Whitewash Making

I’m interested in getting the raw ingredients and mixing them myself, but I can’t find any recipes for “barn paint”. Anyone?

The cheapest way to get paint in my experience has been to go to one of the contractors’ paint stores in town and ask about miss-tints. They often have large quantities of a color. Sometimes there is quite a choice depending on the time of year. I usually pay about $20 for a 5 gallon bucket sometimes less. I have painted my entire house inside and out for about $50. For years we did the roof every second year with Gray Barn Paint. Last year I bought 15 gallons of the stuff at the local hardware. It is a linseed oil base, takes forever to dry but is as hard as nails. I did the deck on the patio with it. I remember the farmers didn’t really care what the base of it was in my neck of the woods, they thinned it with kerosene… When I get home I will look up my old “fortune in formulas” book (circa 1930) and if the formula is there I will post it.

– Looked in my Stark Formula Manual. No recipe for red barn paint, but there is one for whitewash. Well, there *are* a lot of white barns, at least around here. For each gallon of water, dissolve 2 pounds of sodium chloride in it, and then slowly stir in 7 pounds of hydrated lime.