work, a stove, if the shop be not heated by other means, a
sliding door or two, and--that's all.

[Illustration: FIG. 7--GEAR FRAME.]

[Illustration: FIG. 8--SEAT FRAME.]

The colors, pigments, and brushes will be considered in their
appropriate order as the chapters proceed. Many shop fixtures will be
similarly presented.

[Illustration: FIG. 9--FRAME FOR BODIES.]

[Illustration: FIG. 10--GEAR HORSE.]

The work-handling appliances here furnished have been observed,
studied, and many of them used by the writer in his travels up and down
the land of paint shops. The revolving wheel jack is an indispensable
fixture in the paint shop. Fig. 1 has a plank base, and an axle for a
standard. The cut shows how it is made. Many shops use it. Fig. 2 is
frequently seen in provincial paint shops. It consists of a hardwood
scantling of the size noted in the cut, with a 5/8-inch or 3/4-inch
round iron stuck into one end and projecting 7 inches out. A hole
to nicely take the iron is bored through the floor into a joist, a
floor plate is placed over it, and the upright is ready to revolve. A
tapering piece of round iron 3/4 inch at the base is driven through
the upper end of the standard, having a projection of 7 or 8 inches.
A thick metal washer is then slipped over the arm, thus completing
the fixture. Fig. 3 is largely used in factory shops. It is the finest
wheel jack extant. Observe the bottom. Almost any foundry will cast one
at from $1.25 to $1.50 each. Weight, from 40 to 60 lbs.; diameter, 18
to 20 inches; hole for insertion of arm, 1 inch to 1-1/4 inches. Weld
stub axle to the round arm. Have varying sizes of axle stubs, from 3/4,
7/8, and 1 inch to 1-1/4 inches. This is a particularly fine jack for
wheel striping purposes. Can be easily transferred to any part of the
shop, and runs true.

[Illustration: FIG. 11--RUBBING DECK.]

[Illustration: FIG. 12--ASPHALT OR CEMENT DECK.]

The Long-Acre body trestle, a London production, is often met with
in the paint shop. Fig. 4 shows it in working order, on rollers,
and the wheels connected with a wooden pin for a pivot. Fig. 5 is a
second body trestle, neat, easy to work, and the cut quite completely
explains how it is built. Height, and proportion of parts can be made
to suit the individual fancy. Fig. 6 represents a combination body
and gear trestle largely used in factory paint shops. Height, 3 ft.,
2 in.; length of revolving frame pieces, 27 in., 2×2 in. in size. A
4×4 inch piece 9 in. long supports the frame. Inclined pieces are 25
in. long; size, 2×2 in. The trestle is of hardwood, or should be,
bolted together. Fig. 7, a gear frame, fits onto the frame of Fig. 6.
It should be 4 ft., 6 in. long and 14 in. wide. It easily takes the
shortest gears as well as the longest, and the workman is enabled to
always obtain the best possible light. Fig. 8 is a seat frame made to
fit the trestle, Fig. 6. Make it of 1-inch stuff. Length, 2 ft.; height
at rear, 9 in.; front, 2 in.; width, 13-1/2 in., to fit frame. This
holds a carriage seat in capital shape for painting and finishing. Fig.
9 is a frame for holding bodies while varnishing them or while rubbing
the varnish. One-inch pine boards 6 in. in width afford good material
for the frame. Let it be from 32 to 36 in. high, about the same in
length, and 27 in. wide. At top of standards bolt 7×1-inch pieces 6
in. long, containing steel brads to hold the work in place. Fig. 10 is
a horse for holding carriage gears during the process of painting and
finishing. Gear horses can't all be revolving ones, and this one is
strong and handy to work around. Make the legs of 3×1-1/2 pine or ash
and the bed piece, to which the iron standards are bolted, of ash 3×3
inches. Bolt the legs to the bed piece and stay them in the middle. The
iron standards, 5/16 in. thick and 1-1/2 in. wide, are cranked over
at right angles, as shown in cut, bolted firmly to bed piece, and at
upper ends are hollowed out to hold the axle arms. Height of horse,
30 to 34 inches; width, wide enough to take a gear from 4 ft. to 5
ft., 4 in. Let the iron standards go 30 inches long, cranked at the
middle. A rubbing deck for roughstuff and varnish rubbing, washing up
work, etc., is a necessity even in the small shop. Fig. 11 explains an
inexpensive one. A A is the shop floor, D the wall, B B the false or
double floor inclining to the center, where a shallow metal gutter is
let into the floor opening to a waste pipe which conveys all the waste
matter outside the shop. The outer edges of the double floor rest upon
stoutly-secured blocks of wood. Fig. 12 shows an asphalt or cement
rubbing deck in general use in many leading shops. G is the shop wall,
F the waste pipe, E the deck. The asphalt deck is not an expensive
fixture, neither wears nor rusts out, and, like Fig. 11, is a practical
time saver. And along with the rubbing deck the painter should adopt
measures for securing a plentiful supply of clean soft water for shop
uses, and, if possible, have it piped directly to the rubbing deck.
These are days of hard-fought business battles, and any aid that will
out-foot one's competitor is an effective aid. A good water supply
right at hand helps mightily. Fig. 13 is a deck barrel for holding a
ready supply of water for the rubber; also for holding certain styles
of carriage and cutter bodies while rubbing. The slit cut at an angle
lets a buggy, surrey, or other carriage seat in, and holds it fast
while the rubbing proceeds.

[Illustration: FIG. 13--DECK BARREL.]

[Illustration: FIG. 14--VARNISH ROOM STOVE.]

The varnish room stove, when one is forced to use such a fixture,
gives the painter much concern. In Fig. 14 is to be observed a way of
enclosing the stove in sheet-iron, after the fashion of the railroads
once upon a time. Cut an opening in the wall separating the varnish
room from some one of the other apartments, set the stove just inside
the varnish room, inclose it in the sheet-iron cylinder, making the
cylinder fit close into the wall opening, and have the opening to the
stove, and the stove door, reached from the room adjoining the varnish
room. Even when wholly located in the varnish room such a cylinder,
enclosing the stove all over, is a practical reducer of stove dirt, etc.

NOTE.--Figs. 3, 5, 6, and 14 of this chapter, and Figs. 1, 2, and 3
of Chapter II. are published by permission of the _Hub_.

CHAPTER II.

BUYING AND SELECTING BRUSHES--CARE OF THEM--SOFTENING HARD
BRUSHES--BRUSH KEEPERS--PRESERVING LIQUIDS--BRUSHES USED IN VEHICLE
PAINTING, ETC.

One conspicuously famous brush maker has declared the art of brush
making to be "an art preservative." The carriage and wagon painter
is deeply concerned in the achievements of that art, because every
distinct advancement made therein makes possible an equally distinct
advancement in the art of painting. To a greater extent, perhaps, than
any other class of painters, the carriage and wagon painter should
be interested in making up his brush equipment of tools of the best
quality. The brush made of reliable stock, having the proper "hang"
and point, and which balances like a "thoroughbred," is an economical
tool to buy, regardless of the price. The vehicle painter requires a
brush made scientifically, by the outlay of honest workmanship, and
of material that is wholly above suspicion. A brush that has simply
the price to recommend it is usually an unreliable article and worketh
evil, like a thief in the night, unexpectedly. In making choice of a
brush for putting on priming, lead, and roughstuff, and for such other
features of general use as require a round or oval bristle brush,
the painter may properly look at the filling of the tool. Deception,
if practiced at all, is usually placed where it shows the least.
The first-class brush is distinctively the brush that shows good
quality--uniform quality--from center to outside. Other things being
equal, the brush that is made up uniformly as to its bristle equipment
will develop a good point, and all carriage painters are alive to the
importance of this virtue in both paint and varnish brushes.

[Illustration: FIG. 1.]

[Illustration: FIG. 2.]

[Illustration: FIG. 3.]

Much of the usefulness of a brush depends upon the manner of caring
for it when it comes into the paint shop. The bristle brushes used
for priming, lead, and roughstuff require bridling until worn down
somewhat. There are many patent brush bridles now procurable at a
nominal cost which tend to give a brush much better shape than the
shop-made bridle. If these are not at hand, the painter can take
"tufting cord" (our friends, the carriage trimmers, keep it) and wind
the brush securely but not too tightly; or he can take a piece of light
weight rubber cloth and, extending the piece well down on the handle,
tie it at the proper distance around the bristles. The rubber side of
the piece should be fastened next the bristles. Then, from where it is
tied around the bristles, fold the piece back onto the handle and tie
securely. Trim off, and a bridle is furnished that is perfectly water-
and paint-proof, the cloth side of the rubber being folded inside.
For a shop-made bridle the writer finds this a serviceable one. After
bridling, drop a little oil paint into the heel of the brush and set
it away in a dustproof compartment for a few days. Then use the brush
for a time in oil paint, suspending the brush when not in use in raw
linseed oil. In the course of two or three days the brush may be put
into other paint if desired and suspended in water. Suspend the brush
just up to the butts of the bristles, or so they are just covered, and
invariably keep the water up to that point. Under no circumstances
permit a brush to rest upon its point when not in use. It destroys the
form of the tool and lessens its spring and elasticity. The bristle
paint brushes require a clean storage quite to the extent that the
color or varnish brushes do. Therefore, the receptacle in which they
are kept should be fitted with a cover and should be tight enough to
keep out all forms of dirt. A common tobacco pail procured of the local
grocery, painted inside and out, fitted with a cover, and having nails
driven at certain distances apart all around it, one-third of the way
down from the top, on which the brushes may be suspended, makes a cheap
and excellent keeper for the ordinary paint brushes.

[Illustration: COMPLETE SET OF FINISHING (FLOWING) BRUSHES.]

[Illustration: CAMEL-HAIR FLOWING BRUSH.]

[Illustration: COACH DUSTER.]

[Illustration: CHISELED PAINT BRUSH.]

Camel's hair color brushes may well have a little paint, one-half oil
and one-half turpentine, dropped into the heels of them. These brushes,
used in japan ground colors, need to be kept suspended in water. Change
the water frequently and make sure that it is clean. A brush keeper
such as is recommended for varnish brushes is one of the best possible
keepers for color brushes. It insures cleanliness. And vehicle painting
without cleanliness is like unto a landscape painting with the beauties
of nature left out. The brushes kept in water do better in rain water
than in hard water. During the cold months, especially in shops where
freezing is liable to occur, it is advisable to add a little glycerine
to the water. The glycerine delays the freezing point and does not
injure the brushes. Never soak a brush in water before using it in
paint. Animal fat circulates in the capillary tubes of all bristles
and hair, and if water is soaked into these arteries, the spring and
elasticity of the brush is not only destroyed, but it speedily becomes
a very much water-logged tool. To swell up a brush which for some cause
has become dried out and shrunken, part the bristles so that the end of
the handle is exposed, and pour in a small quantity of water, say three
or four teaspoonfuls. Then stand it away, bristles up, handle down,
for two or three hours and the brush will have returned to its normal
condition. If a brush handle gets smeared with paint or varnish, a wire
scrub brush dipped in a solution of sal soda will clean off the sticky
substance in short order. To test the bristles in a brush, remove some
of them and submit them to a smart flame. Bristles, the real animal
product, will curl and writhe and emit a peculiar odor. No known
adulterant burns this way.

[Illustration: ROUND PAINT BRUSH.]

A brush that has been allowed through accident or neglect to get
"soggy" may be limbered up nicely by soaking in heated turpentine.
Hardened brushes may often be softened into workable condition
again by soaking the bristles in hot linseed oil. A simple soaking
in turps or benzine will sometimes effect the needed softening up.
Brushes, however, that have dried up, saturated with quick drying
colors or paint, can at best never be restored to a first-class
working condition. The best form of economy, therefore, is to throw
such brushes away. Remedies in impressive array have been marshalled
wherewith to restore varnish brushes that have become lousy, but the
vehicle finisher recognizes no reliable or economical remedy for the
purpose named. A dirty varnish brush can be cleaned by washing in oil
first, then in turps, and lastly worked in for putting on first rubbing
coats, and thus gradually brought back to its original cleanliness. But
the varnish brush once lousy, look you! _always_ lousy. Better

"To the fire I now consign thee,
Peace unto thine ashes be."

When a varnish brush is accidentally dropped on the floor while being
used, pick it up carefully and, holding it at an acute angle, bristles
down, pour a small quantity of turpentine over it, thus flooding the
accumulated dirt completely off.

[Illustration: CAMEL-HAIR COLOR BRUSH.]

[Illustration: OVAL CHISELED VARNISH BRUSH.]

There is a considerable diversity of opinion as to the best preserving
liquid in which to keep the varnish brushes. Local needs and
requirements are probably the safest guides in the matter of choosing
preserving liquids for varnish brushes. When the brushes are used
daily, as they are in big shops, it is a very good way to keep them in
raw linseed oil. Then, every morning before beginning work, the brushes
may be rinsed out in turpentine, wiped out clearly over the edge of the
cup, and an elastic brush full of life is assured.

[Illustration: BADGER-HAIR FLOWING BRUSH.]

Brushes used daily upon clean surfaces are, or should be, clean, and
rinsing in turpentine can do no harm to a clean brush. But in the case
of brushes used every two or three days or occasionally, different
treatment is needed. Such brushes are liable to be used upon surfaces
and amid surroundings less cleanly than those which obtain in the
fine factory or custom shop, and the rinsing in turps, consequent
upon preserving them in oil, would merely serve to loosen and set in
motion the dirt and flocculent matter gradually collected and forced
up into the body of the tools. For this reason it were better to keep
them in finishing varnish or, preferably, brush keeping varnish, i.
e., varnish minus its driers. Whatever the preservative, the brushes
require the most watchful attention. If kept in finishing varnish, the
liquid should be changed frequently. So delicate a tool, of which so
much is expected, makes imperative the observance of gentle, cleanly
treatment. Varnish brushes ought never to be left lying around for
any considerable length of time when not in use. Dust is never idle,
but always moving and, like the dew of the evening, it falleth upon
the just and the unjust, varnish brushes included. Have a stiff,
partly-worn brush to clean the handles of varnish brushes. Wiping them
with cloth distributes lint.

[Illustration: SPOKE BRUSH.]

[Illustration: CHISELED FITCH TOOL.]

In Fig. 1 is shown a double compartment brush keeper. It can be made
of tin or zinc and is not expensive. Attach lock and key to it, and
the brushes conditioned to a peerless trim are secure. Make the keeper
8 in. long, 5 in. wide, 9 in. deep; outfit with spring fasteners, run
wires through 3 in. from top, and 3/4 in. from bottom of the can locate
a rack made of small wires criss-crossed on a light wire frame. The
dirt which collects in the keeper goes to the bottom beneath the gauze
rack, and should a brush fall into the preserving liquid it is held
aloof from the dirt accumulations. These are regulation brush keepers,
clean, durable, and cost in the neighborhood of $1. Fig. 2 represents
the famous thirty-cent brush keeper, several times illustrated but
still deserving a place here. It is claimed to be made upon scientific
principles, namely, the break between the body of the keeper and
its lid or cover occurs at the bottom and below the point of brush
suspension, instead, as in the ordinary keeper, at the top and above
the point of suspension. It can be made of any size to meet individual
needs. Such a can affords a splendid keeper for camel's-hair color
brushes and for color-and-varnish brushes. Fig. 3 displays what has
been somewhat widely heralded as the western idea of a brush keeper,
although the gentleman who first published a cut of the keeper and who,
I believe, was the inventor of it, has seldom, if ever, been given
credit for his ingenuity. My veteran brother of the brush, Mr. V. B.
Grinnell, is deserving of the thanks of the trade for his invention.
It consists of an ordinary glass fruit can (a metal top with rubber
attachment is best), in which is located a tin cup, having a heavy
wire soldered to it and projecting up to near the top of the can.
This allows the cup to be easily removed from the top of the can. A
second wire is soldered onto the first one so that it projects out
horizontally over the cup, allowing for the suspension of the brushes
in the liquid contained in the cup. The illustration shows how the
keeper is made completely. Two or three brushes may be kept in each
can, and they may be kept air-tight, too, a matter of moment to the
vehicle painter.

[Illustration: PEAR FLOWING VARNISH BRUSH.]

The vehicle painter's brush equipment should consist of a good
assortment of round or oval bristle brushes for putting on priming,
lead, and roughstuff. For the best grade of carriage painting, the
chiseled brush is advised for the priming and lead coats. In size they
should run about 4.0. For working upon large surfaces, however, larger
brushes will be needed, hence any exact size cannot be advised to meet
all cases. Spoke brushes, dusters in plenty, flat chiseled bristle
paint brushes, extra thick camel's-hair color brushes, varying in size
from 1 in. to 3 in., camel's-hair flowing brushes, 1-1/2 to 2-1/2
in. in size, for applying color-and-varnish of some kinds, chiseled
badger hair brushes, double thick, 1 in. to 2 in. for varnishing gears,
oval chiseled sash tools for cleaning up surfaces and painting when
needed certain parts of a vehicle, chiseled fitch tools for cleaning
up panels, and lastly not less than four sets of varnish brushes
for varnishing vehicle body surfaces, along with some oval or round
chiseled varnish brushes required especially in wagon painting.

The painter needs a set of at least three brushes, 1 in., 1-1/2 in.,
and 2-1/2 in. in size, for varnishing the inside surfaces of bodies,
these to be used for no other purpose. Then, properly, he should have a
set of brushes for putting on first rubbing varnish coats, consisting
of a 1-inch chiseled badger hair brush, and a 2-1/2 in. and one 3-in.
bristle brush. Then another set of the same number for the remaining
rubbing coats.

[Illustration: LONG-HANDLED SPOKE BRUSH.]

The finishing kit of brushes may properly consist of five chiseled
half elastic flowing brushes, as follows: One 1-in., one 1-1/2-inch,
one 2-in., one 2-1/2-in., one 3-in. Some finishers prefer a 1-in.
badger hair brush for flowing the edges of the panels, but the set of
flowing brushes herewith illustrated answers every purpose fully and
completely. The art of fine brush making has so far advanced within
recent years that it is now possible to get varnish brushes which
require but very little working in varnish to prepare them for flowing
on the finishing coats.

To clean a new varnish brush preparatory to using it as a finishing
brush, first draw the stock of the tool through the fingers, continuing
this operation until the loose dirt is quite fully worked out. Then
repeatedly submerge it in clean linseed oil and wipe out over the edge
of a cup, after which use it for a week or two in rubbing varnish. The
brush may then safely be used for applying finishing coats of varnish.

[Illustration: OVAL CHISELED SASH TOOL.]

All brushes not specially mentioned in the foregoing as round or oval
brushes are assumed to be flat, this style of brush being the one
chiefly employed in vehicle painting.

[Illustration: CHISELED FLOWING VARNISH BRUSH.]

In the matter of camel's-hair, badger hair, and flowing varnish
brushes, the painter desires said brushes to be tough, durable fibre,
having soft ends, elastic, and which wear soft until worn out.

In selecting the brush equipment, it is a most happy mental exercise
to remember that the highest type of brush, if not mightier than the
sword, at least hath its victories.

The numerous accompanying excellent illustrations of brushes specially
adapted to the needs of the carriage and wagon painter are the result
of valuable and courteously extended assistance tendered by that
celebrated brush making firm, John L. Whiting and Son Co., Boston,
Mass.

CHAPTER III.

PRIMING--LEAD COATS--RUB LEAD--KNIFING LEAD--PUTTY AND
PUTTYING--SANDPAPERING--ROUGHSTUFF, APPLYING AND RUBBING
IT--MATERIALS USED IN FOUNDATION COATS--MIXING FORMULAS, ETC.

Fine and durable carriage and wagon painting cannot be accomplished
upon foundations in anywise weak or unstable. The supreme aim of the
painter, then, should be to begin at the base of the foundation and,
with patient toil and skill, aided by materials of recognized value,
bring up a surface of uniform excellence and quality.

MATERIALS.

White lead and raw linseed oil; an invincible combination in the old
days--shall we not say invincible still? Assuredly, nothing surpasses
it today when conditions are favorable to its proper treatment;
nothing upon the horizon of coming events bids fair to surpass it. It
is only when the limitations of time intervene, when we must perforce
bow down and worship the great American idol, Hurry, that the sinewy
strength and permanency of white lead, linseed oil, and the few other
constituents which enter into the foundation coats, are seriously
shattered.

White lead, for example, must of necessity figure as an elemental part
of the lead coats, if not of the priming, of putty, and of roughstuff.
It is not now impossible to find primers being used entirely devoid
of lead, but the burden of proof remains favorable to the excellence
of lead. A pigment filler is quite as necessary as a liquid one. And
pure white lead, Dutch process, if it please my readers--observe its
properties in this respect: It is of great density, body, permanent
to a rare degree, of impalpable smoothness when properly ground, and
chemically unites with oil, forming a kind of varnish, which makes it
a filler and pore sealer of great value. In addition, it absorbs more
oil, solidifies it, and remains elastic for a greater length of time,
except red lead perhaps, than any other pigment so far discovered.
Moreover, it mixes happily with all other pigments which do not contain
a sulphur ingredient. Briefly, these are the properties which recommend
it to the carriage painter. Its noble running mate, raw linseed
oil--what of it as a paint oil? Its chief virtue lies in the fact
that when exposed to the air it gradually, in drying, absorbs a large
proportion of oxygen, which, it is declared by Hurst, "forms a new
compound of a resinous character," remarkably elastic and stable.

Since the failure of the P. W. F.'s and various other substitutes for
the historic lead and oil surfacing agents, to meet the exacting needs
of the trade, the swift processes now practiced have pressed into
service time quickening aids which, in a work of this kind, it would
scarcely seem fit to omit.

Many painters have adopted yellow ochre as a main ingredient for
priming, and in particularly hurried instances, or, in fact, in the
priming of a certain grade of regular factory work, varnish and,
to some extent, turpentine are used. Ochre of good quality, finely
ground (a coarse ground ochre is worthless in carriage painting), and
containing a strong percentage of silica, is a valuable component of
priming. Silica is an acknowledged pore filler, and in many of the wood
fillers heralded along the highway of commerce it is the _piece de
resistance_. A high grade ochre is a good drying and a very permanent
pigment. It is a first-class surfacing material and not easily affected
by atmospheric or other impurities. Thus we have the ingredients which,
properly combined and manipulated, form the basis of all beautiful and
durable carriage painting as gauged according to present day standards.
Let us now consider the separate parts of the foundation building.

PRIMING.

Priming is the agent required to go into and saturate the minute cells
and pores of the wood, getting a firm grip of the fibers, sealing them
against moisture, and affording the painter a tough, elastic ground for
his leveling materials to follow.

Primer No. 1.--White lead and raw linseed oil, darkened to a lead color
with lampblack. A teaspoonful of coach japan to be added to each pint
of the mixture, or omitted, as the time limit may impose.

No. 2.--White lead, 2 parts; yellow ochre, 1 part. Liquid, raw linseed
oil. The use of japan to depend upon circumstances.

No. 3.--White lead, 1 part; yellow ochre, 2 parts. Liquid, raw linseed
oil.

No. 4.--White lead, 1 part; yellow ochre, 2 parts. Liquids, rubbing
varnish 1/4; turpentine 1/4; raw linseed oil 1/2. A tablespoonful of
japan to each quart of the mixture. This is a very quick primer, that
can be sandpapered the day following its application.

No. 5.--White lead, shaded with lampblack. Liquids, rubbing varnish 1
part; raw linseed oil 5 parts.

In the above formulas keg lead is referred to.

Priming should contain just enough pigment to stain the oil. Only in
this form does it perform the functions of a primer. Some hardwood
surfaces, negative in composition, require a priming thinned somewhat
with turpentine; otherwise such close textured spaces of wood are not
sufficiently penetrated by the oily particles of the priming. The
durability of the priming rests largely upon the penetration of the oil
into the arteries of the wood along with a certain necessary per cent.
of the pigment.

It is a good plan not to follow the surfacing of a job in the wood
shop too closely with the priming. Immoderate pressure of the wood
fibres usually results from the pressure of the wood worker's leveling
methods. Give the wood time to expand before priming, but not time to
absorb moisture. Graining out of surfaces often results from priming
a surface too soon as well as too late. Many factors must necessarily
be considered in order to have the priming coat do all that it should
do. The condition of the wood, the climate, season, atmosphere, etc.,
all require diligent study. The application of the priming to the
surface deserves particular attention. Granted that first-class filling
and surfacing pigments, combined with liquids rich in gummy resinous
matters, make the ideal primer, the coating fails of its mission when
practices of neglect mark its application to the surface. Therefore,
apply the priming smoothly and in a uniform film to the surface. Coat
all parts of a job, outside, top, bottom--everywhere. Insist upon its
being well brushed out--just as any coat of paint should be.

[Illustration: PUTTY-HOLDER.]

THE LEAD COATS.

What we shall be pleased to term "first lead" was formerly made of
white (keg) lead thinned to a brushing consistency with linseed oil
and turpentine, half and half. That was at a time when egg-shell gloss
coats were in demand. A different principle has been established of
late years in reference to the composition of the lead coats, and the
egg-shell gloss is now regarded with suspicion and, to a large extent,
abandoned altogether.

Consequently, the first lead should be mixed of 3/8 oil to 5/8 turps,
or even with a still smaller percentage of oil if the limitations
of time so direct. Apply this lead with a bristle brush and enforce
rigidly the rule of smoothness and sleek brushing out.

"Second lead" means in modern paint shop lingo "flat lead"--a lead
that dries to a dull, lustreless appearance, practically "dead lead."
It is composed of white lead, thinned to a working consistency with
turpentine, and given a binder of oil to the extent of, say 2/3 of a
tablespoonful of oil to a pint of the lead. These lead coats should
properly contain 1 teaspoonful of japan to a pint of the lead, and be
shaded with lampblack. The flat, or dead, lead is best applied with a
camel's-hair brush.

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.

PUTTY--MAKING AND USING IT.

Putty No. 1.--The putty of history--past, present, and shall we say of
the future?--so far as history applies to carriage painting, is this
putty No. 1. Dry white lead, japan and rubbing varnish, the liquids
of equal proportions. Probably the best known putty in the jobbing
carriage paint shop today.

[Illustration: SPATULA.]

No. 2.--Dry white lead 3/4; keg lead 1/4. Rubbing varnish and japan,
half and half.

No. 3.--Keg lead, 4 parts; dry white lead 1 part. Rubbing varnish and
gold size japan, equal parts.

No. 4, a putty for white work.--Dry white lead 1/2; pulverized steatite
or soapstone 1/4; dry oxide of zinc 1/8; dry silica 1/8. Liquids, very
pale rubbing varnish 1/2; light (in color) japan 3/8; turpentine 1/8.

No. 5.--Dry white lead 2/3; keg lead 1/3. Rubbing varnish and japan,
equal proportions. Into this mix the woof or fine pickings of velvet
or plush. This is especially intended to be used around glass in heavy
vehicles.

No. 6.--This is a putty to be used on old work having rough cavities,
splintery crevices, and the like. It cannot be sandpapered, but will
dry tough, neither chipping nor flaking. Keg lead 1 part; whiting 2
parts. Mix stiff in thick varnish and raw linseed oil, equal parts;
then thicken up to the right consistence with dry white lead.

No. 7.--For shallow cavities requiring a filling that dries quick and
hard. Dry lead 3 parts; plaster of paris 1 part. Equal parts of quick
rubbing varnish and japan.

No. 8.--Deep hole putty. Whiting mixed with raw linseed oil and japan,
equal parts. Then into this mixture mix plush woof. Drive a small head
tack or two in bottom of hole and then fill in nearly level with the
surface with this putty. Slash a couple of openings into it with putty
knife to quicken the drying, and then in due time level up with regular
putty.

[Illustration: SQUARE POINT PUTTY KNIFE.]

No. 9.--Expansive shallow dents in a carriage surface require a
peculiar kind of putty or cement. Finely ground pumice stone 3 parts;
dry lead 1 part. Mix to a working condition in thick glue. Apply the
putty so that it will show some above the surface. After 10 hours rub
down with lump pumice stone and raw linseed oil.

No. 10.--Here is a putty that will stick and at the same time sandpaper
nicely. Shade dry lead with a little lampblack, and mix with 3/4 coach
japan and 1/4 rubbing varnish, along with a dash of turpentine.

The carriage painter will do well to use sparingly of whiting--even
gilder's whiting--in making a putty intended for use upon fine
surfaces. Whiting, or, in the speech of the chemist, carbonate of
calcium, is a hard drying, tenacious, stout sticking pigment, but
possesses the ever present property of granulating and working coarse
and gritty under the putty knife.

When coloring matter is added to putty, be governed by what the final
color of the job is to be. Hammer putty well on the mixing block to
make it tough and elastic. Do this at the time of making it and before
use in order to expel the accumulated moisture. Make it in sufficient
quantity to last for some time. Keep the putty in water in a dust
proof holder--an air tight one is better. See putty-holder illustrated
herewith.

The way in which putty is applied has largely to do with making it
serve the surface good or ill. Good puttying is not accomplished by
nimble feats of jugglery. The putty knife demands to be skillfully
handled and wisely directed. Putty, in the economy of carriage
painting, is quite as indispensable as paint or varnish. In point of
fact, each is dependent upon the other. Just enough is a critical point
in deciding how much and how little of putty a surface requires. Here
are four rules for guidance in the art of puttying:

1.--Never putty on the priming coat.

2.--Putty all work as smooth as possible. It is economy and increases
the chance for producing first-class work.

3.--Avoid, _always_, puttying a crevice, depression, or cavity in the
wood, or a joint between two pieces of wood, that is subject to diverse
forms of resistance. The wrenching and twisting of the vehicle will
loosen the putty and eventually eject it.

4.--In puttying over nails, plugs, etc., press the pigment firmly into
the hole, filling just level with the surface, and carefully slick up
all surplus putty.

The painter will need for general puttying purposes, in addition
to a spatula or two (which see), at least four different styles of
putty knife; one large or wide blade knife, a two-inch blade say, one
square point blade, ordinary size, one beveled point, and one oval
point. Knives of different shapes will greatly facilitate the labor of
puttying, which at best is often tedious.

SANDPAPERING

If it were feasible, sandpaper would, no doubt, be voted down and out
of the paint shop. At present, however, it cannot well be removed
from the system of carriage surfacing. The task of sandpapering,
viewed from its rosiest side, is toilsome, dirt-inviting, girt up by
a waistband of unpleasant features, but, alas! we must have level and
smooth surfaces if we would have beautiful ones, and sandpapering
affords the means of getting them. It is one of the aids--one of the
great aids, let us bear in mind--to the admirable surface effects
sought for in the art of carriage painting. It cannot be slighted or
to any extent be done imperfectly without marring the appearance or
subtracting from the durability of the surface when finished.

[Illustration: BEVELED POINT PUTTY KNIFE.]

The use of sandpaper begins before even the priming coat has taken its
position. A surface well sandpapered ahead of the priming coat saves
a great deal of time and leaves plenty of the priming film on the
surface where it is needed. No. 1 paper is the proper size to surface
the priming coat, if the surface has previously been well smoothed.
The No. 1/2 will do for first lead. This coat requires a very thorough
and uniform going over, touching completely all places that need it,
touching none with a coarse hand, and never laying bare a flicker of
wood needing a full depth of protecting pigment. The second lead, or
"dead lead" as we know it, should require only a light going over with
No. 0 paper, this to be followed by polishing with curled hair or fine
moss used by trimmers.

The rub lead and knifing lead coats usually respond to the smoothing
caress of No. 1/2, or finer, paper, the size depending upon the quality
of these coats. All along through the system of painting, sandpaper
must needs sound its smoothing monotone, but particularly upon the
primary coats does the painter use it as the fulcrum by which, among
other aids, he seeks to rear his paint foundation into a tower of
strength.

[Illustration: OVAL POINT PUTTY KNIFE.]

Mouldings, clips, bolt heads, difficult places to work up to,
everywhere bespeak the same thorough touch of the sandpaper. There
are many sharp edges about a vehicle which may be denuded of pigment
at a single rasp of the paper. Such parts require a good measure of
protection, otherwise flaking and chipping of the paint and varnish
must naturally follow. The painter may well strive to make the work of
sandpapering an exact operation--exact as to thoroughness as applied to
all parts of a surface, and exact as to a uniformity of results.

In company with the labor of sandpapering must be considered dusting.
The latter should be cleanly and tidily done, quite as thorough,
indeed, as the sandpapering or any other of the operations, all alike
important. We now come to an article indispensable to the painter in
arriving at a state of perfection regarding smoothness of surface.

ROUGHSTUFF--HOW MADE, APPLIED, AND RUBBED.

Webster defines "rough" as "having inequalities, small ridges, or
points on the surface," and "stuff" as "refuse or worthless matter."
But, combining the two words into one--roughstuff--the painter
construes the term to mean something different from the construction
put upon it by the eminent lexicographer when he cleaved it evenly in
twain.

Without the coarse mineral pigments known as "fillers," white lead, and
the liquid mediums used to properly unite and weld them together and
denominated roughstuff when ready for use, the painter, in his effort
to make satisfactorily level and smooth surfaces, would be in almost
as sorry a plight as the mariner bereft of his compass. For, mark you,
gentle _confrères_! roughstuff _is_ essential to carriage body surface
elegancies and mirror-like effects.

FAVORITE FORMULAS.

No. 1.--To 3 lbs. of any American filler add 1 lb. keg white lead. Beat
well together; then reduce to a thick paste with rubbing varnish and
japan, after which thin to brushing consistency with turps. This is a
safe one-coat-per-day 'stuff.

No. 2.--Equal parts of filler (excepting English) and keg lead, by
weight, reduced to a heavy paste in quick rubbing varnish and japan,
and then cut with turps to the proper consistency. Two coats per day
may be safely applied.

No. 3.--Five lbs. filler (still excepting English); 2-1/2 lbs. keg
lead; 1/3 elastic rubbing varnish; 2/3 japan. This is a 'stuff for
fine, heavy coach work. Apply coat every 72 hours. Do not rub out under
three weeks.

No. 4.--(A London formula.) Dry white lead, ground stiff in turpentine,
1-1/2 lbs.; ochre, or English filling, ground stiff in turpentine, 4
lbs. Mix the two and add 1/2 lb. of tub lead. Add 1 pint of japan gold
size and about 1/2 pint of the bottoms of wearing varnish. Reduce with
a little turpentine if necessary. This is a very durable and elastic
'stuff.

No. 5.--(M. Arlot's formula.) "Grind separately lump white lead with
essence of turpentine, and do the same with unwashed yellow ochre; then
mix the two pastes in the proportion of 3/4 of white lead and 1/4 of
ochre. Allow the mixture to stand exposed to the air or to a gentle
heat in order to evaporate the excess of liquid, and add gradually
small portions of good drying oil, taking care to stir and beat the
mixture well with a brush, as in distemper painting. The paste thus
acquires more body." Concerning this 'stuff the author adds: "It is
possible with this composition to give three coats in a day's work, but
after the last coat we must wait 48 hours for drying."

No. 6.--English filler 3 lbs.; keg lead 1 lb. Rubbing varnish and
japan, half and half, to make a stiff paste. Thin with turpentine.

No. 7.--English filler, mixed stiff with rubbing varnish, 1/2; japan
1/2. Thinned with turpentine.

Probably genuine English filler has but few, if any, equals, and
certainly no superiors as a roughstuff pigment. It polishes down very
close and compact as to texture, giving a glass-like, non-porous
surface. It requires less lead than other fillers, because of which
property it was specially mentioned as excluded from formulas 2 and 3.
It does not surface down as easily as some of the American fillers, a
fact that has probably limited its use largely.

In using keg lead for roughstuff, a moderately stiff ground lead is
advisable. A lead ground in an excess of oil will necessitate washing
in turps to expel a portion of the oil, if the proper proportions of
ingredients would be maintained. In mixing roughstuff, it pays to be
exact as to proportions and quantities. Use first-class materials,
varnish, japan, etc. Slops and refuse from varnish and japan cans are
to be avoided. They leave the user in a state of uncertainty as to the
composition of his 'stuff. If made in considerable quantities at a
time, the pigment should be stored in a tight, dust-free receptacle and
well covered with water or turps, else it will very soon become gummy
and unsuitable for good work.

[Illustration: PAINT STRAINER.]

The chief mission of roughstuff is to enable the painter to get a
firm, hard, level surface. It requires putting on with a good brush,
and a skilled and painstaking wielder of the tool. Roughstuff should
be carried to a surface a little heavier in body than ordinary paint,
but its spreading and flatting property should in no wise be made
sluggish and "ropy" by the absence of thinning mediums. Better an
additional coat of 'stuff than one coat less because of the excessively
thick coats used. Roughstuff, like all quick setting pigments, needs
to be applied, brushed out, and leveled quickly under the brush, so
that brush marks may not intrude or uniformity in depth of film be
wanting. Use a brush suited to the size of the panel; likewise a brush
with a softness and fineness of point and sufficient elasticity to
insure, if properly wielded, freedom from brush marks. Too heavy a
pigment is no more a prolific cause of brush marks than a too nearly
worn out brush. If the first coat of 'stuff is laid on the panel with
horizontal strokes of the brush, let the second be laid with vertical
ones, and _vice versa_. On a well-surfaced job, four coats should
suffice. Where greater inequalities of the surface exist, more coats
will be necessary. But it is an established maxim in both the practice
and theory of carriage painting that the less roughstuff used upon a
surface, granted that the quantity accords perfectly with the needs
of the surface, the greater the durability of the paint and varnish
structure.

The successful user of roughstuff is one who duly considers the
importance of having a correctly-proportioned, finely-balanced mixture
skillfully applied to the surface amid surroundings favorable to its
prompt and thorough drying.

A guide coat to be used over roughstuff is made of a little of the
'stuff colored a bit with yellow ochre or Venetian red and thinned down
considerably thinner than the 'stuff, with turpentine.

The workman who has roughstuff to rub requires, as an outfit, plenty of
clean water right at hand, a good sponge, chamois skin, and a varied
assortment of rubbing stones and bricks. The rubbing brick product, of
German origin, has been considerably improved of late years; to such
an extent, in fact, that it is now possible to obtain it as fine as
wished for, and running from that up to a very coarse quality. However,
for the very high class work, the natural lava, or pumice stone, is
not to be surpassed. The quality of the rubbing accomplished depends
much upon the selection of the blocks of pumice stone. The blocks of
light weight, open grain, tunneled with innumerable air cells, are
to be preferred for good cutting properties. Immersed in water, they
float instead of sinking. The buoyancy of a piece of lava determines
its porosity and its cutting power. This kind of stone may be used
until the surface is well reduced, when, preferably, the stone of
closer texture and tighter grain may next be used and continued in use
until the final dressing up has been concluded. Select stones of large
cutting surface. After the sawing, filing, and necessary dressing up of
the stone in preparing it for the surface, it merits a thorough washing
and rinsing to cleanse it from all minute atoms of grit, etc. In the
actual work of rubbing a surface, keep the surface well washed to
prevent gumming of the stone and to enable the eye to see just what the
mind and muscle are doing; but do not flood the work with water. The
rubbing stone is doing its work properly when, under an even, gentle
pressure, it cuts smooth and free with a clinging, adhesive motion.
When a particle of grit becomes lodged under the stone there will be a
rolling, jarring motion, easy for even an unpracticed hand to detect,
provided vigilant attention is being directed upon the work. When
scratching of the surface occurs, the rubbing stone requires smoothing
off with another stone, and the surface, stone, etc., given a thorough
rinsing with clean water. Circular, zig-zagging motions of the stone
are ill-advised. Straight, clean strokes, all directed in one general
direction, are best and most effective. A surface is not always rubbed
sufficiently fine when the guide coat disappears. The guide coat may be
but a mere wash and disappear almost completely under a few strokes of
the stone. The disappearance of such a guide(?) coat is not evidence
that the proper surface has been reached. By repeatedly drawing the
hand, with a good pressure, across the surface at right angles with the
direction that governed the laying off of the final coat of filler, the
workman can very accurately decide when an adequately fine surface has
been reached.

To determine when a surface has been rubbed just enough usually gives
the inexperienced rubber no little difficulty, but with practice he
will master the accomplishment. On moulded panels it is advisable to
rub the edges of the surface first, as it will lessen the tendency to
thrust the stone forcibly against the moulding, thus chipping off atoms
of stone to be ground into the surface later on.

Rubbing the roughstuff is the final process in the art of developing
the comely and durable foundation. Does not the work, then, merit a
full measure of skill, alertness, and patience in its execution?

CHAPTER IV.

PRISMATIC AND OBJECTIVE COLOR--HARMONIZING AND CONTRASTING
COLORS--MIXING COLORS--TESTING THEM--ASSAYING FOR OPACITY, COLORING
STRENGTH, BRILLIANCY, ETC.--TABLE FOR COMPOUNDING COACH COLORS,
HUES, AND TINTS.

While colors, as we know them, differ from each other, they exist,
according to the generally accepted theory, as simply different
movements of the same element. The immense ocean of ether, which is in
all space, is one, and the colors are all waves of that one ocean.

When a ray of light undergoes a change of direction it is divided into
many minor rays, which to our visual sense are represented as colors.
As, for example, if a ray of white light be directed through the edge
of a triangular prism so that its course is bent or refracted, the ray
is divided into several different rays of colors, these being thereby
termed spectrum colors.

It is practically agreed by authorities that the rainbow affords the
most complete illustration of spectrum colors, these being formed by
the passage of light through the spray or drops of water in a shower.
Color, then, may be said to be due to the action of light. Hence the
established dictum, namely, white is a reunion of all the colored rays
of the prismatic spectrum. It is a basic element in every color except
black, and, as a color, black figures as an absolute neutral, it being
devoid of white light.

The conditions and circumstances which unite to produce the varying and
various color sensations have never yet been unanimously agreed upon by
the eminent color theorists. The practical man may thread the remotest
confines of color theories as expounded by Newton, Brewster Jones,
Field, Rood, Young, and others, until his adventures bring him out on
the toil-won heights and stupendous summits of the modern science of
colors, and what he beholds will simply tend to confuse his intellect
and more than ever convince him that the mastery of color laws remains
yet to be accomplished; that no unalterable rule can be successfully
applied to the theory of color. To those of my readers who desire to
explore deeply into the recesses of color science, I would recommend
the works by the afore-mentioned colorists. It is the purpose to deal
in this chapter, so far as possible, with the more practical aspects of
the science.

Objective color, as distinguished from what is termed illusive or
prismatic color, is confined to those substances or materials endowed
with the selective property for absorbing the colored rays from the
light which is imparted to them, and which, in the technology of
painting, are known as pigments.

The colors which make up the three orders usually, but not invariably,
recognized by modern colorists, and which practically apply to the
needs of the vehicle painter, may be placed as follows:[A]

Primary Colors Secondary Colors Tertiary Colors

Red Green Russet
Yellow Purple Citron
Blue Orange Olive

Carmine, ultramarine blue, and lemon chrome yellow most nearly
approach to the prismatic colors, and, taking them for the primaries,
we find, according to the deductions of Chevreul and others, that in
proportional strength they rank thus: Yellow, the weakest, 3; red,
medium, 5; blue, strongest, 8. To form the secondary colors, yellow,
3 parts, and blue, 8 parts, produces green, which is the contrasting
color to red, the contrasting primary being always the color not
contained in the secondary. Purple, the contrast to yellow, contains
red, 5 parts; blue, 8 parts. Orange, the contrast to blue, has red,
5 parts; yellow, 3 parts. Any color in the secondary column opposite
a color in the primary column is the contrasting color to that
primary, and in the tertiary column, the tertiary opposite any given
secondary may be accepted as the harmonizing color to that secondary's
contrasting primary; as, for example, yellow, the primary, has purple
as its contrasting, and citron as its harmonizing, color. In like
manner russet harmonizes with red and olive with blue. The tertiaries
may be produced by uniting the secondaries in equal proportions, or
by the primaries being combined in the proportion of 2 parts of any
given primary and 1 part of each of the two remaining primaries. For
instance, olive is made of purple and green, both secondaries, or it
may be made of blue, 2 parts, and 1 part each red and yellow. Citron is
made from green and orange; russet from orange and purple. Referring to
the three different orders of colors, it will be found that experiment
will enable one to effect many changes in the development of color
harmony. Any one color of any of the three orders will harmonize with
the colors which contrast with the remaining two colors of the same
order. Take the primary, blue. The contrasting colors to the remaining
two primaries are purple and green, with which blue harmonizes. The
contrasts to the primaries, red and blue, are respectively green and
orange, with which the third primary, yellow, harmonizes. Or red will
harmonize with the contrasts to the primaries, yellow and blue, which
are purple and orange. Continuing the experiment to the secondary
colors, it is found that green harmonizes with citron and olive, the
contrasts to the two remaining secondaries, purple and orange; purple
harmonizes with russet (russet contains a double share of red, bear in
mind) and olive, both being contrasts to orange and green, the other
secondaries. Orange harmonizes with citron and russet, the contrasts to
purple and green.

These experiments in the domain of color contrasts and harmony might be
pursued indefinitely, but the above will suffice to afford the student
who essays the colorist's art (and what vehicle painter doesn't aspire
to that art?) a practical working plan for the acquirement of such
information as will enable him ultimately to successfully meet the
exacting requirements of modern vehicle ornamentation. Knowledge of
the harmony of analogy, a simple, effective, and ready way of varying
painting, together with a knowledge of contrasts, the finer, higher,
and superior system of effecting the most adorable and fetching color
adornment, is an indispensable help to the painter, to attain which he
can well afford to make many sacrifices.

The harmony of color as it applies to the use of two or more colors
with reference to the relationships which should exist between them,
requires to be further intensified by a strict and vigilant regard for
the season, conditions, and circumstances which obtain when certain
combinations of colors are employed. And for this reason: Blue is a
cold color, chilly in the extreme at some seasons of the year, upon
certain surfaces. It may be called a space color and imparts a retiring
effect to form. Red, applied to form, appears stationary and gives a
warmth of sentiment. Orange is, if anything, warmer in its effect than
a full red. Bright yellow tends to excitement of the vision. Green has
a conspicuous or advancing appearance.

The primary colors have no established hues, tints, or shades, but
in every compound of the primaries a hue is recognizable. Green,
for instance, as a compound of blue and yellow, can be made to vary
surprisingly in hue as the proportion of one primary is increased and
the other reduced, and _vice versa_.

In every compound of the primaries the predominating primary fixes
the hue thereof. Hue, then, as an authority has well said, may be "a
mixture of two or more colors of any order, but the mixture should not
depart from the original color."

Tone, as applied to a color, measures the depth of the hue of that
color.

Dilute a color, or the hue thereof, with white, and a tint of that
color or hue is the result. To illustrate: By adding white to chrome
yellow, the yellow is reduced along down through the long lists of
tints until it reaches white.

A color or hue deepened by the addition of black becomes a shade of
that color or hue; or, in other words, a shade is any color made deeper
by the addition of black. The positive colors contain no white or black
by mixture, while the negative colors do contain white or black or both.

THE MIXING OF COLORS,

in view of the fact that the manufacture of them has now reached a
very high state of perfection, would seem to be a comparatively easy
matter, but it must be understood that in vehicle painting, business
vehicle painting especially, there are many hues, tints, and shades
demanded which the color maker does not furnish. Such mixtures have to
be prepared by the painter, and the work becomes a skilled operation.
First he must be fortified with a clear knowledge of the proportions of
the ingredients required to form the desired color or hue thereof, or
tint or shade. Then he must skillfully and _perfectly_ combine them.
The word "perfectly" is emphasized because if the constituents be not
perfectly combined, a long train of evils is invited. A most minute
and perfect incorporation of all the particles of the paint material
must be made, otherwise a lack of uniformity in strength, coloring,
and covering power results. Certain colors have a property of unduly
asserting themselves when combined with certain other colors in the
mixing cup, and if allowance be not made for this assertive strength
and a very thorough mixture of the parts effected, the color, when
applied to the surface, is apt to show streaks. Some pigments require
grinding upon the slab under the muller to obtain an absolutely perfect
commingling of the particles.

This rule applies to the mixing of pigments: The more perfect the
mixing, the more perfect the product; perfect not only as regards its
strength, permanence, and brilliancy of color, but perfect also as
regards its working properties.

While two or more pigments may mix nicely together, they may not
liquify readily, and unless the workman be thorough in his mixing
operations, lack of a uniform film of color ensues, a condition
which later on develops the faded and bleached out surface, and in
many instances the flaking and shelly one. The painter who would
become a skilled mixer of pigment will insist upon exact quantitative
measurements of all the ingredients he may employ, both liquids and
solids, when such measurements are possible, and he will further see
that the ingredients are perfectly united.

The attainment of a high average of results in the use of colors
depends greatly upon the achievements of the color maker and upon the
uniform quality of his product. Fineness of grinding, uniformity of
color in respect to its coloring and covering power, and brilliancy,
are valued essentials. It is necessary that the painter should get
from the color maker not one, two, or three successive lots of color
that are of standard color, tint, or shade, but _every_ lot should
correspond to the exact standard. When the painter opens a new lot of
color, he desires it to be exactly like the last in every particular,
provided, of course, the last lot was standard. Hence, uniformity of
color, of tint, of shade, of quality throughout, is a requirement with
which the color maker may properly be expected to comply. It will thus
be observed that the purchase of colors is one of the really important
steps leading up to fine and durable color effects.

In testing a color for covering power or opacity, for coloring
strength, and for brilliancy, comparison should always be made with a
strictly standard color.

To assay for covering power or opacity, weigh out, say 50 grains, of
the standard color and the same number of grains of the color under
examination, and to each sample add 10 grains of fine china clay, if
the colors be dark, or 10 grains of the highest grade of lampblack
(this being a pure black) should they be light, and mix intimately. The
sample which departs the least from its own color has the best body or
covering power. Or mix exactly equal quantities of the standard color
and the color to be assayed, in equal quantities of raw linseed oil,
incorporating the oil and the pigment thoroughly, and then apply to
glass surfaces (small panes of window glass answer the purpose fully),
spreading the pigment as evenly as possible. The sample covering the
glass most solidly has the strongest covering power.

Coloring power is determined by mixing a given quantity of a standard
sample of color with a certain quantity of china clay or, if preferred,
zinc white. Of the sample to be assayed take the same quantity of color
and mix with exactly the same quantity of china clay or zinc white used
with the standard. The sample showing the greatest depth of color may
be accepted as having the strongest coloring power.

The durability or permanency of a pigment may be tested by mixing the
pigment with raw linseed oil, spreading on a piece of glass, exposing
it to the rigors of the weather, and noting its condition from time to
time.

The fineness of a color or pigment can be judged by rubbing the
material between two thick pieces of glass or subjecting it to a
powerful microscopic examination. Or a common fruit can with a tight
cover may be two-thirds filled with clean water, half an ounce of color
put therein, and the contents vigorously shaken. The finer the sample
is ground, the longer the time it will require to settle out.

The following table is intended to aid in the compounding of the
principal hues, tints, and shades of colors used in carriage and
wagon painting. It would prove futile to try to make the proportions
arbitrary, because the uniformity of colors advocated above does not
universally obtain, the product of one firm differing from that of
other firms and very often, unfortunately, lacking uniformity in itself.

Moreover, color sense has not reached a uniform development, and the
proportions which would, for example, make a cherry red as accepted by
one person might not appear that color to the second person. However,
in most of the formulas proportions are indicated, and the table is
presented not as an infallible guide, but more in the nature of a
reliably helpful one.

TABLE OF HUES, TINTS, AND SHADES OF COLORS.

REDS.

Transparent Red--No. 40 carmine.

French Red--Indian red and vermilion glazed with carmine.

Carnation Red--Red lake, 3 parts; white, 1 part.

Wine Color--Carmine, 3 parts; ultramarine blue, 3 parts.

Claret--Carmine and ultramarine blue, or red and black.

Imperial Red--Yellow lake, 1 part; solferino lake, 5 parts.

Cherry Red--Carmine, 1 part; English vermilion, 2 parts.

Maroon Red--Lampblack, 1 part; Venetian red, 8 parts.

Solid Crimson--English vermilion, 1 part; carmine, 2 parts.

Superlative Vermilion--English vermilion, 3 parts; orange mineral, 1
part.

Deep Rose--Victoria lake, 1 part; flake white, 6 parts.

Brick Red--Yellow Ochre, 2 parts; English vermilion, 1 part; white, 1
part.

Metropolitan Red--Carmine and vermilion, glazed with carmine. A
stunning and saucy panel color.

YELLOWS.

Primrose--Add a dash of white to lemon yellow. Or, according to
Standard Dictionary, 58% of white, 24% of yellow, and 18% of green. It
should be of a very pale yellow tint; is fashionable and originally
English, you know.

Maroon Yellow--Carmine, 3 parts; yellow, 2 parts.

Rich Yellow--Orange chrome, 1 part; white, 6 parts.

Buff--White, 2 parts; yellow ochre, 1 part.

Oak--Yellow ochre, 1 part; white, 8 parts.

Jonquil Yellow--Flake white and chrome yellow, with a bit of carmine
added.

Sulphur Yellow--Lemon chrome, 1 part; white, 1 part.

Amber Yellow--Chrome yellow (medium), 8 parts.

Canary Yellow--White, 6 parts; lemon chrome, 1 part.

Naples Yellow--White, 150 parts; golden ochre, 9 parts; orange chrome,
1 part.

Straw Color--White, 5 parts; lemon yellow, 2 parts; vermilion, a drop
or two.

Lemon Color--Lemon yellow, 2 parts; white, 5 parts.

Cream Color--White, 5 parts; red, 1 part; yellow, 2 parts.

Cream Tint--White, 150 parts; orange chrome, 1 part.

Gold--White and medium chrome yellow. Add a little vermilion and French
yellow ochre.

Pale Orange--Orange chrome, 1 part; white, 5 parts.

Acorn Yellow--White and raw sienna, equal parts.

BLUES.

Changeable Blue--Prussian blue.

Ocean Blue--White, 15 parts; Prussian blue, 1 part; raw sienna, 2
parts.

Ultramarine Blue--Three shades, light, dark, and medium.

Grass Blue--White, 6 parts; emerald green, 2 parts; Prussian blue, 1
part.

Azure Blue--White, 35 parts; ultramarine blue (medium), 1 part.

Cerulean Blue--White, colored with ultramarine blue.

Bird's-Egg Blue--Add ultramarine blue to white until a tolerably
intense blue is reached; then give a dash of light chrome green.

Cobalt Blue--A fine pale blue, and a most beautiful panel color. Very
permanent.

Brunswick Blue--Made in three shades. Popular in some sections.

GREENS.

Sage Green--White, 60 parts; light chrome green, 2 parts; raw umber, 1
part.

Bottle Green--Dutch pink and Prussian blue, glazed with yellow lake; or
medium chrome green, 5 parts; drop black, 1 part.

Nile Green, otherwise Body Green--Milori green, Prussian blue, and
black, mixed to the desired shade and glazed over with yellow lake.

Tea Green--Made of blue chrome green and raw umber. A striking panel
color for business wagons.

Pea Green--White, 5 parts; chrome green, 1 part.

Willow Green--White, 5 parts; verdigris, 1 part.

Grass Green--Yellow, 3 parts; Prussian blue, 1 part.

Marine Green--White, 30 parts; chrome green, 1 part.

Brilliant Green--Paris green, 4 parts; chrome green, 1 part.

Bronze Green--Chrome green, 5 parts; burnt umber, 1 part; black, 1 part.

Scheele's Green--Paris green.

Milori Green--A fine panel color for business vehicles; is rich in
color and of good covering power.

Olive Green--Golden ochre, 5 parts; coach black, 1 part.

Quaker Green--Chrome yellow, 5 parts; Prussian blue, 2 parts;
vermilion, 1 part.

The greens form a class of colors very extensively employed in the
painting of all classes of vehicles. There are two orders of green,
namely, cold and warm. In cold greens, blue or black predominates;
the warm greens contain an excess of yellow. As a class, the greens
contrast with reds and colors containing red, and harmonize with colors
having yellow or blue in their composition.

BROWNS.

Olive Brown--Burnt umber, 3 parts; lemon yellow, 1 part.

Bismarck Brown--Dutch pink, burnt umber, and lake. Or, with a mixture
of burnt umber 2 parts, white lead 1 part, make a ground, over which
put a coating of burnt sienna, and then glaze with carmine, 1-1/2
parts; crimson lake, 1 part; gold bronze, 1 part. An English vermilion
makes a base over which the glazing makes a considerably lighter brown.

Orange Brown--Orange chrome, 2 parts; burnt sienna, 3 parts.

Coffee Brown--Yellow ochre, 2 parts; burnt sienna, 1 part; burnt umber,
5 parts.

Dark Brown--Indian red, 5 parts; Prussian blue, 1 part.

Amber Brown--Burnt sienna, 4 parts; medium chrome yellow, 5 parts;
burnt umber, 8 parts.

Indian Brown--Indian red, 1 part; yellow ochre, 1 part; lampblack, 1
part.

Seal Brown--Burnt umber, 4 parts; golden ochre, 1 part.

Tan Brown--Yellow, 2 parts; raw umber, 1 part; burnt sienna, 5 parts.

Japan Brown--Black japan, to which is added a little vermilion.

Umbers--A class of natural earths, affording varying shades of brown,
the Cypress mines yielding rich, warm, olive colors. Calcined, this
umber reaches a positive violet shade. Burnt umber used alone or in
connection with red and black, gives a very striking panel color for
business vehicles.

Vandyke Brown--A product of natural deposits of brown color. Vandyke
brown is a warm color of a reddish hue and is permanent. Most of the
Vandyke browns with which the carriage painter is familiar are made,
however, from black, red, and yellow.

Burnt Sienna--A fine, warm, reddish brown, if the sienna be of good
quality. A very close imitation of Bismarck brown.

Chestnut Brown--Red, 2 parts; chrome yellow, 2 parts; black, 1 part.

Chocolate Color--A little carmine added to burnt umber.

MISCELLANEOUS.

London Smoke--Red, 1 part; umber (burnt), 2 parts; white, 1 part.

Plum Color--White, 2 parts; red, 1 part; blue, 1 part.

Salmon Color--White, 5 parts; burnt umber, 1 part; yellow, 1 part.

Chamoline (wet chamois skin)--White, 5 parts; raw sienna, 3 parts;
lemon chrome, 1 part.

Cane Color--White and ochre shaded with black.

Dove Color--Medium chrome yellow, 1 part; blue, 1 part; white, 4 parts;
vermilion, 2 parts.

Fawn Color--White and ochre with a bit of vermilion.

Burgundy--A bright lake given a small percentage of asphaltum.

Silver Color--White, indigo, and black.

Leather Color--Burnt sienna, 2 parts; burnt umber, 1 part; a little
white added.

Lilac--Blue, 1 part; carmine, 4 parts; white, 3 parts.

Plum Color--White, 2 parts; blue, 2 parts; red, 1 part.

Maroon--Carmine, 3 parts; yellow, 2 parts. Or crimson lake and burnt
umber.

Copper Color--Yellow, 2 parts; red, 1 part; black, 1 part.

True Lead Color--White, 8 parts; blue, 1 part; black, 1 part.

Normal Gray--White, black and purple; or simply white and black.

Pearl Gray--White, black, and blue.

French Gray--White, tinted with ivory black, the mixture warmed with a
pinch of vermilion.

Drab Color--Burnt umber, 1 part; white, 9 parts.

Medium Gray--White, 8 parts; black, 2 parts.

Light Gray--White, 9 parts; black, 1 part; blue, 1 part.

Wine Color--Ultramarine blue, 2 parts; carmine, 3 parts.

Blue Black--Ivory black, 15 parts; Prussian blue, 1 part.

Snuff Color--Yellow, 4 parts; Vandyke brown, 2 parts.

Peach Blossom Color--White, 8 parts; blue, 1 part; red, 1 part; yellow,
1 part.

Lavender--White, 15 parts; mauve lake, 1 part; rose madder, 1 part.

FOOTNOTE:

[A] With apologies to Mr. W. G. Scott and others who have published
similar but more elaborate and scientific presentations.

CHAPTER V.

THE APPLICATION OF COLORS TO
SURFACES.--GREENS--BLUES--REDS--YELLOWS--BROWNS--BLACKS--WHITE.

The greens comprise a class of colors many of which are leaders in
popularity as panel colors on heavy pleasure vehicles, such as landaus,
broughams, rockaways, etc. Nearly all the greens are used as solid
colors, requiring no specially prepared ground work color. The ease,
however, with which solidity and density of color is obtained upon
a surface is greatly overshadowed by the difficulty--the extreme
difficulty, perhaps I should say--of applying most of the fine carriage
greens now fashionable. Such greens as olive, Quaker, Brewster, and
Merrimac green, individually and collectively favorites, require very
deft and painstaking manipulation in the cup and under the brush in
order to insure workman-like results. Probably olive green manifests
the most pronounced disposition to assert the strength of some one or
more of its color constituents independently and to the detriment of
the remaining ones. To overcome this difficulty, the color in the cup
should be stirred frequently after having been mixed thoroughly when
in preparation for the surface. In applying greens to the surface--and
this statement is intended to cover the entire list of greens used in
carriage and wagon painting--cross brushing at the final conclusion
of laying off the color may well be avoided. The tendency of cross
brushing at the ends of a panel is to show two or more different shades
of the same green. The rule holds good, when using the greens, to
adhere to thorough methods of mixing, to keep the color well stirred in
the cup, and to desist from cross brushing at the extremities of the
panels in finishing up.

These characteristics so conspicuously developed as opportunity offers
have prompted a majority of carriage painters and colorists in our best
shops to use most of the greens employed on fine carriage surfaces
in the capacity of flat color coats (two coats in nearly all cases
covering solid) and then applying clear rubbing varnish, thus doing
away with the color-and-varnish coats altogether. The greens which
are used as glazing colors comprise ultramarine green, verdigris, and
transparent bronze green.

THE BLUES.

Next to the greens in popularity as fine panel colors come the blues,
ultramarine blue ranking as the most widely used of the various
varieties. The elegance and aristocratic effects obtained by the
employment of ultramarine blue are secured only by the development
of a ground work free from imperfections. As a matter of fact,
the successful use of almost every coach color, whether used as a
glazing color or otherwise, is contingent upon the quality of the
ground color and upon such a harmonious assimilation of the different
coats as will promote the greatest elasticity and permanence. Of the
ultramarine blue there are three shades, light, medium, and dark.
Most color manufacturers prepare and sell ground colors adapted to
the different shades of the blue, the ultramarine being invariably
used as a color-and-varnish or glazing coat. Nevertheless, it is often
necessary, even if not desirable, to shop prepare the ground color for
the ultramarine blues when wanted.

For the light shade of ultramarine blue, Prussian blue and a superior
grade of white lead are so combined as to produce a blue of good
depth and body, unusual care being taken to have the blue and white
thoroughly united and beaten into one indivisible pigment. If keg lead
be used in making the ground, the oil should be first completely washed
out of the pigment with benzine or turpentine, and varnish, instead of
oil, be employed as the color binder. This practice provides for sure
and reliable drying of the ground color. The ground for the medium
ultramarine blue may be made of the ingredients above stated, the color
being simply adjusted to a deeper shade of blue, more blue and less
white being used in the admixture. In both the light and the medium,
the ground color should approximate the glaze color and enhance the
richness of effect. For the dark shade of ultramarine blue, a coat of
lampblack furnishes a most excellent and effective ground color.

Probably the richest effect in blue is furnished by glazing ultramarine
blue over a ground of very deep green. Transparent cobalt blue, a
glaze color always, requires a ground of Prussian blue and white.
Body cobalt is used as a solid color, and for a panel color on traps,
breaks, and vehicles of that order it produces admirable and fetching
effects. The glaze colors are best used in a flowing medium of elastic
rubbing varnish, especially when body surfaces are being coated, and
the brushes adapted to applying such colors are the 1-1/2-inch and
the 2-inch badger flowing brush or a soft, half-elastic bristle brush
suited to the size of the panels being coated.

REDS, WINES, AND OTHER COLORS OF THE RED ORDER.

For warmth and brilliancy of color effects, carmine among a long
list of gorgeous reds, is without a rival. Carmine is a glaze color
exclusively, and the splendor of its radiance is governed entirely by
the ground color. Carmine, along with its near relatives of the red
order, has a decided tendency to fade, flake, and chip off. The ground
color, therefore, must, in addition to being faultless in color density
and surface features, be possessed of great enduring qualities. It may
be accepted as a rule worthy of practice that the ground colors for
the general order of reds should be mixed with a binder of varnish
sufficiently strong to impart to them when dry at least a faint
gloss--an egg-shell gloss, if it please my community of readers. A
ground so prepared is fortified to counteract the fading and flaking
properties of such of the reds as are used as glaze colors.

To secure a first-class job of light carmine, bring the surface up
level and smooth, and then apply a coat of peach-blow color, made
of white and some one of the ordinary reds. Over this apply a coat
of deep English vermilion, using the vermilion stoutly charged with
rubbing varnish. Polish this coat, when dry, with curled hair and
apply a second coat of the vermilion, adding a sufficiency of varnish
to convert the mixture to the color-and-varnish class. At the proper
time this coat should, preferably, be rubbed lightly with pumice stone
and water. Next apply a coat of clear rubbing varnish, which in due
time also demands rubbing with pulverized pumice stone and water. Then
to rubbing varnish, elastic or quick, hard drying, as the size of the
surface may dictate, add enough of No. 40 carmine to fully stain the
liquid, say 3/4 of an ounce of carmine to one full pint of varnish
(many first-class painters use 1/2 oz. carmine to 1 pint of varnish),
and apply to the surface, be it body or gear, with a soft badger or
bristle brush. For a less expensive job, omit the coat of clear rubbing
varnish and apply the carmine directly to the vermilion.

A method easier to carry into execution in painting a carmine job
consists in adding a little carmine to the last coat of vermilion
color-and-varnish. This coat is rubbed with curled hair; then carmine
is added to varnish, as in the first method, after which a _small_
quantity of vermilion is put in to give the mixture opacity or
covering power. Clouding and such other incidental imperfections to
be considered in connection with the work of one not really an expert
in the manipulation of glaze colors, is thereby avoided. For a darker
carmine, use a ground of flamingo red, carmine red (a solid color),
road-cart red, Kalliston red, or permanent scarlet, dark shade, the
latter color requiring a light vermilion ground.

In applying carmine to wheels, it is advisable to flow the whole
wheel at once, instead of doing them in sections, as by this practice
a cleaner, clearer, and more satisfactory job is secured. For the
gear, do the whole of one end of it before wiping up, then the final
end, finishing with the reach and side bars, if there be side bars.
To obtain the real purple and fine linen of carmine effects, the
color-and-varnish requires to be flowed on freely and quickly, and
promptly slicked up. Pottering and sectional patching up invites
inferior results.

The vermilions, of which there is at present quite a formidable list,
ranging from the glaring light shades to the glowing dark ones, all
bespeak carefully prepared and durable grounds, if satisfactory wearing
and appearing qualities are to be attained. Vermilions may properly, it
would seem, be classed among the fugitive colors, and their retention
of purity of color is therefore dependent upon the grounds employed
to support them. As previously stated, a peach-blow color forms a
good ground for vermilion. It should be made to dry with an egg-shell
gloss so as to overcome the fading propensity of the vermilion. Then
let the first coat of vermilion have a decided gloss. The final coat
of vermilion is placed as color-and-varnish. Linseed oil should not be
used in vermilion, as it darkens the color and destroys its brilliancy.
Ditto japan.

The large class of modern reds known under such alluring titles as
C. P. red, flamingo red, brilliant coach red, Ottoman red, Kalliston
red, etc., are usually applied over ground colors specially supplied
by the manufacturer. With but few exceptions, such reds are used in
this way: One coat of color, one coat of color-and-varnish, "dead," or
lustreless, coats being carefully avoided.

Indian red in at least two distinct shades, pale and deep, and Tuscan
red in three shades are largely used for running parts and panel colors
on certain _fin de siecle_ pleasure vehicles, and they are painted as
solid colors, one coat flat color and one coat color-and-varnish.

In wagon painting, wine colors in half a dozen shades are used. They
also need the supporting strength of very stable grounds. Indian red
and Tuscan red, of shades suited to the shades of the wine color
afford excellent ground colors. If ample time be at the command of
the painter, mix these grounds with a binder of raw linseed oil. For
hurried work, use a binder of varnish.

Among carriage painters generally, the lakes have never been classed as
strictly permanent pigments. At the same time, in the creed of modern
carriage and wagon painting they are indispensable. Of those probably
the best known in the vehicle paint shop, may be mentioned maroon lake,
Munich, carriage part, permanent scarlet, scarlet, red, English rose
lake, purple lake, carmine lake, and crimson lake.

Maroon lake is best glazed over a deep Tuscan red ground; Munich lake
over extra deep Tuscan red or lampblack; carriage part lake over the
same ground as Munich; permanent scarlet over vermilion; scarlet lake
over light vermilion; red lake over pale Tuscan red; English rose lake
over extra deep Tuscan red; purple lake over a ground made of Tuscan
red and Prussian blue. Carmine lake furnishes many of the gleaming and
beautiful effects of No. 40 carmine when used over such grounds as are
best adapted to genuine carmine. Crimson lake is used over vermilion
grounds and furnishes a color of great warmth and richness.

It is advisable, when perfecting the ground for the lakes, to add to
the last coat of ground color some of the lake to be used over it, as
a mellowing, toning ingredient. The non-elastic quality of the lakes
suggests the use of elastic rubbing varnish when preparing the lake
color-and-varnish. This will impart elasticity and adhesiveness.

THE YELLOWS.

Among the yellows are many delicate shades which require strong basic
color coats to support them properly. In the painting of a yellow
surface, be it of the most delicate or the most powerful shade of
yellow, the initial coats of color may very correctly be white. Have
the surface smooth and clean, and if it be the running parts of the
vehicle, and the priming coat is already on, mix the keg lead in, say
one-half raw linseed oil and one-half turpentine, using a teaspoonful
of coach japan to each pint of the paint. Apply this coat with an
oval bristle brush. When dry, sand off lightly with No. 1 paper,
putty with white putty wherever necessary, doing the work so smoothly
as to require no sanding, and then with a camel's-hair brush apply
a second coat of the white containing a strong binder of oil and
thinned to a free working consistency with "turps." Over this ground
most of the yellows can be brought to the proper depth and density of
color with two coats of color and one coat of color-and-varnish. This
for the running parts. Upon body surfaces having a roughstuff base,
wash the keg white lead free of oil with benzine or turps, adding a
binder of rubbing varnish, and apply two coats of the white with a
two-inch camel's-hair brush, polishing each coat with clean curled
hair. Then apply the yellow, using the final coat in the capacity
of color-and-varnish. There is economy of time, labor, and pigment
in using a white ground for yellow. Moreover, the natural bleaching
propensity of the yellows is distinctly checked through the agency of a
white ground. All colors in light shades evince a natural tendency to
darken as they fade and lose their original purity of tone. The white
ground operates to overcome this tendency, to arrest this deepening
process, to hold the yellow to its true color; and it does this by
reason of the fact that it offers the yellow a white base instead of a
positive, assertive one, to strike through. In other words, the yellow,
as it responds to the process of drying, is influenced by the lighter
color beneath, the one counteracting the other.

That renowned French authority on coach painting, M. Arlot, is upon
record as advising primary coats of white lead as a base for yellows.
The writer has personal knowledge of the value of white basic coats
for the numerous family of colors in question, and therefore strongly
advises their employment. Primrose, canary, and sulphur yellow are
among the most fashionable of the pale yellows and require careful
working out under the brush. With the yellows must be considered yellow
lake. This is used only as a glaze color. Put over the solid greens,
it gives to them depth and richness. Placed over Brewster green, for
example, it renders a particularly elegant effect. Put over many of the
brilliant reds, it imparts a fine and exquisite effect.

THE BROWNS.

In business vehicle painting, the browns receive consideration. Vandyke
brown, a warm brown color inclining to a reddish hue, can be used for
one coat of color and one coat of color-and-varnish. If desired, a
first, or ground, color can be made of drop black, yellow, and red.
A close imitation of this famous brown can, in fact, be made of the
three colors just named.

Vienna brown, a justly and widely esteemed color for vehicle bodies,
is a warm, rich brown and requires a ground color of deep, Indian red.
Over this ground apply one coat of color and one of color-and-varnish.
This brown is obtainable in two shades, light and deep. London smoke, a
much used running part color, is painted solid color--one coat color,
one coat color-and-varnish. Burnt Italian sienna and burnt Turkey umber
are likewise painted solid colors. As a whole, the browns, as colors,
are easily applied to the surface and may be classed as good wearing
colors.

BLACKS.

In carriage painting, the black surface fairly reigns supreme. At first
thought, the painting of a fine black surface would seem to involve a
very common turn of trade craft. It involves, in the largest sense,
a high grade of workmanship, rather than a common one, this painting
of the black surface. Coach black ground in japan, in which state the
carriage painter gets it, should have a binder of varnish, instead of
oil, and should be thinned with turps so as to spread freely under a
camel's-hair brush and to flat out to a fine, soft, velvety texture.
Easy working, without brush marks, is a paramount virtue, regardless of
the opacity or covering power of the black. A high grade ivory black is
less opaque, and consequently covers less solidly, coat for coat, than
does the cheaper, but less lustrous, black. Hence, the covering power
of a color can never be accepted as a safe guide to direct the thinning
of said color. To make the highest quality of black to cover as solidly
at one coat as an inferior grade of black at one coat might, would
necessitate using the best black so thick as to invite a disastrous
sweep of brush marks. More and thinner coats of color, minus brush
marks, are preferable to fewer and heavier coats with brush marks in
plenty.

Black color-and-varnish, a popular coating up and surfacing material
for vehicle bodies and running parts, is best used upon all the
lighter grade of bodies by tipping them so that the side panels at
least present a flat, upturned surface, the device, Fig. 9, in Chapter
I. of this work, being used effectively for holding such bodies in
position. The half elastic brush, flat and chisel pointed, is the
most available tool for flowing the color-and-varnish on bodies. For
applying the black color-and-varnish to running parts, the camel's-hair
flowing brush is an easy and fine working tool and is principally
used for that purpose in many foremost carriage paint shops. Like all
color-and-varnish, the black variety should be furnished with a ground
free from defects, and should be used simply for the enrichment of that
ground, to give it depth, density, and an intense jet black color. Such
an achievement is impossible through the agency of color coats and
clear rubbing varnish coats, pure and simple.

WHITE.

The application of white to a surface and the development of a solid
white job thereby is certainly one of the highly skilled features of
the trade. The most fitting reference to white would seem to be best
made by describing the method used in painting and finishing a vehicle
surface in white.

First clean the wood thoroughly, removing all stains, discolorations,
etc. Then carefully brush on a coat of raw linseed oil. Seek to have
a uniform film of the oil over all parts of the surface. When the
surface is ready to recoat, make sure by a careful inspection of it
that all parts are sufficiently well sandpapered. Then apply a coat
of white keg lead mixed 3/8 oil to 5/8 turps, with a teaspoonful of
pale japan added to each quart of the mixture. The second coat of
white is best mixed with, say about 3/16 of oil to 13/16 of turps.
This quantity of oil suffices to give the white a stout binder without
affecting the purity of the white. Puttying and whatever putty glazing
is necessary should be done on the first coat of white. Make the putty
of dry white lead mixed to the proper consistency in very pale rubbing
varnish, 1 part; gold size japan, 2 parts. For stopping holes, the
putty needs to be a good bit stiffer than when used for the general
run of disfigurements; for glazing, thin to the desired consistency
with turps. Sandpaper lightly and then mix Florence, flake, or cremnitz
white to a consistency that will render the color free working under
a half elastic, soft bristle brush, using turps for the thinner, and
hard drying finishing varnish for the binder. Apply two coats of this
color, taking due care to have the color laid smooth and free from
brush marks. Then take the hard drying finishing varnish and add to it
enough of the white to "kill" the yellowish amber color of the varnish,
and flow on a full, free, uniform coat. When dry, rub with pulverized
pumice stone and water, clean up thoroughly, and apply a second coat of
the color-and-varnish. Rub and clean up as before, and apply a third
coat. This coat will probably suffice to furnish a solid and pure
white surface, fine and smooth, and of becoming lustre. If the job is
to go with a full varnish gloss, and striping or other ornamenting is
desired, it can be done on this finishing coat, and pencil varnished.

In case gold, silver, aluminum, or other leaf is used in ornamenting,
the finish should, preferably, be done in a simple gloss or flat, as
it will be found extremely difficult to successfully apply leaf over a
finished surface of high lustre. If the finish is to be gloss or flat,
give the last coat of varnish adequate time to dry hard, say ten days
at least, and then first rub with pumice stone and water, wash and dry
up carefully, after which rub with rotten stone and sweet oil, using a
piece of chamois skin for the rubbing pad. In rubbing, avoid heating
the varnish, otherwise a roughened, shredded surface will result. For
cleaning up the oil and rotten stone, dust wheat flour or pulverized
slippery elm over the surface, flick off with a soft duster, and wipe
dry with a clean piece of silk. In the painting and finishing of a
white surface, the subjoined rules hold good:

Avoid using the color too thick. Thinner coats and more of them are
best.

After the first, or priming, coat, use as sparingly of oil as possible.
Oil produces "yellowing" of the white.

Abstain from the use of zinc white or damar varnish altogether. They
are alike shifty and unreliable as applied to the processes of carriage
and wagon painting.

Care should be observed to keep the surface flawless and perfectly
clean. To this end, clean apartments, clean brushes, chamois skins,
sponges, etc., may be classed as imperative necessities.

The Florence, flake, or cremnitz white above recommended should be used
in the painting of all first-class white surfaces. Ordinary white lead
is advised only when the cheaper grade of white surfaces is desired.

If broad, flat surfaces are to be painted and a strictly first-class
job is demanded, a roughstuff will be necessary. Formulas for
roughstuff or white filler are as follows:

Formula No. 1.--Dry white lead, 2/3; whiting, 1/3. Liquids, pale
rubbing varnish, 1/3; turpentine, 2/3; gold size japan, 1/2 gill.

Formula No. 2.--Dry white lead, 1 part; pulverized soapstone, 2 parts;
pulverized pumice stone, 1 part. Liquids, rubbing varnish, 1 part;
turpentine, 1 part; tablespoonful of gold size japan to each quart of
the filler when mixed.

Formula No. 3.--Dry white lead mixed to a thick paste in 1/3 pale
rubbing varnish and 2/3 gold size japan. Reduce to a brushing
consistency with turps.

Apply one coat of either of the above fillers per day and regulate the
number of coats to suit the condition of the surface. To the final
coat add a little lemon yellow as a guide in rubbing out. A dash of
pulverized pumice stone may also be given the 'stuff (especially that
made by the third formula) to make it surface free and clear under the
rubbing stone. In rubbing out, "eternal vigilance" and plenty of care
and caution are factors of the utmost importance, if scratching and
disfiguring the surface would be avoided. Then over this rubbed surface
apply flat coats of the white, reinforced with a binder of hard drying
varnish, following with color-and-varnish and other finishing processes
as above directed.

While roughstuff must continue to be recognized as a necessity in the
development of white surfaces of certain grades, sizes, and forms,
the painter, in so far as possible, may well decide to discard its
employment solely owing to a lack of durability as compared to the
regulation method of building up with color and color-and-varnish coats
to a solid and firmly-welded finish.

There is another method of painting white practiced by many first-class
painters, which was first published in _Varnish_ and written by that
reliable and experienced authority, Mr. J. G. Cameron. It consists
of priming the wood with the best white lead, mixed with as much oil
as the wood will absorb, and turpentine. This is given five days in
which to dry. Then white lead is made up to dry with a gloss, and two
coats of the mixture is given, with an interval of one day between
coats. The surface is then puttied with a putty made of white keg
lead, dry white lead and whiting, equal parts by bulk, and japan. The
putty used for knifing in is made softer than that used for stopping
holes and cavities. The putty is given one day to harden. Then a
filling composed of keg lead, 1 part; whiting, 1 part; flour of pumice
stone, 1/5 part; made into a stiff glazing pigment with japan and a
small percentage of turpentine, is brushed over the surface, a second
workman following with a broad putty knife and skillfully removing the
superfluous filler. This glazing is intended only for panels and flat
work generally. Permit this filling to dry forty-eight hours. It is
then rubbed lightly with pumice stone. Moldings and carved work are
sandpapered. Next, to 5 lbs. of white keg lead, highest quality, 1/2
pint of good wearing body varnish that dries quickly and reliably is
added. The mass is then thinned with turps and strained. This dries
to a little more than an egg-shell gloss. Five coats of this color
are applied on five consecutive days, no rubbing or sandpapering
being done between coats. This foundation of white is given a week,
to harden, after which it is thoroughly rubbed down with about No.
1-1/2 pulverized pumice stone. It is then allowed to stand two days
before being polished and cleaned up with flour of pumice stone. A
coat of high grade and practically colorless finishing varnish (now
procurable of the leading varnish makers) is now flowed on and the work
is complete. The color for the five coats is made up at one time, so
that it dries and hardens equally and uniformly throughout. Mr. Cameron
vouches for the durability, fullness, and solidity of a white surface
painted by this method, having employed it in painting hundreds of
street cars, in addition to a great many hearses, delivery wagons, etc.
It is a well-known practical fact that a first-class finishing varnish
and white lead carefully mixed solidifies amazingly throughout. And the
one coat of very pale or colorless finishing varnish over all produces
the effect of a high grade finish.

CHAPTER VI.

APPLYING RUBBING VARNISH--SURFACING VARNISH--CARE OF THE FINISHING
ROOM WASHING THE RUBBED SURFACES--FLOWING THE FINISHING COAT.

One well-known varnish maker has said that the marvelous thing about
carriage varnish is that it must be one garment suited to all kinds of
weather. As a material destined to shine in the public eye, its proper
manipulation and treatment is manifestly of the first importance to
the carriage painter. No other material with which the painter has
to do is so sensitive to the robust variety of influences constantly
attacking it as varnish. The virtues of a first-class varnish which add
to its durability, increase its brilliancy, and in other ways enhance
the beauty of a surface over which it is used are the ones that impart
to it a peculiar sensitiveness characteristic of no other material.
Briefly, then, we may sum up the task of applying and manipulating
varnish upon a carriage surface as a delicate job. A workman of fine
notions, intelligent, painstaking and highly skilled in the handling of
the proper tools, is the only successful varnisher. Such a workman is
required to get all that is true and fine and lasting and lovely out
of the employment of varnish. In the varnishing of a vehicle the first
kind of varnish we are required to use is rubbing varnish. The duty of
putting on rubbing varnish is less difficult, practically considered,
than that of flowing the finishing coat, but rubbing varnish bespeaks
deft and skillful handling. The first coat of rubbing demands to be
applied quite as precisely, and with the same thoroughness as to
details, as would mark the application of any of the later coats. In
the application of the first and second rubbing coats to body surfaces,
the bodies, when of a build to permit of the practice, should be tipped
so as to offer a flat, upturned surface, a device for holding the
bodies in this position having been illustrated in Chapter I. Fuller
and finer rubbing coats may be flowed on when the bodies are tipped.
Tipping of all the lighter forms of vehicle bodies is practiced in
leading shops when applying the first and second rubbing coats.

The writer, therefore, advises observance of the practice in even
the smallest of shops. There is less chance for brushmarks and other
defects manifesting themselves. With the heavily flowed on rubbing
coats, the round, full surface which distinguishes the product of the
best varnish rooms is obtained at a less expenditure of time and labor,
than when the thinner coats are employed. I would suggest the full,
heavy rubbing coat as the most effective aid in avoiding brushmarks
and in drowning out the dust motes and flocculent matter to be noted as
part and parcel of the skimpy brushed on coat of varnish. The modern
ethics of carriage painting affirms the excellence of heavy rubbing
coats of varnish as the most enduring base for heavy finishing coats.

The final rubbing coat may best be applied with the vehicle body
occupying its natural position or, rather, the position it is to occupy
when the coat of finishing goes on. This is the coat that is depended
upon to reflect the outline and round out the fullness of the finishing
varnish. The necessity of its being perfect in all the respects that it
is possible to make a rubbing coat of varnish, is, therefore, apparent.
The fact that varnish goes on pretty nearly everything, brightens it,
keeps it clean and cleanable, covers it, takes the wear, prolongs its
life, and increases its beauty and usefulness, furnishes the carriage
painter with a substantial reason for insisting upon having his rubbing
coats, from first to last, deftly placed and shrewdly balanced.

THE SURFACING OF RUBBING VARNISH.

When a rubbing varnish has been given the full limit of time
recommended by the manufacturer in which to harden, surfacing
should ensue. To permit such varnish to remain unprotected from the
atmospheric impurities common to the average paint shop may be accepted
as an actual detriment to the durability of the surface. The gums used
in rubbing varnish and which unite to give it a surfacing property
render the varnish when spread upon a surface peculiarly susceptible
to the attacks of all forms of impurities. Hence the necessity of
surfacing the rubbing coats as soon as they have been given adequate
time to harden. The supporting strength and ability of such coats are
thereby promoted.

[Illustration: VARNISH STAND.

As used in some factory shops.]

To surface varnish correctly and at the minimum outlay of time, it is
needful that a serviceable equipment of tools be furnished the workman.
This should consist of at least two good pails (galvanized iron pails
are probably the most economical), half dozen good, soft sponges, a
water tool, and a few first-class chamois skins, in addition to plenty
of rubbing pads. Rubbing pads are often shop made from waste cuttings
of broadcloth or felt, the strips being rolled into cylindrical form
or fastened around blocks of wood. However, the most effective rubbing
pads are procurable direct from the manufacturers and come in the form
of thick perforated pads, running in thickness from 3/8 to 1 inch, and
in size from 2×3 inches to 3×4 inches. These perforated pads serve to
free the surface from that part of the pulverized pumice stone which,
during the process of rubbing, has become inert and a hindrance to the
leveling efforts of the workman.

In surfacing, pulverized pumice stone of the 0 or 00 grade of fineness
is best.

The water supply is an important factor in varnish surfacing, soft
water being a highly-valued essential. A surface cleans up better with
soft water than when the water used is hard. If plenty of soft water is
not forthcoming, add a little soda to the water, say a teaspoonful of
soda to an ordinary pail of water. This will reduce the harshness of
the water.

The actual work of rubbing or surfacing varnish may be classed as an
art. The first class varnish rubber is really an accomplished mechanic.
Before beginning to rub a surface, first rinse it off with clean
water. This by way of a precaution. Then dip the rubbing pad first
lightly into the water to moisten it, and then into the pumice stone,
thus carrying it to the surface where with light pressured sweeps
it may be spread over a certain part of the surface. Rub lightly at
first, gradually increasing the pressure until the necessary force is
reached. First rub the outside edges of a panel and the mouldings, if
any, finishing up the central part last. It will be found easier to
get the center of a panel, or of a given portion of a surface, rubbed
sufficiently than to get the outer edges of it done. If a large surface
is being rubbed, first rub a certain space for a time and then shift
to a new space, thus avoiding the possibility of unduly heating the
surface. Alternate between the two spaces until the desired reduction
of the surface has been reached. Upon surfaces which admit of carrying
the rubbing strokes to the extreme end of the panel, the rubbing
strokes being always directed lengthwise of the panel, do not cross
rub at the ends. Cross rubbing at panel ends is invariably shunned
by first-class factory varnish rubbers, and these specialists are
deservedly classed as artists in their line. For example, upon piano
box bodies the strokes are carried quite to the end of the panel, with
no cross brushing tolerated. First coatings of varnish do not invite
very close surfacing. The second coat permits, and should receive,
the solid and close surfacing. The final rubbing coat should properly
require only a moderate degree of surfacing to make it fit to hold
out the finishing coat with becoming comeliness. Avoid using too much
pumice stone, too much water, or too much pressure on the pad; in a
word, avoid excesses. Pumice stone and water should not be allowed to
dry upon the surface. It is a hazardous practice. Have plenty of clean
water at hand and wash the surface up tidily as fast as the rubbing
proceeds. Adhere to uniformity and thoroughness in surfacing. The
surface rubbed more closely in some places than in others, and not
rubbed sufficiently thorough as to corners, border spaces, etc., bears
the unmistakable imprint of the bungler's rude hand. Probably this rule
of uniformity and thoroughness is the most difficult for the beginner
to acquire. It really covers nearly the whole range of the art of fine
surfacing. When one has mastered the feat of rubbing a surface to the
same uniform depth of film, missing never a modest slip on molding,
around bolt head, or other easily overlooked space, he has earned the
right to strive for the expert's rank.

[Illustration: VARNISH STAND NO. 2.

Standard 1/2-inch iron, three-pronged and sharpened. 26 to 28 inches
high. Quickly made by any blacksmith. Top of stand 10×10 inches.]

The surface once rubbed, washing up must needs follow. The workman
cannot be too greatly impressed with the importance of this branch of
the work. Thorough washing must necessarily accompany thorough rubbing;
otherwise, the efforts of the rubber go for naught. To insure clean
washing of the surface, clean tools must be maintained. The chamois
skins, sponges, wash brushes, etc., require storage in some dust-proof
receptacle. This may be in the form of a cupboard or small closet, or
a bag made of light rubber cloth and provided with a shirring string.
Wash these articles often in soap and water, rinsing carefully in clean
water after applying and rubbing in the soap. This method will aid to
keep them clean. With clean pails, clean water, and clean washing and
drying tools, the task of washing a surface preparatory to varnishing
is deprived of many of its menacing features. The final washing up
should, in every instance, be performed with a pail, brush, chamois
skin, and sponge kept expressly for that purpose and used for no other.
Always keep in store a sponge and chamois skin to be used especially
for washing and drying out the inside of vehicle bodies. Another set,
separate and independent of the others, should be devoted solely to
washing and drying up vehicle running parts for the varnisher. In
cleaning up a carriage body for varnishing, first wash out the inside
surface, tooling out all the corners, etc., with the water tool. Then
apply plenty of water to the outside, washing the sill and border of
the under surface of the body fully as free and clean as the more
exposed parts. Thoroughly tool around all bolt-heads or other parts
which offer a lodgment for atoms of pumice stone. After tooling about
such surface fixtures, follow immediately with a sponge well loaded
with water, thus flooding out the loosened accumulations of gritty
matter. The body being finally washed clean, top, bottom, inside, and
out, dry up carefully with the chamois skin, and then at once set away
in that sacred place, the varnish room.

To summarize the features of surfacing varnish, note: First. Use roll
or blocked broadcloth or felt rubbing pads.

Second. Direct the rubbing strokes all in one direction, and lengthwise
of the panel.

Third. Avoid excessive use of pumice stone or water, and indulge in not
too heavily applied pressure of the rubbing cloth. Moderate pressure,
uniformly sustained, is the correct practice.

Fourth. Maintain constantly, and at all times, a conspicuously clean
washing up kit; and in washing the surface do not stop short of having
it unmistakably and shiningly clean.

Thereby hangs the tale of fine varnishing made easy.

If jobs are rubbed out of varnish and allowed to stand over night
before being varnished, a final light rubbing should be given the
surface just previous to applying the varnish. A surface when rubbed
and stood aside for a short time takes on a scum which, if not removed,
is fatal to good varnish-room results. This scum is said to be caused
by the oxidation of the floating matter, from the oxide contained in
it and the oxygen in the atmosphere. The scum acts in the nature of a
deadly blight upon the varnish applied directly upon it, begetting many
of what are commonly known as the depravities of varnish. Rotten stone
applied and rubbed under a piece of carriage head-lining broadcloth
makes an excellent polish to remove all scum from the surface.

FLOWING THE FINISHING COATS.

To accomplish high grade finishing, certain varnish room conditions
must prevail. The varnish room must have plenty of light, ventilation,
warmth, and dryness of atmosphere. Cleanliness must abound;--personal
cleanliness, room cleanliness, and cleanliness of stock and tool
equipment. Ventilation and light have already been alluded to. To sweep
the varnish room floor, first profusely sprinkle with well dampened
sawdust, and beginning at one side sweep in a windrow. Do not use much
water upon the varnish room floor, unless it should chance to be a
perfectly tight floor and fit to be mopped out occasionally. Then the
mopping out should occur upon days when there is to be no varnishing
done in the department. A thermometer to register the heat and a
hygrometer to register the humidity should be inseparable inmates of
the varnish room.

A cupboard set in even with the wall or partition of the room should
contain clean cups, strainer, dusters, along with the brushes in their
air-tight keepers. Maintain a uniform temperature of from 75° to 80°
Fahr.

Insist upon the surfaces and the varnish to be applied to them being of
the same degree of temperature. In this way only will varnish work at
its best.

Remove the stopper from the varnish can a short time prior to beginning
to varnish. This allows for the escape of certain gases generated in
the varnish can.

Although the varnish maker may declare his varnishes do not need
straining it is really the safer rule to strain all the finishing
varnish before using. A majority of finishers in our best shops persist
in the practice. Patent strainers are now on the market adopted
for this very purpose. Cheese cloth, cut in squares and drawn over
funnel-shaped tins, serves as cheap and quickly arranged strainers.

Be thorough and painstaking in dusting. After the first dusting go
over the surface with a piece of silk. Next, give all spots rubbed
through, or which promise to show badly under the varnish, a dash of
color, immediately slicking these color patches over with a small piece
of cotton rag. Now varnish the inside of the body, having previously,
of course, rubbed or mossed off this part of the job, as the desired
quality of the finish may dictate, and dusted it carefully. The inside
surface being finished, again dust the outside surface. Then for the
final dusting take a round or oval duster, kept expressly for the
purpose, and, moistening the hollow of the left hand with a little
finishing varnish, flick the point of the duster over this to furnish
it with a dust attraction property, after which proceed at once to dust
carefully the surface to be varnished.

[Illustration: THERMOMETER--The varnish room watch dog.]

The surface now being ready to finish, remove the brushes from the
keeper, fill the varnish cup one-third full of the strained varnish,
and follow this _modus operandi_, assuming, for example, the job to be
of the piano box pattern: With the 1-inch badger hair brush lay the
varnish along the bottom of the main panel, then across both ends, and
lastly, along the top, taking in the seat riser while flowing the top
edge. Then with the 2-1/2-inch brush _flow_, not brush, the varnish
over the main surface space. Hold the brush, in flowing, rather flat.
Keep it well charged with varnish, and pass it lightly and with a
steady stroke from one end of the panel to the other, applying and
laying off with horizontal strokes of the brush. From the brush held
and directed in this way the varnish flows full and rich upon the
surface, the distribution being more even and uniform, and less cross
brushing becoming, therefore, assured. When the finishing brush is held
at a steep angle, or in such a way that the points of the bristles are
forced to mainly do the work, the varnish is whipped into motion to a
harmful extent, requiring thereby more manipulation with the brush to
get it evenly placed, and consequently destroying some of its natural
fullness and brilliancy. The chief aim of the carriage finisher is to
so first flow his varnish that the minimum outlay of cross brushing
and dressing up will suffice, to the end that the varnish may be
disturbed as little as possible, thus securing that depth of lustre and
mirror-like effects so greatly cherished by all first-class finishers.

In varnishing piano style bodies and surfaces of close kith and kin
to such, flow at least one side and an end before cross brushing and
laying off. The varnish, by this method, is given time to take on
a bit of "tack," as it were, and in cross brushing a less quantity
is removed than would be the case if cross brushing were to follow
directly upon completion of flowing the panel. After cross brushing and
laying off, "catch up" the edges and all other places where the varnish
is liable to start into a run or an overflow.

In varnishing surreys, phaetons, and jobs of that order, and larger,
the varnisher should determine the amount of space he may flow before
returning to cross brush, by the working qualities of his varnish, room
temperature, and the prevailing circumstance at the time of varnishing.

[Illustration: VARNISH STRAINER.

Published by permission of "The Carriage Monthly."]

After cross brushing, go over the panel but once in laying off. As
before stated, and as expert carriage finishers everywhere will assert,
the less brushing and disturbing of varnish, once it is flowed on the
surface, the finer the body and brilliancy of the finish.

To become an expert body finisher the workman should possess varnish
intelligence. He should know how to keep cool; be an absolute
stranger to varnish fright, never lacking for confidence or ability
to successfully meet and master emergencies as they arise. The art
of varnishing cannot be acquired in a day, or an hour, or simply by
a studious perusal of carefully worded directions. These serve as a
working draft, but must be supplemented by long-continued practice,
and, in case of carriage body finishing, coupled with a natural
aptitude for the work.

VARNISHING RUNNING PARTS.

The running parts of a vehicle having rounded surfaces are more
easily made to shine fine and mirror-like than are the body surfaces.
However, the varnishing of running parts may rightfully be classed a
highly skilled operation. Washing up and cleaning the running parts
preparatory to varnishing is a difficult task. Around clips, bolt
heads, axle ties, etc., pumice stone and dirt accumulations cling
tenaciously, and thorough tooling with the wash brush and plenty of
water is needed to fit such parts for varnishing. After washing, and
once dusting over the running parts, touch with color all reaches
of surface requiring it. When color patches are dry take a second
duster, kept for this one dusting only, flip it lightly over the
varnish-moistened left palm, and go over the surface carefully. If a
particularly fine job, pass over the surface with the palms of the
hands, having previously given them a slight wetting with the finishing
varnish. This method illustrates the power of magnetic influence, and
catches up flotillas of dust motes which the duster would possibly
disturb, but not remove. In finishing the gear begin at the front axle
and proceed to flow the whole front end before wiping up. This gives
the varnish a chance to take its position on the surface, and the
wiping up serves to level out the inequalities and remove the surplus.
After the front, the rear, then the reach, and last the side bars, if
any. A brush should be kept solely to wipe up the underside of axles,
head blocks, spring bars, side bars, etc. In many factory shops the
finishers wipe such parts with the palm of their hand. The varnish
drippings are thus caught by the hand and distributed in the form of a
glaze to the parts in question.

In varnishing wheels, which are always included in the term running
parts, slip the wheel upon the revolving jack and, standing with the
left side nearest the wheel and partly facing it, begin by flowing
the sides and face of the spokes, reaching the brush well over to the
back surface of the spokes. Then flow front of hub. Next the inside
and face of the felloe. Now whirl the wheel so that its rear surface
takes the place of the front. Catch up and close in with varnish all
strips on the rear surface of spokes not flowed when the sides were
done. Then flow rear of hub, and lastly, the back surface of felloe.
Reverse position of wheel, slick up all places needing it, and set
away on a second wheel jack, giving the wheel a sharp spin to better
hold the flowed-on varnish in place. Four wheel jacks are necessary
to flow wheels properly. Then, when the fourth jack is occupied, the
wheel first done, having been given a good spinning and at least three
half turns, may be set away in the rack, subject to no danger from runs
or sags. When applying rubbing varnish it is advisable to flow not
more than six or eight spokes before wiping up. About this proportion
of surface for flowing and then wiping up should control in applying
rubbing varnish to running parts.

CHAPTER VII.

DEPRAVITIES OF VARNISH: GRAINING OUT--CRACKING--SWEATING--DEADENING,
ETC.--PITTING--ENAMELING, ETC.--SEEDY OR SPECKY--CRAWLING--WRINKLING,
ETC.--RUNS, SAGS, ETC.--RIDGING, ETC.--PERISHING--CHIPPING--FIRE
CHECKS--GREENING--BLOOMING--BLISTERS--SPOTTING, ETC., ETC.

GRAINING OUT.

The peculiar grain showing a condition of the surface which manifests
itself after the job is finished arises from certain incompetent
practices observed along in the early stages of painting, or from the
use of wood not adapted to the needs of vehicle construction, as, for
example, sappy or unseasoned wood. It is a principle of fine surfacing,
substantiated by experience, that when a carriage body has been
perfectly smoothed and leveled by the woodworker, it should be given a
few hours, say four or five, before priming. This delay is to give the
wood, subjected to unusual pressure during the surfacing process, an
opportunity to expand and shape itself into a normal conformation. Upon
high grade work it would be a good practice to first level thoroughly
and set away in an unquestionably dry atmosphere for a few hours,
and then have the woodworker apply a second sandpapering. Then after
another interval of a few hours, prime thoroughly inside and out, top
and bottom; in fact, wherever moisture might possibly find an entrance.

Graining out may come from priming too closely upon the completion of
the woodworker's leveling process; or it may come from the dry wood
having been exposed, after the surfacing process, to a "spell" of
damp weather. The dry, porous timber absorbs enough wetness to raise
the grain to such an extent that nothing short of a resurfacing will
restore it to its normal smooth and perfect condition again. This wood,
with its erect fibres or grain fairly visible to the eye upon a casual
examination, if painted over and finished, dries out in time, and in
doing so responds to the natural law of shrinkage.

Shrinkage involves a process whereby the priming, roughstuff, color,
varnish, etc., apparently goes in while the grain of the wood goes
out. Graining out is often due to a priming coat that is not given
adequate time to dry hard and firm. This soft layer of rather slow
drying pigment, if sealed from contact with the air prematurely, is
a powerful inducement to grain showing. Spongy, porous roughstuff,
deficient in resinous matter and weak in its binding property, is
also often responsible for graining out. Good reliable priming, lead
and roughstuff coats, allowed to dry thoroughly, each and all of
them, arrest the graining out tendency. Improperly seasoned wood is a
prolific producer of grained out surfaces.

Moisture confined under a body of paint and varnish is bound to make
its exit right speedily, and this it does by voraciously sucking the
paint and varnish material in and pushing the grain of the wood out.

CRACKING.

It has been said that the natural destiny of varnish is to crack. When
a varnish has worn itself out, lost its elasticity, become brittle,
it will, despite the best laid plans of men and science, fissure and
crack. In so doing it simply responds to a natural law. The cracking
that occurs prior to this period of service is of supreme concern to
the painter. Probably the greatest cause of varnish cracking--the
cause that towers above all other causes--is developed by the hurried
system of painting--forcing one coat over another not perfectly dry.
Imperfectly dried rubbing coats, or a lack of uniformity in the
selection of the varnishes used, often cause cracking. For example,
a quick drying rubbing varnish, or a hard drying finishing, even,
is employed, over which a slow drying, elastic finishing is used.
Antagonism between the varnish coats, or between the varnish and
color coats; improperly adjusted foundation coats; exposure to sudden
atmospheric changes, including excessive heat; the action of ammonia;
poor material--all of these are underlying causes of varnish cracking.
Imperfectly seasoned panels or moisture penetrating thin wood panels
will tend to crack the varnish used over such surfaces. The cracks in
varnish due to a continued straining of the panels are termed "force
cracks."

[Illustration]

Force cracks are usually found just over the steps on the carriage
body, running in long, circular lines, also on the panels under the
seat riser, and on the seat riser. The vibration of light, insecurely
stiffened carriage bodies is generally a direct cause of premature
cracking of varnish. The accompanying cut of a buggy body shows the
usual location and sweep of force cracks. This class of surface
fissures is very easily distinguished from those due to causes
previously mentioned.

SWEATING.

Sweating is the taking on of a gloss after the varnish coat has been
rubbed. The principal cause of varnish sweating is rubbing it before
it has sufficiently hardened. Varnish laid over a coat of color or of
varnish that lacks somewhat of being dry is prone to sweat. When a coat
of varnish has been rubbed and allowed to stand for some time--over
night, say,--in a close paint or varnish room atmosphere, it will
take on a sort of a gloss or greasy scum which comes under the head
of sweating. It would be in the highest degree dangerous to permanent
or brilliant results to flow a coat of varnish directly over a sweaty
surface. The sweat that overspreads a rubbed varnish surface by reason
of the absorption of atmospheric impurities can be quickly removed by
lightly rubbing with a little rotten stone and water. The sweating
out of a surface rubbed before it has adequately hardened can only be
remedied by allowing the surface to become hard and then re-rubbing.

DEADENING, SINKING IN, ETC.

This describes a varnish when it goes "flat," loses its lustre, and
refuses to shine in the public eye. The causes of this trouble are,
briefly; unseasoned timber, imperfectly dried under coats, such as, for
illustration, a four-day rubbing varnish surfaced and finished over
after permitting the rubbing only two days in which to dry. Porous
under coats which absorb too great a percentage of the oil of the
varnish cause deadening; and porous under coats, let us bear in mind,
produce by far the larger share of varnish deadening.

PITTING.

Pitting transforms a film of varnish into an expanse of minute
indentations or pits, and simply represents in an aggravated form what
is commonly known as pin-holing. The depravity is caused by a lack of
uniformity in atmospheric conditions during the drying process, such
as from warm to cold, dry to moist; mixing varnish of various grades;
varnishing over a sweaty surface or over imperfectly dried color or
varnish coats, or in an apartment having an excessively wet floor, or
during a day of unusual moisture. Pitting may also come from varnishing
over a surface rubbed through to the under coats. Varnish charged
with gaseous impurities, or a varnish not sufficiently ripened, is
powerfully inclined to pit. Dirty varnish, sometimes ditto. Soap or
grease smears will cause pitting, as will also too oily under coats.
Draughts of cold air have been known to cause bad cases of pitting.

ENAMELING, SILKING, ETC.

Applied to a varnish surface when it assumes the appearance of
enameled leather or silk. Varnish used upon a hot, humid, moist,
sticky day often goes silky or enamels. Dog day conditions usually
invite enameling or silking. Varnish put on in a cold room is liable
to enamel. Brushing varnish too long, adding turpentine to it, using
an oil-saturated brush or mixing different makes or grades of varnish
cause the depravities here mentioned.

SEEDY OR SPECKY.

Caused by want of thoroughness in cleaning and dusting a surface
preparatory to varnishing. Likewise by the skinning over of a varnish,
the broken particles of the skin then working into the liquid and
thence conveyed to the surface. Also by using an unripe varnish, or a
chilled varnish, or by varnishing on a cold, damp day in a room not
properly heated.

The "lousy" or dirty varnish brush begets the seedy, specky work. It is
a fruitful cause of such work, in fact.

CRAWLING.

When a varnish, after having been spread upon a surface, contracts,
picks itself up into patches, and otherwise vanishes from parts of the
surface which should continue to reflect its lustre, it is said to have
crawled. Causes: Putting it over a color or varnish ground not quite
dry; using oil in the color-and-varnish, or using oil in the color coat
to give it a decided egg-shell gloss; handling the work with greasy
hands or washing it with water in the slightest degree soapy or fatty.
Probably the egg-shell gloss, however, is the most prolific cause of
varnish crawling. To remedy this trouble wash the work with clean
water, dry off with the chamois skin, and varnish immediately.

WRINKLING, CRINKLING, ETC.

These are caused by putting on a too heavy coat of varnish, or by not
dressing it out and wiping it up properly; also by using a varnish not
sufficiently ripened. A varnish which shows wrinkling or crinkling
while standing in a warm room may be made to assume an aggravated form
of the trouble by simply transferring the work to a cold apartment. In
the case of varnish wrinkling or crinkling, methods of prevention are
preferable to any system of cure.

RUNS, SAGS, CURTAINS, DRAPERIES, ETC.

Some of the causes which develop the depravities outlined in the
foregoing paragraph are responsible for those at the head of this
one. Other causes are: Lack of uniformity in the application of the
varnish, one brushful of the liquid being nicely worked out and the
next one being the reverse, or the varnish being applied heavier on
one part of the surface than on another, or too heavy a coat serving
as the predominate feature throughout. Careless, incomplete wiping
up around mouldings, bolt-heads, nuts, and fixtures of that order,
generates runs, sags, etc. To reduce these deviltries, first rub with
water and pulverized pumice stone. Then pare off a few shavings from
a bar of common house soap, dip the rubbing pad freshly coated with
pumice stone into the shreds of the alkaline compound, and rub briskly
over the offending deviltry. After using the soap, rinse off with clean
water very thoroughly. Then rub lightly with rotten stone and wash
thoroughly.

RIDGING, ROUGHING.

These terms are given to a surface that resembles a corrugated
panel, showing a ridgy, furrowy expanse. Timidity or the spirit of
the painter-afraid-of-his-varnish provokes this lamentable surface
condition. After the varnish has set past a certain tack and the brush
is then drawn through it, roughing and ridging occurs. When one falls
heir to this mishap, take a soft badger-hair brush and, procuring a
small quantity of turpentine, proceed to apply the fluid plentifully
over the panel. This will quickly soften the coat of varnish so that
by wiping the brush carefully out, the loosened varnish can be easily
brushed off and the surface immediately revarnished.

PERISHING, CRUMBLING, RUSTING.

By this we mean a gradual loss of lustre, the final result of which
is a disruption of the surface ending in a complete destruction of
the varnish. Washing with water heated beyond the tepid degree is an
engaging bid for the disaster here noted. Ammonia fumes, coal gas, salt
sea air, soil of limestone localities, etc., cause varnish to perish
and crumble away.

CHIPPING, FLAKING, PEELING.

The separation of one varnish coat, or certain parts of it, from
another, or from a coat of color is known as "chipping," "flaking,"
or "peeling." Causes: Moisture in the wood; imperfectly dried under
coats; grease and smoke from the smithshop; failure to maintain the
proper elasticity between the successive color or varnish coats. It is
very probable that the most active and effective cause arises from the
use of adulterated turpentine, inferior japan, and a poor, low quality
material generally.

FIRE CHECKS.

These consist of a delicate tracery of almost invisible fissures
radiating every which way. The displeasing effects of fire checks are
not fully disclosed until the finishing varnish has been laid. An extra
coat or two of rubbing varnish will usually suffice to conceal all
traces of a moderate array of fire checks.

GREENING.

This comes from the use of too many clear rubbing or finishing coats
of varnish to a black surface. Successive coats of clear rubbing
varnish, capped with a heavy coat of finishing, applied over a black
japan ground, affords a pronounced and, in some respects, enticing
shade of green. Greening of a varnish surface is also effected by
confining the freshly varnished work in a dark apartment while the
drying is going on. When the work is fit to remove from the varnish
drying room, in order to intensify the greening, it may be stored in a
dark room or repository for a time. Recently varnished surfaces held
for a few weeks in dark apartments green rapidly. Prevention: Use black
color-and-varnish over black color grounds. Add a dash of black color
to each of the clear rubbing coats up to and including the final
rubbing. Furnish the drying room with plenty of light on all sides,
and, so far as possible, insist vigorously upon the necessity of light,
airy carriage houses and repositories.

BLOOMING.

Blooming is a whitish, metallic-like film, like unto the bloom on a
plum or peach, which obscures the brilliancy of the varnish. It is
variously known in the trade as going cloudy, smoky, or foggy. Varnish
surfaces exposed to a moist atmosphere, to smoke, or to the fumes of
the blacksmith shop are apt to bloom. If the blooming is of recent
origin, a thorough washing and drying off with the "shammy" will
generally restore the lustre of the varnish. If of long standing and
therefore of a virulent type, the only effectual remedy is rubbing with
pulverized pumice stone and water and re-varnishing.

BLISTERS.

The varnish surface, dry or apparently so, when afflicted with little
eruptions, after the fashion of pustules on the human cuticle, is said
to have blistered. The disease is caused by moisture in the wood,
exposure to the intense rays of the sun during the early days of
service, or to the presence of oil or grease on the surface directly
under the finishing coat or between any of the preceding coats of
varnish or color. Soft under coats develop blisters, their development
through this medium being in this wise: Coats of lead, heavy in body,
and perchance a bit fatty or gummy, are applied to the surface. Such
coats do not dry _thoroughly_. Oil in color coats tends to the same
result. They deceive the workman, being apparently dry, but not really,
when choked up under subsequent coatings. A surface so builded is
eventually put into service and submitted to the sunlight. Warmed by
the heat, these undried particles of color or lead quickly respond
to the law of expansion. The varnish, supple and full of elasticity,
instead of cracking and splitting into fissures, simply swells up
with the paint. Fierce stove or steam heat causes blisters. A varnish
blister, if not located upon a too prominent portion of the surface,
may be reduced to a surface fracture easily overlooked, by puncturing
with a needle and then pressing the rupture down with a wet sponge.

SPOTTING.

There are several forms of this ailment, viz., mud spotting, soapy or
dirty water spotting, and the spotting caused by strong currents of air
beating powerfully upon the varnish surface. Mud spotting is by far the
most malignant type of the depravity herein mentioned. An elastic high
grade varnish is more susceptible to the poison contained in earthy
accumulations than the hard drying or the low grade varnish.

Accumulations of mud allowed to dry upon a freshly varnished surface
spot the varnish through the action of the suction or capillary
attraction of the dry mud extracting the oil from the varnish. Again,
the spotting may be due to actual saponification, by the alkaline mud,
not only of the oil, but of the gum constituent of the varnish as well.

City mud strongly charged with ammonia, and the mud of lime districts,
is notoriously destructive to varnish lustre. While it rarely happens
that any sort of treatment short of rubbing off the surface and
re-varnishing proves satisfactory, the trouble may now and then be
effaced, temporarily, at least, by first rubbing the spots with a rag
moistened with equal parts of linseed oil, turpentine, and alcohol, and
then immediately polishing with a soft piece of blotting paper.

Soapy or dirty water spotting, which may be distinguished by the
usually correct circle outline, is difficult, if not impossible, of
effacement, especially if allowed to long remain upon the surface, as
the potash and acid nature of the water takes a ready and sharp hold of
the varnish. A prompt washing off with clean soft water will sometimes
prove a cure. This failing, rubbing off and re-varnishing must be
resorted to.

The gases generated by an ordinary coal stove or blacksmith's forge,
if permitted for long to attack a varnish surface, will effect a
particularly grievous type of spotting. This will manifest itself in
the form of dull, lustreless spots richly suffused with a film of
greasiness. The rubbing down and re-varnishing is the only reliable and
sure cure for this depravity. Spotting caused by unusual or disturbing
currents of air beating with moderate or fierce intensity upon a
sensitive surface is met with in the shape and appearance of dull,
indistinctly defined spots, irregular in form, sometimes elongated,
frequently of conoidical outline. The first indications of this variety
of spotting should be met with a prompt washing off with clean water
and a careful drying up under the chamois skin.

CHAPTER VIII.

STRIPING: THE PURPOSE OF STRIPING--HOW TO BECOME A STRIPER--PENCILS
AND THEIR CARE--MIXING STRIPING COLORS--NAMES OF STRIPES--STRIPING
DESIGNS, INCLUDING PANELS AND CORNER-PIECES--ETC., ETC.

The chief and essential purpose of striping is to impart a beautifying
effect to the surface upon which it is used. To accomplish this
purpose it must be so perfectly and artistically executed that the
colors employed in painting the surface are made to reflect their most
charming harmonies and contrasts, while the outlines of the surface
itself are cast into more graceful relief. The art of striping, when it
achieves this result, may be said to have successfully performed its
office; and the expert exponent of this art, it need scarcely be added,
is accounted an important member of every well-regulated paint shop
family.

[Illustration: FIG. 1. FINE LINER.]

To be a really skilled striper, the workman needs to be the possessor
of a steady hand, or, in the words of another, of "hand magic," of
an accurate eye, and plenty of color sense. In point of fact, it is
highly necessary that the striper should be a good colorist; one, in
short, who is thoroughly conversant with the rules of color harmony and
contrast.

[Illustration: FIG. 2. MEDIUM FINE LINER.]

The first law with which the novice or learner of the art of striping
or ornamenting is confronted is that of color and form. This he must
study patiently and persistently, the while practicing with the pencil
in order that the purely mechanical part of the art be well mastered.
Grace, freedom, sure-handedness, are indispensable factors, as applied
to the mechanical features of striping and ornamenting, and these can
be attained only through the agency of diligent practice, combined with
the help of an eye educated to act quickly and accurately. There can
be no arbitrary rules laid down to govern the art of striping in so
far as it has reference to style. Style is but the fleeting fancy of
"the passing show," and while it is here today it may be gone tomorrow.
Hence, the fashion in striping is indefinite and sufficiently elastic
to adapt itself to local requirements without departing far from what
may chance to be at the time generally accepted as the prevailing
style. For, after all, the striping must be subordinate to form, color,
and surface, and its lavish or meagre employment, in plain or fancy
design, is controlled very largely thereby.

[Illustration: FIG. 3. HEAVY OR MEDIUM LINE.]

THE STRIPER'S OUTFIT.

The pencil equipment is properly a matter of the first concern to the
striper. The last decade has witnessed the retirement, in large part
at least, of the round pencils, save when stripes are to be done in
sizes exceeding 1/8 in. The vividly sensational name of "dagger" or
"sword pencil" has been applied to the pencil which has taken the
place of the round liner. Practically all vehicle stripers use these
pencils at present. A single pencil, if necessary, can be made to draw
a various assortment of lines, running from the hair line to the round
line, or even heavier. But, all things considered, the writer deems it
best to have a pencil made to draw a certain line and no other. This
necessitates the ownership of a larger equipment of pencils, but it
also provides for uniformly good work more easily accomplished than can
be expected when one pencil is made to do duty in drawing the variously
sized lines called for in the average carriage and wagon shop. In Fig.
1, accompanying this chapter, is shown a fine line sword pencil. This
draws a hair line when filled properly, and cannot be made to exceed a
fine line and do effective work. Fig. 2 is a medium fine line pencil,
and Fig. 3 represents a pencil with which a fine line or a round line,
or any line varying between these two, may be drawn. The striper should
be provided with at least four different sizes of pencils. To make the
sword pencil, proceed as follows: Take the desired portion of hair from
a large camel's-hair pencil of selected quality, and draw to the proper
bevel from one side of the flat portion of the hair. Then, taking the
hair carefully in the left hand, with the thumb and forefinger
of the right hand work a bit of trimmer's paste into the end that is
inserted into the handle. Narrow strips of paper, say 3/4 in. in width,
and of the full length of the hair, are cut and spread with a thin
glazing of the paste, and on these prepared strips, about the center
of them, lay the hair, keeping it perfectly straight. Next, fold the
uncovered portions of the paper over the hair. The day following, or at
any time in the future, the superfluous hair and paper may be trimmed
from the embryo pencil and a handle attached. A straight-grained piece
of pine affords a good handle. Split in center of handle, insert the
hair in the split, wrap tightly with stout linen thread, and the pencil
is ready for use. In the making of the sword pencil there is often
a superfluity of short hairs, of which it is desirable to be well
rid. To remove them, take the hair before it is greased, and with the
end that is to be bound with the thread held between the thumb and
forefinger of the left hand, pull the long hairs over to the right,
thus exposing the short and useless hairs and affording an easy removal
of them. This process of weeding out the naturally short hair develops
the pencil of one length of stock excepting, of course, the desired
taper of the tool. While many supply houses now furnish sword pencils
of all sizes and lengths, the first-class stripers, the chevaliers
of the art, prefer to make their own pencils, and the writer heartily
coincides with that preference, the shop-made pencil usually having
a poise and balance not possessed by the store-purchased article. To
those of my readers who accept the dictum that there is no royal road
to the art of striping; that the severe schooling in the busy arena of
every-day practice is the culture that graduates the talented striper,
I would say, learn to make your pencils. Your first attempt, or your
second, and perhaps even your third, may not result successfully, but
patience and a capacity for taking infinite pains will eventually, if
not shortly, win. It is best to make pencils in lots of 1/2 doz. Two
or three out of the lot, even after one becomes tolerably proficient
in pencil making, may prove defective. The method of making the sword
pencil, as above advised, has the advantage of being easily and quickly
acquired, and is therefore recommended to the learner as a feasible one
to adopt. With these sword, or dagger, pencils many of the ornamental
striping designs which will accompany this and later chapters may be
executed, the extreme point of the pencil being used in describing all
curves and fancy circles.

[Illustration: FIG. 4. ROUND PENCIL.

For Stout Line and Round Line.]

[Illustration: FIG. 5.]

COMBINATION LINES AND STRIPES.

[Illustration: HAIR LINE]

[Illustration: FINE LINE]

[Illustration: STOUT LINE]

[Illustration: ROUND LINE]

[Illustration: NARROW STRIPE]

[Illustration: HEAVY STRIPE]

[Illustration: BROAD STRIPE]

[Illustration: DOUBLE FINE LINE]

[Illustration: DOUBLE STOUT LINE]

[Illustration: DOUBLE ROUND LINE]

[Illustration: DOUBLE ROUND LINE FINE LINE CENTER]

[Illustration: NARROW STRIPE PARALLEL FINE LINES]

[Illustration: FULL STRIPE]

[Illustration: DIVIDED STRIPE]

[Illustration: DIVIDED STRIPE DISTANCE FINE LINE]

[Illustration]

To make a round fine line pencil suited to the execution of corner
pieces and cut up striping generally, take a camel's-hair round pencil
of large size, from which extract the desired quantity of hair. Then
cut a small piece of cedar down to about 1/8 in. diameter at one end
and considerably smaller at the other. In the smaller end insert a pin
until it holds firmly. Then, say, 1/4 in. from the wood, clip the pin
off. Now shave the stick off until it tapers perfectly down to the pin.
Next take the desired quantity of hair, and dipping one end of the
brush into shellac, lay aside for a few minutes to permit the shellac
to harden. Then insert the pin and tapered point of the wood until the
clear working length of the pencil measures at least 1-1/2 in. from
point of pin. Begin at the lower end of the hair and wind with strong
thread up to within 1/8 in. from point of pin. The pin acts in the
capacity of a stiffener to the pencil.

[Illustration]

The durability and poise and elasticity of striping and lettering
pencils depend very greatly upon the manner of caring for them. The
striper should provide himself with a dust-proof metal box in which to
store his pencil equipment. See that it is furnished with lock and key.
The local tinsmith will, for a small consideration, outfit such a box
with a tin tray upon which the pencils may be carefully arranged. A
striping or lettering pencil should be immediately washed out in turps
upon the conclusion of the work in hand. Care may well be invoked in
washing, to the end that all pigment accumulations are removed from
the heel of the pencil. Wipe the pencil dry in soft cotton or flannel
cloths and then grease thoroughly, pressing the grease carefully into
the heel of the tool. A good grease for preserving pencils in winter is
pure lard; in summer, lard and mutton tallow, equal parts. The writer
personally vouches for the excellence of a mixture composed of mutton
tallow, 3 parts; sweet oil, 1 part. This serves as a good all-round
pencil grease, suited to all extremes of temperature, and one the
painter will find useful in keeping his pencils in good order.

MIXING STRIPING COLORS.

This comprises a difficult and skilled feature of the art of striping.
Colors which are worked and controlled easily and dry reliably, are
important aids to good striping. Therefore, in order to insure speed,
shapely lines, and satisfactory color effects, the striper will find
it greatly to his advantage to closely and intelligently study the
composition of pigments. Some colors have the defect of being "short."
In other words, they do not naturally work freely from the point of
the pencil, blotching and flowing out in patches. It is not within the
province of the painter to cure this ailment, but it is possible for
him to remedy it somewhat. And how? By abstaining from the use of oil
altogether, and depending solely upon a mixture of japan, varnish,
and turpentine, the proportions of these liquids being governed by
the liquids in which the colors were ground. Oil colors in carriage
painting are restricted to a narrow margin of use. This specially
applies to colors employed in striping, as, save in purely lead colors,
the oil has a bad habit of working to the surface of the pigment. When,
to meet a certain requirement or emergency, it is found necessary to
use oil in the striping color, it is advisable to also add a few drops
of quick rubbing varnish as a means of holding the oil in place. White,
black, and some of the yellows are usually found under the head of
short colors. Flake and cremnitz white are invariably designated as
short colors. If such colors are to be used for fine lining, mix with
a little rubbing varnish and tint the white slightly with drop black.
This furnishes a fairly free working white which shows no laps.

[Illustration]

Black may best be described as a riotous, wild-running color,
strongly in need of a sturdy steadying liquid. In thinning black to a
working consistency, add, say 1/4 rubbing varnish. Balanced with this
proportion of rubbing varnish, a finely-ground tube black usually works
handsomely. The writer would advise mixing all striping colors to the
right consistency in the cups, instead of using them on the palette
in a thick paste and thinning down under the pencil as fast as used.
Colors furnished with the right ingredients, properly proportioned,
the whole being thoroughly united and incorporated, constitute a fine
working basis for effective striping.

[Illustration]

NAMES OF STRIPES.

In all the foremost carriage and wagon centres the various styles of
striping are designated by specific names. This makes it an easy matter
to give an order and have it accurately executed without confusion
or unnecessary delay. Appended will be found the principal lines and
stripes generally employed, the medium lines and stripes only being
omitted. As, for instance medium fine line, medium heavy round line,
and medium stripe; these being deemed irrelevant to the illustration
in hand. The first, or hair, line is the finest line used, the fine
line coming next, the line thus gradually increasing in size until it
reaches the broad stripe. What is known as the medium fine line is
simply the fine line broadened to the extent of about 1/3 increase in
size. The medium heavy round line is the round line with the width of
hair line added to it, while the medium stripe is the narrow stripe
increased by the addition of a fine line width. A pencil tracing
exceeding 1/8 in. is termed a stripe; less than 1/8 in., a line.

[Illustration]

As herewith shown the simple lines and stripes are seven in number, and
the combination lines and stripes are presented in eight examples. In
the cut of the divided stripe, distance fine line, the distance line
is drawn nearer to the stripe than it is customary to allow. While
there is no arbitrary rule to govern the spacing of the distance line
from the stripe, it is usually drawn not less than 1/4 in. from center
line or stripe. Oftentimes, too, it is placed at a distance of scant
1/8 in., as here shown.

[Illustration]

The accompanying striping designs adapted to traps, drags, stanhopes,
concords, and pleasure vehicles generally (used also on business
vehicles) consist of corner and center pieces. Their representation
may suggest extensions or changes, through the medium of which a wide
variety of designs may be evolved. To specify the colors in which
each design is best illuminated would exceed the limits accorded this
chapter.

The color of the panel determines the color of the design, or should.
A pleasing contrast to the body color should be sought, and in this
achievement the workman's taste and art sense must be exercised in lieu
of printed directions.

[Illustration: CORNER DESIGNS.]

The panel designs, if placed on any dark surface, may be placed in
white and trimmed in green, blue, vermilion, etc.; or they may be
placed in carmine and tricked out in any of the many neatly contrasting
colors. The finest carmine effects are obtained by glazing orange or
chrome yellow with carmine. Against the fashionable blue surfaces many
of these designs present fetching effects if drawn in gold, white, or
king's yellow. Against yellow grounds they may be effectively shown
in two or three shades of red. These suggestions apply also, in the
main, to the corner pieces. The three last designs on page 184 may be
laid in gold, shaded with asphaltum, high lighted with light yellow.
The fine lines can be done in any harmonizing color. Some of the small
solid parts of these designs can be glazed with carmine and verdigris.
Some of the designs may be executed in orange, glazed with carmine and
high lighted with chrome yellow. Or the broad portions may be done in
some solid color and the fine lines in a slightly different shade of
the same color. On blue panels the simple fine line pieces may be done
with lining bronze glazed with ultramarine blue; or on green panels use
chrome yellow and glaze with carmine.

[Illustration]

In fact, there is an infinite variety of colors to be used in the
development of the designs here presented, and the still other designs
which it is hoped they may suggest, the controlling factor in the
selection of colors being simply and at all times the color of the
surface upon which the design is to be used. In connection with this
must exist the law of harmony and contrast, without which any selected
color scheme will prove ineffective.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER IX.

SCROLLING: RELIEF AND FLAT SCROLLS--HOW TO LEARN SCROLLING--SCROLLS
DONE IN GOLD, ALUMINUM, AND IN COLORS--EXAMPLES OF RELIEF AND FLAT
SCROLLS.

Scroll painting is a feature of the trade deserving of more than a
passing notice; and while it has been permitted to languish in a state
of disuse for a decade or more, as compared to its former popularity,
there are evidences abroad which point directly to the generous
employment of the art of scrolling in wagon painting ere long.

Perhaps we shall never again observe the return of the fine old Roman
scroll, bold and imperial, once so common, but a modification of this
noblest Roman of them all, or, rather, a combination of this form
of scroll and some other forms requiring less space for attractive
display, may be expected. Indeed, the modification is already domiciled
in the esteem of business vehicle users, being commonly known under the
title of composite scroll.

[Illustration: SCROLLER'S LINE OF BEAUTY.]

The full Roman scroll, defined as an imitation of carved work in
relief, which Raphael and other great masters have so magnificently
executed, is of large and shapely proportions, and with its fine
sweeps, graceful curves, beautiful examples of leafing, and endless
variety of twists and turns, cannot be confined to a restricted space.
It is pre-eminently a scroll of stately style, and amid dwarfish
surroundings or when reduced to less than its natural size, its
identity is lost and its character as one of the earliest forms of
ornamentation, completely destroyed. Hence the modification above
referred to.

[Illustration: FIG. 1.]

[Illustration: FIG. 2.]

[Illustration: FIG. 3.]

In learning the art of scrolling, as in learning the art of striping,
it is distinctly fortunate to remember that there is no royal road--no
mystic method by which one can master the art under the soothing
influence of a mid-summer night's dream. The acquirement of the art,
as the past masters of the school of ornamental painting understood
and practiced it, is the result of patient, arduous practice. For this
purpose, a good-sized blackboard is in every way the most desirable
surface upon which to work. The beginner should under no circumstances
confine his efforts to learn scrolling to a pad of paper and a lead
pencil. As an eminent instructor of the art once declared: "Work with
a lead pencil on a 2×4 paper, and the chances are that your scrolls
will be of the 2×4 order." Working upon the blackboard with a chalk
crayon gives the learner a freedom of reach and a valiant command of
the pencil attained in no other way. The easy, free-hand work, although
it may be lacking in certain highly desirable features of gracefulness,
compels the favorable attention of the critic to an extent of which the
copy plate design, mathematically precise in general execution, may
fall lamentably short. There is a sort of an indefinable naturalness
about the original, free-hand scroll quite foreign to the ornament
drawn to rule and square measurements. It possesses a quality that
elicits admiration, just as madam's tea gown,

"That floats away where it properly may,
And clings where it ought to cling,"

is looked upon as a dainty creation, wondrous fair to see.

[Illustration: FIG. 4.]

The blackboard and chalk crayon exercise is valuable in imparting to
the learner a natural and unstudied twist of the wrist, together with
a whole arm movement that most assuredly must be at the command of the
scroll workman. Only by such exercise can the quick, artistic hand be
acquired along with an eye trained to correct proportions.

[Illustration: FIG. 5.]

Hogarth's line of beauty can be more expeditiously mastered under
the stimulus of blackboard practice than is possible through the
aid of most other mediums. Make the figures big and reaching, in
sweeps backward and forward, up, down, and in a variety of outlines.
This practice will be hard and irksome at first, and, unless one
is naturally gifted in this particular line of work, the results
accomplished may appear crude and awkward even after weeks of
patiently applied toil. But in the realms of art few things to speak in
the noble lingo of the Bowery, are "dead easy." Therefore, blackboard
work should be studiously adhered to, the work of eminent exponents of
ornamental painting studied, as the mariner studies the ocean chart,
and advantage taken of all the other aids promotive of a rare degree of
skill. The scroll painter able to discard pounce pattern and tape line
measurements is licensed to impart a charm and novelty, a grace and
variety, to his work, not effected otherwise. The spiral may be termed
the basis of scroll work. Intersecting the spiral are the leaves and
stems, which, shaded, lighted, and high-lighted, give form and color to
the relief scroll.

[Illustration: FIGS. 6 AND 7.]

[Illustration: FIG. 8.]

The learner, having become sufficiently proficient to outline fairly
good scrolls with the crayon, should procure some large sheets of
paper--manilla paper will do--and paint them in some dark color and
then proceed to draw the scrolls with the pencil.

[Illustration: FIG. 9.]

In the matter of pencils, different kinds and sizes will be needed.
For laying on the scroll, a black sable hair pencil, the hair set in
metal, running in size from No. 4 to No. 8, according to the size of
the scroll, and 1-1/2 inches long, is an effective and pleasingly
durable tool. For shading purposes a shorter and softer hair pencil
is best; say a camel's-hair pencil 3/4 inch in length. However, a
variety of pencils, both sable and camel's-hair, and of the various
sizes, will be found essential in doing the large and small ornaments
which the accompanying examples may suggest. Necessary adjuncts to the
pencil equipment are, the palette, palette cups, and mahl-stick. An
oval palette, made thin and smooth, of mahogany, walnut, or even ash,
polished nicely on a shellac base, has for long been popular, and in
point of excellence remains unexcelled. Make the mahl-stick of cedar
preferably; work it out round and smooth and tip it with a small ball
of cotton enclosed in a patch of chamois skin. Taking the accompanying
illustrated section of a Roman scroll (see Fig. 1) as a working draft,
begin by allowing the point of the pencil to touch the surface and
then with a confident, easy sweep twist the pencil around so as to
form, say, the first spiral or volute. Next do the stems and offshoots
attached to this volute. Practice to do each spiral, and the stems
putting out therefrom, with a single, and at most two, strokes of the
pencil. The first principle of fine scrolling consists in getting easy,
graceful sweeps, suggestive, perhaps, I may be allowed to say, of the
poetry of pencil motion. The tracery of a stilted, cramped pencil sweep
is fatal to the balance and grace of a scroll. In practice the student
will probably choose gold bronze as the most desirable substitute for
gold leaf in working out his gold-finished scroll. The figure, without
its shading, affords a flat scroll of fantastic contour, as a draft of
Fig. 1, devoid of the shades, will quickly prove.

[Illustration: FIG. 10.]

[Illustration]

The shading of the scroll must be done in the same free, off-hand style
that must necessarily mark the evolution of the general figure of the
ornament. If, as above intimated, the scroll is done in imitation of or
in the real gold leaf, the shading is best done with asphaltum, this
pigment offering the only true shadow, authorities contend, of gold.
Mix the asphaltum with good coach japan and turpentine, half and half.
Reference to Fig. 1, and to the other accompanying illustrations, will
indicate more accurately than printed directions the parts of a scroll
requiring shades. The inadequacy of written instructions teaching the
particular portions of the ornament to be high-lighted must be apparent
to the reader. Broadly speaking, where the strongest light strikes
there high lights should be. For a really practical insight of this
phase of the work the student should study examples of finished scrolls
done in the highest style of the art. The gold scroll shaded with
asphaltum invites high-lighting with white or cream color.

[Illustration]

In the execution of relief scrolls it is needful to observe:

1.--All ornaments must have a reason--a useful thing done in a graceful
way.

2.--Every line should be boldly, clearly, and elegantly drawn.

3.--Harmony of design, balance of proportions, sympathetic formation of
the various parts, demand vigilant maintenance.

4.--Originality of design, with every part having an intimate
relationship, an indivisible connection with every other part, is
indispensable.

In the execution of a relief scroll, or any style of scroll for that
matter, it is a factor of the first importance that the surface be
smooth and thoroughly dry.

[Illustration]

A great deal of business vehicle scrolling is necessarily done upon the
color-and-varnish coat or upon clear rubbing varnish. To prevent the
gold leaf (in case gold is used) from adhering to the varnish coat,
various expedients have been resorted to, among which the whiting
pounce figures as the most effective and the easiest applied. Other
recipes include rubbing the surface with a thin solution of starch
and water, or glazing it with the white of an egg, or washing it with
whiting and water, or applying a thin film of potato starch upon it.
Good gilding size is very essential in the art of scrolling. The light
and easy whirls of the pencil cannot be done with a size unsuited for
the purpose. Moreover, shop requirements have to be met, and they may
impose a limit of two hours in which the size must dry today, and
tomorrow that limit may be extended to four hours or even longer, and
perhaps--although in these days of ocean racers and Black Diamond
flyers this may be a remote possibility--the size will be expected to
hold over night, after its application, before being gilded.

[Illustration]

Quick size.--Gold size japan, 5 parts; fat oil, 1 part. With a dash of
japan ground chrome yellow, this size will dry to safely leaf over in
1/2 hour.

Medium quick size.--Gold size japan, 4 parts; fat oil, 2 parts.

Four-hour size.--Gold size japan and fat oil, in proportions of 2/3
japan to 1/3 oil.

Over-night size.--Fat oil with a few drops of gold size japan added.

The slow drying size works better and affords a more satisfactory job
of gilding than does the quicker mixture, the gold invariably taking a
fine burnish over the slow, fat oil size.

The best obtainable fat oil is made by confining boiled linseed oil in
a bottle and exposing for a long time to the sun.

To paint relief scrolls in colors is, in some respects, more difficult
than doing them in gold or aluminum leaf, and while the radiant
combinations of pigments furnish striking effects, there is lacking in
the painted scroll a richness, an elegance, an aristocratic display,
that constitute distinctive attributes of the gilded scroll. The
color of the surface upon which the scroll is to be painted should,
of course, govern the color in which the scroll is to be laid. For
example: If the ground be a light canary color, first fill the outlines
of the scroll with a pale shade of brown. Then deepen the brown fully
three shades, and begin the shading of the scroll, blending the deeper
color into the lighter so that a gradual melting away from dark to
light is the result. Next deepen the brown a shade or two and place
the darkest shades, blending them carefully into the lighter ones,
but taking care not to extend the blending into the parts previously
blended. Next take a little black and run a rather fine line of the
color as a shadow to the scroll, the shadow usually being placed to the
right of the scroll and at the bottom. This shadow line, to be properly
developed, should increase and diminish as the curves and twists are
defined. A thin, fine glaze of asphaltum is then placed inside the
black to shade and modulate it. Some lights of medium chrome yellow
are next thrown in, and the high lights following are but a shade or
two removed from white. To lend piquancy and a bit of warmth to the
scroll, a few touches of vermilion, flicking the spirals here and there
but invariably well removed from the lower edge of the pattern, are
added. Instructions, however carefully they may be worded, are of but
comparatively meagre helpfulness to the novice in painting scrolls in
colors. Correctly colored illustrations of scrolls done by such masters
as Weber, Kuenzel and Redmond, should be diligently studied.

[Illustration]

The harmony of colors is the controlling factor in the art scheme of a
color-wrought scroll. Once perfectly familiar with this, the ambitious
student should encounter no insurmountable hindrances to success as
a scroll worker in colors. Referring to the relief scrolls which
illustrate the text of this chapter, we would call attention to Fig. 1.
If this be executed in gold it may, as previously suggested, be shaded
with asphaltum, or asphaltum and yellow lake can be used, and the high
lights done in a light tone of Naples yellow. Perhaps the workman may
wish to impart to the deepest shading a look of remoteness. This can be
done by giving the dark shades a thin wash of some transparent glazing
color, as, say, carmine, purple, and crimson lake, or ultramarine blue
of the different shades. In Fig. 2 we have a panel design composed
in small part of the original Roman scroll and in large part of the
more modern style. Lay this scroll in gold, and then apply a coat of
clear rubbing varnish over the ornament before shading, high-lighting,
etc. A scroll of this pattern, cast in somewhat delicate outlines,
must be very carefully shaded, and if the shading be done over the
rubbing varnish, the tendency to cloud and blur will be overcome. In
shading, care should be taken to preserve the form and outlines of the
design, and this can best be done by making the shade color decidedly
semi-transparent. To high-light this scroll, cream, orange, canary
chrome, or pure white may be used to advantage. An ornament of this
style looks very catchy and handsome done in aluminum leaf. It is
strikingly neat on almost any dark ground, with the single exception,
perhaps, of black; and it is especially pleasing against the numerous
yellows so popular nowadays. Used on the pale yellow grounds, however,
it is seen to the best advantage with portions of the design glazed
with a wash of verdigris, ultramarine blue, or carmine. The fine line
is then done in orange or Tuscan red. Fig. 3 is a rather showy design,
of easy form, having for a small space none of the heavy appearance of
the Roman scroll. This scroll is intended for the panel of a business
wagon. If done in gold, the directions for its execution have already
been advanced. The broad line striping environing the scroll gives an
admirable effect if done in aluminum. The distance fine line can be
drawn in the high-lighting color used on the scroll, or it affords an
illuminating effect done in orange and glazed with carmine. The size
of the panel should govern the size of the broad stripe here shown.
It may run from 3/8 inch to 5/8 inch. Fig. 4 illustrates a corner
ornament for a large business vehicle or omnibus panel. It can be laid
in gold and shaded and lighted as per directions above. If upon a deep
yellow, orange, or buff ground, it can be done to the charm of a rich
effect by casting it in aluminum, shading with gold, and picking out
with dainty flicks of black. Fig. 5 looks effective on the ends of
small panels. On yellow or creamy grounds the fine lines may be drawn
in orange glazed with carmine, and the ornaments in aluminum. Shade
with burnt umber and burnt sienna, and the shade side of the shading
splash lightly with deep blue and the high-light borders with light
blue. On dark grounds the fine lines may be done in orange, carmine,
blue, aluminum, etc., and the relief ornaments in gold. Figs. 6 and 7,
ornaments for panel ends, and 8 and 9, corner ornaments, all light up a
surface radiantly placed in gold or aluminum, or they render a pleasing
effect done in colors. Ornaments of the order of Figs. 7, 8, and 9
display a dashing appearance done in three or four shades of green
against pure white, gold color, light sulphur yellow, Naples yellow,
or canary yellow grounds, black shadings being used to touch off the
correct effect. Such ornaments, to be sure, when painted in colors
should properly be made to respond closely to the laws of harmony and
contrast. Too glaring colors or tints used upon goodly sized surfaces
are violently detrimental to artistic decorative effects. Fig. 10 is
chiefly of the flat ornament style, the center shell only being thrown
in relief. This corner piece is done in gold with the shell shaded
and lighted, or, as is frequently the case, the shell may be done in
aluminum, and washed out with the proper relief colors.

[Illustration]

FLAT SCROLLS.

The flat scroll is distinguished from the relief scroll in that it is
lacking in all forms of relief ornamentation. The flat scroll is vastly
more simple in its working out; hence many workmen essay the flat
scroll who under no circumstances would attempt to execute a relief
design. The flat scroll is almost invariably first placed upon the
surface through the medium of the pounce pattern, and it is then filled
in. The design of the flat scroll once laid out on paper, the painter
used to manipulating a lettering or striping pencil can readily fill in
the outlines. The designing of the flat scroll can best be done upon
manilla paper, the tracings being executed with a lead pencil. Then lay
the paper over a double thickness of, say, railway car plush and pick
out the lines with a small awl. On wagon work the flat scroll put on by
means of stencils is not often seen. In the railway car paint shop the
flat scroll is usually stenciled on.

Some decidedly captivating examples of flat scroll work are to be
observed upon many business vehicles in the larger towns and cities.
Many of these scrolls are laid in plain gold or aluminum, in a variety
of colors, as well as in colors and gold, and very often aluminum.
Frequently the heaviest parts, leaves, etc., are edged with some richly
adorning color, and quite as often the veining of the leaves is traced
into prominence. The accompanying eight illustrations of flat scrolls,
corner, end, and center panel patterns, will, it is hoped, afford at
least a helpful working idea of the possibilities of the flat scroll
style of vehicle ornamentation.

CHAPTER X.

LETTERING: WAGON LETTERING AS DISTINGUISHED FROM SIGN
WRITING--POINTS ON LEARNING THE ART--LAYING OUT, SPACING,
OUTLINING--SHADING--PUNCTUATION--ALPHABETS: ROMAN--MODIFIED
BLOCK--ORNAMENTAL--GRECIAN. DESIGNS FOR BUSINESS WAGON PANELS, ETC.

Of late years the art of sign writing, or, in the speech of the shop,
lettering, has come to be so generally regarded as particularly
distinct and apart from the other branches of painting, having a
literature rich and diversified in its resources, that, at first
thought, it would seem perfectly feasible and proper to omit from these
chapters any attempt to deal with the subject. Nevertheless, upon
further consideration the writer has preferred to accept the art, for
the present at least, as an indivisible part of the carriage and wagon
painter's shop practice; and while a thorough exposition of modern
sign writing would necessarily trespass immoderately upon the space
allotted to the numerous and vitally essential phases of carriage and
wagon painting, and cannot, therefore, be entered into, to ignore the
branch altogether might fairly be branded as too palpable an oversight
to merit excuse. Happily, however, the art of sign writing has been
so extensively treated upon in numerous books devoted specially to
the subject, and in hundreds of exhaustive magazine articles, that
it becomes necessary in this chapter to touch only upon the salient
features of the work as they directly concern and apply to the
interests of the carriage and wagon painter.

[Illustration: ROMAN ALPHABET.]

Not later than fifteen years ago the standard styles of the wagon
letterer consisted of about five alphabets. The modern sign writer
and letterer, encouraged and directed by the forces of recent
business development, has to a large extent demolished this standard,
substituting therefor what is generally accepted as up-to-date sign
writing--a style that readily admits of the employment of whatever
form or style of letter will best and most vividly advertise the
business it is intended to herald. Complaints have been sounded in
widely read publications to the effect that "it was at one time the
wagon letterer's good fortune to possess an occupation and a name
above that of the sign writer." "His work," we are told, "could be
quickly distinguished from the ordinary letterer or sign painter by
its boldness and the care given to details. These days have gone by,
and we find the well-known and approved style of the wagon letterer
prostituted to the idiosyncrasies of house and sign painters."

[Illustration: ROMAN NUMERALS.]

Such complaints, we are free to say, are in the main exaggerated. The
wagon letterer has not been, nor is he in any present danger of being,
Othello-like, without an occupation. Moreover, despite the adoption
by the wagon letterers of those styles which most completely respond
to the dictates of modern business, there still remain certain marked
characteristics of the vehicle letterer's work which distinguish it
from the efforts of the most finished sign writer. Not that the work
of the wagon letterer differs conspicuously from that of the expert
general sign writer--the field of up-to-date sign work having merged
the two branches into close relationship--but the difference is
manifest, as before said, in characteristics most plainly unmistakable.
Naturally, this variation should occur.

A sign that would appear legible and clean cut upon a building might,
if transferred to the panel of a more or less rapidly moving vehicle,
prove unreadable and hopelessly indistinct. A sign attached to a
building or other stationary object admits of study from the various
points of the compass, from near by or afar off. It is not a fleeting
show as in case of the vehicle sign, subject to laws of propulsion
which vary to meet existing business exigencies.

[Illustration: MODIFIED BLOCK ALPHABET.]

Perspective effects, heights, widths, thickness of lines, etc., because
of the usually generous sweep of space at command, as secured by the
sign writer, do not come within the scope of the wagon letterer's
activity, save in rare instances. Ordinarily wagon spaces to be
lettered are of dwarfed dimensions and quite commonly cast in irregular
outlines. In wagon lettering, whenever possible, the extended letter
frequently has the preference. An able and widely observant critic says
"it might almost be said that the customary speed of a vehicle can
be measured by the degree of elongation which the letterer gives to
his work, the lightning express car representing the ultimatum in one
direction, while the mammoth furniture van, with its high art panels,
is characteristic of the other." The chief distinguishing feature
of wagon lettering, as contrasted with the average results of sign
writing, is found in the wider variety of elegant color effects to be
remarked of the first named. The wagon letterer essays glazing with
many of the beautiful transparent pigments, and in this wise brings
forth charming combinations in color seldom attempted by the sign
writer.

The wagon letterer's work is done, as a rule, with quick drying colors
or size, and almost invariably is varnished over. Surface smoothness
is therefore with him a matter of the first importance. The art of the
wagon letterer is composed of many difficulties, each of which must be
surmounted ere the learner can hope to stand among the select few and
quaff the foam from the beaker of success.

However, let me say that a thorough mastery of the art is worth all the
toil, patient study, diligent practice, and applied energy the aspirant
may choose to expend.

To achieve proficiency in this branch of painting, it is advisable to
practice outlining letters with a chalk crayon, or, preferably, pipe
clay on a goodly sized blackboard. All lines, straight or curved,
should be drawn in free hand, and the practice ought, properly, to
be regularly continued until the workman acquires a reliable degree
of precision. Ease, freedom, and a masterly command of the hand,
coupled with a fairly unerring accuracy of the eye, are justly
indispensable accomplishments in sign writing or wagon lettering.
Absence of mechanical aids will render free hand and eye work more
assured. Many admittedly first-class sign writers practice marking
out with rule, compass, and line every letter which they produce,
insisting upon mechanical accuracy in "laying out" as the only
correct means of developing style. Such workmen, unfortunately, were
probably indifferent, in apprenticeship days, to the advantages to be
derived from free hand drawing, and being strangers to them they find
themselves greatly handicapped thereby.

[Illustration: MODIFIED BLOCK NUMERALS.]

The free-hand and rule-rivalling-eye mechanic goes to his space to
be lettered and after a swift, accurate study of the limitations
and contour of that space, as a basis for the letter construction,
including style, height, thickness, etc., he snaps the necessary top
and bottom lines and proceeds to rapidly, but lightly, sketch out his
letters. Fairly marvelous examples of this manner of mechanics are to
be encountered in sign and wagon establishments. Such men are rarely
ever in search of a job. The job is mostly in sharp search of them.

Such skill and facility in execution of lay outs is not gained in a
day. An eminent vehicle letterer once told the writer that he "was
glad to have acquired the 'knack' of accurate free hand and eye work
after _years_ of practice." At present there are boundless fields of
originality awaiting the sign writer and vehicle letterer. Imitation of
the styles of expert letterers may with the beginner lead up to nobler
examples of the art--for has not the sage whispered that genius knows
only the right of conquest?--but to the apprentice, fired with the
sacred spark of ambition, copying will not long suffice.

The acknowledged best examples of sign writing and wagon lettering
should serve as the beginner's model, rather than the work of any
single practitioner of the art. The fact that the work of every
letterer has a certain, positive individuality of style furnishes the
best possible reason why the learner should strive to avoid copying
continuously the various alphabets of any individual expert to the
exclusion of all others.

LAYING OUT, SPACING, OUTLINING, AND BALANCING

of a job of wagon lettering are factors of chief concern. The artistic
and really beautiful example of lettering is brought forth only when
praiseworthy skill is exercised in executing the operations named.
Individuality of workmanship is based upon the style of laying out.
A workman practiced in handling a lettering or striping pencil can
very soon master the difficulties of painting a letter after it is
outlined. The job accurately and artistically laid out, even if
lettered in a manner not strictly up to the standard, will far more
effectively fulfill its mission as a work of art than will the one
properly penciled but improperly designed. The key, then, to fine wagon
lettering may be embraced in the work of laying out. To present rules
by which the workman may at all times and closely abide in preparing a
contemplated design for letter painting would be impracticable because
the laying out, with its attendant features, must conform to the size,
form, and general condition of the surface. In laying out, the best
exponents of the art are agreed that it is advisable to employ as few
lines as possible. The fewer lines, the more grace, freedom, and easy
poise of the letters. At the beginning of his career the letterer will
probably need the aid of four lines, two for the top limbs and two for
the bottom limbs of the letters. As he gains in skill and experience
the two inside lines may be dispensed with. Then with the ever present
dividers in hand the space so lined out may be "touched off" until the
necessary divisions to accommodate the letters desired in the line
are spaced. Generally speaking, all letters, except W, M, J, and I,
have equal spaces, one square, for example. M and W require a bit more
space, I and J a bit less. There is to be remarked a considerable
variation in the space between letters, some of the letters being full
in form and some open. In the use of L, F, J, A, V, W, T, Y, only half
the space given to the other letters is allowable, and in the placing
of V and L less than half is permissible, one letter being advanced
well into the space allowed the other. The letter I is in some respects
a difficult letter to space correctly. When it chances to be cast
between two letters occupying full squares each it will require more
than the usual space, otherwise, being a needle-like letter, it will be
elbowed out of easy location.

[Illustration: ORNAMENTAL ALPHABET NO. 1.]

[Illustration: ORNAMENTAL ALPHABET NO. 2.]

The vehicle letterer, daily practicing his art, will frequently find
himself confronted with words or combinations of words to which rules
of spacing, however carefully they may be laid down, do not apply.
In such cases hard and fast rules of spacing cannot be successfully
observed. Spacing to suit individual requirements must then obtain.
Here a letter may be moved from its nearest neighbor a little more than
its ordinarily allotted space would permit; there a letter is placed
closer to its neighbor than the rules usually allow. The position of
several letters may be disturbed in order that the word or words may
display a correctly spaced appearance. Vehicle letterers invariably
devote one-half of a letter space to separate capital letters of names.
This spacing furnishes the capitals with plenty of prominence and
makes plain and distinct the whole name. Usually the half of a letter
space is placed between words. This half, however, may vary somewhat as
the size and general conformation of the surface may indicate.

[Illustration: GRECIAN ALPHABET.]

In outlining letters many of our best vehicle letterers advise using no
inside lines, the extreme outer lines only being employed. This method
of outlining precludes the possibility of becoming confused on account
of a multiplicity of lines, the spacing may be more accurately judged,
and enlarged proficiency in free hand work is attained. Especially in
the first draft of a letter design is the use of the outside lines only
to be commended. The balance of a letter or a series of letters is that
effect which gives legibility and artistic proportions to the design.
A top-heavy appearance is a fatal defect in a letter. To properly
balance a letter is to so proportion it that it will immediately give
the effect of being able, if cut out of thick board, to stand upon its
base solid, secure, and in no danger of toppling over. For a clearer
illustration of the significance of balancing letters, invert some of
the accompanying examples of X, S, Z, etc. The base of the letter S,
if made the same size as the apex, would throw the letter sadly out
of balance. In spacing and outlining a letter design, the matter of
shading should be considered, and a needed allowance made therefor if
shading is to be done.

SHADING.

Many sign writers contend that shading a letter is nothing more or
less than making an artificial representation of a raised letter, and
consequently requires a fine light shade upon the top and left side of
the letter, and a dark one upon the bottom and right side. Formerly,
vehicle letterers did not admit the propriety of this way of shading,
insisting that the shades should be on the right side and bottom. Only
in case of sunk-bottom vehicles were the shades cast on the top and
right side. It was considered deplorably out of form to throw a shade
to the left of the letter.

But the swift tide of up-to-date letter work has left its impress upon
the style of shading in vogue, and it is now remarked as admissible to
cast the shades at any desired angle and upon any desired side of the
letters. Nevertheless, it is the leading custom among vehicle letterers
to cast the shading on the right side and at the bottom of the letters.
Expert exponents of the art aver that indiscriminate shading of letters
robs their work of its individuality.

[Illustration]

Properly, the shade of a letter as it is generally understood may be
defined as that letter's thickness or depth. However, that which is
strictly and correctly the shade of a letter is the "cast shadow"
and it belongs to the side opposite the thickness of the letter. The
"cast shadow" usually consists of a thin wash or glazing of the ground
color, and excepting its use upon light colored grounds, it is not
extensively employed. The wagon letterer resorts generously to letter
shading, using single, double, and treble shades, as the requirements
of his business suggest. In this work, skill as a colorist of the first
order is demanded, a large amount of shading being executed by the
manipulation of glazing colors. In double or treble shading it should
be remembered that the darkest shade invariably belongs nearest the
letter. Moreover, the letter, and not the shade, should display the
most prominent color. In respect to letters laid in gold, silver, or
aluminum, it is advisable to make the shade touch the leaf. Letters
done in pigment are frequently given a "free shade" which consists in
permitting a small space of the surface color to separate the letter
and the shade. The "close shade" describes the shade that is allowed
to join the letter. A shade looks ungainly and ill proportioned if
made wider than the bars of the letter, excepting, of course, the
treatment of the bottom shades, which are often made a little heavier
than the perpendicular ones. This heavier bottom shading is based upon
the assumption that the sun casts a heavier shade to the bottom in
proportion to the angle of light. While the shading is generally cast
against the letter at an angle of forty-five degrees, it is necessarily
inclined more nearly to a perpendicular when the bottom of the letter
is more heavily shaded than the sides. Some alphabets do not admit of
shading, and others require very little, as compared to still others.
A portion of some letters in certain styles of alphabets would present
a choked up and inharmonious appearance if tricked out in a shade of
uniform weight. Thus, B, K, G, N, S have body angles which do not admit
of so heavy a shade as perpendicular or bottom letters. In shading it
should be a paramount rule to closely study the tone of the ground, to
the end that the most natural shadow be chosen, one that is in strict
harmony with the colors of both the lettering and the groundwork.
Harmonious and effective color schemes have greatly to do with fine
results in the art of wagon lettering.

[Illustration]

Gold lettering on black and white grounds may be effectively shaded
with almost any color but that of the yellow order. A well-known
authority advises the use of the richest and most permanent tones of
red, green, blue, and umber shades in shading gold letters placed on
colored grounds. Reds, especially the intense and most brilliant reds,
are warm, advancing colors for shading gold letters. Imagine, if you
please, a more strikingly handsome combination than a gold letter
shaded with red cast against a ground of some one of the fashionable
greens. Or reverse the style, and put the gold letter upon a ground of
carmine glazed over flamingo red, shading with green. Blue, as a shade,
produces a cool, distant effect.

Black letters may be usually shaded with any of the primary or
secondary colors. In shading it should be borne in mind that
complementary colors cannot always be tastefully combined. As, for
instance, yellow and orange would not look fetching to any extent when
shaded with blue, although regarded as complementary. The learner
should apply himself studiously to the study of happy and harmonious
color effects in the matter of shading.

PUNCTUATION.

A staid old axiom has it that "art and education are twin sisters,"
but the examples of punctuation as seen in wagon lettering often met
with suggest the inference that the vehicle letterer is not slow, at
times, to offer a startling contradiction to the axiom. The sense of
construction and meaning can be quickly and effectually destroyed in a
piece of lettering by a bit of bad punctuation. The simple misplacing
of a comma, period, or apostrophe,--about the only punctuation marks
deemed necessary at present to bring out the full meaning and make
symmetrical a job of vehicle lettering--often results in disfiguring
an otherwise really meritorious piece of work. The late Mr. Geo. W. W.
Houghton has defined the object of punctuation, "to so divide written
or printed sentences that the meaning may be made more visibly clear."

[Illustration]

In vehicle lettering as now practiced the more striking and
illuminative words and phrases are set forth in separate lines, each
line, as a rule, carrying a different size and a different style of
letter. This system of vividly illuminating and emphasizing vehicle
lettering has reduced the need of punctuation to the minimum; but
it renders the necessity of a wise and judicious use of punctuation
marks none the less imperative. In no way that we are aware of can
the information which a line of lettering is intended to convey be
so clearly perverted as through the medium of a flagrant error in
punctuation. A sweep of lettering done according to the most approved
standard of letter form and construction, but improperly punctuated,
is at best only a distorted and deformed example of workmanship. The
advertising pages of the big magazines offer fine advantages for the
accumulation of reliable "pointers" upon the accepted practice of
modern newspaper and magazine punctuation. To such sources the reader
is invited to go if he would profit by the examples set forth by
acknowledged masters of the art of punctuation.

ALPHABETS.

The Roman alphabet is easily the most beautiful and engaging of all the
alphabets used by the wagon letterer. It is an alphabet of impressively
graceful lines, curves flowing easy rather than exact, with nothing
about it to suggest a lack of freedom or easy repose. The Roman
letter, as conceived by the modern school of American sign writers
and letterers, is at once the most picturesque and the most difficult
to execute of any style known. It is a letter of severe requirements,
enforcing in its proper execution a very facile and skilled
manipulation of all the aids at the command of the workman. Inferior
quality of work cannot be concealed in the Roman letter. Every curve
of its noble form must be brought out and fully rounded if the letter
is to be what its name implies. Accompanying this chapter is a Roman
alphabet, and while there are a number of styles dignified under the
title of Roman they are all formed on the same general principle. The
Roman alphabet is deservedly held in high esteem by vehicle letterers
and sign writers the country over. It is most commonly adapted to the
needs of wagon lettering, especially. It is easily read and can be
greatly extended, if necessary, without injury to its bold and legible
characteristics. The distinctive features of the individual letters
contained in the Roman alphabet are briefly summarized as follows:

[Illustration]

A has its cross bar drawn at two-fifths of its height. Properly it
should be wider than the H or N. The center bar of B belongs above the
center of the letter. C is not drawn in a perfect circle. Abrupt curves
should be avoided and the exact lines of the dividers discarded. D
requires care in execution, its large sweeping curve being a difficult
one to control. E goes a bit wider than its height, with bar above
center. F is frequently drawn a trifle narrower than E. Remarks made
concerning C apply to G. Keep cross bar of H above the center. Its
width should be about equal to its height. I is very easy to make and
needs no description. J is a little narrower than the other letters.
K is entitled to about the same space as H. The cut shows where the
angles of the letter meet. L and M occupy considerably more space than
other letters. N requires the same space as H. O is a little wider
than C. The necessity for this increased width will become immediately
plain to one who will first make C and then undertake to confine O
in the same circle. The proportion of P is shown in the alphabet. Q,
along with O, needs easy, sweeping curves to best display its form.
Make the appendage clean cut and bold. It has been said that a wagon
letterer's standard as an artist is determined by the quality of his
Roman R's. Be that as it may, R is rightfully regarded as a difficult
letter to execute. The cross bar usually goes in at the center of the
letter. The tail of the letter constitutes the difficult point to
control. S is a handsome letter, withal a difficult one to execute
properly. To ascertain the correctness of one's S, invert the letter
as drawn. Inverted the letter will be top-heavy but it should not be
built on awkward lines. T has the same height as width. It should not
be narrowed beyond the proportion here indicated, as one often observes
it in sign work. N and V may be passed without comment. W, practically
composed of two V's, is distinguished as the widest letter of the
alphabet. X occupies about the usual space and its upper part should be
smaller than the nether. Y is best known as a wide letter and like the
T, has a shape that tends to break the regularity of spacing and leads
the workman oftentimes to ruin the appearance of the letter through
the process of contraction. Z is ordinarily classed as one of the easy
letters of the alphabet to make.

The modified block alphabet herewith shown is executed by many Eastern
wagon letterers, and it may be said to be drawn upon pleasing and easy
lines. In display lines the modified block presents a glowingly fine
appearance, forcible, prominent, and plain enough for him who runs to
read.

The ornamental alphabets set forth in alphabets No. 1 and No. 2 require
no extended comment. They may be varied somewhat to meet certain needs
and necessities. The letters composing No. 2 have limbs projecting
above and below the regulation lines, and therein lies the chief beauty.

By the kind permission of Mr. Chas. B. Sherron, editor of _Varnish_,
the writer is pleased to illustrate a Grecian alphabet of decidedly
unique attractions. Wagon letterers have come to regard this alphabet
with much favor, and, if properly executed, it gives very striking
effects. The embellishments admit of innumerable changes and
modifications. In point of fact, the variations that are possible with
this design are only limited by the talent of the workman. The letters
may be shaded quite as handily as other styles. Done in gold against
any dark ground they furnish beautiful and rich effects.

Accompanying these alphabets are a few designs for business vehicle
panels in which examples of present day lettering are reflected from
variously ornamented grounds. From a study of them the apprentice
may perhaps find a suggestion that will lead him to originate more
pretentious examples. There are many unexplored fields of beauty in the
domain of ornamental wagon lettering, bear in mind.

CHAPTER XI.

MONOGRAMS--ANTIQUITY OF THE MONOGRAM--HOW TO DESIGN AND PAINT THE
MONOGRAM--TOOLS NEEDED--LEADING COLORS EMPLOYED--SOME ENGAGING
COMBINATIONS--ILLUSTRATIONS, ETC.

The designing and painting of monograms is an accomplishment which
the carriage painter should zealously strive to acquire. Years ago
the crest, coat-of-arms, and other elaborate forms of ornamentation
accompanied the monogram in its mission as a panel decoration.
Gradually, in response to the dictates of the vehicle-using public, and
encouraged, no doubt, by the stern mandates of competition, the use
of the lavishly wrought style of panel ornament has given way largely
to the monogram. Despite the apparent tendency toward plain effects
in the matter of pleasure vehicle ornamentation the fact remains
unassailed that a well executed monogram cast upon the panels of a
vehicle imparts a color effect, and breaks the monotony of a finish,
to a very satisfying extent. As my lamented friend Manchester was wont
to say: "That little patch of color warms up the entire job, relieving
that sense of sameness that one feels when contemplating a carriage. No
matter how nicely it is finished, there seems to be something lacking
if the ornament is omitted. That little color spot is like an oasis in
a desert--a resting place, as it were, for the eye." Most certain it
is that the dull uniformity, the eye offending lack of variety, in the
painting of a carriage panel is often relieved by the simple addition
of a monogram. The monogram is not of recent origin. Away back in those
alluring days of Greek heroes and Egyptian divinities the monogram
existed. Indeed, early in the fourth century, as ancient history
informs us, monograms were used to identify the pomp of power. In
France the monogram was early employed in the capacity of a signature
and inscribed upon seals and coins. In point of fact, the use and
purpose of the monogram was clearly established when the world was yet
young.

[Illustration]

The word monogram is said to be derived from two modest little Greek
words, _monos_, alone, only, and _gramma_, letter. Authorities differ
considerably in defining the word monogram. A modern authority refers
to it in this wise: "In the true monogram two of its letters, or all,
for that matter, should have some portion in common." Again it is said
to consist of "characters or ciphers composed of two or more letters
interwoven, being an abbreviation of a name." Still another authority
contends that the monogram is "a device formed by the assemblage of two
or more letters so as to form a single character." Probably the three
definitions here quoted determine the limits and significance of the
monogram as we wish to know it today. If the monogram is formed of but
two letters it is denominated a simple monogram. Composed of all the
letters of a name it is classified as a complete monogram. It is not
the writer's purpose to inveigh against the elaborate and complicated
monogram, which, in some respects, at least, partakes freely of the
mystifying characteristics of an oriental newspaper advertisement, but
he does wish to emphasize the value of a monogram devoted to the use
of vehicular adornment made sufficiently plain and simple to be easily
read by one not used to deciphering hieroglyphics. "Handsome is that
handsome does," runs the quaint old axiom, and, generally speaking,
the clean cut, unencumbered, legible monogram, serves its office as a
handsome ornament when it offers to the observer a tale soon told.

[Illustration]

The designing and painting of monograms constitutes an art mastered,
save in exceptional instances, only after long continued study and
practice. Some of our best monogram makers do not ascribe their success
to talent, but, rather, to hard work and practice. Works on monograms
furnish plenty of examples of the different styles (which consist,
principally, of the Florentine, script, and block,) for the guidance
of the beginner. With such examples before him the work of making
monograms may be begun. Mr. W. A. Thompson, probably one of the most
skillful monogram designers in the country, advises the student to
"begin practice with a slate and pencil for a time at least, as the
lines can be more readily erased than from paper." As some proficiency
is gained the slate may be discarded in favor of the writing pad,
pencil and eraser. The compass and dividers are not advised as aids
to be constantly relied upon. The general practice should be to let
these aids severely alone. Free-hand drawing produces, as a rule,
the most symmetrical and graceful monogram. Study of proportion and
balance should early engage the thought of the learner. Curves on one
side of a monogram, for instance, should be followed when possible by
similar ones on the opposite side. Also, as a rule, the base should
be a little sturdier than the apex. It would prove futile to attempt
to append any set of rules to govern the designing of a monogram. The
principle that would obtain in the laying out of one design would
probably fail of being a principle at all in the drawing of the second
one. This by virtue of the law of variation which rules in this as in
all other arts. The letter delected from its true course, (its standing
alone not being here considered,) either one way or the other, should,
as a matter of balance, be matched by a letter swung in an opposite
direction. If it were possible at all times to use only those letters
which admit of an exquisite arrangement, the problem of balance and
proportion would invite an easy solution. But such, unfortunately,
is not the case. Hence, the charm and beauty of the monogram must
necessarily be governed at times by the individual letters of which it
is composed instead of by their arrangement _en masse_. The perfectly
symmetrical monogram is not always possible under the masterful touch
of the most dashing originator of monogram architecture.

[Illustration: O. D. T.]

[Illustration: W. H. D.]

[Illustration: M. W. & CO.]

In designing a monogram for a carriage the size and formation of the
panel upon which the ornament is intended to be used must be reckoned
with. Any other details of general construction, as applied to the
vehicle, require consideration in order that the design may have an
especial adaptation to its surroundings. The style of the design ought,
properly, to be in strict harmony with the style of the vehicle, just
as in color the design should harmonize with the colors employed in
painting the carriage.

In preparing the design for a surface two methods are given for the
transference of the design from the paper to the surface. The design
being drawn on the paper, and all interlacings clearly denoted by
extra emphasized black lines, chalk or whiting is rubbed on the
back of the paper, after which it is placed upon the panel and held
carefully in position while the lines of the design are gone over with
a hard pencil. By the second method the design, after being drawn, is
perforated along its lines with a needle. It is then laid upon the
panel and with a pounce of whiting, in case of a dark ground, and
charcoal, in case of a light one, the small dots outlining the design
are left upon the surface.

[Illustration: L. J. F.]

[Illustration: M. C. H.]

[Illustration: C. H. B.]

Occasionally the workman will wish to paint the monogram upon paper in
such a way that it can be used as a transfer ornament. This plan is
recommended when monograms are called for upon vehicles so constantly
used that they cannot be taken from service long enough to admit of
painting the monograms in the usual way. Take first grade lithograph
paper and upon one side apply successive coatings of mucilage until a
firm gloss is established. Then outline and paint the monogram upon
the gloss side of the paper, using colors and effects that would be
appropriate if the painting were being executed upon the panel direct.
The unused portion of the paper is now cut off and moistened and the
monogram, face down, is pressed solidly upon it and maintained in that
position until dry. The monogram is now, both back and face, perfectly
sealed between the mucilage clad paper. The paper at the back of the
ornament is next dampened little by little until it is sufficiently
saturated to permit being lifted easily. This process completes and
finishes the shop prepared transfer monogram, and if deftly prepared it
should render satisfactory results.

To perform good work in painting monograms due attention must be
given the tools. These should consist of mahl stick, palette, palette
cups, a small palette knife, pounce bags, small bottles containing
japan, turpentine, etc., and a complete assortment of pencils. The
pencils should be red sable hair, set in metal, and outfitted with
cedar handles. The hair had best not exceed 1/4 inch in length, and
in size the pencils may run from knitting-needle bulk to what pencil
makers call No. 2. As a rule, a pencil somewhat smaller than the No. 1
pencil of commerce will be needed. In the way of pigments the workman
should provide himself with an array of the best tube colors. A finely
prepared color is a great aid to the workman--an aid, let me say,
too rarely appreciated. The most popular monogram colors are various
shades of greens, and reds having close relationship to vermilion and
carmine. In addition, such pigments as silver or flake white, drop
black, ultramarine blue, verdigris, burnt umber, burnt sienna, orange
chrome, Indian red, chrome yellow and Tuscan red are used.

[Illustration: O. D. T.]

[Illustration: G. W. B.]

[Illustration: A. M. N.]

The initial of the surname, invariably to be made more prominent than
the letters of the Christian name, will submit to strong color effects
without offending the visual sense. Perhaps it may be timely here to
say that, after recognizing the fact that the striping of the running
parts rigidly govern the color or colors of the monogram, there are no
arbitrary laws to restrict the color schemes employed. In this as in
other branches of ornamental painting the harmony by analogy and the
harmony by contrast are recognized and adhered to. The monogram painted
in relief is an illustration of harmony by analogy. Such a monogram
represents the employment of a single color and its blended tints and
shades. Harmony by contrast consists of painting each letter of the
monogram a different, but complementary, color. The relief monogram is
best done by first laying the design in a medium shade of the selected
color. Then the shades proper of the monogram are cast in with the dark
shades of the color, and the light ones with tints of the color. The
vital principle involved in shading is, in the words of an authority,
"to shade the under parts of the letter or object lapping it and the
opposite side on which the light falls--the shade of the overlapped
letter would naturally fall on the underlapped letter, giving the
former a raised appearance."

It has been said that the striping should govern the color or colors of
the monogram, as for example: If the gear be striped with carmine the
predominating color of the monogram should be carmine; if with orange,
then orange; if with green, then green, etc. Granting this, it may also
be conceded that the style and general conformation of the monogram
should in no small degree compel color effects especially adapted to
it. The symmetrical monogram calls for a precisely balanced color
scheme, while the clumsy and uncouth one, made so from necessity--and
what an inexorable task-master necessity is!--needs a color adjustment
that seeks to balance the light parts with the heavy ones, and the
heavy with the light.

Gold and aluminum have of late been largely used in connection with
colors and no departure from the correct color principles has thus
far been remarked, vehicle users being especially delighted, as well
they may be, with the innovation. A practice that has seemed to please
the public immensely permits laying the entire monogram with gold or
aluminum, as the painter may elect, and then glazing the first letter,
say, with ultramarine blue, the next with verdigris, and still the next
with carmine.

[Illustration: L. V. R.]

[Illustration: G. F. L.]

[Illustration: A. L.]

If done in gold or aluminum apply a coat of rubbing varnish over the
leaf before shading and washing with the transparent colors. Thus
will the varnish check the subsequent coatings from striking in and
tarnishing the brilliancy of the leaf. In the case of gold being used,
follow the varnish with shadings of asphaltum diluted with varnish.
The dark shades may be produced by recoating with the asphaltum until
the desired shade is reached. Once the asphaltum is quite dry, proceed
to coat those parts of the monogram desired to be in colors with such
glazing colors as carmine, ultramarine, or cobalt blue, verdigris, etc.
The shades of asphaltum are reflected through these transparent colors
to the measure of a beautiful appearance, and the sum total of effects
thus produced are particularly rich and brilliant. The letters of a
monogram painted vermilion glazed with carmine, and the carmine then
being shaded with asphaltum and high lighted with pale canary color
afford a splendid effect.

In executing the script monogram the workman will agree with us that
carmine and vermilion mixtures produce the finest color effects. In
fact, all lean bodied letters show at their best when done in some of
the gorgeous reds now popular. A very fetching monogram, as to color,
is made by laying the design in vermilion and then glazing part of it
with carmine. Or, if the striping suggests green for the color, lay
the design in a shade of green to harmonize nicely with the striping,
and glaze a portion of it with verdigris. Heavy bodied letters such as
are combined in some of the monograms accompanying this chapter show
admirably with the upper halves done in vermilion and the nether parts
put in Indian red, or, preferably, flamingo red. The vermilion should
be given a light wash of carmine, and the letters then outlined with
deep orange. In some of the large cities where the trappings and the
suits of fashion are ever in the foreground one may see the monogram
having one of its letters tricked out in all the finery of a graded
shade. The manner of shading consists of beginning at the top of the
letter with the palest shade of a certain color, and then gradually
deepening the shade as the painting descends until, when the base of
the letter is reached, the very deepest and darkest shade of the color
is developed. As for example, the striping indicates the employment
of green as one of the prominent colors in the monogram. Begin at the
top of the letter with the very palest shade of green then continuing
with the various gradations down to the deepest shade. A graded shade
is most successfully accomplished with color containing a binder of raw
linseed oil to give the pigment a free working property. A short stiff
pencil, lightly, very lightly, tipped with color works most effectively
in blending each shade into the next. Reds and blues respond splendidly
to the attractions of the graded shade.

The high lights are justly important features of a monogram. Many
monogramists contend that a high light is almost invariably improved by
the addition of a bit of the color of the letter being executed. As,
for instance, the letter is painted medium shade of green, and the high
light goes white. To the white add a dash of the green, and note the
restful, pleasing effect secured thereby.

[Illustration: C. H. B.]

[Illustration: T. B.]

[Illustration: L. G.]

High lighting, however, as it applies to nearly all styles of monograms
is not suited to the delicate features of the script monogram. The high
lighting of the script ornament should consist in merely flicking those
parts needing a relief touch with a color that will denote a slant of
light from above.

The provision that permits the striping colors used upon a vehicle to
govern, with but few exceptions, the predominating color or colors
of the monogram renders a presentation of the color scheme adapted
to the accompanying designs superfluous. Therefore, it only remains
for the writer to advise his readers to learn how to design and paint
monograms. It is a buoyant and fascinating art.

CHAPTER XII.

PAINTING THE BUSINESS WAGON: CONSIDERED AS A WORK OF ART AND AS AN
ADVERTISING MEDIUM--VARIOUS PRACTICAL PROCESSES GIVEN--POPULAR COLOR
COMBINATIONS EMPLOYED--PAINTING CANVAS TOPS, ETC.

Only a prophet of much temerity would attempt to bound the
possibilities of business wagon painting. It may be allowable to define
it as a limitless art, resourceful, restive, responsive to an admirable
degree to the ever-varying side-lights of technical skill. All that
art can be anywhere the broad surface of the modern business vehicle
invitingly offers to display. The time when the main requirement of
a business wagon was symmetry and strength of structure has gone by.
The merchant, the man of business, has found it to possess a value
beyond its mere capacity as a carrier of merchandise. Its worth as an
advertising medium, as an agency through which business stability and
enterprise may be widely heralded, has been fully learned. Thus the
evolution of the present elaborately painted and decorated business
wagon has come about. Is it not stating the truth too strongly to say
that the average business man is now quite as exacting and peremptory
about the style and appearance of his business wagon as he is of his
much prized pleasure vehicle. He aims to have his painter achieve a
distinct individuality in the painting of his (the business man's)
vehicles, so that so-and-so's delivery wagons are readily distinguished
from all others met with along the highways and by-ways. To this end
he not only seeks to have his vehicles so painted and decorated that
unsurpassed advertising effects are commanded, but he also makes
careful selection of a combination of colors, and strictly adheres to
that combination throughout the list of his business vehicle equipment.
This manifestation of exclusiveness on the part of business men has
created a spirit of rivalry that has greatly redounded to the painter's
benefit in that more beautiful and dashing color effects are now in
vastly greater demand than formerly.

And the gratifying aspect of the case is that these original and
artistic styles of painting the business vehicle bid fair to continue
in popularity. It furnishes the wagon painter, and most especially
the apprentice in the wagon paint shop, an incentive to excel in this
branch of painting.

The reader may here note, perhaps, an inclination to separate
wagon painting, which we have in preceding chapters treated as an
inclusive feature of vehicle painting in its broad interpretation,
from other branches of the painting art. Necessarily, in the small
provincial jobbing paint shop it is all grist that comes to the
hopper; consequently carriage and wagon painting are judiciously
included under one head. In the city establishment, however, an abrupt
division is made, and we find business wagon painting practiced as a
specialty--reduced to a fine art. Many argumentative discussions have
been conducted by specialists in the two branches to prove the superior
skill required in one branch as against the other, and a wide diversity
of opinion remains prevalent as to which side has the best of the
controversy.

Certain it is, at any rate, that the exactions of fine wagon painting
are at present very pronounced. Granting that elegant general effects
take precedence over all other features of wagon painting, the fact
remains that the quality of the surface must be carefully looked
after. It is seldom needful to obtain as fine and satiny a surface
as is required on the panel of the jaunty brougham or the luxurious
landau, the color scheme employed, united with dignified and artistic
ornamentation, being depended upon as the irresistable attraction.
However, this statement is not intended to belittle the importance of
the surfacing system. Upon the finest class of business wagons it is
a common experience to observe surfaces which in point of smoothness
and general excellence are second only to those observable upon heavy
pleasure carriages of the finest class.

The wagon painter is confronted by many difficulties concerning which
the carriage painter pure and simple, knows little. He must know well
how to build beautiful and durable surfaces. He should be a first-class
colorist, understanding all the features of color mixing and fully
conversant with the laws of harmony and contrast. He will likewise
find it necessary to be an unexcelled master of the varnish brush, a
skilled striper, wagon letterer, and decorative painter of established
ability. The chief disadvantage under which the wagon painter labors is
presented to him through the agency of the many lead-weighted colors
which he is usually compelled to employ. Many of the light colors
extensively used in wagon painting at this time contain keg lead, or
lead of another form, as the main ingredient. In doing jobs with light
colors containing much lead, roughstuff is not generally used, the lead
medium being relied upon to furnish a sufficiently smooth, compact,
and close-textured surface; and naturally, therefore, this surface is
freely flexible and elastic. Amid the stress and strife of competition
and swift processes, these coats are often crowded on so fast that
reliable drying is not assured, and then to lend additional uncertainty
to the outcome of the work, rather quick and fairly unelastic varnish
coats are employed, so that at the completion of the work a thread of
weakness gleams through the whole paint and varnish structure. Surface
building fallacies of this nature the wagon painter is forced to
contend with, and his ability to surmount them is repeatedly shackled
by rigid contrary decisions coming from the business office. By this
token, then, it is plain beyond the need of further demonstration,
that wagon painting is an art that bespeaks for its successful practice
technical knowledge and skill of a high order. Its varied phases, none
of which are uninteresting and most of which are really fascinating,
invite study, and the cultivation of talents, both artistic and
mechanical, not required in any other recognized branch of painting.
Probably the

PAINTING OF A FULL-PANELED TOP BUSINESS WAGON

offers more difficulties than any other style of wagon. The workman
first proceeds to clean off all the grease smears, and then takes full
care to get the job thoroughly sandpapered. Then prime job throughout,
running parts and body inside and out, top, bottom, etc. If the job
is to be painted in dark colors use the priming formula No. 1, given
in Chapter III. of this series, and if light colors are desired prime
with white (keg) lead thinned to working consistency with raw linseed
oil, tempered as to drying with a teaspoonful of japan to each pint of
the primer. If no time limit intervenes omit the japan. The running
parts, in due time, are next given careful sandpapering, and then rub
lead, as fully detailed in Chapter III., is applied. The body receives
sandpapering and a lead coat adapted to the final color, mixed, if the
job is to go roughstuffed, with 3/8 oil to 5/8 turpentine, half and
half. Apply to inside as well as outside of body and top, then when
these applied mixtures are dry, putty, using as mixture ingredients dry
white lead, 3 parts; keg lead, 1 part; and rubbing varnish and japan,
equal parts.

For the running parts, if to be painted in light colors, use the
next coat of pigment mixed to a brushing consistency with a trifle
less than 3/8 oil and a corresponding increase over 5/8 turpentine.
Thus gradually reduce the percentage of oil as the final color is
approached. In case dark colors are to prevail, apply over the red lead
a coat of lead pigment carrying a firm binder of oil, say one-sixteenth.

Upon the body, if it is to be painted in dark colors, next apply
four coats of roughstuff, choosing from among the formulas given in
Chapter III. one suited to the time allowance to be reckoned with. If
light colors are to be used, and stuff coats tabooed, all the open,
coarse-grained sweeps of the surface require an application of knifing
lead (again refer to Chapter III.) put on with a bristle brush and
then pressed into the minute wood orifices with a broad blade putty
knife. Then in the next coat of pigment, colored fittingly to meet the
final color, reduce the oil to the proportion of one-fourth oil to
three-fourths turpentine. In the next coat which will have practically
a full percentage of the desired color the quantity of oil used, as
compared to that contained in the preceding coat, should be cut in
twain. The next reduction should bring the pigment down to possessing
simply a good binder of oil. Then, in easy procession, follow the final
color coat, color-and-varnish, if the system permits it, clear rubbing,
and finishing.

On large top paneled jobs, however, when strictly high class results
are desired, it will be quite necessary, regardless of the colors
employed, to employ roughstuff as the body surfacing agent. The
surface is brought up to the roughstuff stage as above advised, and
then, in case of a white job, resort is had to the white roughstuff,
formulas for mixing which will be found in Chapter V. of this work. The
colors used over the stuff coats are either japan ground or washed with
benzine to free them as much as possible of the oil carried.

THE CHEAPER CLASS WAGON

is painted by various processes in all of which the several knifing-in
pigments are esteemed factors. A moderate cost method affording very
neat surface results upon small paneled bodies, ribbed ones, etc., is
executed by first giving the body a coat of some P. W. F., the filler
being applied freely and at the proper time removed and the surface
dried and cleaned up nicely with clean rags. The chamfers on ribbed
bodies are gone over with the filler. The day following, the surface
is given an application of knifing-in lead, the chamfers getting the
same treatment as the flat surface. This knifing-in lead receives a
very clean and smooth knifing, the labor of sandpapering being thus
reduced to the minimum. This coat having dried, the nail holes and
other indentations are next puttied. Sandpapering, first with No. 1/2
paper, lastly with No. 0, follows. This is made to suffice for a base
to color upon, if a light color is desired. If a dark color is wished,
a coat of lead, colored to a full slate color and mixed to dry "dead"
or gloss free, is put on with a camel's-hair brush. This effectually
dresses over and obliterates surface irregularities which might command
attention upon dark surfaces, whereas upon light colored ones, built
with a strong percentage of lead, they would pass unheeded.

The running parts get a primer consisting of lead, 2 parts; yellow
ochre, 1 part; floated in raw linseed oil. The outer or more exposed
parts are next draw-puttied with the regulation knifing lead, this to
be followed in due course with regular carriage putty, being smoothly
placed in nail holes and other cavities. Sandpapering next ensues and
this, in turn, is followed with a gloss-lacking lead coat in which the
final color is well represented.

Perhaps a still cheaper system, as practiced in a factory shop, may
be wanted. If so, prime job throughout, body and gear, with a pigment
strongly colored with the color to be used in painting the vehicle.
This primer, for its liquid ingredients, should have raw linseed
oil, 3/4; turpentine, 1/4; japan, 1 teaspoonful to each quart of the
mixture. Stand the work aside in a warm room for at least 48 hours.
Then thoroughly sandpaper with No. 1 paper, after which putty holes,
etc. Now take the body surface and give it a coat of knifing lead made
of dry white lead, 5/8; keg lead, 1/4; finely ground roughstuff filler,
1/8; rubbing varnish, 1/2; japan, 1/4; turpentine, 1/4; color this lead
to meet final color. Exercise great care in cleaning off all surplus
lead so that a very light polish with No. 1/2 sandpaper will suffice
to insure adequate surface smoothness. This knifing lead will require
thirty-six hours in which to dry reliably. Then reduce the consistency
of quick rubbing varnish somewhat with turpentine, and apply a coat to
the surface. With clean linen cloths wipe off the surface immediately.
This varnish coat serves to act as a stopper and sealer-up of the
knifing lead and putty, in addition to holding forth the subsequent
color and varnish coats becomingly. One day after putting on this
varnish coat rub the surface lightly with No. 0 sandpaper to flick off
dirt atoms, etc., dust carefully, and lay the first coat of color, a
strong binder of varnish being used in both the first and second coats
of color. From this out, color, ornament, and finish in the usual way.

The running parts are draw-puttied on the priming coat, puttied,
sandpapered in good shape, colored, and from thence out carried rapidly
to a finish. This method affords a pretty acceptable finish, especially
if tricked out with a neat turn of ornamentation and a fine show of
varnish.

Again the practice is observed in some establishments of painting the
running parts as just described and doing the body as follows: After
priming as usual, a coat of roughstuff mixed of lead and filler, equal
parts by weight, and rubbing varnish and japan, equal parts, thinning
to an easy brushing consistency with turpentine, is applied. After
giving this coat twenty-four hours to dry, sandpaper with No. 1/2
paper to clear off lumpy substances, etc. Clean off surface carefully
and draw-putty with a mixture composed of dry white lead, 2/3; keg
lead 1-1/3; liquids, rubbing varnish 2/3; japan, 1/3. This coat can
be worked over in ten hours if necessary. Then apply two coats of
roughstuff mixed as above suggested, the two coats being applied in one
day if the limitations of time so demand. If it is wished to avoid the
use of a guide coat, and at the same time enjoy whatever advantages are
afforded by such a coat, give the last coat of roughstuff a strong dash
of yellow ochre.

PAINTING HEAVY TRUCKS AND FARM WAGONS.

At present this class of vehicles is painted in a way differing
considerably from that practiced formerly. Then durability was the
chiefly considered virtue. Now that fickle and flighty feature of
painting is an attainment no more earnestly worked for than is a high
degree of excellence in color effects.

For trucks, while a wide range of colors are popular, radiant reds
and yellows are apparently in the greatest favor. The wheels of such
vehicles are best given a coat of raw linseed oil before the tires
are set. The remaining running parts and the body parts are likewise
coated with oil before the irons are fitted, whenever it is possible
so to do. It is then easier to clean off grease daubs and finger marks
left by the athletic blacksmith and his coy young assistant. Moreover,
there is a saving of time gained by this method. The next coat should
be a half-oil, half-turpentine lead coat tinted or shaded stoutly with
the color to be used in painting the vehicle, unless the color is to
be a yellow, in which case a pure white will be an entirely correct
ground. If a better job is desired apply an extra coat of lead and an
additional coat of rubbing varnish. Beautiful canary yellows are now
seen on a great number of city truck running parts. These yellows
can be purchased of the manufacturers ready for use, barring a simple
thinning down with turps and the addition of a little varnish for a
binder. Upon the first coat of lead, puttying should occur. If red or
some equally positive color is to be used, color putty accordingly.
If yellow, let the putty go white. Sandpaper and smooth surface down
finely upon the first, and, if used, the second coat of lead. In using
light colors, the mechanic will find it needful to keep clean hands,
as the slightest smear makes a disfigurement not easily remedied. For
first-class, solid jobs of canary or other delicate yellow, two coats
of the flat color, and one coat of color-and-varnish will quite surely
be required. The varnish coats when used clear should be very pale,
in fact, colorless. Happily, it is now a comparatively easy matter to
obtain varnishes specially adapted to light, sensitive yellow and white
surfaces.

Many of my readers located in the provincial jobbing paint shop will
have more or less of farm wagon painting to do. As a possible means
of aiding them somewhat in getting the job ready for the color stage
of the process, it may be said that when the job arrives at the paint
shop, the first and most important thing is to prepare the surface for
the first coat of oil and pigment. When possible it is advisable, as in
case of heavy trucks, to coat the job, prior to fitting the irons with
raw linseed oil. If anything, the average country blacksmith is given
to a more lavish surface adornment of soot smears, valve oil chromos,
and scorched quarter-sections than his city brother of hammer and
tongs. Such surface defacements are all violent enemies of durability.
Their sleek and clean removal is therefore imperative. To banish the
oil and grease and soot smears, saturate a cloth in benzine and lightly
wash the surface. This fluid will loosen and quickly remove, with the
aid of a clean cloth for a final drying up, all the greasy substances.
The scorched patches require a very thorough cleaning out, a piece of
glass nicely answering, usually, for slicking off the carved wood.
When the parts are freed from the burnt particles, touch them lightly
with raw linseed oil, wipe dry with a bit of cloth, subsequently
touching the places with shellac. The priming coat, or first pigment
coat, rather, should be controlled by whatever color the job is to
be painted. Putty on this coat. Then a lead coat still more heavily
fortified with the final color is in order. A coat of color-and-varnish
should suffice for a suitable base to stripe and finish upon, save in
case an extra color coat and an extra varnish coat will be needed.

Farm wagon bodies may get priming, a coat of knifing lead, a very
smooth sandpapering on this coat, then a coat of color, one of
color-and-varnish, then finishing varnish. If a little better surface
is wished, a coat of clear rubbing varnish, surfaced closely, will
give the desired result. Dark rich browns for the bodies harmonize
effectively with almost any of the popular yellows for running parts.
Indian red, five parts; Prussian blue, one part; with a dash of yellow
to tone the mixture, give a beautiful brown. Chocolate, maroon, and
wine color, also furnish strikingly handsome results for farm wagon
bodies, when shown over running parts attired in gay coats of yellow.

COLORS FOR BUSINESS WAGONS.

As already suggested, a wide variety of colors of striking brilliancy
are being used in painting business wagons. Perhaps the prevailing
colors may be referred to as the various shades of yellow, reds, and
greens. Chocolates, maroons, browns, and rich shades of blue are also
extensively employed. Many light delivery wagons are painted solidly
throughout, body and running parts, with some one of the beautiful
shades of canary yellow. The lettering and ornamental work upon the
body may be done in aluminum leaf, the shadings and striping being
placed in green or blue. A full-paneled top business wagon may be
painted in this way and the color effects will be handsome. The main
body panel, lower and front panel, rich wine color; center panel,
moldings and other spaces, medium carmine; inside edge of moldings go
black, striping white. Letter in gold and shade in blue, light and
dark. Running parts, carmine; striped 1/4 inch black line, and fine
line of white. Or the body panels may be done in deep ultramarine
blue, moldings black, with letters in gold and ornaments and striping
in gold and white. Running parts, light ultramarine blue striped two
round lines of white, five-sixteenths of an inch apart. Again the main
panel of body may go sage green or a fine cream yellow. If sage green,
paint lower panels merrimac green; running parts still lighter shade of
green. Lettering done in fine gold outline, striping and ornamenting
done in gold. In case main panel is done in cream yellow, throw lower
panels in carmine. Letter in gold. Running parts go a lighter tint of
cream, and stripe black to correspond with black moldings on body.
The fine line should be carmine. If desired, paint body and running
parts carmine, letter in gold or aluminum, and stripe with vermilion.
Moldings on body, black. Another combination shows the upper panel
black, lower panels and running parts, cherry red; or upper panel
black, lower panels amber brown, or deep green, with belt panel olive
green; running parts, a trifle lighter green. The upper and lower body
panel, in case of a three-panel job, may go Indian red, center panel
white; running parts Indian or Tuscan red. Letters and striping done in
gold and white.

A popular style of painting the ribbed body wagon is to paint body
panels dark, rich green; chambers, black; running parts, vermilion.
Panels of body striped primrose or orange yellow; running parts, black.

However, to mention in detail a very small part of the charming color
schemes which are sought and displayed in painting the modern business
vehicle would reach beyond the alloted limit of this chapter. Suffice
it to say that the painter has a richly blossoming and variegated field
of colors from which to select those combinations sanctioned by the
esteemed and appropriate standard of the colorist's art.

PAINTING CANVAS AND CLOTH TOPS.

_Formula No. 1._--Use of white vitriol one-quarter lb. in three quarts
of soft water, adding whiting until a good spreading consistency is
reached. Prime outside of top and curtains. This leaves the material
nicely flexible and coats the texture up so dense and full that a
couple of coats of paint are saved. Then with an elastic paint coat and
finish in the usual way.

_Formula No. 2._--Coat the canvas, barring curtains, with rye flour
paste, inside and out. Permit this paste to dry thoroughly. With
No. 1/2 sandpaper polish cloth lightly to knock off nibs, etc. Then
coat with white lead paint mixed with one-third raw linseed oil and
two-thirds coach japan, the mixture cut a little with turpentine. Next
coat reduce the oil to a trifle less than one-quarter oil to one-half
japan, one-quarter rubbing varnish, the remainder, turpentine. Next
give coat white color-and-varnish. Rub this coat lightly with water and
pumice stone (pulverized), letter, ornament, and finish with a durable
finishing varnish.

_Formula No. 3._--Size with hot glue water, using two coats twenty-four
hours apart. Then apply coat of keg white lead mixed two-thirds raw
linseed oil, the remaining one-third being japan and turpentine, equal
parts. After five days apply coat of lead containing three-eighths
oil, two-eighths japan, three-eighths turpentine. Then apply white
color-and-varnish. Rub lightly, letter, and finish. This is not adopted
to a limited time allowance.

_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.

TOUCHING UP.

Matching colors preparatory to touching up is probably the most
difficult process related to this class of work. To match colors
successfully one must have a correct eye for colors. To distinguish
between closely related tints, shades, hues, and tones, in an accurate
and conclusive way, brings into play talents, or a gift--call it what
you please--not vouchsafed to the average mortal. This is one important
feature of the trade that practice does not make perfect. The colorist
does not acquire his skill by practice merely.

If the fading of colors tended in one general way and to something like
a uniform degree, the successful matching of colors might be controlled
in due time by all painters interested in experimental work. Chemistry
and other scientific aids to color-making have wrought mysterious and,
to the practical man, undemonstrable factors in carriage colors. As
a result, colors fade in all the varying degrees imaginable, and are
subject to so many influences that their control, as a rule, is quite
beyond the skill and practical knowledge of the painter.

Many of the colors, notably the radiant reds lately so fashionable,
are naturally so fugitive that unless extraordinary care is exercised
in preparing the groundwork, they quickly fade; and, their original
identity once lost, it is a feat beyond the ability of the most
masterful colorist or color matcher to restore. To a less extent,
perhaps, other colors operate in the same way.

The question, therefore, presents itself:--Is not the best way to match
colors to prevent their fading, so far as prevention can be made to
apply? One's doctor will affirm that a mound of prevention is worth a
mountain of cure.

It is not expected to make this prevention so sweeping and effectual as
to merit the title of a cure-all. But preventive measures, diligently
practiced, will lessen the fading evil, and thus reduce the work of
matching colors to the minimum. The mixing of colors, as already
alluded to in these chapters, should, so far as it is within the
power of enlightened paint shop knowledge, be made an exact process.
Carelessness and guess work are not to be tolerated. Exact measurements
of all the ingredients which go into a batch of color or paint are
necessary. Then a firm insistence upon hardy, durable grounds,
regardless of the hurrying shouts of the populace, is in order. A
fugitive red, or any other fugitive color, as a matter of fact, is
given a support that will add to its permanency, by adjusting the
ground color with such a strong binder of varnish that the color has a
"live look" to it--an approach to a faint egg-shell gloss, let us say.
The retention of the final color's original purity and strength is in
this way made more permanent.

In color matching, however, which, despite our best efforts, must
continue to be a part of paint shop practice, it is best to take over
to the mixing bench a certain part of the work to be touched up, and,
touching a few inches of space with varnish so that it can be seen what
the spots and what the color as a whole will look like under a fresh
coat of varnish, proceed to gauge the matching color to it. It is a
principle adhered to by many skilled workmen in the matching of colors
that the touch-up color should contain sufficient varnish to cause it
to dry with a stout gloss. A color furnished with a strong varnish
gloss will reflect more light than it will absorb, and _vice versa_.
And the color which in process of drying absorbs more light than it
reflects, will, as a rule, when varnished over, be a different color
(or a different shade, hue, or tint of that color) than it looked to be
in the mixing pot or on the surface after it had simply dried free from
"tack." An absorption of light has effected a chemical or other change
in it, and what was judged as a close match proves a wide departure
from it. Even with the counteracting agency of varnish, a color is
pretty sure to dry out lighter than it appears in the mixing cup, so
that close calculation and the exercise of the colorist's art in a fine
way is needed to get the desired match.

The touch-up color having been satisfactorily prepared and tested, the
felloes and all places on the job worn bare to the wood being, in the
meantime, touched with lead and oil, the work of touching first the
body and then the running parts is carried along.

Then the dressing of the top, side curtains, and, if need be, the dash,
ensues. The interior of the body is next varnished, then the outside
surface is flowed, and, finally, the running parts.

Coming next to the touch-up-and-varnish job, and by many painters
regarded as belonging to the same class, is the job that gets one
coat of color, striping, and one coat of varnish. This job offers an
opportunity for deception of which the paint shop graduates in the
school of intellectual villainy are quick to take advantage. They
solemnly assure the prospective customer that they will _paint_ his
vehicle for, say, $6, the price asked ordinarily for the color and one
coat varnish job. The stranger, caught by the price and the alluring
prospect of getting the job _painted_, responds to the "hold up" until
the dishonesty of the thing is revealed, as it is sure to be, by the
exacting needs of service. The color, stripe, and varnish job calls
for no little dexterity in many cases, in placing the color directly
over a hard, flinty surface of paint and varnish and making it stay
for a reasonable term of service. The surface once cleaned, as per
directions in the preceding case, the body is given a light rub with
water and pumice stone flour, and the gear is treated to a smart
smoothing off with fine sandpaper. These fine, and, to the naked eye,
almost invisible scratches and furrows, suffice to afford a foothold,
a gripping place, for the color. These hard, adamantine surfaces over
which quick colors are often necessarily placed may be classed as
prolific sources of color flaking and chipping. In addition to the
sandpapering as a means of promoting durability, the use of a strong
binder of varnish in the color is advised. The one coat color, stripe,
and varnish job is quickly done and should afford a good profit.

The color, color-and-varnish, stripe, and finish job simply means a
coat of color-and-varnish applied over the color after it has been
placed as just described. Then a "mossing" or rubbing with hair to the
extent of knocking of the gloss of the color-and-varnish, striping,
and finishing, the body surface, of course, to get a rather light rub
with water and pumice stone, both before applying the color and after
applying the color-and-varnish. Should the body surface show signs
of being fissured and cracked somewhat, it were better to forego the
rubbing with pumice stone and water, substituting therefor a dressing
down with No. 1/2 sandpaper. This provides against moisture getting
into the checks and causing trouble.

Following in the wake of the above class of work come the jobs that
are afflicted with all sorts and conditions of surface ailments; jobs
that ought properly to be burned off if the owners could be convinced
of the economy of the process. One way of treating a body surface
threaded with fissures consists of taking a two-inch scraper, such
as car painters use, made of a file cranked over at both ends so as
to give two cutting blades, and scraping the varnish completely off
down to the undercoatings of color and paint. Follow the scraping with
a quick rubbing with lump pumice stone or a fine grade of brick and
water, avoiding even a close approach to the wood. In most cases the
cracks will, by this process, be pretty cleanly removed; when they
are not entirely slicked off the remaining vestiges are, as a rule,
so faintly traced as to give no further trouble when bridged over by
the coats of lead, color, and varnish. The rubbing once completed, the
surface is given time to dry out thoroughly; then sanding with No. 0
ensues, this, in turn, giving way to a coat of facing lead mixed to dry
without gloss, the lead being colored to a decided slate shade with
lampblack. Apply with a camel's-hair brush. Sandpaper this coat with
No. 1/2 paper; then apply color, and finish out as previously advised
in these chapters. If a different plan of filling up is preferred, cut
down the surface with No. 2 sandpaper, and first apply a lead coat
mixed of 1/3 raw linseed oil to 2/3 turpentine. In 48 hours give a
coat of roughstuff made of keg lead and filler, equal parts by weight,
thinned to a stiff paste with rubbing varnish and japan, half and half,
and then reduced to a free brushing consistency with turpentine. First
puttying should be done on the lead coat, and the second one on the
first filler coat. A couple more of roughstuff coats will suffice to
give the needed body of rubbing pigment. Thus the old flinty foundation
is furnished with the requisite elasticity through the medium of the
oil lead coat. The roughstuff foundation is made to dry hard and firm,
like unto the condition of the old foundation itself, and in this way
an affinity between the old and the new is established.

Another foundation is quickly builded by taking any good roughstuff
filler and reducing it to a spreading consistency with shellac,
the first coat, however, being made a bit thinner in body than the
succeeding coats, so that it will more readily penetrate the cracks.
Three coats of this preparation usually suffices to yield the necessary
foundation free from fissures or other blemishes. The roughstuff filler
and shellac make a compound remarkably quick setting; hence, it must be
worked very quickly if smoothness of application would be achieved.

Again, it is the practice in some quarters to sandpaper the old surface
down as close as possible, giving a stout coat of lead mixed with 1/4
oil to 3/4 turpentine, and when this coat has dried for a couple of
days, putty all the deep cavities, following, the day after, with a
glazing of putty over the surface, the glazing being done with a broad
putty knife, and the putty being worked out to a uniform film and as
smooth as possible.

In respect to the running parts, all flaky, shelly patches of surface
should be scraped. All torn and shredded places require smoothing down
nicely with scraper and sandpaper. The old remaining paint should be
perfectly solid and secure. The parts cleaned and scoured to the bare
wood had best be given a lead coat containing, as one of its liquid
ingredients, at least 1/3 linseed oil. The second coat, applied, like
the first, with a camel's-hair brush, may contain merely a binder of
oil, avoidance of gloss being a strictly observed rule. Then putty
deep holes and indentations, following this with draw puttying all
parts in need of such treatment. Upon this lead coat, or a second one
if the owner is not averse to paying for it, the finish is reached in
the usual way, as advised in a former chapter. In painting over these
cracked, flaky, and insecure foundations, the first principle to be
observed is to get the shaky, shelly material completely removed,
leaving nothing but the firm and securely fastened pigment. The second
one is to secure as thorough an amalgamation of the old and new
materials as practical paint-shop knowledge and skill will insure.

BURNING OFF PAINT.

However good the crack-filling formulas may be, they are at best only
expedients of temporary value. Burning off the paint, thus getting a
sure foundation from the wood itself, is effective and free from those
injurious effects which are so often characteristic of paint removing
preparations, etc. As in the past affirmed by the writer, "with the old
more or less shaky foundation, concerning the exact nature of which
no man knoweth, fairly and cleanly removed, the painter is enabled to
work from the foundation coat to the finish with the bright light of
knowledge concerning the preparation and application of the materials
used, drying, action, etc., flashing through his mind." This is why
burning off is so much more satisfactory, usually, to the painter. In
the lingo of the street, he knows "where he is at," and the measure of
security afforded him.

To do first-class paint burning--and the other kind is not to be
considered in these chapters--the workman must be provided with a
strictly reliable and good-working lamp, burning gasoline or naphtha.
To be maintained in a condition to render satisfactory results, the
flues and mechanism require thorough cleaning and inspection before
the lamp is laid away after use. No unused fluid should be allowed to
remain in the reservoir of the lamp when it is not in use, as the vapor
arising therefrom will very shortly deposit a film of sticky substance
on the surface of the flues that will prevent a smooth and even flame
when the lamp is again put into use. And eventually, if the flues are
permitted to become more or less choked up in this way, the lamp will
refuse to work at all. Explosions and accidents of many kinds are
possible with the lamp that is allowed to clog and gum up. The burning
lamp should be kept in a clean place, and show a clean, bright surface,
both interior and exterior. A couple of putty knives, one narrow and
one broad blade, a good, serviceable glove or mitten provided with a
wrist and half-arm sleeve, and a leather apron reaching well up to the
workman's chest, belong to the burner's kit, and should be kept in
close company with the lamp.

The operation of burning consists in simply directing the flame upon
the surface long enough to soften up the pigment and permit of its
easy removal with the knife. In a way, "burning off" is a misnomer. To
literally burn the paint off, as the apprentice might possibly construe
the term if not otherwise enlightened, would result in charring the
wood to a harmful extent. Begin burning at a part of the surface which
will allow the softened paint to be thrown off over a portion of the
surface still coated with paint. As the knife is usually handled with
the right hand it is best to begin burning on the left side of the
panel. Thus the softened paint is thrown to the right and across the
unburned portion of the surface. It is a wise rule to remember, in
connection with this work, that a job burned right is in a fair way
to be painted right. If through an accident or otherwise the surface
should get scorched in places, a complete scraping out of the burned
wood fibres will be necessary. Then with equal parts of raw linseed
oil and turpentine touch just the charred patches. After a solid block
sandpapering, the surface may be taken in hand and conducted to a
finish in the usual way.

TABLE OF MATERIALS USED IN PAINTING VEHICLES.

For a landau:--

BODY.

Priming 2 quarts
Lead 1-1/2 "
Putty 3/4 to 1-1/2 lbs.
Sandpaper 10 sheets
Roughstuff (four coats) 1 gallon
Guide coat 3/4 quart
Color (per coat) 1 pint
Color-and-varnish (2 coats) 1-1/2 quarts
Clear rubbing (1 coat) 1-1/2 pints
Coat of finishing 1-3/4 "

RUNNING PARTS.

Priming 1-1/8 quarts
Rub lead 1-1/4 "
Lead coat 1 "
Putty 1/2 lb.
Sandpaper 12 sheets
Color 1 pint
Color-and-varnish (per coat) 1-1/2 pints
Clear rubbing 1-1/2 "
Coat finishing 1 quart

In the case of a Berlin coach, perhaps the quantity of each item of
material should be increased over the above to the extent of 1/4 for
the body surface. Running parts require the same quantity. The body of
a six-passenger rockaway will need, approximately, 1/8 less material
than the body of the landau or coach. The body of the coupe-rockaway
1/4 less. Running parts consume about the same quantity as the heavier
vehicles here named.

The quantity of varnish named for the above vehicles provides for
toe-boards, checks, steps, bottoms, etc.

For buggies of the various styles:

BODY.

Priming 5/8 pint
Lead 1/2 "
Putty 1/4 lb.
Sandpaper 6 sheets
Roughstuff (4 coats) 1 quart
Color (2 coats) 1 pint
Lampblack (for bottoms) 1/2 "
Color-and-varnish 5/8 "
Clear rubbing (2 coats) 1 "
Finishing varnish 2/3 "
Varnish in color and filler 1 "

RUNNING PARTS.

Priming 1 pint
Lead (2 coats) 1-3/4 "
Putty 3/8 lb.
Sandpaper 12 sheets
Color 1 pint
Color-and-varnish 1-1/4 "
Clear rubbing 1-1/4 "
Coat of finishing 1-1/2 "

Such light pleasure vehicles as surreys, cabriolets, etc., require an
increase in the quantity of each item of material over that accorded to
the buggies and phaetons of about one-half.

The above tables may be of benefit to some of my readers who desire a
practical basis upon which to estimate the cost of the material to be
used upon a certain vehicle. Labor is said by competent authorities to
represent 75 per cent of the cost of painting a vehicle. With the cost
of material at hand--a computation made comparatively easy by the aid
of the tables here set forth--and with 75 per cent of the whole cost
credited to the labor item, a very close estimate upon general vehicle
painting can be made.

Guess work in gauging the price of a job of vehicle painting paves the
way to an unprofitable business venture; more surely in these days of
uproarious competition than in times past. Careful estimates, which
include cost of labor, material, shop rent, wear and tear of tools,
and such other incidental features of business which may properly be
taken note of in an estimate, have come to be imperative necessities in
carriage and wagon painting. Verily, it is true that it is not all of
painting to paint--_estimating_ should be included therein.

TOPS AND DASHES.

The proper care and treatment of carriage tops and dashes forms one of
the significant features of the re-painting business. About every class
of citizens who have to do with carriages--the trimmer, harness-maker,
livery man, blacksmith, hack-driver, and jockey--regularly come forward
bubbling over with advice and formulas for the preservation of tops;
but usually the paint shop is resorted to as the Court of Appeal. The
aim of the painter should be to impart to the top and dash a finish
which will correspond to that given the other parts of the vehicle, at
the same time furnishing the leather or rubber a preservative agent
that will provide reasonable durability.

In every jobbing paint shop a space should be set apart for the safe
and clean storage of tops and dashes; also cushions, carpets, and
other interior furnishings. In the space selected for the purpose a
rack made to conform to the size of the space may be erected. Build it
to consist of two tiers, with a half-story tier above for the holding
of cushions, carpets, etc. If the space is large enough, make the
rack, say, 12 feet long, 10 feet high, and 4 feet wide. The two first
tiers will hold six buggy tops. The rack is made of 1-inch and 2-inch
stuff, hemlock, say, and need not cost to exceed $1.50. Tops that are
regularly calashed will require only half space. Under no circumstances
should a top be calashed and stored away in the shop unless it has
been used and subject to such treatment. The top (and the dash also,
when removed), upon removal should be cleaned thoroughly before being
set away. If the top joints need a coating of lead it should be given
them prior to placing them in the rack or permanent storage place.
It is bad policy to defer painting and finishing such parts until it
is nearly time to hang off the other parts of the vehicle. A uniform
quality of finish cannot in this way be secured. The irons on tops, if
chipped, rusted, etc., require lead, often a facing with putty, color,
color-and-varnish, a light rub with pumice stone flour and water,
and finishing with a good hard drying varnish. A few days before the
vehicle is finished the top belonging to it may be taken in hand, the
lining carefully dusted out, and the leather or rubber sponged off and
dried over with a chamois skin. The further treatment may depend upon
the material of which the top is composed. A great many vehicle owners,
livery men in particular, prefer to have leather tops--except the badly
worn ones--go without a dressing of any kind, a simple washing with
castile soap and soft water being thought to amply suffice. Hand-buffed
leather tops in good condition, in the writer's estimation, require no
dressing; the machine-buffed ones, however, are benefited by a thin,
evenly-applied coat of some strictly reliable enamel top dressing.
And it is pertinent here to say that even the best of dressings,
those which long usage has sanctioned as of established value, are of
such a nature that they are beneficial only when applied sparingly.
A dressing, to be genuinely useful to the carriage painter, should
preserve the enamel of a top, strengthen the leather or rubber, and
enable it to retain its natural flexibility for the longest possible
period.

If, then, the top be rubber or machine-buffed leather, apply dressing,
not forgetting the side curtains. If a leather top and the owner wishes
it to be given some preparation other than the regulation enamel top
dressing of commerce, the following formulas may be used, the two first
being particularly beneficial to the leather.

_Formula No. 1._--Neatsfoot oil, 1 pint, beef suet, 1/8 lb. Melt the
oil and suet together. Then add a tablespoonful of melted beeswax,
mixing the ingredients carefully, and confining in an air-tight vessel.
The beeswax has a cooling property greatly to be desired in a leather
preservative.

_Formula No. 2._--Darken neatsfoot oil with a drop black. Apply
sparingly and rub out well with soft rags. This formula does not give
the brilliancy of finish that an enamel dressing does, but it gives to
the leather a softness and pliability not obtained otherwise.

_Formula No. 3._--Adapted for either rubber or leather. Of finishing
varnish, 1 quart; beeswax, 1 oz; drop black, sufficient to color
mixture properly. Thin to a brushing consistency with the turpentine.
The worth and reliability of No. 3 is vouched for by a jobbing shop
painter of twenty-five years' experience.

_Formula No. 4._--This provides for the use of boiled linseed oil
stained with drop black thinned with turpentine. Apply this preparation
with a brush, rubbing it out well and uniformly. Set aside for 30
minutes; then with clean soft rags, rub the mixture off, polishing
until a clean cloth shows no stain when rubbed over the leather. Places
which show cracks and hard service will need a second coating with the
mixture. The leather is not thickened with this mixture, has no unusual
attraction for dust and dirt, and will remain soft and flexible.

Fine grained leather dashes, fenders, etc., which do not look worn or
rusty, appearing only soiled and somewhat smeary, may be gone over with
a cloth saturated lightly with kerosene oil, and then polished with
soft woolen rags.

The commoner grades may be given patent enamel dressing, or, if
preferred, a thin coat of drop black rubbed off immediately with soft
rags and then flowed with a first-class finishing varnish. If much
worn, they may be greatly freshened up and renewed if treated with some
of the formulas given herewith.

MARKING AND METHODS OF IDENTIFYING VEHICLES AND THEIR PARTS.

The jobbing paint shop requires and should be given a system of marking
and tabulating all work taken in, so that when the finish is reached
and hanging off occurs, valuable time need not be wasted in searching
for mislaid and unidentified parts, such as cushions, carpets, storm
aprons, and the like. Unless each part is carefully marked with a
properly filled out tag attached to said part, and an itemized entry
made in the receiving book fitted with printed forms, a filled out form
being given the vehicle owner and a duplicate copy retained by the
painter, "confusion worse confounded" may be expected to occasionally
occur. The following is a blank form which the writer several years ago
published and, having seen it in use in the painting business, he can
cheerfully endorse its merits as a practical working form:

--------------------------------------------------------------

RECEIVED FROM_________________________________________________

BY____________________________________________________________

--------------------------------------------------------------

DAY MONTH DATE

RECEIVED ON___________________________________________________

TO BE FINISHED ON_____________________________________________

--------------------------------------------------------------

ARTICLES LEFT WITH____________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

REMARKS_______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

--------------------------------------------------------------

WASHING FINISHED WORK.

The duty of the painter does not end with the hanging off of the
finished vehicle. He has still one other important mission to perform,
namely, proffering advice to the vehicle owner upon the preservation
of carriage surfaces. Such advice may be directed along the following
lines:--

Carriages require storage in apartments free from dampness, furnished
with plenty of light, invited if possible, from all sides, and entirely
removed from the stable and its attendant emanations of ammoniacal
gases. Ammonia, make the vehicle user understand, is a deadly enemy to
colors and varnish. Brick walls may also correctly be classed as paint
and varnish enemies causing loss of lustre and general deterioration.
A newly-varnished vehicle surface is greatly benefited, once the
varnish is sufficiently hard to permit it, by frequent washings with
clean cold water. Premature water baths, however, are to be avoided,
save when made absolutely necessary by reason of mud spotting or other
accidents of that order. The suggestion one hears occasionally offered
to the effect that a surface may be safely rinsed with water three
days after being finished is not founded upon practical paint-shop
or varnish-making philosophy, so long as it is made to apply to a
high-grade elastic varnish. Such a varnish may be, to a mere finger
touch, quite dry, but in reality only the outer film is partially dry,
and putting it into service or submitting it to a cold water bath are
each in their turn risky experiments. The fact that an elastic varnish
has reached the free-from-dust drying stage should not be taken as a
trustworthy indication that the time for washing has arrived.

There is no question concerning the benefit of a cold water rinsing to
a varnish surface that has well hardened as to its outer film. Frequent
washings will then improve its lustre and durability. It must always
be taken into consideration that in the case of first-class painting,
assimilation of the various varnish coats ensues, and a fair measure
of time is therefore necessary after the application of the finishing
coat ere the washing can be safely given. In washing a varnish surface,
gaseous impurities which so readily accumulate, are removed.

Varnish, when at a certain temperature, is susceptible of contraction
when any colder body is brought in contact with it. This is the
controlling principle of varnish washing. The contraction of a
not properly hardened varnish, after cold water is applied to it,
causes the liquid gas of the varnish to escape through the medium
of evaporation. Drying, according to the natural laws of drying, a
varnish retains those elements which add to its brilliancy and elastic
properties. When forced to dry by virtue of premature cold water
flooding, unfavorable results may be expected to follow.

Washing a newly-varnished vehicle should never occur under the bright
glare of the sun. Plenty of water flooded gently upon the surface
with a soft sponge is a necessity in the washing process. Dirt
accumulations, if any, are softened and carried from the surface under
the volume of water. After a careful sponging, the surface may be dried
off nicely with a clean lint-free chamois skin. If a hose be used, it
should be adroitly wielded, and the stream so gauged that no harm can
come to the surface from the water pressure. The hose in the hands
of an incompetent coachman is the cause of a great many accidents to
freshly laid varnish.

Caution the washer against wetting the inside of the carriage body.
Glue joints, etc., do not strongly resist the attacks of water. Under
no circumstances permit water to dry on the surface. Stains more or
less pronounced are almost sure to follow. Hot water, soapy water, or
water not strictly clean should not be allowed to come in contact with
a surface of varnish. Do not allow mud to dry upon the surface. Wash it
immediately upon its return to the carriage house after being run in
the mud.

SCHEDULE OF PRICES FOR RE-PAINTING.

The prices here given are presented in the nature of a working plan
for the benefit of painters located in the smaller towns and villages
of the country. The schedule is subject to revision or correction in
localities where the prevailing grade of work does not warrant the
adoption of the prices herein set forth.

Touch-up and varnish buggy or phaeton (dress top if necessary) $5.50
Rubbing bodies of above jobs, give coat of color throughout
bodies and gears, stripe and finish 7.00
Extra coat of varnish to above jobs 2.00
Burning paint off body of phaeton or buggy, surfacing gears with
lead and re-painting throughout 15.00
Burning paint from gear 3.00
Touch-up and varnish surrey 7.00
Extra coat of varnish for above job 3.00
Extra coat of varnish for body 1.50
Painting surrey throughout 14.00
Burning paint off entire job and re-painting 20.00
Touch-up and varnish cabriolet 10.00
Extra coat of varnish for above job 4.00
Extra coat of varnish for body 2.00
Painting cabriolet first-class throughout 23.00
Burning paint off body 3.00
Burning paint off job entire and painting 30.00
Touch-up and varnish a four or six passenger rockaway 20.00
Additional coat of varnish for above job 10.00
Surfacing upon the old paint structure and re-painting 40.00
Burning off body and re-painting job 50.00
Touch-up and varnish brougham or landau 25.00
Surfacing and painting over the old paint structure 48.00
Burning paint off body, re-painting, and finishing throughout 60.00
Touch-up and varnish Berlin coach 30.00
Surfacing and painting upon the old paint 55.00
Burning paint off body, re-painting and finishing entire 70.00
Painting and finishing hearse 45.00
Burning paint off body, re-painting, and finishing job entire 55.00
Touch-up and varnish hearse 20.00
Platform wagons: surfacing and painting upon old paint structure 12.00
Color, color-and-varnish, stripe, and finish 10.00
Varnish light business wagon 6.00
Painting light express or business wagon without top 10.00 to 12.00
Painting top light express or business wagon 2.00
Painting heavy express or business wagon 12.00 to 15.00
Painting top heavy express or business wagon 3.00
Lettering on vehicles, per foot, plain paint .15 to .20
Lettering, per foot, shaded .20 to .25
Lettering, per foot, shaded and ornamented .35 to .40
Lettering, per foot, plain gold .45 to .50
Lettering, per foot, shaded .60 to .70
Lettering, ornamented gold .80, .90, and 1.00

CHAPTER XIV.

A STUDY OF MATERIALS: WHITE LEAD, ITS PURITY, ETC.--QUALITY OF COLORS
IN GENERAL--ADULTERATION PRACTICALLY CONSIDERED--PURITY OF RAW LINSEED
OIL--TURPENTINE--TESTING COACH JAPAN--VARNISH.

The name of a thing should not be accepted for all there is to the
thing itself. The carriage painter has very pronounced reasons for
bearing this fact in mind when engaged in studying and passing judgment
upon the materials he finds it needful to use in his business. Probably
the most important pigment which finds its way into the carriage and
wagon paint shop is white lead. This pigment has afforded a theme for
increasing discussion, its qualities and adaptability having been
extensively canvassed. Numerous substitutes have been introduced during
the past two decades, but white lead still retains its pre-eminent
popularity. Lead compounds and various adulterated brands have given
the painter plenty of trouble, and caused him to devote more attention
to the quality of his white lead stock than formerly. Because of its
soft, pliable, grain-filling property, its established elasticity,
density, body, fine working quality, and its merits as a reliable
drying pigment, white lead is the filling up and foundation material
_par excellence_.

The purity of lead deserves the carriage painter's first consideration.
It has been practically determined that a pure lead, endowed with all
the virtues which should distinguish pure lead, when mixed and used in
combination with other pigments or colors, holds its quality better
and is less susceptible of change than a compound or adulterated lead.
Moreover, pure white lead, with its soft, fine, elastic texture, has a
natural adhesiveness, a surface-filling and leveling-up property, which
the impure lead carrying a percentage of gritty, flinty ingredients
does not possess. The pure lead works out under the brush more
pleasantly and with less brushing than the compound, and it dries with
greater uniformity, etc.

At the same time it is well to remember that a strictly pure lead may
have a number of features in its make-up decidedly objectionable to
the carriage painter. It may be imperfectly washed, or it may be too
coarsely ground, etc. In his study of white lead, then, the painter
will find it a matter of value to determine the adaptability of the
lead to the requirements of his business. After convincing himself
of the purity of the lead, it remains for him to test for fineness
of grinding. A lead ground fine--impalpably fine, if it please my
readers--lightens the labor of sandpapering, strikes into the wood
fibres stoutly, and covers the maximum surface space. It has good
coloring and covering power when mixed with colors to form tints, and
for other important parts which a white lead plays in vehicle painting
it is especially adapted.

Nor should a carriage lead be ground in too large a percentage of
oil. For coats between priming and color but comparatively little
oil is needed, and washing out with benzine or turpentine entails an
unnecessary amount of labor. Hence, it should be insisted upon that
carriage painters' lead be ground moderately stiff in oil, so that
protracted washing-out may be avoided on the one hand, and extended
mixing and breaking-up operations shunned on the other. A practical
and, at the same time, a conclusive test of fineness is furnished by
taking two pieces of plate glass 8×8 inches in size, setting them
securely in blocks of wood, and then smearing a couple of small flakes
of the lead, rubbing the pieces of glass together. Continue rubbing
with a firm, even pressure until a uniform distribution of the pigment
and a thorough impact is established. The glasses should then disclose
the nature of the grinding. To learn the drying power of the lead, take
the palette knife and slick a small quantity over the glass and set
aside, noting the time consumed in drying. A lead ground in the proper
proportion of oil for carriage work should, as taken from the keg and
smeared in a thin film over the glass, dry in twelve hours so that the
finger may be passed over it without sticking.

What has here been said in reference to chemical purity or strictly
pure as a necessity in the white lead product does not apply to all
the pigments so useful to the vehicle painter. For reasons here shown
lead extenders and lead compounds should be emphatically objected to.
A disavowal of their worth as carriage painting pigments, however, in
no wise lessens the significance of the fact, as already pointed out,
that a strictly pure lead is very often an expensive, if, indeed, it
be not a worthless, lead to buy. Chemically pure is not invariably an
accurate gauge of quality. A chemically pure lead that has not fineness
to recommend it lacks an essentially vital quality. In respect to the
pigments and colors following in the wake of white lead it has been
made plain on many a hard-fought field of experiment that the color
consumer, the practical painter, the workman far removed from the
analytic gentleman of the laboratories, is chiefly concerned in getting
a pigment or color adapted to his needs more completely than any other
available one. It may not be chemically pure as the chemists would
construe the term; but if it responds satisfactorily to a practical
test, it is then serving the painter's practical need. As declared by
the writer, in an article published some time ago, "a color or pigment
may be pure in the sense that it is not adulterated, and still fall
short of being chemically pure. It is the duty of the consumer to avoid
buying, under the label 'strictly pure,' an adulterated color. The real
color contained in such a product is then costing him considerably
more than would a color in a state of purity." The chemist and the
practical painter do not agree oftentimes upon what may be called
adulterants. Once upon a time, as the fairy books say, at a painters'
convention the chemist employed to make an analysis of chrome yellow
stated in substance that practically everything outside of the chromate
of lead should be classed as an adulterant or as a matter out of
place. The practical painter who has looked up the subject of chrome
yellow manufacture could tell the chemist in this case that he has
signally failed to take into consideration the necessary constituents
of the different shades of chrome yellow. As, for example, acetate and
nitrate of lead, bichromate of potash and bichromate of soda, sulphate
of soda, etc., are constituents of a pure chromate of lead. And our
friend, the chemist, would tell us that a chromate of lead composed
of some of the above ingredients is not a chemically pure article.
What the carriage painter, the consumer, will find it of value to ask
himself is this: Does a given pigment or color suit the requirements
of my business? If in doubt as to the utility of the given pigment
or color, then an immediate practical test should be resorted to.
It is not the purpose of the writer to belittle the position or the
usefulness of the chemist. The value of a chemical analysis in the
detection of adulteration and in explaining how a color is made is
cheerfully acknowledged; but after the chemist's deduction must follow
the practical test. In conducting a practical test the foremost aim of
the painter should be to consider the color or pigment to be tested in
relation to the object for which it is intended. Shade, brilliancy,
working property, durability, etc., are entitled to a careful and
chief consideration in a test for quality. And a test for quality, if
conducted painstakingly and thoroughly, will disclose the real value
of the material to the consumer. When extenders are added to a pigment
for the sole purpose of enriching the manufacturer at the expense of
the consumer, the practice becomes adulteration, pure and simple.
If, however, such extenders are used to, and actually do, increase a
pigment's usefulness, fortifying it in a way and to an extent that it
needs to be fortified, the painter will not attempt to question its
commercial value.

The study of the pigments which the vehicle painter calls to his uses
is a feature of business deserving the most rigid attention. Carried on
watchfully and with a vigilant regard for details, it cannot well fail
to increase paint shop profits.

LIQUID MATERIALS.

In the consumption of liquid materials the vehicle painter has no use
for extenders. Unfortunately, however, the thrifty and shifty sons of
adulteration, after the manner of Marco Bozzaris, in the Fourth Reader,
are struggling, tooth and nail, to adulterate linseed oil and the
turpentine product in a way to defy detection.

What the cathode ray is to a certain branch of science, pure raw
linseed oil is to carriage and wagon painting. Back in a somewhat
indefinite period of the past, linseed oil pre-empted the chief claim
in the domain of paint and varnish, and its right to a royal office in
that domain has never yet been successfully disputed, notwithstanding
the fact that a flood of substitutes and counterfeits have been turned
loose upon the market. In the language of another, "Raw linseed oil is
the king of the paint realm. There are lots of usurpers in the field
but they are short lived. The true homage of the brotherhood of the
brush continues to be paid to the old stand-by. It is the gold of the
paint shop currency."

In the basic stage of carriage and wagon painting, pure raw linseed
oil is conceded to be the life of the pigment. Impure or adulterated
linseed oil--the spurious, fraudulent article, if you please--has
more to do with the premature decay of paint and varnish than one at
first thought might concede. During the process of painting there
are numerous complications which, by the harsh reality of scientific
analysis, could be directly traced to the insidious effects of an
adulterated brand of oil. Investigations conducted by competent
experts have shown that the self-assertiveness of adulterated oil
is determined, not so much by apparent unfavorable effects upon the
under coats, but rather from its resistless attack upon the lustre
and durability of the finishing varnish. Some of the oils used to
adulterate linseed oil are pronounced by such authorities as Hurst and
Terry to be good driers, although, as in the case of rosin oil, they
may seemingly dry good upon the surface only to soften up later on.
And provided these adulterant oils are not good driers, the people
engaged in floating them along the avenues of trade have simply to add
a certain proportion of drying japan to O. K. them in this respect.

The vehicle painter's practice of using raw linseed oil insures him
somewhat against oil adulteration, as it is much more difficult to
adulterate the raw linseed product than the boiled and have the fraud
go undetected. A raw linseed oil when fresh and new is of a bright
yellowish-green color, and as it grows older it becomes paler in color
and perhaps a little brighter. When spread on a surface in a thin film
and exposed to a pure dry air it will harden quite solidly in from
forty-five to fifty hours. It ranks as reliable drying oil, promptly
solidifying when acted upon by peroxide of hydrogen or by subnitrate
of mercury. A non-drying oil refuses to show a change of this kind.
Combining powerfully with oxygen, it offers, when dry, a stronger
resinous character than any other oil.

Probably the chief adulterants of linseed oil should be listed as
rosin, mineral, and fish oil; cottonseed oil being looked upon with
less favor than formerly, while hempseed oil, owing to its pronounced
tendency to change color, is not much in evidence at present.

Rosin oil is strictly an unreliable drier. It toughens the working
property of paint and is deficient in all the essentials which should
distinguish a good paint oil. Its low flash point, as indicated by
Hurst,--300° to 330° F.--together with its strong rosin odor when
heated, would appear to make it an easily-detected adulterant.
Deodorizing processes have of late served to fortify this oil, and
fish oil as well, against detection by the sense of smell. Fish oil,
chiefly the product of the menhaden fishing industry flourishing so
vigorously along the Atlantic coast, has naturally an offensively fishy
odor, particularly when heated. Its main recommendations as a linseed
oil adulterant are tersely summed up by Terry as follows: The rapidity
with which it oxidizes, and its good body, render it not unsuitable as
a vehicle for paint.

The low cost of mineral oils, including coal oil and petroleum, has
caused them to become highly regarded as linseed oil adulterating
mediums. Mineral oils more unfavorably affect the drying property of
paint than its working and spreading property.

Cottonseed oil belongs to the non-drying class of oils, but since
recent processes have made possible the elimination of the pronounced
acrid taste, its presence in linseed oil by the sense of taste is not
easy to expose.

Hempseed oil is a mean tasting, mean smelling, but good drying oil,
and only because of its rapid color changes, wearing finally to a dull
brown, is its employment in linseed oil restricted to narrow limits.

In testing for linseed oil adulteration, ammonia is often effectively
used, equal parts of the ammonia and oil being employed. Cottonseed
oil under the ammonia treatment shows an opaque brown. When it is
present in linseed oil the liquid goes to an opaque yellow. Fish oil
under the effects of ammonia goes white. Rosin oil will disclose its
presence in linseed oil if confined in a bottle, with alcohol added in
the proportion of five parts of alcohol to one part of oil, and smartly
shaken, the alcohol afterwards being poured off. A clear sugar-of-lead
solution is added to the oil, and should rosin oil be an ingredient a
cloudy precipitate will manifest itself. A practical and simple test
often used in the carriage paint shop consists in taking a couple of
test tubes and putting a quantity of linseed oil of known purity in
one tube and a quantity of suspected oil in the other, then immersing
the tubes in warm water for, say, 1/4 of an hour, and immediately upon
removal from the water pouring the pure oil into the tube of suspected
oil. If any impurity exists, different colors will form in layers. And
it may be here proper to say, in passing, that in making tests and
comparisons of materials, an article of established purity and quality
should be used as a standard. Some time ago a well-known paint firm
issued a card giving some easy and practical tests for the detection
of linseed oil adulterants, and knowing their value to the vehicle
painter, the writer herewith appends three tests:

No 1.--Shake equal parts of oil and strong nitric acid in a small white
glass vial or bottle, and allow to stand from fifteen minutes to two
hours.

UPPER LOWER
STRATUM STRATUM

Pure } Muddy Almost
Linseed oil } olive green colorless

Presence of } Decided deep Deep red or
Fish oil } red brown cherry color

No. 2.--Shake with concentrated solution of potash or soda, and then
add warm water and shake again. Allow to stand half an hour, and if any
petroleum (paraffine oil) is present it will separate from the soap.

No. 3.--Put samples of oil in tubes and place them in a freezing
mixture (2 parts ice or snow, 1 part salt). If the oils solidify at
0° or 10° to 13° F., then cottonseed oil is probably present. (Pure
linseed oil solidifies at 17° F.)

The hydrometer should be among the possessions of every well-regulated
paint shop. It is an inexpensive little instrument, and for testing
turpentine it is unsurpassed, while for the detection of cottonseed and
mineral oil in linseed oil it is a quick and active agent. First test
a brand of linseed oil of absolute purity; and such an oil, bear in
mind, should not vary 1/2 degree from 20° to 60° Fahr. In the case of a
20% addition of mineral oil to linseed oil (the same temperature being
maintained in testing both the pure and the suspected samples) the
specific gravity will be 1-1/2° less than the pure oil. A 25% addition
of cottonseed oil will be 1° lower. Fish oil being of about, if not
quite, the same specific gravity as pure linseed oil, the adulterator
can beat the hydrometer.

Pure raw linseed oil is so essentially a part of durable carriage and
wagon painting that especial attention should constantly be directed to
the oil supply.

In respect to his purchases of turpentine the painter should be
likewise cautious and investigating. The adulteration of turpentine
with headlight oil, or a lower grade of kerosene, and with 112 fire
test oil has been, and continues to be, actively carried on. This 112
fire test oil, as employed in small southern distilleries not shadowed
by inspectors, shows a list of ingredients closely corresponding to,
heavy paraffine oil 1/3; kerosene, 1/3; light oil, 1/3. Thus a gravity
is provided which registers about the same as pure turpentine and is
therefore very difficult to detect. The naval authorities practice--and
it is said, successfully--the old-time test of dropping the suspected
turps on a piece of white paper alongside of a pure brand of turps
and watching the result. The turps containing the 112 fire test oil
will leave, upon evaporation, a faint but decided _greasy_ stain. Pure
turpentine not too rapidly distilled will leave no spot. The turpentine
containing traces of the crude gum due to too rapid distillation
will impart a sticky, yellowish-white stain to the paper and this
the painter should not confound with the afore-mentioned _greasy_
stain of the adulterated turps. In our Eastern, Middle, Western, and
Northwestern cities the practice of kerosene oil injection is the
favorite method of cheating the consumer. The sense of smell will
sometimes detect the presence of kerosene; the white paper test will
sometimes expose it; and again both tests will fail, along with the
other usual ones. While so keen an authority as Mr. Geo. B. Heckel,
of _Drugs, Oils and Paints_, has acknowledged that the adulterators
can cheat the hydrometer to a certain extent, it cannot be done with
the same measure of profit and impunity as formerly. Mr. Heckel has
publicly advised consumers to insist on 31° turps, prefacing the advice
with the following noteworthy declaration: "If I were a painter I would
never accept a gallon of turpentine without sticking a hydrometer into
it, and if it registered above 31-1/2° or below 30-1/2° I would not
accept it from the United States Treasury."

What vehicle painter vested with the authority of purchasing the
turpentine supply for a painting business, be that business big or
little, can afford to disregard Mr. Heckel's admonition? To pay
turpentine prices for kerosene oil is a disastrous drain upon the
resources of a painting business, in addition to furnishing the
materials used an element of insecurity, a germ of decay, sure to
disturb the durability and comeliness of a painted surface. For it is,
or should be, in fact, clearly understood that the kerosene or fire
test oil adulterants do not evaporate like turpentine when put into a
pigment and spread upon a surface. They strike into the wood or pierce
the nether coat of pigment, causing, later on, the flaking and peeling
of the pigment; or they retard the drying of colors; and again, they
lend a peculiar roughness to the surface, like unto that imparted by
benzine when used in a fine coach color.

The carriage and wagon painter has substantial reasons for being
interested in coach japans, for upon their quality and judicious
employment the durability of his work greatly depends. The many and
beautiful colors which he uses almost daily are japan ground, and
the pigments and colors shop-mixed are invariably fortified with the
ever-useful coach japan. The wide variety of names applied to the
drying materials used in the painting business has been the source of
annoyance and confusion to the practical mind. In reality, however,
there are but three kinds--coach japan, specially adapted for colors
to be quickly dried and containing no oil; liquid drier (or dryer)
intended for the drying of oil and oil paint; and patent driers
purchased in paste form, effective only when used in conjunction with
oil. The patent driers are so little used at present that they scarcely
merit a notice.

Coach japan, with the merits of which the carriage painter has a
right to be concerned, being chiefly used, as before stated, in
colors containing no oil require, for purposes of protection and as a
service-insuring medium, blanketing under one or more coats of varnish.

It is not to be understood that coach japan will not combine with and
dry oil colors; its power in this capacity, however, is less than
that of a liquid drier, while its gummy nature shows a tendency to
cause surface disturbances of the cracking and blistering order--most
emphatically so when strictly exact proportions are not maintained. Its
adaptability, therefore, is best confined to colors containing no oil.

So much of uncertainty, so much that is injurious and fatal to the
durability of colors, is embraced in the employment of japan in
excessive quantities or of an inferior grade that the painter should
not be slow in determining, by practical tests, both strength and
quality. And to make such tests easy, not to mention other convincing
reasons, need we invoke the purchaser's attention to the importance of
buying only standard makes?

A first-class coach japan, as a rule, will show a color moderately
light, and when mixed with oil should manifest no disposition to
curdle. Such a japan, too, should, when floated in a thin film over
a glass or other strictly non-porous surface, dry firm and without
brittleness in four hours. To observe how the japan unites and
assimilates with linseed oil, take a pane of window glass, that
furnishing a surface non-porous and decidedly free from suction, and
attaching a sheet of white paper on one side as a means of better
showing the action of the oil and japan, drop on the reverse side
of the glass about four drops of raw linseed oil. Then affix, say,
a single drop of japan in close proximity to the oil, immediately
inclining the glass so that the japan may come in contact with
the oil. If the drier promptly unites and takes kindly to a close
relationship with the oil without curdling or showing other evidences
of disagreement, it will merit the approval of the painter. Another
easily-conducted test consists in comparing the japan of unknown
quality with one of acknowledged merit, by taking the samples and
confining them in bottles containing raw linseed oil, shaking the
contents and then standing aside for at least twenty-four hours. The
proportions of oil and japan may be in the ratio of 5 parts of oil to
1 part of japan, exactly the same proportions being adhered to in all
the samples tested. At the expiration of twenty-four hours one can see
which sample mixes best with the oil. The samples then poured in a thin
film over a piece of glass and allowed to stand will determine the
drying property of each. It will also be useful to learn by observation
and comparisons if the japan holds well in solution. A japan that
fails to do this is not valuable in carriage and wagon painting. Study
should be made as to how and to what extent the japan effects the
light and delicate colors at present so extensively used. In point
of fact, the painter should not weary in investigating the qualities
and characteristics of his coach japans, and what they are capable of
doing. To establish their real value will mark an achievement of the
first order in the economy of painting.

In regard to varnishes the buyer can find no excuse for putting aside
the fact that quality and not price should determine the value of
his supply; and, happily, he has it within his power in the active
prosecution of his business to demonstrate the good or bad quality
of varnish. It may frequently prove an expensive experiment; and
herein is disclosed an apparently good and sufficient reason for the
painter's disinclination to change from the use of one make of varnish
to another. The varnishing stage of painting may be said to be in a
critical period at all times, and having established the quality of
his varnish supply, the responsible party in the matter is naturally
opposed to changing in favor of a make with which he is not practically
acquainted. At the same time, a practical test of different strictly
reliable makes is the only way of deciding to one's own satisfaction
which is the best, and the most economical to buy. Any first-class
finisher can very soon determine the working property, brilliancy,
depth of lustre, drying quality and general behavior under varying
circumstances and conditions of different varnishes. Nevertheless,
that primary requisite, durability, is not so easily nor so promptly
established. This essential quality can be determined only after
protracted trials upon vehicles engaged in active service, the painter
retaining carefully tabulated data bearing upon each make of varnish
under observation, the character of the service to which it is exposed,
etc. Thus, in due season, may the actual merits of a varnish be
defined.

CHAPTER XV.

CUTTER AND SLEIGH PAINTING: DECORATIVE ASPECTS OF THE WORK--THE
VARIOUS PROCESSES OF PAINTING EMPLOYED--THE PREVAILING
COLORS--STRIPING AND SCROLLING--REPAINTING, REVARNISHING, PROFITS TO
BE REALIZED, ETC.

Cutter and sleigh painting are justly esteemed interesting parts of the
art of vehicle painting. Coming at a time when the ordinary activities
of vehicle painting are practically at a standstill, the cutter and
sleigh painting business furnishes a medium for profits gleefully taken
advantage of by the average factory and jobbing shop painter.

In one way, it must be confessed, this branch of painting has fallen
off in attractiveness. The elaborate decorative effects once so
largely in the full favor of fashion have been discarded, and many
workmen competent to accomplish such effects have become lost in other
pursuits. But in these days the painter should be prepared for any
emergency; hence it is best that cutter and sleigh decorative work
be given study, and skill to execute such work be kept in hand or
acquired by practice. Now and then comes a call for a cutter or sleigh
ornamented in the old-fashioned way with elaborate arm pieces, etc.
The jobbing shop painter especially is very frequently confronted with
opportunities for the practice of decorative painting in a variety of
ways, and to fulfill his mission as an important community artisan
he should be prepared to do the work. The very low prices paid for
cutter and sleigh painting at the present time have proved an effective
factor, no doubt, in considerably restricting the limitations of
decorative painting. At the same time, there is every reason to believe
that the conspicuous absence of fine decorative effects in cutter
and sleigh painting is also due, to a large extent, to the inability
of the average latter-day workman, located in provincial centres, to
fittingly produce them. Upon the modern Portland style cutter elaborate
ornamentation would perhaps be out of place; but upon many of the
runner vehicles of ancient and honorable vintage, which the beauteous
Belle of Fashion has decreed to be the proper thing, a generous measure
of decorative work would be appropriate. Swell sleighs of more recent
pattern take kindly to lavish ornamentation built upon rather delicate
lines.

These conditions, therefore, warrant the painter who deeply desires
to command profits and success in cutter and sleigh painting, in
cultivating a ready skill and dexterity along the lines of ornamental
work.

[Illustration: FIG. 1.]

Surface perfections have grown to be important considerations in the
economy of sleigh painting of the best grade. While none but the very
finest class of cutters and sleighs are given surfaces rivalling in
smoothness and quality those reflected by the best class of carriages,
still, first-class surfacing remains a chief feature of sleigh
painting, excepting at all times the seven-for-$100 vehicles. And in
respect to this latter class of jobs, the results achieved in the way
of surface effects are often surprising, due chiefly to the very heavy
coats of varnish applied.

And here the reader may deem it pertinent to ask for a review of the
systems and methods practiced in painting and finishing cutters and
sleighs.

[Illustration: FIG. 2.]

In the painting of runner vehicles of the best order the jobs are
primed throughout, bodies and running parts (and this includes inside
of bodies, under surface--everything, in fact, not covered with iron),
with oil and lead primer. Permitting this coat to dry thoroughly, a
light sanding with, say No. 1/2 sandpaper, is given, and then a coat
of lead containing enough raw linseed oil to bind the pigment securely
without giving it a gloss is put on. Use an oval or round bristle
brush to apply the lead to the body, and for the running parts use
a camel's-hair brush, this latter tool being best adapted to lay a
uniform depth of pigment over the sharp edges and small surfaces of
the running parts. Upon this coat putty both body and running parts
draw-puttying all open-grained portions of the surface. Forty-eight
hours after puttying begin rough-stuffing the body, using for the
'stuff equal parts of any good American filler and keg lead, by weight,
reducing to a thick paste in equal parts of quick rubbing varnish and
japan, then cutting to a brushing consistency with turpentine. This is
a two-coat-per-day 'stuff. Apply four coats of the 'stuff, then a guide
coat of yellow ochre and set aside for a few days. After rubbing the
surface out (full instructions for rubbing roughstuff may be found in
Chapter III. of this series) give it plenty of time--twelve or fourteen
hours at least--to dry out. Then lightly sandpaper with No. 0 paper,
dust off, and give first coat of color.

[Illustration: FIG. 3.]

The proper color foundation being secured, apply two coats of rubbing
varnish, either both clear or one clear and one color-and-varnish, the
character of the color foundation determining the selection, and then
follow with a heavily flowed on coat of finishing varnish. In case
color-and-varnish be used, the striping and ornamental work had best be
done on this coat, as upon work of this quality the ornamentation will
require the protection of a rubbing, as well as a finishing, coat of
varnish.

The running parts require sandpapering, then one coat of
color-and-varnish, then striping and finishing. This system, intended
exclusively for high class work, requires a very thorough carrying
out, with no neglected details from priming coat to finishing, if a
satisfactory degree of excellence, both in finish and durability, would
be maintained.

Another system, in which roughstuff does not figure, consists of giving
body and gear, when received from the wood shop, a coat of lead, ochre,
and oil priming. When the irons are attached, the job is sandpapered
and a coat of lead containing a durable binder of oil is given. The
wood and iron are alike coated with this mixture. The panels of the
body are next, in due season, plastered with putty (see Knifing Head
Formula No. 1, in Chapter III.), the pigment being firmly forced into
the grain of the wood. Aim to get a very smooth application of the
pigment in addition to a complete fullness of the wood pores, to the
end that the surface cells may be sealed "against graining out" and
that the labor of sandpapering may be reduced to the minimum.

[Illustration: FIG. 4.]

The first coat of color is furnished with a binder of oil and should
not be recoated until the day following. Add varnish as a binder for
the second coat of color. A single coat of rubbing, and one of some
hard drying finishing varnish often suffices to complete the finish.
If a better job is desired an extra coat of rubbing is given. The
striping, corner pieces, etc., are done on the flat color. The running
parts are puttied on the priming coat, exposed parts of open grained
surface draw-puttied, sandpapered, given one coat of color, coat of
color-and-varnish, striped, and finished with a heavy bodied, hard
drying finishing varnish. Again, for medium priced sleigh work a
factory system consists of applying some reliable liquid wood filler
to the job throughout, then a little later wiping the surface over
with soft, clean rags. The work is allowed twenty-four hours in which
to dry out, when the body is given a coat of roughstuff mixed in the
proportion of 3 lbs. of filler to 1 lb. of keg lead, equal parts of
japan and rubbing varnish being used to reduce it to a heavy paste, and
turpentine employed to cut it to the proper working consistency. Putty
on this coat of 'stuff. Then apply, at the rate of two coats per day,
a roughstuff made according to the first formula given herewith. Three
coats of this stuff should suffice. Rub out with rubbing bricks, color
and finish out as previously advised. The running parts are puttied
upon the filler coat, draw puttied wherever needed, then colored, given
color-and-varnish, striped and finished.

In some shops the roughstuff is discarded altogether, the wood
filler being filled over with a couple of lead coats, the first coat
containing an oil binder and the second one containing no oil at all.
This lead foundation is surfaced down with sandpaper, dusted off, and a
wash of quick hard drying rubbing varnish, thinned down about one-half
with turpentine, given. The surface is then finished out in the usual
way. The running parts are treated as described in the liquid wood
filler process previously given.

[Illustration: FIG. 5.]

The anti-kalsomine system concerning which considerable discussion was
had somewhat recently amounts to this: The jobs are primed throughout
with oil, yellow ochre, and perhaps a little lead. The bodies are then
taken in hand and all necessary puttying done. The anti-kalsomine,
the fixer or binder of which is cement, is next mixed to a working
consistency with hot water and applied hot. It is best to allow the
first coat of kalsomine to stand over night before being recoated,
although in the factory system three or four coats of the cement,
_always applied hot_, are put on per day. Then a liquid mixture of
oil, japan, and turpentine, in the proportion of two parts of oil to
three parts of japan, and one part of turpentine, is flowed over the
kalsomine foundation. This liquid wash serves to weld or amalgamate the
cement with the priming coat. The sandpapering of these anti-kalsomine
foundations is one of the principal draw-backs to the use of the
cement. It sets in motion flotillas of dust, stifling and suffocating
to an extreme. It has been noted, however, that this anti-kalsomine
treatment has furnished some fine wearing and very durable surfaces.

[Illustration: FIG. 6.]

The carriage painter in practicing his trade as it applies exclusively
to carriages is confined to a comparatively few colors, but in devoting
his skill to cutter and sleigh work an extended variety of colors
may be used. Artistic instincts are in good demand in the cutter and
sleigh painting business. Possibilities for the harmonious combination
of colors exist here to an extent not known of in the other branches
of painting. Colors sombre and gay; emblematic of this, that, or the
other thing; old-fashioned as the days of witch burning or as modern
and up-to-date as the '97 color grinder can make them, are all alike
acceptable in the sight of the people who love a sleigh ride. Some
painters have a great liking for siennas and umbers as body colors for
sleigh work. Toned down some they do gleam very showily under varnish.
Such colors striped with aluminum or gold and edged with a fine line
of red give a strikingly handsome effect, especially if the running
parts are painted in some one of the beautiful light reds at present
available; or a lighter shade of the body color can be advantageously
employed upon the running parts. Perhaps the lighter styles of cutters,
speeding cutters, for example, take more kindly to the light and showy
reds as running-parts colors than do the vehicles of heavier build,
but all styles, nevertheless, permit of brilliant color effects in
the treatment of running parts. For a light track or speeding cutter,
color the side and back panels medium ultramarine blue; the dash,
carmine; running parts, a very light carmine. Stripe the panels, 1/4
inch line of gold with a fine line of carmine. The dash and running
parts may be displayed with striping of black and gold. Portland
cutters for ordinary service show handsomely with the body panels done
in ultramarine blue, moldings blacked, with the running parts done
in the lightest shades of the ultramarine blue, the job then striped
throughout with a primrose yellow stripe. Or again, these cutters are
painted deep carmine throughout the body, with light carmine running
parts. The striping on body consists of 1/8 inch line of black, and
3/8 inch inside of that is flashed a fine gold line. A Portland amber
color for the body, with a lighter shade of the same color for the
running-parts, looks fetching, notably so when the body panels are
striped with double lines of carmine, the ornamental corner pieces
being done in carmine of a lighter shade. The running parts may get a
single 1/8 inch line of carmine. Then one can see in the cutter and
sleigh centres Portlands done in ashen-grey, canary and lemon yellow,
etc.

One of the largest cutter and sleigh factories in this country has this
year abandoned the double fine line style of striping so greatly in
evidence for several years past, using instead, as a rule, a 1/8-inch
carmine stripe--obtained by glazing carmine over a yellow base--with a
distance fine line of gold running inside of it. At this establishment
one can see a jaunty Portland painted pure white, with the body striped
a 1/8-inch blue line with a distance fine line of red. Here also are
to be seen beautiful amber browns, charming greens, elegant yellows of
the primrose, orange, canary order and extending down to the delicate
cream colors. But, on the whole, those cutter and sleigh builders
and painters who cater to the worshipers at Fashion's shrine show
a determination to adhere to the dark rich colors, such as browns,
greens, and blacks, for panel work. Cutters with running parts painted
in colors different from those used upon the bodies are not so much in
evidence as formerly. Where the dark colors promise to remain in high
favor with a large class of the very exclusive folk for some years to
come, no strict adherence to such colors may be expected on the part of
the general cutter-and-sleigh-using public.

STRIPING, CORNER PIECES, SCROLLS, ETC.

In the striping of cutters and sleighs the real basis of success is a
judicious selection of colors. It has been a common saying in factory
circles that anything in the way of colors, hit or miss, goes in
sleigh painting when the ornamenting is reached. But this should not
be so; in point of fact, it is not so in those establishments doing
a good class of work. A riotous jumble of colors thrown into a fine
line corner piece or scroll is an abominable exhibition of bad taste.
There is nothing, we dare say, that so completely stamps the cheap
cutter or sleigh with a glaring badge of cheapness as the ornament
constructed from an inharmonious selection of colors and dotted to
beat a Baxter St. vest lining. The dotter has no business striping or
ornamenting the modern cutter or sleigh. The ornamental features of
sleigh work need to be of a very high order of excellence. Otherwise
it fails to correspond to the quality of finish which now obtains in
all first-class establishments where sleigh work is carried on. In this
connection the reader's attention is directed to examples of fine line
ornaments adapted to Portland cutters and sleighs; also to examples of
the bold, handsome relief scrolls once so extensively used, and which
show so beautifully upon cutters and sleighs of the swell body pattern.

[Illustration: FIG. 7.]

Ornaments Nos. 1, 2, and 3 are quick pencil sketches for panel
corners. The writer contributed these pieces to _The Hub_ some time
ago and their reproduction must be credited to the courtesy of that
journal. No. 4 is used upon the dashes of Portland cutters, speeding
sleighs, etc. Two distinct corner pieces are shown in this design, thus
illustrating the possibilities of variation in respect to the corner
designs employed. No. 5 is a corner piece designed for Old Comfort
and Empress cutters. This piece may be done in three or four shades of
red, or it may be placed in gold and high lighted in relief style. In
No. 6 is to be seen a very attractive design for the dash or rear panel
of a large four or six passenger sleigh. No. 7 is expressly intended
for swell body cutters and represents an ornament familiar to many
old-time painters. It is a decidedly effective scroll and will afford
the student in scroll work a good working plan for further effort. Nos.
8 and 9 explain the style of the good-old fashioned scrolls which, when
ably executed, may be declared the poetry of ornament. Vehicle painting
lost one of its chief charms when the relief scroll was abandoned, and
we say speed the day when it is welcomed back to its old time uses and
prestige. Then fortunate indeed will be the painter who is able to do
relief scrolling.

[Illustration: FIG. 8.]

Transfer ornaments of the small patterns are still used and they really
furnish happy little surface beautifiers at small cost. One can quickly
master the work of successfully applying transfers or "Decalcomanie,"
as our friends of the genteel speech may say. Cut the transfer down
close to its true outlines, and then to the back of the ornament apply
a size of finishing varnish and japan gold size. When this has reached
the right "tack," it is placed in position on the surface. It is then
given a few minutes to fasten itself securely upon the surface, after
which it is washed over with clean water until the covering over the
face of the transfer is sufficiently moistened to free itself, when lo!
the ornament in all its freshness and coloring of raiment is revealed.
The washing of the transfer is something of a delicate operation as it
is a perfectly easy matter to disfigure the ornament or flood it out of
position by careless practices.

[Illustration: FIG. 9.]

REPAINTING CUTTERS AND SLEIGHS, REVARNISHING, ETC.

Cutters and sleighs for repainting, revarnishing and brightening up
generally should be got into the paint shop as soon as possible after
the carriage work declines in the late fall. This enables the painter
to avoid the rush which is sure to be upon him with the first "run
of sleighing." It also enables him to do more satisfactory work in
several ways. The work taken in early has a measure of time given it
while being carried through the several processes not accorded that
received late in the season. Varnish coats given proper time to dry not
only surface up better but wear and retain their brilliancy longer,
and do not fire crack when run out in the cold. Upon the average class
of cutters and sleighs a less expensive varnish, as compared to that
used upon first-class carriages, will serve all necessary purposes.
Expensive finishing varnishes are not needed. Cutters and sleighs are
not exposed to the severe and destructive forms of service that wheeled
vehicles are, consequently they do not require highly elastic finishing
varnishes to furnish the needed durability. They are in service for
only a comparatively small part of the year, and mud spotting and
troubles of that order do not intrude themselves. Save in the case of
the highest-class sleigh work, a first-class gear finishing varnish
will furnish satisfactory results for finishing cutter and sleigh
bodies. A heavy gear varnish will answer perfectly for the running
parts. But in this selection of varnishes choice should always fall
upon those of first-class quality. Whatever the grade, get the best
in quality of that grade. First-class paint and varnish stock is more
handily worked and will cover more surface than inferior stock, and
judged from any point of view one may elect it is the most economical
material to buy.

When a cutter or sleigh comes in for a thorough repainting, examine
the vehicle closely and if the body can be removed without too large
an expenditure of labor, removal should be insisted upon. There is
usually considerable dirt under the edges of a cutter body that cannot
be cleaned out except the body be taken off. And a little of this dirt
caught up in the paint or varnish brush worketh evil to the whole job.
Moreover, the brushes brought in contact with such accumulations of
dirt are unfitted to produce pleasing results in the immediate future.
The touch-up-and-varnish sleigh job is, in the main, a troublesome
affair, especially the running parts. The merry and pretty colors which
chiefly obtain on sleigh running parts painted in former years are not
so easily matched as the colors used upon the bodies. In point of fact,
it doesn't pay to devote much time in trying for a match. Instead, mix
a color to about the shade of the old color and go over the running
parts entire. Then restripe and finish, and in the great majority of
cases money will be saved thereby. In rubbing cutter or sleigh work
furnished with heavy moldings out of varnish, use, for surfacing such
moldings, any varnish brush of a small pattern worn to a stub. Cutting
through on the edges of the moldings is nicely avoided in this way. For
the large panels on sleigh work a 3-inch finishing brush will serve as
the best tool. It carries a greater quantity of varnish and enables the
finisher to coat the surface quicker than he could do with the smaller
brush. In finishing the quick and adroit placing of the varnish is an
item of chief importance.

During the sleigh season there usually drifts into the jobbing paint
shop a lot of not very particular work. As for example, heavy work,
sleighs, bobs, etc. Upon such work there may be used the accumulated
odds and ends of colors of various shades, hues, and tints, left over
from doing sleigh work of a better class and from carriage work. Some
very neat combinations may be effected by the judicious employment of
these left-over bits of color, and it helps to slick up and put into
profitable use certain materials which otherwise might eventually find
their way into that quagmire of the paint shop--the slush keg. Briefly
stated, cutter and sleigh painting opens the way for the employment of
considerable material which cannot be termed strictly "available" in
the other branches of painting; it comes at a time when the painter
is better able to appreciate a lean loaf than a fat icicle; and if
conducted according to business-like and workman-like practices it will
supply a handsome source of profits.

CHAPTER XVI.

LEAVES FROM THE PAINT SHOP DIARY--PERTINENT POINTS ON PRACTICAL
MATTERS--BLENDING OF COLORS--SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION--PAINTING IN
SILVER BRONZE--THE FRENCH PAINTERS' VARNISH ROOM--REMEDY FOR RUSTED
CARRIAGE SPRINGS--PAINTING METALLIC SURFACES--THINNING VARNISH--ETC.

At best the carriage painter's existence is somewhat hazardous, his
every-day scene of toil being well laden with poisonous fumes and fetid
exhalations. In the painting of a hearse, ambulance, or "dead wagon"
the precaution of disinfecting the vehicle most thoroughly should be
taken. Carbolic acid, carbonate of lime, or, if one prefers, numerous
ready prepared disinfectants of penetrating composition may be used
generously. Prudence dictates the policy of refusing to take any
chances when working in and about a vehicle possibly afflicted with the
germs of some deadly contagious disease.

It is not always an easy matter to clean the glasses in heavy coach
work unless special methods are practiced. Here is a quick way of
cleaning besmeared glasses of the kind named. Saturate a soft sponge
with wood alcohol and wipe over both sides of the glass. If perchance
varnish or paint accumulations are in evidence the alcohol softens them
and a quick runaround with a keen-edged putty knife removes them. If a
careless or incompetent workman has badly bedaubed a glass, coat the
daubs with oxalic acid. The action of this powerful liquid will very
briefly soften up the accumulations so that the putty knife will nicely
slick them off. Then give a rub over with an alcohol-charged sponge,
this to be immediately followed by a smart polish with the chamois
skin. If a still better polish is desired, take a newspaper, roll it
into a shape that will permit rubbing the glass without bringing the
fingers in contact with the surface, and then dipping the paper into
dry lampblack proceed to burnish both sides of the glass.

The blending of colors has lately become an important feature of the
carriage painter's art. This was at one time considered purely a matter
of business belonging to the artist, but it is not now so regarded.
Artistic, and therefore harmonious, color blending consists in
preserving the individuality of each color employed, while at the same
time there is an almost unconscious merging of one color into another.
No distinctive lines are allowed to disturb the harmony of the work.
The carriage color blender, like his brother artist of the palette and
three-story studio, aims to obtain a thorough incorporation of all the
different shades of color employed upon a certain piece of work so that
the blending from light lo dark may be made without resorting to any
glaring contrasts. The blending is accomplished while the colors are
wet, the ground being laid first in the lighter colors, then working
in the darker shades until the darkest desired shade is reached. Great
care is necessarily expended upon the tools, etc. A color-clogged brush
need not be expected to do good blending service. No arbitrary rules
can be given within which to confine the work of blending--it is too
closely allied to art for that. Supremely necessary aids to success in
this field of work consist of plenty of practice taken in connection
with intelligent study of outline, harmony, and contrasts.

If it is desirable to varnish a job of gilding the same day the leaf is
laid, and it is feared that the leaf will brush mark, it is a good plan
to give the gold a light coat of thin shellac, going over the work very
quickly. The shellac will protect the leaf without in any way harming
it.

One hears a good deal concerning spontaneous combustion. The craft
would be less familiar with the term if the following rule, rigidly
enforced in some shops, were lived up to in letter and spirit: _Greasy
rags must be burned up immediately, and not, under any consideration,
allowed to remain in the shop one moment after their use is finished.
Any violation of this order will result in immediate dismissal._

The following method of filling in a badly cracked carriage surface has
successfully been practiced by a friend of the writer's. The surface
is first cleaned and given a light sandpapering to strike off dirt,
motes, etc. Then dust off and apply a coat of gold-size japan, a free,
generous coat of the japan being used. Once dry, the coat is gone over
with a roll of rubbing felt to kill the gloss. The gold-size japan
reaches into the minute orifices more effectively than varnish, filling
and sealing the fissures, and in addition it furnishes an easily and
quickly prepared surface for the color and the varnish coats to follow.

You wish to repair a split panel. At each extremity of the split bore
a 1/4 inch hole. Put one hole just at the crack, the second one fairly
clear of it. Next plug the holes up, and then dress off even with the
surface of the panel. Now cut a shallow bevel along each side of the
crack; this to enable the putty to resist the cracking tendency of the
crevice. Then give the dressed off parts a coat of lead containing a
good binder of oil. When this has dried putty the hollow level and fill
with a putty made of 3/4 dry white lead and 1/4 keg lead, the liquids
being rubbing varnish and japan, equal parts. Sandpaper this repair in
due time, and then give the final puttying, which should be done to the
full measure of the best possible skill.

An effective little advertising card was once circulated by a
keen-minded California carriage painter, and on the back of the card
were appended the following wise admonitions to the carriage user. The
suggestions are quite as pertinent now as they were at the time they
were first given publicity. To insure durability of the painting you
must care for the work as follows, viz:

"Don't expose to the fumes of ammonia.
Don't let mud dry on it.
Don't scratch the varnish in washing.
Don't expose to the sun or rain when not in use.
Don't let the axle-grease collect on the hubs.
Don't blame me if you are careless, as I have given you warning."

A man is well dressed only when every part of his apparel meets the
approval of the critic. This same estimate also applies to carriage
painting--that is to genteel carriage painting. Hence why send the
top joints on a carriage top out roughly and incompletely finished?
The critical eye rests very quickly upon such conspicuous parts
of a vehicle, and if they are not fittingly finished the seal of
condemnation is set upon the work as a whole. Here is a finish for top
joints that will disarm the fault finder: First coat up with stout
coat of lead containing sufficient oil to bind the lead securely. Then
mix two parts dry white lead, one part roughstuff filler, to a rather
stiff paste in equal parts of japan and rubbing varnish. Rub this
mixture onto the joints with a piece of heavy harness leather. When
dry, give the pigment a thorough smoothing up with sandpaper, color,
color-and-varnish, rub with water and pumice stone, and then finish
with a hard drying finishing varnish.

To paint a carriage gear in silver bronze, which one is now and then
asked to do, bring the work up to the point of the foundation color
for the bronze very carefully, using no lampblack in the priming and
first lead coats to throw them to a slate color. The foundation coat
should be pure white, mixed to dry without gloss and applied with a
camel's-hair brush. Over this coat flow on a coat of rubbing varnish,
and when the right "tack" is reached apply the bronze with a soft,
clean camel's-hair brush. The wiping off and the delicate burnish may
be given with a soft piece of chamois skin. Stripe with some color that
harmonizes nicely with the bronze, and use no varnish over it. Varnish
destroys the richness of the bronze.

Why use a broad pencil in glazing double line stripes? The existing
space between the stripes, when the glazing is done with a broad
pencil, reflects a clouded, muddy appearance. Better glaze each line
separately, using a sword pencil for glazing with, and thus obtain the
best color effects along with a fine, dressy outline of striping.

If a carriage top from which the enamel has nearly or quite vanished
is desired to be made bright again the following recipe, published by
the writer in _Painting and Decorating_ some time since, will give
satisfaction: Mix 2 parts of liquid glue with 3 parts of dissolved
castile soap, adding 120 parts of soft water, to more thoroughly
liquify the glue and soap. Then add 4 parts of spirit varnish, after
which stir in 2 parts of wheat starch, previously mixed in water.
Follow with just enough lampblack to give the mixture a solidly black
tinge. A trifle too much of the lampblack will kill the gloss. The
dressing is now ready for use. It should be kept in an air-tight vessel
to prevent thickening.

A green stripe is strikingly enriched by glazing with verdigris, but
this glaze should be varnished over as soon as dry, or, at any rate,
before moisture settles upon the work; otherwise the verdigris will
lose its quality.

It's a very simple operation to sweep a varnish or paint-room floor,
but some ways are better than others, nevertheless. Try this way for
a change and thereby establish its utility: Take a pail of sawdust,
dampen it thoroughly, and then throw a windrow of the woody bits across
one side of the room. Sweep across to the other side of the apartment,
and then observe how spick and clean the floor will be, with no
moisture remaining to annoy the painter or varnisher.

The blow-pipe should be more in evidence in the carriage paint shop.
The tinsmith will charge but a small fee for making the pipe, which may
be 1-1/2 ft. long and tapering from 1/2 inch at one end to 1/4 inch at
the other. Dust and dirt that cannot be removed with a duster is simply
given a cyclone breath through the tube, and, presto! the parts are
clean. With the blow-pipe water can be driven out of evasive corners
when cleaning up a job preparatory to varnishing.

Despite the best laid plans of the painter carriage linings
occasionally get some glaring smears of pigment. If the linings so
defaced be of light color, dampen with naphtha or gasoline, and then
with a clean woolen cloth rub the goods briskly. This same treatment
may be given to dark colored cloth upon which the paint spots have
dried. If the spots are observed while the paint is still wet, rub them
smartly with pieces of the same kind of cloth of which the lining is
composed. The cloth to cloth treatment is a most effective and easy
treatment.

The business wagon painter has many moldings and battens to black, and
he greatly needs a good, pleasant handling pencil with which to do the
work. A pretty working pencil for doing the parts here named is made
in this wise: Take some hair from a camel's-hair pencil and mix with
it 1/3 black sable hair. Prepare a handle as though you were to make a
sword pencil, splitting it at the base, etc. Then, after arranging the
hair to the right width and thickness, insert the butt end of the bunch
in the split. Wind tightly with strong linen thread. Use on the flat
side of the pencil instead of the edge.

An imitation-of-ebony job comes within the province of the painter's
skill now and then. First of all, the wood should be close,
fine-grained stuff. Wash it with a decoction of logwood three or four
times, allowing the liquid to dry well between applications. Next wash
with a solution of acetate of iron. This gives a deep, intensely black
color.

For the filling of an unusually deep surface cavity prepare a pigment
after this formula: One part keg lead; 2 parts whiting. Mix to a stiff
paste in equal parts of thick varnish bottoms and raw linseed oil. Add
a small quantity of japan to insure reliable drying. Then to this mass
mix in enough dry white lead to cause the putty to work nicely from the
hand. Apply very smooth so as to avoid sandpapering.

One of the secrets of the French coach painter's success as a fine
varnisher and finisher was revealed by W. H. Knight's report on the
Paris Exposition. Referring to the varnish room, Mr. Knight wrote: The
door is locked, and no one is admitted under any circumstances--not
even the proprietor. The doors and windows are air-tight, so that not
a particle of dust can find entrance. And yet the room is ventilated,
but how? By means of tubes filled with a mixture of horsehair and wool.
This permits the air to enter freely, but deprives it of all dust,
consequently the finish of their work is perfect and exquisite.

All surfaces painted with lake colors should be amply protected by
substantial varnish coats. Neither the lake coats nor the foundations
over which they are laid should be allowed to dry "dead." Give
the ground coats a bit of gloss and _always_ use the lakes as
color-and-varnish coats. Also, _always_ refrain from buying a cheap,
inferior lake, the chief constituents of which are whiting and aniline
dye. Water dissolves the aniline: hence with water as an aid the
painter can determine the quality, in a measure at least, of the lake
colors. To the surface painted in a lake color, apply, before coating
with varnish, a generous smear of water. If the aniline speedily
disappears, leaving the colorless whiting base, the purchaser has just
cause to question the quality of the material.

A varnish sag upon a surface doesn't always admit of easy removal. It
can be done, however, and that very quickly and smoothly in a majority
of cases. Get a stocky bunch of curled hair, wet it up thoroughly, give
it a liberal dip in pulverized pumice stone, and then rub the afflicted
surface carefully. Finish with a uniform polish furnished by the
regular varnish surfacing equipment.

Carriage and wagon interiors, running parts, etc., finished in the
natural wood, that have become stained in spots so as to be an offense
to the eye, may be satisfactorily renewed by smearing the stains
with oxalic acid. Apply the acid with a brush, permit it to act upon
the stains for a few minutes, then with a small sponge wash off with
clean, soft water. The steel scraper, handily wielded, will then remove
all remaining evidences of the stains. All metallic surfaces may be
perfectly cleaned with this acid.

The question of carriage springs rusting is a live one with the
carriage painter. The spring maker, or rather the first-class
manufacturer of springs, avers that the spring product well ground and
finished is not at all liable to rust or prematurely throw off its
protecting coats of paint and varnish. The carriage painter, however,
is compelled to paint and dress up all sorts and conditions of springs.
The badly rusted and scaly springs may be thoroughly cleaned, using a
file and hammer for the purpose, and the spring layers being separated
one from another. Then coat with graphite paint or mineral brown, and
in due time finish up in the usual way. Again, the inner surface of the
spring leaves is coated with a lead and lampblack mixture, and later
given a glazing of equal parts of unsalted beef and mutton tallow. A
third formula, widely known as _The Hub_ formula, because it is said
to have originated with that journal, has proven of value. It is as
follows: "Remove the securing bolts; place the springs thus released
from tension in a bath of soft water over night. In the morning, with
a stiff bristle or helix brush, in water at 100° degrees, scour the
plates effectually, and remove the oxide by means of an ample use of
elbow grease. Dry by sunlight or artificial heat in hardwood sawdust.
Let lie in warm sawdust, at 75° or 80° for from two to three hours;
then give a thin coat of clear, boiled linseed oil, and when thoroughly
dry (an exposure of twelve or more hours is necessary), coat over by
means of a sponge with a mixture of 6 parts of commercial beeswax,
suspended at 90°, with 2 parts of spirits of turpentine. One hour after
application wipe off edges of all plates; then allow one hour for
hardening and secure the plate with centre bolt."

The carriage painter frequently has sign writing to do on glass and
he requires a reliable size to enable him to get first-class leafing.
Russian isinglass makes the best size, although it is often difficult
to obtain from local merchants. To a pint of soft water add a piece
of the isinglass 1/2 in. square and boil until the material is wholly
dissolved. Then add a drop or two of alcohol, strain, and the size is
ready for use. Gelatine, while largely used, should be used the day it
is prepared as a size, otherwise it is not reliable in its action. Put
a few shreds of the gelatine in a quart of water and boil until the
water is reduced to a pint.

Vermilion is one of the highly-prized carriage painting pigments,
and the best is none too good to meet the requirements of good work.
To test the color, heat a small quantity in a porcelain vessel over
an alcohol lamp. The adulterated vermilion, in burning, will leave a
sediment either red, black, or perhaps white. The genuine quicksilver
vermilion invariably proves fugitive when submitted to intense heat.

The refuse oil of pine or coal tar is a useful oil to keep upon the
paint shop shelves. Suppose a borrowed brush or a brush neglected in
some way about the shop is found dried up--hardened to a stone-like
condition. Take a quantity of the pine or coal tar oil from its
air-tight receptacle, where it should be kept to prevent evaporation,
and in the liquid suspend the injured brush well up over the bristles.
Three or four days' immersion will usually soften up a very much abused
brush.

All colors that are apparently changed in purity of color when even the
palest of varnishes are used over them, should have a little of the
color used in each varnish coat up to the finishing coat of varnish. If
striping or ornamenting is used do this work upon the last rubbing coat
and then finish with the very palest varnish obtainable.

Bear in mind this fact, namely: Colors are divided into three cardinal
degrees--light, medium, and dark. And the relative position of the base
color governs the intermediate shades. In the mixing and use of colors
it is also a wise policy to provide for the self-asserting property of
the strongest or controlling color. If this is not done the distinctive
character of the color sought for will not for long be retained.

A prime factor in finishing a carriage in natural wood consists in
first thoroughly cleaning the wood and then keeping it clean. All
stains and discolorations of the wood should be sandpapered out or
scraped off with steel scraper and a piece of glass. Then a careful,
uniform sandpapering should be given. Dust off and apply a coat of raw
linseed oil. This oil coat requires a clean, smooth rubbing out--as
clean and smooth as a coat of paint. Give this oil coat from 24 to
36 hours to dry and harden completely. Sandpaper lightly, dust off,
and give the surface a coating of some reliable, first-class, wood
filler. As soon as the filler takes on a sufficient "tack," rub across
the grain of the wood with soft, clean rags until the surface is free
from any surplus filler. If, after the application of the filler, the
cells of the wood remain unfilled or defectively sealed, a second coat
of the filler will be necessary. Once the filler has dried, mix a
putty colored to match the natural color of the wood, and putty nail
and screw holes and other cavities. This puttying should be done so
smoothly as to necessitate little or no sandpapering for the purpose
of leveling the putty spots. The whole surface may now in due time be
lightly gone over with No. 0 paper. Next dust off and apply a coat of
pale rubbing varnish. The striping is best done on this coat. Then give
second coat of rubbing, surfacing this coat, when dry, with pulverized
pumice stone and water, clean up most thoroughly, and finish with a
very pale durable finishing varnish.

The painting of one of these natural-wood-finished jobs often presents
a formidable problem. What is the best method to pursue? That cannot
be answered decisively; but a reliable method is appended. First
scrape and sandpaper the old varnish clean and sleek to the wood. If
the wood is in good shape and not weather-beaten, apply a coat of lead
containing no more oil than is carried in the keg lead as it comes from
the dealer, the pigment being simply thinned with turpentine and given
a drying agent in the shape of a teaspoonful of coach japan, to, say,
each pint of the mixture. If the varnish has perished, and the wood is
injured thereby, it is advisable to give the lead a little extra dash
of oil, but not enough to cause the lead to dry with a gloss. Testing
the lead on the finger nail will determine the question of gloss. When
dry this coating of lead should receive a careful sandpapering, and a
second coat of lead mixed to dry "dead," and laid with a camel's-hair
brush, may go on. Too much oil should be especially avoided in building
the lead foundation over these natural wood surfaces, as it must be
borne in mind that the grain of the wood has been already sealed
with a hard, non-absorbent material into which the usual first coat
percentage of oil does not penetrate. On this second coat of lead all
needed puttying is done. The sandpapering which follows should be
very perfect and skillfully done. Body surfaces may next receive the
needed roughstuff coating up, to be subsequently rubbed out and carried
through to a finish in the ordinary way. The running parts from this
lead coat foundation are colored and finished according to the accepted
practice.

Once upon a time, my lamented friend, A. F. Manchester, in the columns
of _Varnish_, asked this pertinent question: "Do you have trouble
with your fine colors clouding up and losing their brilliancy from
the varnish?" Replying to the query, he suggested this plan, to the
efficacy of which the writer is glad to subscribe: "On any transparent
color (or any color, in fact) always add some of the color to each
coat of rubbing varnish--enough to kill the amber tint of the varnish.
This preserves the colors in all their original brilliancy. Of course,
this plan necessitates striping and ornamenting on the last coat of
rubbing, but that is just as well as burying all the tone of the colors
under the varnish. Then, again, it obliges the customer to have the job
revarnished when he ought."

It is not a praiseworthy practice to putty a carriage body after it is
rubbed out of roughstuff, or after the first coat of color is on. The
puttying should be attended to when the job is being roughstuffed--and
before. All places overlooked at the first puttying should be attended
to carefully upon the first coat of roughstuff. Puttying upon a
roughstuffed rubbed panel leads to premature surface blemishes of a
most unhappy order.

Certain of the yellows are rather difficult to work nicely when used
as striping colors for dagger or sword pencils. Notably so is chrome
yellow, which, by the way, is a pretty foundation for glazing with
carmine. Such colors may be remedied by adding a bit of some body color
which will give them a stronger covering property without harmfully
changing the purity of the yellow.

The subject of varnish rooms is an entertaining one. So many poor
varnish rooms exist that any plan to make them better, so long as it
be a feasible plan, merits attention. Mr. F. J. Flowers, an old-time
carriage man and an earnest advocate of the first-class varnish room,
some time ago gave his idea of such an apartment in these words:
"First, it should not be on the top floor of a building where it gets
all the gases and fumes from the smith and paint shops. It should
be round in form, with a dome roof, ventilated and well lighted
therefrom; and each light of glass should be as colorless as possible,
and arranged so as to prevent the direct rays of the sun. Its ceiling
should be all wood, stained light blue with water colors; the floor
should be waxed or oiled; the room, when in use, should be kept at
an even temperature (not less than 65°), and all dampness should
be avoided. You ask, why round? I answer, all evaporations form in
circles when ascending; the room having no corners, there is no back
draught to obstruct them. Why lighted from the roof? There will be no
cross-lights, hence no conflicting light. Why ceiled with wood? It is
dryer than plaster and will absorb the evaporations when not coated
with oil paint. Why color blue? It is the spring light, and gives
the purest reflection. Why an even temperature? It will prevent the
condensing of the vapor, and thereby prevent it from falling back upon
the varnish, which gives it that bloomy, silky, and pitted look which
we hear so much about."

Upon heavy vehicle work, such as broughams, landaus, etc., the inside
surface of glass frames, pillars, door checks, and the like, quite
commonly go with a polish finish, as it does away with sticking doors,
defaced pillars, and glaring glass frames. The contrast between the
polished parts and those reflecting a high brilliancy of finish is
soft and pleasing and a grateful relief to the eye. The parts referred
to, having been brought up to a solid foundation of rubbing varnish,
are given a thorough surfacing with pumice stone flour and water. Next
rub with sweet oil and rotten stone, using a soft woolen cloth for the
polisher. Conclude the operation by rubbing wheat flour under a clean
bit of woolen until the friction generated makes a gloss. The flour, in
addition to its other office, will absorb and clean up the oil.

A very quick drying striping color is frequently demanded--one that
can be varnished over in an hour after application, or sooner. Mix the
pigment in equal parts of rubbing varnish and coach japan. Then thin to
the proper working consistency with turpentine.

In painting over metallic surfaces, which the carriage and wagon
painter frequently finds it necessary to do, it is essential to first
know that such surfaces are thoroughly clean and free from acids,
grease, etc. Give them a rub over with kerosene or benzine, and then
wash with soap and water, concluding with a generous rinsing off
with clean water. If the surface is too heavily saturated with paint
injuring accumulations, give it a wash with water containing sal
soda in the proportion of, say, 1/2 to 3/4 lb. of the soda to 5 or 6
quarts of water. A rinsing with clean water will now afford a clean
surface over which to paint. The metallic surface being clean, it
remains for the painter to give it a hard, solid surfacing with No.
1-1/2 sandpaper, in order to develop the necessary minute furrows
and scratches to give the pigment a "bite" or a chance to grip fast.
Instead of sandpapering, the practice holds good in some shops of
rubbing the surface with a fire brick as a means of trenching and
channeling it to the required extent.

The vehicle painter located in the small shop and not usually using a
very considerable quantity of varnish daily, should buy his supply of
this material in small cans--pints and quarts for example. Once a can
is opened, the varnish, through repeated exposure to the air, quickly
begins to grow fatty, and after a time the loss of the turpentine
leaves it in an unfit condition to work satisfactorily over a fine
surface. A rubber stopper is the best kind of a varnish can stopper,
because it does not crumble and break into bits like the cork, and it
is the closest possible approach to an air-tight device.

The painter has but small use for the varnish that has to be thinned
with turpentine in order to give it the proper spreading and flowing
property. The elements of durability and brilliancy of lustre are
in great danger of being greatly impaired, if not quite wholly
destroyed, when shop thinning of varnishes is practiced. To attempt
to successfully cut the solidity of varnish with turpentine added in
hit or miss fashion constitutes a direct injury to this manifestly
sensitive and delicate material. Thinning varnish should be resorted to
only when an extremely critical emergency presents itself.

To provide a tight, dust-and-smoke-proof floor for the varnish room,
proceed in this wise: Cut strips of stout wrapping paper to the
proper length to fit lengthwise of the floor. Coat one side of the
paper with trimmer's paste, and then lay the strips on smooth and
free from wrinkles. Allow the second strip to overlap the first one
fully 2 inches. Continue overlapping until the floor is covered. When
the first layer or covering has laid long enough to provide for the
complete drying of the paste, lay a second course of the paper in the
same manner, and in due time, if necessary, apply a third course. Then
apply a coat of yellow ochre paint, mixed oil and turpentine, in the
proportion of 1/4 oil to 3/4 turpentine, with a tablespoonful of japan
added to each pint of the paint. The second coat of ochre may be mixed
in 2/3 hard drying implement varnish to 1/3 japan.

Mr. P. C. Hoebel, in _Varnish_, interestingly describes his method of
painting over a cracked and fissured surface, and avers that it has
for many years proven uniformly successful. Mr. Hoebel says: "Instead
of sanding down the old varnish, I skin it off by the use of ammonia
and a stiff bladed putty knife. Then rub down with block rubbing stone
and let stand over night to dry out. Next, a good sandpapering with
No. 1 paper; dust thoroughly. Then apply a mixture composed of 1 part
drop black, 1 part keg lead, and the same amount of dry lampblack.
Add a little rubbing varnish. Thin to a proper working consistency
with turpentine. Next day putty-glaze the entire cracked surface with
not too soft putty. Use the regulation hard drying carriage painter's
putty. This putty should dry hard enough to sand well the following
day. The sandpapering of this putty is of the greatest importance and
requires an extra amount of elbow grease. The job is now ready to
receive the proper ground work for its respective color which is to be."

In wagon painting some exceedingly light and delicate tints are used,
and driers for such tints adapted to the delicacy of coloring are
needed. Appended is a formula for a drier of this kind: Mix 15 parts
of sulphate of zinc, 4 parts sugar of lead, and 7 of litharge, with
pure linseed oil, and grind the mixture in a paint mill very fine; then
mix 100 parts of paris white to a dough with 50 parts of white lead
and linseed oil. Grind this also very fine in the mill, then mix all
together, grinding once more.

It is possible now and then to remedy a case of pitted varnish in this
manner. The morning after the varnish is applied cover the surface
with clear turpentine. Let the turps gradually soak up and soften the
pitted varnish, adding more turps as required. When the varnish has
become sufficiently softened, mix a little raw linseed oil with the
turpentine (the oil holding the turps in check and preventing it from
cutting into the under coats) and with a soft badger-hair brush proceed
to "lift" the afflicted varnish coat. The varnish once removed, let the
surface stand for a few hours, then give it a light rubbing over with a
moistened sponge dipped in finely pulverized pumice stone. Follow with
a thorough washing with clean water and revarnish.

Color and varnish strainers are a necessity. Cheese cloth, cut into
6-inch squares, gives a very practical kind of strainer. All colors
that have stood for some time after mixing require straining before
being used. And finishing varnish--all varnish, in fact, should
be strained as the final contents of the can are approached. Many
first-class finishers insist upon straining all the varnish they use;
and cheese cloth serves the purpose of a good strainer at a low cost.

The best stroke for squaring up varnish has often been discussed at
length, and it seems to be the decision of the leading finishers of the
country that the horizontal stroke is to be preferred to the vertical.
To the beginner the former is probably the most difficult to use, the
danger of runs, sags, etc., seemingly being thereby intensified. The
natural flow of varnish, as the finishers all may know, is downward,
and the horizontal stroke of the brush does not arrest this flow or
divert it from its accepted course. The vertical stroke, however,
permits of a varnish flow in at least two directions--sideways and
downward. Runs and other surface defacers are equally possible with
the horizontal or vertical brush stroke. Immunity from such disturbers
depends altogether upon the uniformity and equality with which the
varnish has been flowed upon the surface.

To renovate and give a fresh new look to cushions and backs, when
faded, thin the desired color down with turpentine until it can almost
be called a wash, and apply the mixture very thinly. Allow the color
to dry thoroughly, and then thin shellac with alcohol until a very
thin shellac is provided and coat the articles with this, following
immediately with a smart polishing with neatsfoot oil and then wiping
dry with clean woolen cloths.

The twine used for bridling paint brushes--and the twine bridle is the
favored kind in the carriage paint shop--should be run through melted
tallow and beeswax before put to use. After the tallow and wax has
cooled on the twine, the bridling may proceed. After the twine is in
position on the brush, run a little of the warm grease and wax over it.
Thus a more durable and more easily cleaned bridle is given the brush.

Imitation vermilions are considerably favored of late years, but they
fade after the manner of a late autumn twilight unless amply protected
by varnish. Given adequate varnish protection they show radiant colors
and wear durably.

The country carriage painter is no stranger to the vehicle, the family
heirloom, perchance, that comes into the shop with hubs split and
shattered, and axle grease filtering up through the cracks saturating
the wood and making it generally unpaintable. An old carriage painter
advises this treatment in order to cause the paint and color to dry
over the afflicted parts: First give the hubs a wash with gasoline or
benzine, working the fluid well into the cracks. Give plenty of time
for evaporation to occur. Then with shellac cut with a little ether,
fill in the fissure. Next make a putty of plaster of paris mixed with
the shellac and ether. Into the fissures force this mixture, keeping
it clearly from the outside surface of the hub, as nothing short of a
file will level it after it has dried. Give the putty a nice, smooth
dressing off upon the filling of each crevice.

The business wagon occasionally contains a window glass that should go
in imitation of frosted glass. Take finely ground whiting and, with
2/3 raw linseed oil to 1/3 japan, mix to a rather stiff consistency;
and then with turpentine reduce to a condition to work easily under a
camel's-hair brush. Let the mixture be spread quickly and uniformly
even upon the glass. Then take finely shredded cloth and roll it into
a ball and cover with a clean cotton cloth and proceed to go carefully
over the freshly laid on whiting, softly tapping it, until the frosted
imitation is brought clearly and prettily into relief.

A surface that has become dented by a blow from a hammer or other blunt
instrument can be remedied by so placing the surface that the dent or
depression will hold a little water poured into it, and then holding a
lighted taper to the water until the heat thus generated in the minute
body of water causes the wood to again assume its natural shape and
condition. In denting the wood, if a positive rupture does not occur
at the edge of the depression the strain of the wood has occurred in
two distinct directions--inward and lengthwise--and the reaction when
it takes place will be two-fold. A second way of treating such surface
difficulties consists of boring with a gimlet through the compressed
fibres of the wood until the sound timber is reached. This puncture
will counteract the lengthwise reaction. Then moisten with tepid water
until the wood recovers its natural position again. The bruise or dent
with fractured edges is more easily repaired, as no reaction need be
feared, the pressure of the tool making the depression having overcome
the natural resistance of the wood; and destruction of resistance
results, as may be naturally inferred, in destruction of all reactive
functions.

If the carriage or wagon painter at any time wishes a varnish to dry
without gloss he may dissolve 4 ounces of beeswax in turpentine and
add to 1 quart of varnish. This, while not reducing the body of the
varnish, will cause it to dry without much, if any lustre. It will work
from the brush freely and wear durably. If only a subdued gloss is
desired, use 2 ounces of beeswax to 1 quart of varnish.

The window sashes in business wagons that are painted in some of the
dark fashionable greens offer a beautiful contrast to the body color
if grained mahogany color. For the ground color for the mahogany use
white lead, burnt sienna, and a bit of raw sienna for the toning
ingredient. Putty, if necessary, upon the first ground coat. Two coats
should suffice to give a dense, stable ground. Burnt sienna, wet in
stale beer, forms the graining material. Apply with a soft brush, wipe
quickly out with a soft, fleecy sponge, use the blender lightly, and
the trick is done.

The finisher should never assume the responsibility of adding driers to
varnish. Varnish is composed of peculiarly sensitive and susceptible
ingredients responding to the slightest influences, good or ill, and
the addition of siccatives only tends to make the action of the varnish
uncertain. It is only for the time being that the driers unite and form
a part of the varnish. During the operation of applying to the surface
the varnish forsakes or separates the shop-added siccative, with
the result that pitting and pin-holing, along with other burdensome
deviltries, are developed. No, shop mixing of driers with varnish is
not advisable.

My esteemed _confrere_, Mr. J. G. Cameron, makes public this worthy
observation, with _Varnish_ as his medium of circulation: "Every
varnish room should have a window through which the direct rays of
the sun passes during the afternoon. It should be curtained and have
a small slit or hole in the curtain for a slice of sunlight to stream
through. This slice of sunlight will reveal the condition of the air
within the room and tell the varnisher just how much dust he will have
to contend with that day. If this ray shows that the air is loaded
with magnetic dust, it would be well for him to sprinkle well every
suspicious place within the varnish room. Some days sprinkling is not
needed; such days as rainy ones or right after a rain storm. On windy
days, window sills and any place where the air is likely to drift
through should be wet down. But on magnetic days the floor and every
place should be well wet down. A varnisher's clothes should be also
scrupulously groomed off. The writer has varnished often with a damp
'shammy' wrapped round his wrist and arm to keep the dust from his
underclothing from troubling him."

Beware of the black color-and-varnish that carries a dash of too much
color in it. Black of high or low degree, such as is used in carriage
painting, may be classed as a non-drying material. Finishing varnish
applied over a color-and-varnish containing too great a percentage of
color is exceedingly liable to strike into this improperly hardened
undercoat and lose the beauty of its lustre thereby. In carriage part
finishing done upon the color-and-varnish coat the trouble here noted
should be guarded against.

Ornamental striping upon business wagons should never be done with
the heavy stripe. Retain the same style of striping throughout a job.
Throwing in two or three styles of line work on a job is an affront to
good taste of which no up-to-date painter should be guilty.

A fine old woodworker once told my lamented friend, Mr. C. E. Vader,
how to make a saw with which to cut block pumice stone. He said: "Take
a piece of band iron 1-1/4 or 2 inches wide and 18 inches long; put
one end in the vise and then get a sharp cold-chisel. Be sure to have
it sharp. Slant the chisel 45° from you and tip to the left and strike
quite a blow. Next time turn chisel to the right, or just try to cut
some saw teeth in this iron. You can cut and set them at the same time.
Don't make teeth too far apart. This will cut as much pumice stone as a
well filed and set saw would."

In an essay on "How to Make Coach Varnish go Wrong," published by a
prominently-known varnish making firm some time since, this advice was
tendered: "Practice hospitality! Let everybody go in and out of your
varnish room freely. Don't have a small door cut in the large one,
and don't shut off your varnish room from the other rooms. Let the
temperature of your varnish room vary as much as possible. Under no
circumstances allow it to remain the same for two consecutive hours.
Let it fall far below 70° or rise far above 80°; but above all things,
_make it vary_. In the winter season let the fire go out occasionally,
and be sure to select this as the proper time to open the window to see
what is going on outside."

One of the strong selling factors of a vehicle consists of a
first-class interior finish. A prospective customer, as a rule, is
quick to perceive the finish of the inside surface; and nothing tends
more powerfully to cheapen the looks of an otherwise faultlessly
finished job than a slovenly surfaced and finished carriage body
interior. One doesn't need to insist upon the same high standard of
cleanliness for the inside as the outside, but good surfacing and an
excellent freedom from dirt, motes, etc., should be maintained in the
finishing of interior surfaces.

In the finishing of carriages in the natural wood, gum shellac should
not be used to fill up the grain of the wood. Shellac is of an entirely
too brittle nature, devoid of elasticity, to be used upon a surface
subject to sustained vibrations with accompanying violent jars and
jolts. For first-class carriage work shellac is good only when not used.

Another strongly recommended method of filling up cracks and fissures
in coach panels embraces the employment of equal parts of English
filling, dry white lead and whiting, mixed with equal parts of japan
and rubbing varnish. To this add 1/2 the quantity of rye flour paste,
stirring the mass into a thick consistency. This is applied with an old
paint brush, and when it has set and stiffened considerably upon the
surface it is knifed in with a broad-blade putty knife, and two days
later it is rubbed down with a block of pumice stone or a fine rubbing
brick.

A putty for resetting glass in coach frames is made of 7 parts whiting
and 1 part white lead mixed to the correct working consistency in raw
linseed oil, adding a little japan gold size to furnish the proper
drying quality. If the putty is to be use upon black frames, darken
sufficiently with ivory drop black, instead of lampblack, and lessen
proportionately the japan used. This putty can be depended upon to
remain in place and securely, hold the glass in the frames.

* * * * *

=THE LARGEST IN THE WORLD=

=Robert Ingham Clark & Co.=,

MANUFACTURERS OF THE CELEBRATED

=Britannia English Varnishes.=

=LONDON. PARIS. HAMBURG.=

[Illustration]

The Britannia Finishing Varnishes of the Robert Ingham Clark & Co.
manufacture are sold in every part of the civilized world. The extreme
durability of their varnishes, combined with their brilliancy,
easy-working and quick-drying properties, make them the best and safest
varnishes for carriage and car work to be found on the market. These
goods are put up in gallons, halves and quarts; also in 12-1/2 gallon
drums. Samples will be furnished on application.

=PRATT & LAMBERT=,

=AGENTS FOR THE UNITED STATES AND MEXICO=,

=Long Island City=, =370-378 Twenty-Sixth St.=,
=NEW YORK. CHICAGO.=

* * * * *

=Carriage Varnishes and Japans of Unequalled Quality=

=Special Crimson Color Varnish=

An unrivalled undercoating for the finest work. Works very freely,
covers splendidly, has a beautiful color and holds the latter
wonderfully. Can be "mossed" off in twelve hours.

=Clear Rubbing Varnishes _of_ Highest Quality=

Work and rub very easily. The standard for quality for twenty-five
years.

=Nonpareil Japan=

A wonderful drier and binder. Exceedingly pale in color, and never
equaled in quality.

=Pale Body Finishing=

Made up on a new formula and having no equal for a high-grade
finishing Varnish. Works easily, flows out finely with a splendid
lustre, giving a very fine surface over touch-up work, and is
thoroughly reliable in all respects.

=CHICAGO VARNISH COMPANY=

=(Established 1865)=

=Dearborn & Kinzie 22 Vesey Street 66 High Street
CHICAGO NEW YORK BOSTON=

* * * * *

THE EASY WAY.

The average actor must rehearse the new piece several times, and each
rehearsal uses up half a day. Then he needs the prompter to help him
out with the first few performances: and his anxiety, lest he forget,
wears on his nerves and worries the other actors and causes the manager
to say things, and compels a great many scenes of battle and sorrow
not writ in the play. Edwin Booth never needed the prompter, and he
rehearsed but once. He had it all in his mind so familiarly, before he
came to the stage, that he went through it without an effort. He said
he was lazy, and that was the easiest way.

We appeal to your laziness. Why not make business easy! What's the
use of worrying, and making mistakes, and doing it over again, and
getting rattled, and keeping the factory in a turmoil, and having
angry customers, and losing trade, and walking up and down at night,
and saying things! If you have the right kind of varnish on the right
kind of color your work will go smoothly, your nerves will be in good
condition when you are an old man, you will get the reputation of being
wise and good, your funeral sermon--so long delayed--will be delivered
with a clear conscience.

Just think a little beforehand: that is all. We keep ourselves well
and happy by making varnish and color which have no battle scenes in
them. Come now: let us trade together, and show the world how pleasant
a thing is business--properly done.

MURPHY VARNISH CO.

* * * * *

=NEW YORK=

=John W. Masury & Son=

=MANUFACTURERS OF=

Superfine Colors Ground in Japan
Pure Colors Ground in Oil
Artists' Tube Colors
Fine Carriage Varnishes
Wagon Paints
Carriage Gloss Paints
Miscellaneous Varnishes
and Japans

=CHICAGO=

* * * * *

=SURREY VARNISH CO.=

=866 and 868
NORTH HOYNE AVE. CHICAGO. ILLINOIS.=

=Good Old-Fashioned Varnishes and Japans=

[Illustration]

WILLIAM FISHER
FOUNDER OF THE
SURREY VARNISH CO.,
CHICAGO, 1891
GRANDSON AND PUPIL IN
VARNISH MAKING OF
WILLIAM HARLAND
ORIGINATOR OF
THE FIRM OF
WM. HARLAND & SON
MERTON, SURREY,
ENGLAND, 1791.

[Illustration]

The quality of a Varnish depends upon the time and skill devoted
to its manufacture, and not altogether, as many suppose, upon the
materials from which it is made.

=IN ALL OUR FINISHING VARNISHES WE USE
ONLY THE SLOW ENGLISH PROCESS.=

=Our Two-Day and Four-Day Carriage Rubbing
Varnishes are the Best in the World.=

=SURREY VARNISH CO.=

=866 and 868
NORTH HOYNE AVE. CHICAGO. ILLINOIS.=

* * * * *

=STANDARD=

=CARRIAGE VARNISHES=

=EXCEL IN
FREE FLOWING SAFETY
UNIFORMITY
LUSTRE AND DURABILITY=

=IT IS IMPOSSIBLE=

=to obtain best results unless
you use the best material and
there are no better=

=RUBBING OR FINISHING=

=Varnishes in the market than those made by the=

=STANDARD VARNISH WORKS=

The Largest Varnish Works in the World

=FACTORIES=, COVERING 7 ACRES, =ELM PARK, S. I.=

GENERAL OFFICES

LONDON ...=29 BROADWAY=... CHICAGO
23 BILLITER STREET =NEW YORK= 2629 DEARBORN ST.

* * * * *

ARMSTRONG & McKELVY
Pittsburgh

BEYMER-BAUMAN
Pittsburgh

DAVIS-CHAMBERS
Pittsburgh

FAHNESTOCK
Pittsburgh

ANCHOR }
} Cincinnati
ECKSTEIN }

ATLANTIC }
}
BRADLEY }
}
BROOKLYN }
} New York
JEWETT }
}
ULSTER }
}
UNION }

SOUTHERN }
} Chicago
SHIPMAN }

COLLIER }
}
MISSOURI }
} St. Louis
RED SEAL }
}
SOUTHERN }

JOHN T. LEWIS & BROS. CO.
Philadelphia

MORLEY
Cleveland

SALEM
Salem, Mass.

CORNELL
Buffalo

KENTUCKY
Louisville

=USE

PURE
WHITE
LEAD

AND

PURE
LINSEED
OIL=

and you will know exactly what you are getting--absolutely the
best and most economical paint in existence. Employ a responsible,
practical painter to apply it and the result will be satisfactory.

=National Lead Co.,
No. 100 William Street,
NEW YORK.=

* * * * *

BERRY BROTHERS

(LIMITED)

MANUFACTURERS OF

[Illustration]

CARRIAGE

VARNISHES

NEW YORK, BOSTON, PHILADELPHIA,
BALTIMORE, CINCINNATI, CHICAGO,
ST. LOUIS, SAN FRANCISCO

FACTORY AND
MAIN OFFICE DETROIT

* * * * *

=LUCAS HELPS=

Lucas Coach Colors

Send for pamphlet showing 54 beautiful colors we carry in stock. Have
you ever tried our Lucasine Vermilions, Light Royal Green, Aurora
Lake. Deep Orange Yellow, Cobalt Blue?

Lucas A. I. & V. M. Colors

Send for sample cards, showing up-to-date harmonious combinations for
painting the body and gears of wagons.

Lucas Primers

Vermilion, Lead Color and Orange.

Light gravity for dipping; heavy gravity for brush work.

Lucas Iron and Steel Fillers

For the heavy iron parts of carriages and wagons of all kinds. They
are tough, elastic, and will stand hammering.

Lucas Wood Fillers

Paste and Liquid.

For filling and priming Oak, Hickory and Ash: particularly useful for
work finished in the natural colors.

Lucas Coach Varnishes

Our hard drying coach rubbing gives universal satisfaction.

Lucas Coach Drying Japan

Thoroughly reliable. Always uniform in strength and general working
qualities.

Lucas Black Enamel Top Dressing

Tip top for general repairs. Unexcelled for leather and cloth tops and
curtains.

Lucas Phenom Varnish and Paint Remover

Quick, energetic, effective. Does not raise the grain of the wood. An
indispensable article in every paint shop.

=JOHN LUCAS & CO.=,

=Practical Manufacturers Colors, Paints, Varnishes.=

=NEW YORK PHILADELPHIA CHICAGO=

* * * * *

=JUST ISSUED=

=THE HOME MECHANIC AND COMPLETE SELF-INSTRUCTOR.=

=A WHOLE LIBRARY IN ONE BOOK.=

[Illustration]

A full compendium of Indispensable Information and Instruction in
the most useful Mechanical Trades. Each Part has been prepared by a
Specialist who is Master of his Trade. The Instruction is Thorough and
Practical. This book will enable you to do many little things that
you now have to pay for and will thus save Hundreds of Dollars in any
household. No other book has ever been published that treats of so
many of the trades or that contains on any one of them information so
thoroughly practical in character.

PART I. is devoted to Carpentry. It describes the Tools, tells How to
Select Them and Keep Them in Order, and How to Use Them; How to Fit
up a Shop and to Make the Various Appliances, and how to do All Sorts
of Work, from Planing a Board to Building a House. A description and
the Selection of Builders' Hardware, and another to the Making of
Specifications. Everything is Fully Illustrated by Engravings.

PART II. is devoted to Painting--tells exhaustively how Paints are
Prepared, Mixed and Applied, and How to Make and Use Varnishes and
Dryers. It gives Full and Plain Information about Colors and Tints,
also about Graining, Staining on Glass, as well as Wood; Lettering,
Glazing, and Paper Hanging.

PART III. treats of Sign, Carriage and Decorative Painting, and
contains Full Information and Instructions as to Frescos and Walls
and Interior Ornamentation that is to be found elsewhere only in
High-priced Volumes. The Technical Knowledge that it imparts of Pillars
and Scrolls, Ceilings and Borders and Room Decorations is worth many
times the price of the whole book, and this can be as truly said of
the Practical Instruction in Carriage Painting, and also that in Sign
Painting, which includes Painting on Glass and various Metals and
Textiles, as well as on Wood.

PART IV. treats of Finishing and Ornamenting Furniture and Cabinet
Articles, tells How to Prepare the Materials, what Tools to Use
and How to Use Them. This covers, among other things the Processes
of Bleaching, Darkening, Staining, Filling, Graining, Veneering,
Marqueterie Work, Buhl Work, and Inlaying of all sorts. Recipes for
Varnishes, Stains, Cements, etc., and for Removing Stains and Reviving
Leather, and Cloths, will be invaluable in any family.

PART V. is a complete Instructor on Horse Shoeing, teaching what every
Owner of a Horse as well as every Horse-Shoer should know. Thirty
pages are devoted to the Diseases of and Accidents to the Horses Feet,
written by a Practicing Veterinarian of successful experience.

PART VI. treats of Soap-Making and is prepared as a Guide for Families
and Small Manufacturers. It tells how to make all sorts of Plain, Fancy
and Medicinal Soaps, Emulsions and other substitutes, including Washing
Fluids.

PART VII. comprises a hundred pages on Candy-Making, which will afford
Pleasure and may easily be turned to Profit. Complete instruction,
covering Syrups and Creams, Pastes and Ices, as well as Candy, that it
will serve the needs of Confectioners as well as Families.

PART VIII. is a Practical Treatise on Baking, giving Plain and Explicit
Instructions for making and Baking Every Variety of Bread, Cake and
Cracker, Pies and Pastry.

PART IX. treats of Taxidermy and its kindred Arts, being a Practical
Working Guide for Collecting, Preparing and Preserving all kinds of
Animals, Birds, Reptiles, Insects, Etc. The Instruction is intended for
Beginners, who have had no Previous Lessons or Practice, but it is so
Full and thorough that even experts will find it of value. The Young
Folks will find in these pages Equipment for a most Interesting Pastime
that may easily be made the source of a Large Income.

Added to all are nearly a Hundred Pages of Secrets Worth Knowing,
containing a Collection of Most Valuable Recipes for Making All
Sorts of Articles that are in Constant Demand, and for which we have
frequently to pay Exhorbitant Prices. This book also contains a chapter
on Tanning, explaining how _Tannin_ is obtained; Salting Hides; Tanning
Skins with Fur on and several processes for Tanning Leather. Also a
chapter on RUSTIC FENCES and GATES with Illustrations of same.

This is but a Bare Suggestion of what is contained in This Remarkable
Volume. The Instruction is all by Experts; the information we Guarantee
to be Reliable. No Other Twelve Books in the World contains so much of
Practical Value. 876 Pages. Large 12mo. Bound in Cloth.

=Price, $2.50 postpaid.=

=Address all
orders to= =The Western Painter=

=CHICAGO=

* * * * *

=EXACTLY RIGHT=

Varnishes For Carriage Painters.

[Illustration: E. S.

1827

& CO]

=76 YEARS' EXPERIENCE IN EVERY CAN.=

=WEARING BODY=

Whose working qualities are not equaled. Less liable to "trick" than
any other. Dries free over night. Can be run out in three or four days.

=BLACK RUBBING=

Unequaled in intensity of color, working qualities, absolute
uniformity and the perfection of surface obtained.

=ROUGHSTUFFS=

That produce the best possible surface for the color, with the least
possible labor.

=EDWARD SMITH & CO.=,

=VARNISH MAKERS AND COLOR GRINDERS.=

=45 Broadway, NEW YORK,
59 Market Street, CHICAGO.=

* * * * *

=LETTER PATTERNS FOR CARRIAGE PAINTERS.=

Letter Patterns for Carriage Painting are now used by experienced
workmen who want a time-saving method, as well as by beginners who
have not time to learn the trade by the old way. They are cut from
extra durable pattern paper, and are all ready for use when they reach
you. Each alphabet contains all the letters and the character &.

To Paint Signs, you should place the letters in position on the board
to form the desired words, mark with pencil or crayon round each
letter to get the outline, remove the pattern and paint in the color.

To Make a Shade: After marking out the letter, drop your pattern as
low as necessary and move to the right or left, penciling round the
right or left and bottom edges only; now, with a straight-edge, cut in
the corners on angle as shown in cuts of figure 5 and 6.

The following cuts represent some of the most useful styles, with
sizes and prices of each alphabet.

BLOCK. 2 inch 15c 12 inch $0.80 GOTHIC.
A 3 " 20c 14 " 1.00 B
4 " 25c 16 " 1.25
5 " 35c 18 " 1.60
6 " 45c 20 " 2.00
8 " 60c 24 " 2.75
10 " 75c

ROMAN. 2 inch 20c 8 inch $0.70 TUSCAN.
N 3 " 25c 10 " .90 H
4 " 35c 12 " 1.10
5 " 45c 15 " 1.45
6 " 55c

EGYPTIAN. 2 inch 20c SLANT BLOCK.
T 3 " 25c _O_
4 " 35c
5 " 45c
6 " 55c
8 " 65c
10 " 80c

FULL BLOCK. 3 inch $0.30 FULL B SLANT.
D 4 " .40 B
5 " .50
6 " .60
8 " .75
10 " 1.00

PEAKED. 3 inch $0.30 FANTAIL.
P 4 " .40 M
5 " .50
6 " .60
8 " .75
10 " 1.00

MODERN 4 inch $0.35 CHICAGO
ART. 5 " .45 FAVORITE.
E 6 " .60 E
8 " .75
10 " 1.00
12 " 1.36
15 " 1.70

DE VINNE CAPS. 3 inch $0.35 2 inch $0.30 DE VINNE
R 4 " .45 3 " .40 LOWER CASE.
5 " .60 3-1/2 " .50 let
6 " .75 4-1/2 " .70
8 " 1.00 6 " .85
10 " 1.35 To order.
12 " 1.70 "

SCRIPT. 6 inch Capitals $1.00
_Fat_ Lower case to match .75
9 inch Capitals 1.50
Lower case 1.00
12 inch Capitals 2.00
Lower case 1.35

GERMAN TEXT. 4 inch Capitals $0.85
Abc Lower case .65
6 inch Caps 1.00
Lower case .75
8 inch Caps 1.50
Lower case 1.00

BLOCK. 2 inch, per set of 10 $0.10 ROMAN.
5 3 " " " .10 6
4 " " " .15
5 " " " .20
6 " " " .25
8 " " " .35
10 " " " .40
12 " " " .50

Stencils of any of the above alphabets of Letter Patterns will be cut
on the very best prepared Stencil Paper at double the price quoted for
the patterns; all stencils are shellaced ready for use in oil or water
colors.

=TRANSFER ORNAMENTS, OR DECALCOMANIE=, have been used for so many
years for Carriage and Sign Decoration that they are now a staple
article in the paint shop, and the Transfer letters will soon be as
popular, for any person who can use one can use the other. They make
elegant signs on wood, tin, or any smooth surface, and another kind
for the inside of glass are very fine, and guaranteed to wear as
well, or better than work done by hand by the most experienced sign
writer. A list of prices, sizes, and colors, with full directions
for applying, will be found on pages 42 to 49 of my large 64-page
catalogue, which will be sent =FREE= to any person applying for same.
Special ornaments, trade-marks and other transfers made to order
in quantities. We manufacture and sell all kinds of Signs and Sign
Letters in Enamel Aluminum, Wood, etc.

_If you wish goods forwarded by mail be sure to send stamps or money
to pay charges or they will be sent by express._

=WM. SEDGWICK,
260 Clark Street, - - CHICAGO.=

☞=Send for 64-Page Catalogue of Fresco Stencils, Signs and Sign Letters=

* * * * *

=THE KING PATENT CHISELLED VARNISH BRUSH=

[Illustration]

This brush is made on our full centre patent; it is brass bound, and
the greatest pains taken in the selection of stock and making. It now
stands at the head of this class of brushes, being especially adapted
to piano, car, and coach work.

="The King" Patent Chiselled Varnish Brush=

The following, written by one who is an acknowledged authority on the
subject of varnishing, will be of interest to those who want the best
brush made.

="THE KING" VARNISH BRUSH.=

"It is seldom that we so readily commend a new tool as, in this
instance, we do the patent varnish brush of Messrs. John L. Whiting &
Son Co., Boston, Mass., which they are now supplying under the name of
'The King.' It consists of an oval brush bound with brass, and having
its centre well filled with bristles. The latter is a new and certainly
very desirable feature, as no accumulation of dirt or varnish gum can
find a resting place. The bristles are of the best quality, possessing
all the desired elasticity, and appear to be more firmly held in place
than is the case with many oval brushes we have used. The bristles are
evenly distributed throughout the brush, and are not compressed into
a solid ring or ferrule, around a so-called reservoir for varnish or
paint, in the centre of the brush. These reservoirs have never been a
success, and the absence of one in 'The King' leads us to particularly
admire it, for our experience teaches us that a brush with a solid
bristle centre will carry varnish better and keep in better order than
one having a central space or reservoir. Besides this, such a brush
will wear more evenly. The brush is particularly adapted for varnishing
large panels or gears, and well merits a trial by varnishers."

F. B. GARDNER.

If you are not using =Whiting's Brushes= give them a trial and learn
their superior working qualities and economy, over all other kinds. For
information address the manufacturers.

=JOHN L. WHITING & SON CO.,=

=BOSTON, U. S. A.=

* * * * *

=We are Headquarters for=

=Carriage Painters' Supplies=

=of every description=

=We are Agents for the following SPECIALTIES=

=COACH COLORS IN JAPAN= Manufactured by the well-known house of
Wadsworth, Howland & Co., (Inc.) of Boston, Mass. Send for Sample Book
showing many new colors.

=CARRIAGE VARNISHES= Made by the same firm.

=ENGLISH VARNISHES= Made by Robt. Ingham Clark & Co., of London.
Eng. Highest grade Varnishes made.

=AUG. BUHNE & CO.'S STEEL WOOL= Takes place of Sandpaper.
Pumice stone. Samples Free.

=FAULTLESS VARNISH REMOVER=
No alkali will not stain the most
delicate wood. Try it. Sample
can be sent prepaid for 35 cents.

=COACH AND CAR STRICTLY PURE WHITE LEAD.=
Heavy body and finely ground for Carriage Painters. Write for
quotations.

Also a Full Line of

=BRUSHES= of every description.

=BRONZE POWDER= for striping and lining.

=CHAMOIS SKINS= English and French.

=FILLERS=, Dry and Ground, for Rough Stuff and Gear Fillers.

=LEAF Gold=, Silver, Aluminum.

=PUMICE STONE= Powdered, Lump and Composition.

=RUBBING FELTS= All grades and Thicknesses.

=SPONGES= Sheep's Wool, Selected forms.

=Send for Carriage Painters' Net Price-List. It is FREE.=

=GEO E. WATSON CO.
108 Lake Street CHICAGO=

* * * * *

=Established 1832 Incorporated 1882=

=VALENTINE & COMPANY=

=VALENTINES
VARNISHES=

=Manufacturers of High Grade=

=COACH AND CAR VARNISHES AND COLORS=

=257 Broadway, New York=

=CHICAGO, 277 Dearborn Street
BOSTON, 170 Purchase Street
PARIS, 21 Rue de Lappe
AMSTERDAM, Prinsengracht 762=

* * * * *

Transcriber's note:

The one footnote has been moved to the end of its chapter.

Illustrations have been moved to paragraph breaks near where they are
discussed.

Punctuation has been made consistent.

Section names are inconsistent between the table of contents, chapter
headers, and actual section names.

Variations in spelling and hyphenation were retained as they appear in
the original publication, except that obvious typographical errors have
been corrected.

Page 71: The reference to "page 184" is to a page that does not exist
(on page 184 may)

Page 104: The figure labeled "O. D. T." does not correspond to the
displayed monogram, which appears to be "O. R. T."

*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "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" ***

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