Carriage paint formula

[Double D]

I got a paint chip from Steen's and took it to Lowes to be analyzed, here's the formula from Lowes.

American Traditional latex semi gloss
Base: B4-19908 Quart.
101 1 ounce, 14 shots
105 46 shots, 1 half shot
111 34 shots
113 2 shots, 1 half shot.

[john pike]

I got a paint chip from Steen's and took it to Lowes to be analyzed, here's the formula from Lowes.

American Traditional latex semi gloss
Base: B4-19908 Quart.
101 1 ounce, 14 shots
105 46 shots, 1 half shot
111 34 shots
113 2 shots, 1 half shot.

Do we have to paint our cannons?
What color do you end up with?
and how much powder for each shot?

johnp

[Cat Whisperer]

....
Do we have to paint our cannons?
....
johnp

Of course!  Just look at your avitar, DD's avitar and MY avitar!

Isn't that paint?  Varnish is paint with VERY LITTLE pigment.

[Double D]

Someone in the past week or two posted a formula for the carriage paint from Home Depot.  Could you please post it again in this thread.  

When you do I will add a link to the FAQ's to this post so we can find the formula when we need it.

Here is the original formula from The 1864 Field Artillery Tactics:

Proportions are given for 100 parts by weight

Black Paint

Lamp black  28
Litharge  1
Japan Varnish 1
Linseed Oil, boiled  72
Spirits turpentine  1

Grind the lampblack in oil: mix it with the oil, then grind the litharge in oil and add it , stirring it well into the mixture.  The varnish and turpentine are added last. The paint is for the iron work of carriages.

Olive Paste

Yellow ochre, Pulverized  68
Lampblack  11
Boiled oil  37
Spirits of turpentine 0.4

Make a thick paste with the Ocre and oil, in a paint-pot, and with the lampblack and oil in another; grind them together in small portions, and keep the mixture in a tin vessel.

Liquid olive color

Olive paste  61.5
Boiled oil  29.5
Spirits of turpentine  5.5
Dryings  3.5
Japan varnish  2

Stirred together in a paint pot.


I think I will just go to Lowes and get it mixed.

[Cpt Ed]

Here is the OD mix from Sherman-Williams Paint company. This was computer analyzed from a Paulson Bros OD painted linstock.
I had this created in a oil base like the original.

[gary michie]

The green is oil I found that    Behr paint   "Ground cover" laytex is the right color so I had Home Depot mix the color in oil.
gary

[Cat Whisperer]

FWIW:

(n.) Lead monoxide; a yellowish red substance, obtained as an amorphous powder, or crystallized in fine scales, by heating lead moderately in a current of air or by calcining lead nitrate or carbonate. It is used in making flint glass, in glazing earthenware, in making red lead minium, etc. Called also massicot.

(This definition is from the 1913 Webster's Dictionary and may be outdated.)

[Double D]

Do we have to paint our cannons?
What color do you end up with?
and how much powder for each shot?
johnp

Of course not.  It's your cannon and you can  finish it however you want.  

We have had some absolutely beautiful guns of brass and walnut posted  here.  Some real works of art.

The original guns were painted.  Barrels black and the carriages olive.  Remember the old olive green mailboxes that sat on every corner when we were kids, that's the color.

I like painted guns and urge others to consider them. Once you do one  I believe you won't do them any other way. They are beautiful.  

To my eye the unpainted field guns have an unfinished look. Not everyone feels that way.

I have a Parrot Rifle I have been working on and when finished it will be painted.

Anyone else have any paint formulas?

[CrufflerSteve]

If it is posted to the sticky section it might be good to organize the paint formulas under US 18?? to ? and so on. Most US Revolutionary War artillery I've seen used a bluer paint for the carriages. I assume that was copied from the Brits. When I look at repros of even older cannon, I've seen yellow, red & green carriages. I've wondered if this was to an old standard or simply creative painting.

Steve

[gary michie]

I have been told by the old timers here that the old paint formulas  don't work the color names of today are not the names of 1800's. I never tried I just used the civil war color match. I have heard that white was the color for the rev. and a yellow tan or green was right durning the indian wars

[GGaskill]

Use of the Civil War era paint formulas quoted above with modern materials leads to a yellow-brown color instead of the olive color of the name.  But experiments with pre-1900 pigments found in old hardware stores confirmed that the color produced by mixing lampblack and yellow ochre actually does produce an olive green color (it's interesting to note that the S-W formula shown above is creating a green color from black, gold [similar to yellow ochre] and a couple of trace colors.)

It is probably best to pick an olive green in modern paint and use that instead of trying to mix the old formula.

[CU_Cannon]

Here is the formula for the paint I use.  I got it from the Saratoga military museum.  They said it was matched from original paint.  It seams a little dark but looks great in sunlight.  My only grievance is the drying time.  It dries to the touch in a few hours but will stay soft for a month or better.  

The Home Depot Behr

Premium Plus Int/Ext High Gloss

Deep Base (8300) Quart

Colorant	OZ	48	96
B  Lamp Black	1	3	1
KX White	0	9	0
L Raw Umber	1	13	0
T Medium Yell	0	21	1

[GGaskill]

Maybe add a little (and I do mean a little) Japan dryer to the paint.  Pour enough to use into a separate cup/can and add the dryer to that so you don't cause the remaining paint to set up.  Interesting to note that, like the S-W paint above, the HoDe Behr is using black, raw umber (which is a very dark color) and yellow to produce an olive green.

[CU_Cannon]

The drying time is only a problem in high humidity.  In the winter it will dry hard in about a day.

I updated the table in the above post so it works on the new system.  The table feature is a little more complicated than the old system but it works just as well.

[Double D]

BTT

[toysoldier]

I just started looking at this area of GBO.
I came up wiht an olive drab by accident. Had a propane tank I needed to paint. After giving it a good base coat of Rustoleum, I took an assortment of partial cans of oil paint I had accumulated and mixed them together. Black, orange, off-white, blue and a little yellow turned into a very military-looking olive drab. Great result, and it sure cleared out the paint locker.

[Terry C.]

Yeah, but can you do it again? 

[toysoldier]

Serendipity rarely strikes twice.