For the gear, the painter would use oil putty and two coats of primer to close the pores of the timber. Next, two or three coats of lead and oil and then two coats of color were applied. After each of these coats had ample time to harden the surfaces were polished with horse hair. Next, rubbing varnish was applied in several coats, while between coats the painters would use pulverized pumice stone applied on a pad of wet wool to polish the hardened surface. For the finer jobs of custom work, the running gear was given two coats of rough stuff over the white lead primer.
Rough stuff is a filler which has a consistency of heavy cream and dries hard.
When the rough stuff had dried, it was polished with fine sandpaper down to the white lead coats before the flat color coats and varnish coats were applied. The final striping decoration was done with pencil brushes made of the finest camel hair, with a striping color which was selected that would harmonize with the color of the gear. After the striping, the last coat of varnish would be applied. The painter's art was gauged by the thickness with which he could apply this last varnish so it would dry smooth without brush marks or wrinkles. The bodies were usually given to the trimmers after the priming coats had dried.