This section is from the book "The English And American Mechanic", by B. Frank Van Cleve. Also available from Amazon: The English And American Mechanic.
Fifty parts, by measure, of clean dry sand, fifty of limestone (not burned) reduced to grains like sand, or marble dust, and ten parts of red lead, mixed with as much boiled linseed oil as will make it slightly moist. The bricks to receive it should be covered with three coats of boiled oil, laid on with a brush, and suffered to dry before the mastic is put on. It is laid on with a trowel like plaster, but it is not so moist. It becomes hard as stone in a few months. Care must be exercised not to use too much oil.
Cement for the outside of brick walls, to imitate stone, is made of clean sand, 90 parts; litharge, 5 parts; plaster of Paris, 5 parts; moistened with boiled linseed oil. The bricks should receive two or three coats of oil before the cement is applied.
Equal parts of whiting and dry sand, and 25 per cent. of litharge, made into the consistency of putty with linseed oil. It is not liable to crack when cold, nor melt, like coal-tar and asphalt, with the heat of the sun.
 
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