Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2006 02:45:22 -0500
Reply-To: Raceingcajun <raceingcajun47@BELLSOUTH.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Raceingcajun <raceingcajun47@BELLSOUTH.NET>
Subject: Re: Foam Roller paint your Vanagon with tremclad/rustoleum
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This tread brings to mind something I saw on a trip I took years ago
with the family to a West Texas "Old Wild West". Yes we took the Family
Truckster, you think you hate it now, wait til you drive it!
The town was set up and operated the way it would have 150 years ago.
All the local crafts were done by hand, such as the candle maker,
blacksmith, saddle making, leather goods, wooden furniture, gunsmith and so
on.
Then there was the Carriage shop. When we passed through the "Craftsman"
was in the process of painting a new Carriage. Everything was done in the
ordinal fashion. He didn't even have the luxury of a paint brush to work
with. He made his own paint from a mixture of oil, charcoal, turpentine, and
other items. Instead of a brush, he used a piece of cloth to spread the
paint on in several coats. After each coat was dry, he would "sand" out what
we would call brush marks and apply another coat. What he used for "sand
paper" was a mixture of linseed oil and ground up pumas, rubbed on with
another cloth. He kept doing this layer after layer, (about 20 coats he
said) until there was a smooth build up of paint that fully covered the
wood. He then started the polishing process in much the same way, using
bee's wax, and oil as a base to again make a build up. He told us the paint
job took 3 months start to finish, with drying times. So painting a Vanagon
(Vanagon content) with a roller should be a snap what with all the modern
conveniences, like sand paper, rubbing compounds, etc! ;-) By the way, he
said this where the term "Hand rubbed paint job" came from.
There was a finished buggy in the store front. The black, (with red
leather seats) finish would have rivaled any modern base coat/clear coat
paint job. Super shine a foot deep, with inlayed pearl scroll work, and pin
stripes in gold leaf, a real master piece! It came with all the modern
accessories of the day, a iron weight with strap for tie downs, a leather
feed bag that fit over the horses head, also a bag with scoop hanging on the
rear.........for the horse droppings! Must have been an EPA requirement.
Price Tag, $25,000.00! The price 150 years ago, .....................
$75.00, a ton back then! He said a store clerk would earn about $3.00 to
$5.00 a week, and some of that would have been barter.
We just don't know how good we got it. Why when I was a kid I had to
walk 40 miles one way through the snow to school each day, and it was up
hill both ways. ;^0
Have a good one!
Howard
Subject: Re: Foam Roller paint your Vanagon with tremclad/rustoleum
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