from an Id House Painter: Y friend, it is not the cost of the paint that ; it’s the labor, and that’s what most don't seem to realize. There is a good deal to learn on the subject of paints, for there are paints and paints, good, bad and indiffer- ent, and the strange thing about it is that the average man doesn’t know what good paint is composed of, and it's just because he won’t take the trouble to post himself. Now, I hate to see a man throw away his money on poor paint, and I hate to spend my time going over a house with a mixture that won’t last six months. There is only one kind of paint to use, and that is the Rest Paint , and I’ll tell you why and what it is composed of: I am not very strong w the pen, but my neighbors will tell you that I know how to nnxtind lay paint , and that I know df^jood paint when I see it, and bad, too. for the matter of that. t/rrO.CO.* r The purpose of a paint is to preserve and beau- tify, and whatever paint will do this is good. Paint is composed of certain mineral substances, called pigments, mixed with oil. The oil holds the pigment in a liquid condition, so that it can be ap- plied with a brush, and also acts as a “binder,” which will dry and harden and preserve the pigment so that it cannot rub or wash off by the action of the weather. All painters acknowledge that pure linseed oil is the best material known for painting. It does not evaporate, but absorbs oxygen from the air, and forms a tough, leathery substance, and holds the pigment firmly to the surface painted, form- ing an elastic, waterproof coating that adapts itself of temperature. at that house over yonder! I painted it months ago, and look at it now! The builder have fish or mineral oil mixed with the linseed oil, and zinc and barytes were used instead of white lead, because they were cheaper. The paint is cracking and peeling off in strips all over the building. It’s a shame, for the man paid as much for it as for first-class work. However, it means another job for me this Fall. Do you want to know what makes paint crack and chip ? I will tell you. Zinc. preserve and beautify.” “ The purpose of a INTING, With National Lead Company’s brands of White Lead and Tinting Colors. Sash, Dark Bronze Green. Blinds, Light Bronze Green. Body, 23. Trim, 27. Roof, 2. *VTRr HBR ARy .Sfiti&UU UNIVERSITY White zinc is very inferior to white lead, because it is transparent, and, besides, in drying it forms with the linseed oil a very hard, unelastic surface which will crack and scale off, and when a new coat is put on the old paint has to be scraped or burned off, and that makes an expensive job. Cases are known where houses have been burned to the ground while burning off this zinc white barytes mixture— also an expensive job. ■ It is strange how little some builders and architects know about the action of zinc in paint. Some architects say, “Use all white lead" or “ No white lead;’’ in other words, use white lead or use zinc. I say, and after forty years in the business and after care- ful observation, use PURE WHITE LEAD, and only white lead made by the old Dutch process of slow corrosion, in your linseed oil, and see that your oil is pure, too; and to be sure that your white lead is pure, buy one of the NATIONAL LEAD COMPANY’S brands, a fac-simile of which is shown in this book. What- ever you do, don't use zinc; sine will crack. Why, here's a board taken off of a house up on the hill. Look at the cracks, v all running across the grain of the wood from 1-16 to 1-4 inch apart. See how the paint scales off, the cracks generally run- ning across the grain of the wood. “Look at that house over yonder.” I’ll be hanged if I know why, but they jdmost always do. Some say it is due to shrinking of t A/vood ; maybe that’s true, but I won’t swear to it. Then see how smooth the surface is in places — just like glass. You might just as well try to make paint stick to the inside of an oyster shell or on a pane of glass as to this zinc-painted surface. Now, with white lead it is different. It positively will not chip; it may blister from moisture underneath if you get too much oil in fatty condition in it, but never chip or peel off. Again, white lead, after long exposure to the weather, assumes a porous or dusty condition, known as “chalking,” and a small per cent, of lead is removed each year ; and this is a great benefit, for it prevents the surface from becoming overloaded with paint. Please understand that this chalking does not affect the appearance pf the paint; but when you are ready to repaint, it absorbs a portion of the oil in the new paint, uniting and be- coming a portion of the old, as though both were applied at the same time. Another substance will be palmed off on you and added to your white lead if you don’t look out, and that is barytes. It is a powdered rock added to make weight and to cheapen the paint. 1 1 say use Pure White Lead and only White Lead.” vAk'l' iuctt-ySS ^<3T-KA1 X£o/sVce> SUGGESTION FOR HOUSE PAINTING, With National Lead Company’s brands of White Lead and Tinting Colors. Sash, Dark Bronze Green. Blinds, Light Bronze Green. Body, 8. Trim, 7. Roof, 25 ANALYSIS. ( ini aint it is a villainous article — heavy, but not opaque, and will neither hide the under surface nor form an elastic, waterproof binder with the linseed oil. White lead is opaque , which is exceedingly important in good paint. I tell you there is less judgment used in the selection of paints than in any other household expenditure. Take, for instance, ready-made paints. Do you know what they are composed of ? I'll tell you— ZINC, BARYTES WHITING, and INFERIOR OILS. Folks buy them because they are handy, and yet no two pots carry the same shade or coloring tint. Here is a chemical analysis of a certain brand of mixed paint, and is one of many I am preserving as curiosities to submit to my friends who are advocates of ready-mixed paints : Proportion of pigment to a gallon of paint 6S 4-10 per cent. Proportion of vehicle to a gallon of paint 31 6-10 percent. Consistency, poor. “ Look at these cracks ail running across the grain of the wood Materials and pro- portions of same enter- ing into the compo- sition : 22 per cent, sfnpoxide, 22 per cent, barytes, 21 per cent. Paris white, 2}| per cent, tinting color, 15)4' per cent, linseed oil, io per cent, naptha, \'/ 2 per cent, resin (probably due to a resin dryer), per cent, water. Percentage of purity, 40 X per cent: I leave you to draw your own conclusions as to the merits of such a mix- ture. In the selection of'! tints many people want certain colors that, if not selected with know- ledge of what they are, are bound to fade. Tints must be made of natural or inert pigments (earth paints), known as umber, sienna, yellow ochre, Ve- netian red, drop black (made from bone dust), and lamp black (made from smoke of pine wood). With these pigments the NATIONAL LEAD COMPANY have made their tinting col- ors, and when mixed the way I mix them with pure white lead and pure lin- seed oil , they will hold their - color for years, pre- serve your house and save your pocketbook. Note. — This article was written by a practical house- painter, who has been in the business for forty years. For obvious reasons we re- frain from giving his name. " I tell you there is less judgment used in the selection of Paints than in any other household expenditure.” SUGGESTION FOR HOUSE PAINTING, With National Lead Company's brands of White Lead and Tinting Colors. Body, 17. Sash, Dark Bronze Green. Trim, White. Blinds, Light Bronze Green. Roof. 20. i ( The Brands of White Lead shown in this i jook, and the National Lead Company’s Pure IvVhite Lead Tinting Colors are sold by the jest dealers in paints and by the | NATIONAL LEAD CO., CHICAGO BRANCH, Fifteenth and State Sts.. Chicago, III. WAREHOUSE, DETROIT, MICH., Cor. Wayne aud Woodbridge Sts. NATIONAL LEAD COMMNY, iWi ioo William Street, New York. MANUFACTURERS OF White Lead (Dry and in Oil), Red Lead, Litharge, Orange Mineral, Glassmakers’ Oxides, Rubbermakers’ Oxides, Colormakers’ Oxides, Potters’ Oxides, Varnishmakers’ Oxides, White Sugar of Lead, Rrown Sugar of Lead. Lead Pipe, Sheet Lead, Glaziers' Lead, Bar Lead, Lead Sash Weights, Block Tin Pipe, Tin Lined Pipe, Solder, Babbitt Metal. TINTING COLORS, for tinting Pure White Lead. LINSEED OIL (Raw, Boiled and Refined). Linseed Oil Cake, Linseed Oil Meal, Castor Oil. Smelters and Refiners of GOLD, SILVER, LEAD, COPPER. to SUGGESTION FOR HOUSE PAINTING, With National Lead Company’s brands of White Lead and Tinting Colors. Body, 13. Sash, Dark Bronze Green. Trim, 27. Blinds, Light Bronze Green. Roof, 14. Brick, 122.