Preparing for Painters Work

Before the work is primed, all knots and sappy places should be coated with strong orange shellac varnish.

After the work has been primed, all nail holes and cracks should be thoroughly puttied up with pure whiting and linseed oil putty. This should be well worked in with a putty knife and any excess of putty scraped off the surface to prevent a lump. Pure putty is difficult to obtain, but it can be bought. It will cost prob ably three cents or more a pound, but is far superior in every way to the cheaper grades that can be bought for as low as one and one-half cents.

Although the autumn is usually considered to be the best season of the year for painting, because the paint dries slower than in summer time and the sun is not sufficiently hot to cause blisters, good painting can be done at any time of year, provided due care is used.

What Not to Do. The following precau tions must be employed at any season: No painting should be done on a damp surface; and if there has been rain, dew, or frost, work should not be begun until the sun has thoroughly dried off all moisture. If the air is dry, and the sur face to be painted is dry, a very good job can be done in very cold weather Ample time must be allowed between coats for the undercoats to be thoroughly dry. At least forty-eight hours, and preferably a week, should be given.

In using mixed paints in cold weather, it is well to add half a gallon of turpentine to five gallons of mixed paint on the first coat, and one quart of turpentine to five gallons of paint on the last coat. If necessary, a small quantity of best liquid drier may be added; but as a rule, mixed paints contain enough drier to make this unnecessary. The paint requires to be brushed out thoroughly in cold weather.

Best Brushes to Use. The best brush to use for outside painting is the "6-0" (six-naught) round or oval brush—also known as the "pound brush"—for the body color, and the "5-0" brush for the trimming colors. Two "sash tools" are also needed, one for the trim color and one for the sash color.

The 6-0 brush is recommended because it is the only shaped brush which has sufficient elas ticity to thoroughly brush the paint out into a very thin film. A good brush and plenty of elbow grease will produce a reasonably good and durable job, even where the paint may be com paratively inferior, although the best materials are always needed to produce a first-class job.

It is impossible to get into the corners with a flat brush as well as with a round brush, nor can the color be rubbed out so thoroughly.

Good brushes are an expensive item in paint ing, and it is economy to buy none but the best. Brushes made from white bristles command a somewhat higher price than those made from gray or black bristles of the same quality, although there is no reason why the darker brushes should not be just as good. A round brush made with a hollow center is more elastic than one made with a solid center, and is there fore preferable. The bristles are set in cement, and are firmly bound by being wrapped with wire in the round brushes, or by being enclosed in metal in the flat brushes.

Brushes of an excellent quality are made in which the bristles are set in rubber and then bound in a hard rubber ferrule. These are some what more expensive than the ordinary brushes, but are supposed to wear longer.

Besides the brushes already mentioned, the painter wants a "duster," which is used for removing any surface dust or loose dirt from the wood before painting.

The wall brush is generally used just as it is made, while the round brush is usually "bridled" or bound with twine, or with a metal or patent bridle, which serves to shorten the working length of the bristles and make them more elastic. The patent bridles, of course, are easier applied than the twine bridles, although the latter, in the hands of the man who has learned to bridle a brush properly, is probably better than the metal or rubber bridle.

The ordinary way of making a twine bridle is as follows: The cord is first tied around the brush handle, then carried down over the edge of the brush and wrapped firmly, but not too tightly, around the brush for about one-third of its length, when it is looped and carried up on the opposite side of the brush, and is generally secured by driving a tack into the handle, first slipping it through a knot in the twine. Brushes are also made with two wire hooks, on opposite sides, for fastening the brush bridles. This is a very great convenience. Care must be taken not to bridle the brush too tightly, or it will get it badly out of shape.