At any time of the year, the surface of the woodwork should be absolutely dry. The paint should be well brushed on, using three thin coats in preference to two heavy coats. Allow plenty of time between coats, especially in sum mer, and proportion the quantity of drier and turpentine to the atmospheric conditions. An extra coat of paint in summer-time is no special advantage.
Many carpenters insist that the painter shall prime the woodwork as soon as it is erected, to prevent the woodwork from splitting. As a matter of fact, no harm whatever can come to the house if a brush is not touched to it until after the plastering is finished; and it will be a benefit, rather than otherwise, for the moisture from the damp plaster will have a tendency to cause blistering of the paint. In the old days of rafted lumber the sap acids were soaked out of the wood, and painting might be done at once. Now the lumber, if seasoned at all, is merely kiln-dried, and these acids are left in the wood, to be liberated by the moisture from the plaster. The acids affect the paint destruc tively, and the paint perishes prematurely. Far better to wait until the rain has had a chance to heat unon the lumber and soak the sap acids out of it. The boards may become discolorea, but the paint will hide the darkened wood and will cling to it much longer. Sufficient time should be allowed between coats of paint to permit the under coats to become thoroughly dry and hard before applying the subsequent coats. If possible, at least a week should be allowed.
Number of Coats. For economy's sake many persons specify two coats of paint. This is really not sufficient for new work. Three coats of paint, put on fairly stout and well brushed out to form a thin coating, will far outlast the same quantity of paint applied to the surface in two heavy coats and will afford a greater measure of protection. However, the use of a lead-colored priming coat, made from white lead tinted with lampblack, as mentioned elsewhere, will enable very fair work to be done with two coats—better by far than if both coats were of the same color.
The question of what shall be used for the final coat will depend very much upon the ability of the painter to mix colors. The old fashioned painter, who served a four years' apprenticeship, was taught not only how to spread paint and how to adapt his paint to the nature of the surface to be coated and to the weather conditions, but also how to produce different shades and tints by the combinations of various colors. Although color manufac
turers offer a large number of different colors, the house painter, as a rule, employs only a few of them to obtain the results desired, in addi tion to the white base—which is usually white lead, although some painters add from 10 to 25 per cent of zinc white on the finishing coat.
The tinting colors mostly used are lamp black, burnt and raw umber, burnt and raw sienna, Indian red, Venetian red, ocher, chrome yellow, and chrome green. Tuscan red and bronze green are used in the pure color, thinned with linseed oil and Japan drier, for painting sash and blinds. From these colors the experi enced painter can produce almost any shade he desires; and he will ordinarily prefer to mix his paint himself, because he can do this at a lower cost than he can buy mixed paints of good quality, and he has the additional advantage of being able to modify his paint to suit the occasion.
Ready-Mixed Paints. In many places it is difficult to obtain painters who have served an old-fashioned apprenticeship, and in these localities the use of mixed paints necessarily prevails. As a mixture of pure white lead and linseed oil, when kept for any length of time in a can, will grow "fatty" and unfit for use, all ready-mixed paints are made with a zinc white base. Some of them contain white lead (lead carbonate) or sublimed lead (oxy-sulphate of lead), while other makes contain no white lead at all. Paint manufacturers have given very careful study to the problem of producing a paint which will remain for a long time in good condition in a sealed package; which will cover well and wear well; and which will possess the merit of being ready for use when opened and stirred to thoroughly incorporate the pigment that may have settled at the bottom of the can with the liquid or vehicle. Many of the high class mixed paints on the market will undoubt edly give good satisfaction when used over a priming coat of white lead.