Whitewash

Tom appeared on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and a long-handled brush. He surveyed the fence, and all gladness left him and a deep melancholy settled down upon his spirit. Thirty yards of board fence nine feet high. Life to him seemed hollow, and existence but a burden. Sighing, he dipped his brush and passed it along the topmost plank; repeated the operation; did it again; compared the insignificant whitewashed streak with the far-reaching continent of unwhitewashed fence, and sat down on a tree-box discouraged. Jim came skipping out at the gate with a tin pail, and singing Buffalo Gals. 

“Say, Jim, I’ll fetch the water if you’ll whitewash some.”  From Chapter 2 of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

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I remember that story well.  Tom Sawyer was a shrewd character and not only did he 'encourage' all his friends to do his work for him, but he actually got them to pay him to do his work for him.

He had discovered a great law of human action, without knowing it – namely, that in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain.

Tom understood supply and demand, public relations, and marketing.  He also sounds like he'd make a great politician!

I started thinking about whitewash because the other day I fixed 3 pickets on the picket fence that had rotted.  I'm far from being a craftsman, but I like to tinker around and try to fix things.  When we built our barn, it was constructed using wood and corrugated tin from other barns that had been torn down.  I saved the left over lumber and used a lot of it to cut out pickets to make the picket fence you see below.

The picket fence

I used the Tom Sawyer technique with Benjamin in order to get the fence painted, but it didn't go over quite as well.  I just used some old white paint that I had left over from when we built our house in 2001.  I ran across some information regarding whitewash that I didn't know.  I had always thought that whitewash and white paint was the same thing - Not True.

From Wikipedia: Whitewash, or calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, or lime paint is a low-cost type of paint made from slaked lime (calcium hydroxide) and chalk (whiting). Whitewash cures through a reaction with carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to form calcium carbonate in the form of calcite, a reaction known as carbonation.  When the paint initially dries it is uncured and has almost no strength. It takes up to a few days, depending on climate, to harden.  It is usually applied to exteriors; however, it is traditionally used internally in food preparation areas, particularly rural dairies, for its mildly antibacterial properties.

Reading further, it says it goes on thin and translucent, but thickens and hardens after a few days into a thick coating and is hygienic and sanitary.  It also repels bugs. This gives me a good idea for the milking parlor in the barn.  I found this recipe for making whitewash and I've put this on my To Do list.  

The only thing I learned is that you have to reapply the whitewash once a year or so as it tends to rub off. This brought back some memories.  Growing up in South Louisiana, people would whitewash the trunks of their live oak trees. Playing around the base of the trees, I can remember getting the chalky, white lime (now that I know what it was) all over my hands and clothes.  I assume the old-timers did this for the insecticidal qualities of the lime, but I also read on the Live Oak Society website that you can be expelled from the Society for whitewashing your trees!

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Anyway, the fence got painted and I learned a thing or two about whitewash that I didn't know.

Our White Picket Fence

And speaking of pickets, our fence turned out more successful than the ill-fated Charge.