Page:Cyclopedia of Painting-Armstrong, George D (1908).djvu/332

324 and allow of full absorption. If allowed to weather, the priming coat will become porous and absorb the life of the second coat and there will not be sufficient binder left to properly adhere to the surface.

Never use a cheap primer. While cheap in the first cost, it is without exception the costliest in the end. The primer should be of the best and of the same material as the intermediate and finishing coats.

Dry colors mixed by hand should never be used for priming. All paint pigments are much more bulky in the dry state than when properly handled under pressure and combined with oil. When a mixture is made without pressure the outside particles of the pigment are only coated with the oil or thinners, and when applied to a surface, the wood having a greater attraction for the oil than does the pigment, the surface will absorb the oil from the pigment, leaving a dry, porous coating to which subsequent coats cannot successfully bind.