The Historic District

Making and or tweaking paint has been something I've done for a while, as I'm not a fan of latex paints. I found the following site as a place for those interested to start looking into making their own paint. I have a recipe a neighbor shared with me for exterior stain. He said the man that built his house was a salesperson for Sherwin Williams and he came up with the formula. The house is 115 years old, the neighbor said it has always been stained with this recipe it never peels and he re-coats it every 8-10 years.

The stain recipe:
1 gallon gloss oil based house paint
1/2 gallon boiled linseed oil
1/2 gallon kerosene
Mix well

The link to the paint recipes.
http://www.ibiblio.org/london/rural-ski ... made-paint

thanks for the link nhguy....I didn't read the whole thing yet but what I read makes sense and is quite interesting....we use ben moore oil paint in our shop but it has certainly declined in quality over the years...I have a client who has requested that we use fine paints of Europe on their project...haven't used it in about 12 years so it will be interesting to see if the quality has changed...
...jade

Fascinating. Thanks for that info.

OK, So yesterday I did mix the stain per the recipe. I dipped a dozen or so white cedar shakes to try. The look is really good, it is drying fine. The plan now is to reside the front with spruce clapboards, using the shakes on the new portico. All stained in a dark chocolate brown as it was when built.

nhguy wrote:OK, So yesterday I did mix the stain per the recipe. I dipped a dozen or so white cedar shakes to try. The look is really good, it is drying fine. The plan now is to reside the front with spruce clapboards, using the shakes on the new portico. All stained in a dark chocolate brown as it was when built.

Nifty. Thanks for the update, and hope it goes well.

heartwood wrote:thanks for the link nhguy....I didn't read the whole thing yet but what I read makes sense and is quite interesting....we use ben moore oil paint in our shop but it has certainly declined in quality over the years...I have a client who has requested that we use fine paints of Europe on their project...haven't used it in about 12 years so it will be interesting to see if the quality has changed...
...jade

Jade, how did the FPoE turn out? Was it worth the extra money?

hi tucker....
the client postponed their fall/winter project til this summer as the elderly husband was quite ill...I just visited the FPE site looking for ingredients...I want to see if they use boiled linseed oil or synthetic alkyd...couldn't find that info...I did see that they use naptha (for drying) which I find disconcerting...the paint would probably take just a take or two longer to dry without it...since I work in a shop setting with plenty of space, i'd rather wait the time than have the naptha (carcinogen)....sarco type m has some naptha too...any number of oil products do...

I did let my contact at FPE talk me into using their 'excellent new acrylic product made especially for doors, windows and trim...it failed...wouldn't stick to glass...FPE was very unhelpful and that's the reason I shied away from it for so long...

for exterior, they suggest their paint will last 8-10 years...oy, that's not very long! I will say that the paint goes on real nice and looks stunning on an entry door...

....jade

Thanks for responding, Jade. I'm not happy with the choices out there at all, but we have at least a year before we need to have it decided. Maybe something amazing will turn up between now and then, lol.