 
To clean Woollen Cloth.—Rub it with sal-ammoniac and water till clean, then wash with pure water. This liquid is very useful, when any article of clothing has been stained by vinegar, wine, or lemon, to restore the original colour. An old-fashioned but excellent method of cleaning greased silk ribbons or cloth is as follows:—Lay the ribbon on a wad or flat surface of cotton wadding, strew on this dried clay, or calcined magnesia, or whiting, and over this another layer of wadding. Pass over it a flat-iron not too warm. The oil or grease will be absorbed into the cotton. Repeat this till the cure is effected. If any spots still remain, paint them with yolk of egg, dry the stuff in a draught of air, and when quite hardened remove the yoke and wash with water. Wine-stains can be removed by simply pressing on them pads dampened with cold water. This method “When a lady’s skirt of any material has had spilt on it gravy, wine, oil, or any light liquid, as distinguished from such substances as paint, pitch, or tar, do not attempt, as is usually the case, to wipe or wash it clean. Lay a linen sheet or even spongy white paper—wanting this, newspapers may be used—on a table; on this spread the soiled fabric very evenly. Then lay on the upper surface another clean white sheet, or white muslin cloth, or napkins or towels, and press on it till as much as possible of the fluid is sucked out. By changing the white cloths or paper, and pressing continually, the fabric can be very nearly cleaned. Then dust it well with calcined magnesia in powder or whiting. Where these cannot be had chalk will answer. This will generally absorb all that remains of the grease.”—Notes by a Housekeeper (MS.). “Clean, dry blotting-paper laid on grease-stains is admirable for extraction. Apply pressure with a flat-iron or hand-roller such as is used for bread. There are blotting-paper rollers, made for ink, which are quite suitable for cleaning cloth; but the paper should be thrown away the instant it has received any grease; otherwise it will only spread the stain and make it indelible by rubbing it into the fibre of the threads. A good soft sponge will also be found to be almost equal to it.”—Notes by a Housekeeper (MS.). Old woollen or silk garments can be very brilliantly renewed in the following manner:—They are steeped in sulphuric cupreous acid (copper or blue vitriol), oxide of lead, or bismuth oxide, or simply Ink for restoring inscriptions on metal of any kind, silver, zinc, or brass:—To one part of crystallised acetic acid, oxide of copper, one of ammonia, and half a part of soot from fir wood. Mix in a saucer with ten parts of water. This is said to resist exposure to the weather very well. A very valuable aid to the restorer or mender of implements, when it can be obtained, is Raw Hide. This material dries as hard as any wood and is tougher than any textile fabric. Thus, if a broken wheel or any portion of a vehicle is tied with a thong of raw hide, firmly drawn, when the latter dries, shrinking a little, it holds better than iron. Raw or untanned ox-hide or similar skin, when dried, is in fact similar to parchment, and, like it, resembles horn in hardness. The strongest trunks in the world are made in America from raw hide. This material, when made into small objects, such as flasks, boxes, sheaths, or portable ink-stands, has often withstood the wear of generations. As it is cheap, easily moulded into form, or stamped, it is remarkable that it is no longer used as it once was. Lead-pencil or crayon drawings can be preserved from rubbing by a light wash of gum of any kind, diluted varnish, or even milk. The latter is in most Bases for beads and similar work can be made as follows:—Take mother-of-pearl dust, which can be bought cheaply at a turner’s, powder or levigate it finely, mix it with half its bulk of fine white barley-meal, and make it up with a weak solution of gum-mastic. Also take snail-shells, or the glaze of any large, hard sea-shells, washing them first in strong lye to clean them. Pulverise and make up with yolk of eggs and alum, or any other fine binder. The same can be done with rock-crystal or pure flint. Grind it to finest powder, and make it up with a well-incorporated mixture of the white of eggs and pure gum-arabic. This will, when dry, become hard as a stone, and more and more waterproof with age. To pulverise Glass.—First put in the fire till red-hot, then drop it into cold water, after which reduce it in a mortar. Glass-powder thus made, mixed with almost any cement, renders it extremely hard. It is also mixed with paint. Burnished steel or iron-work can be preserved from rusting by rubbing the article with oil of cloves or oil of lavender; also with a mixture of turpentine, oil of lavender or cloves, and petroleum. Mercurial ointment is commonly used for guns. Rust can be removed from iron by rubbing it with oil of tartar (oleum tartari), using a woollen rag. Brass-ware, when it has become dull or rusty, may be renewed and made to look like gold. Take sal-ammoniac, grind it in a mortar with saliva; rub this on the brass; lay it on hot coals to dry it well, and tub it with a woollen cloth. So says Johann Wallberger; The best cleaner for brass with which I am acquainted is a German preparation used by Barkentin & Krall, Regent Street, from whom it can also be obtained. A very strong cement, and one good for luting, can be made by combining sturgeon’s bladder, dissolved in spirits, with finest pulverised flint or sand. Glue, into which resin has been well infused by heat, combined with sand or ashes or clay, forms a strong cement, useful for all kinds of coarse work. A very good, strong cement is made as follows:—To three-eighths of a pound of water add three-eighths of a pound of spirits and a quarter of a pound of starch; also, prepare two ounces of good glue in water, mixed with two ounces of thick turpentine, and stir well into the first composition. This is a very good bookbinders’ glue. The tufa or soft stone which abounds in Italy and elsewhere is much used when reduced to powder and burned for building. It is also useful as a cement. An old writer says it can be brayed in a mortar, but that “there are many who, for lack of a mortar, take old baptismal fonts out of the churches, and in lieu of a pestle use the clapper of a church bell.” A curious decoration may be made by drawing figures—for example, of animals—with glue or gum on a wall surface, and then powdering it with cloth-dust of appropriate colours. These figures can be stencilled. As of all repairing and restoring that of human beauty is the most important, it may be worth while to give here a few recipes, which have held their own for centuries:— To make Wrinkles and Freckles disappear.—This is more possible than is generally supposed, and I have known a lady, a great beauty, of whom all my readers have heard, who at fifty years of age had artificially and miraculously preserved her face in perfect smoothness, though I do not know by what means. The following is given by Wallberger:—“Take fine, pure alum, compound it carefully with the fresh white of eggs, and boil it gently in a pipkin, stirring it constantly with a wooden stick or spoon till it forms a soft paste. Spread this on the face, morning and evening, for two or three days, and you will soon see that it is free from wrinkles and freckles, and marvellously fair and pleasant to view. Frivolous souls may carry the sinful misuse of such beauty to their own account; the virtuous hold in horror all such deeds” (Zauberbuch, 1760). Lemon-juice or the salts of lemon, or lemon-juice and salt, are of great service in whitening the hands and causing freckles to disappear. Gum-benzoin dissolved in spirits may be had of every apothecary. Pour a few drops into a wine-glassful of warm water, and it will form a milk-white emulsion, which is a perfect and harmless cosmetic Eau de Cologne mixed with water forms a white emulsion, which is much superior to any soap for delicate hands. It forms a perfectly harmless cosmetic for the face. Even a few drops of it in a basin of water will have a good result. Too much of it, or of any wash, will have a contrary effect, and dry the skin. If the mouth be rinsed with this emulsion of eau de cologne and water, it will purify the breath, and that for a long time if used as a gargle. A strong marking-ink, or black dye, which will resist much exposure to the weather, is made as follows:—Take gum-arabic 10 lbs., logwood liquor (specific gravity 1.37) 20 fluid oz., bi-chromate of potash 2½ oz., with water sufficient to dissolve the bi-chromate. Dissolve the gum in one gallon of water, strain, add the logwood liquor, mix, and let the mixture stand for twenty-four hours; then stir in rapidly the bi-chromate solution, and add a little nitrate of iron and fustic acid. If too thick, thin with lukewarm water. A very hard cement can be made by digesting fluor spar for some time in sulphuric acid, adding magnesium sulphate and stirring calcined magnesia into the mixture. A red cement for iron or stone or luting is made of red lead and litharge in equal parts mixed with concentrated glycerine to the consistency of soft putty. When dry it is water and fire proof. Silico enamel is a thin liquid glaze, finer than varnish, which is easily applied to all polished metals, as Light-coloured gloves may be cleaned by rolling bread-crumb over them; also with indiarubber. Also by means of benzine. Several patent washes for this purpose are now sold. Cleaning Marble.—“If ‘Sculptor’ will get some salts of wormwood, and dissolve in warm water, then mix with whiting into a moderate paste, and apply to stone or marble, and let it remain upon either for twenty-four hours—and if not successful the first time, apply again—he will draw all stains out of marble, and clear all lichen either from sandstones or oolitic stones. Thoroughly wash the stone with a strong soap (say, of Hudson’s No. 2 soap powder) and lukewarm water, and, when thoroughly dry, give a coat of sulphuretted oil. He can make his own oil. Boil in a bath one quart of linseed-oil for one hour, with half-a-pound of flower of sulphur gently and continually stirring same; then take off fire and let cool; then pour oil from sediment, using oil upon stone. No lichen will hurt his stone if out exposed to the air, for the rain will wash all clean every time. I have cleaned several statues with nothing but Hudson’s No. 2 and water.”—Work, April 2, 1892. Calcined magnesia, or calcined and powdered bone, laid for some time on simply oiled or greased marble, which has first been well washed with soap and water, will often extract the stain. For ink use oxalic acid in weak solution with water. Gum-dextrine, or gum substitute, is made from Mouth Glue (Mundleim) or Solid Cement.—This is sold by stationers in thin, flat sticks or tablets, and is used by wetting and rubbing it, chiefly for paper. It is made as follows for labels:—
The sturgeon’s bladder is first dissolved, the sugar then added, also a few drops of carbolic acid, which causes it to set more firmly, and also to resist mould in dampness, induced by the presence of sugar. This cement is applicable to glass, wood, or metal. Like the following, it has the advantage of being always ready to use, and requires no boiling. If it becomes too hard to use freely, let so much of it as is required steep for a time in water. Many think, from merely dampening it in the mouth when it is hard, and using it immediately, that it is a very weak adhesive, which is a mistake. A great deal of that sold by the stationers is, however, of very inferior quality, and made with very common glue. Mouth glue in tablets:—
The glue, sugar, and gum are boiled in the water until a drop let fall on a slab hardens. It is then rolled and cut into flat cakes. To mend or make Meerschaum Pipes.—Dissolve caseine in silicate of soda; stir into the cement fine calcined magnesia. By the addition of meerschaum powder a close imitation of meerschaum in the mass can be made. Turkish cement of the strongest kind, and such as is used to attach gems to metal, is made as follows:—
The sturgeon’s bladder, shredded, is dissolved with spirits of wine while remaining in a warm place; the gum is also dissolved in spirit and mixed with the sturgeon’s bladder; the whole must be then carefully and slowly boiled to a syrup. Close with a cork, as it is sure to gum tightly. To improve Corks.—When bottles contain substances which adhere to the cork and harden, the latter should be first steeped in oil or vaseline, or boiled in a mixture of both. Armenian Cement.—This is much like Diamond and Turkish cements:— I.
II.
The sturgeon’s bladder is dissolved in spirits of wine separately, the gum-ammoniac and mastic also, but with a minimum of spirit; the two are then combined. A cement which will resist the action of spirits of wine will often be very valuable, as when large lids are to be fastened to jars containing anatomical preparations. One is made as follows:—
This must be freely used to make the cover adhere. When in time it shall become brittle, coat it over with a thick solution of asphaltum in turpentine or petroleum. To seal bottles very securely, roughen the opening or mouth with a file or glass-paper, drive in a hard cork till half-an-inch below the top, and then seal it with silicate of soda mixed with marble-dust. Chloride of zinc added to silicate of soda and oxide of zinc forms a very good cement, which will resist most influences. Bread macerated with glue or gelatine, with a little glycerine, makes an admirable substance for artificial flowers, casts, medallions, &c. If worked with gum-arabic Of late, German illustrated newspapers have published patterns of small ornamental dishes made of dough or bread, intended to receive conserves of fruit and other edibles—the dishes themselves not being intended to be eaten. Soft bread with a little varnish or any ordinary gum and a little glycerine, well worked, makes an admirable filler for cracks in wood. Combined with any gum, or even with tragacanth or peach or cherry gum, and lamp-black (or liquid Indian ink), it forms a cement which resembles ebony. The more thoroughly it is macerated the harder it will be. Casts of panels, &c., made with this are really beautiful. Rub with oil and the hand after it is quite dry. Add a few drops of glycerine and alum in solution to prevent cracking, or, better, a little indiarubber. Soft Horse-Chestnut Paste.—This is called a cement, but it is properly a paste like that of flour. Horse-chestnuts are generally neglected, but they can be profitably utilised for paste, which admits of the same combinations as flour. Waste tea-leaves from which the tea has been extracted can be macerated with gum and treated as rose-leaves to form artificial ebony. Carefully separate all the hard portions. Gum for general use, like gum-arabic:—
Stir the lime into the warm solution of sugar and water. Keep it boiling and stir it often for one hour. Pour off the liquid from the lees of the lime. This gum also admits of modifications. One of these is the well-known Syndetikon, which is made as follows:—To fifteen parts of the sugar and lime solution add three of good glue, leaving them to soak for twenty-four hours; warm gradually, and frequently stir, till the glue is dissolved. Then let it boil for a few minutes. This makes a good plain cement, which serves to unite paper, leather, glass, or porcelain. It, however, spots or changes colour in paper, &c. A general cement, which may be used for joining metal and glass, stone, tiles, &c., is thus made:—
The general mending cement so commonly sold consists of nothing but—
This must be mixed with water when used. It does not, however, resist the action of hot water. A cement which resists acids is made as follows:—Indiarubber is dissolved in double its weight of linseed-oil, and kneaded to a dough with white bolus. Should the cement harden too quickly, add to it a little litharge. Indiarubber cement for chemical apparatus:—
This does not resist high temperature, but is good against acids. Scheibler’s cement for chemical apparatus:—
Sorel’s Cement.—This consists of oxide of zinc Glue for tapestry, &c.:—
This may also be applied in many ways. To lute stills, &c.:—
To be well mixed with water. As alum cannot be affected by petroleum, it is used to fasten rings to petroleum-lamp holders. These are lined with alum which has been melted by heat. Alum melted forms a strong cement for glass and metal. Paste for Wall-Paper.—Ten parts of flour are made into common paste; add one of glue boiled in hot water; add to the whole one-twentieth part of white of egg. This holds very firmly. Paste made with flour and gum-arabic, &c., does not mould or Clay Mortar.—Where lime cannot be had, a very good mortar for chimneys may be made by mixing clay with common molasses. This is said (Lehner) to resist the action of heat when well dried. Another fireproof cement is made as follows:—
This is mixed with a very little water. It is used as a wash, and should, when dry, be heated by fire. Log cabins and houses built with wood are, in America, often swarming with vermin to a degree which would seem incredible. In all such cases the joints and cavities should be well packed and plastered with cement—lime if possible—and then whitewashed. Rat-holes should be plugged with stones or gravel and then cemented. Zeiodeleth.—Vessels of wood, iron, stoneware, or of moulded cement, are often eaten away by the action of acids and alkalies. To prevent this they are in Germany coated with a composition called Zeiodeleth. In its simplest form this is simply sulphur mixed with very finely sifted flint-sand, or else ground glass, chinaware, or stone. Of this thin plates are also made to coat such vessels, or even to form them. Merrick’s Zeiodeleth:—
BÖttger’s Zeiodeleth (Lehner):—
I.A fluid paste is made by pouring into a porcelain jar 5 kilogrammes of potato-starch with 6 kilogrammes of water and 250 grammes of white nitric acid. Keep the whole in a warm place for forty-eight hours, stirring it frequently, and then boil it till syrupy and transparent. Add a little water, or sufficient to make it fluid enough to be filtered through a closely woven towel. II.Dissolve 5 kilogrammes of gum-arabic to 1 of sugar in 5 quarts of water, adding 50 grammes of nitric acid; warm to boiling, and then add No. I. The result is a perfectly fluid adhesive, which will not mould, and dries on paper with a glaze. It is adapted for postage-stamps, marking over impressions, and fine stationery. Durable Flour-Paste for Stationers.—Take good flour-paste, adding to it while boiling one-tenth part of clear liquid glue, to be well stirred in. Add a few drops of carbolic acid or oil of cloves. Keep it corked in wide-mouthed, large vials. Dry Cement, or Travellers’ Glue:—
The glue must be of the best quality, and perfectly melted in water, as usual, and the sugar stirred in. It is then steamed away until it becomes hard when cold. To use, place it in hot water, when it at once liquefies. This is specially used for paper. Coating to protect trees from insects:—
Smear the trunks of the trees with this. It may also be put on sheets of brown paper to catch flies. Cement for Filling.—Take fresh curd (caseine), and knead it with water to a putty. It can be used in this state for many purposes. To greatly harden it, add one-twentieth of its weight in lime, and more or less of some indifferent substance, such as chalk, calcined magnesia, oxide of zinc, and colouring matter. This sets so hard that it may be used to make casts or many small works of art. French Glues.—Two very excellent glues used in France are the colle forte de Flandre and that of Givet. Goupil recommends as the best glue, where a very superior article is required, one made of equal parts of the two. Break them up, let the pieces remain fifteen hours in water, then boil for two hours in the bain-marie, or glue-kettle. After a time the glue will settle and become clear. Add, if needed, a little water from the bain-marie. To give a Satin Gloss to Paper.—Paint with a broad, soft brush on the paper with a solution of Gomme laque, or shellac, also gelatine glue, is sold in thin leaves. To prepare it, put into a bain-marie twenty parts of the gum to one of flowers of sulphur, stir it well, and add a little lukewarm water. It may be made into little bars by hand; let them cool, and warm them when required for use. A very good cement, which, according to Fred. Dillaye, is both fire and water proof, is made as follows:—Take half-a-pint of milk, as much vinegar, mix them, and take away the whey. Add the white of five eggs to the curd, mix the whole well, and add so much finely sifted quicklime as will form a paste. Snail Cement.—It is said that snails or slugs, mashed, form a strong and hard glue. This is probable; also, that it would combine with powdered quicklime, or carbonate of lime in powder, to set very hard. To mend marble use shellac in leaves, mixed with white wax. To mend alabaster use gum-arabic mixed with powdered alabaster. This is also useful for many other purposes. A cement useful for many purposes, also as a ground for painting, is made as follows:—Take barley and soak it in six equivalents of water for several days, or till the barley expands or sprouts. Throw out the barley, after pressing it. This gives a glutinous liquid, which, combined with pipeclay and white A strong cement for horn or tortoise-shell:—
The two latter to be dissolved in six parts of water. Another for the same:—Take strong lime-water; combine it with new cheese. The latter is to be mixed with two parts of water, so as to form a soft mass. Pour into this the lime-water, but see that there is no solid cheese in it. This will form a liquid which can be used as a cement. Cat-gut, which is, however, made from the intestines of sheep, &c., is of great service in some kinds of repairing, owing to its strength. It can be made into very small cord, which will sustain a man. Very strong cords for fishermen are also said to be made by taking silkworms just before they spin, cutting them open, and using the silk, which is then found in a solid, longish lump, and which can be artificially drawn out into any shape. It is probable that the silk in this state could be thinned and applied in combination with fibre to produce useful results. It is also probable that this substance, or the silk en masse, could be used for mending silk fabrics in many ways. It could be produced very cheaply, because the greatest expense in manufacturing silk is the reeling, winding, and spinning the thread. An incredibly strong and serviceable silk is spun To soften Horn.—This material can be softened so as to bend in hot water. It requires long boiling. According to Geissler, a horn can be moulded to shape by steeping the horn for two or three days in half a kilogramme of black alicant, 375 grammes of newly calcined lime, and 2 litres (two full quarts) of hot water. Should the mixture assume a reddish colour it is all right; if not, add more alicant and lime. After the horn has been moulded, dry it in well-dried common salt. Horn shavings and filings are made into a paste, which hardens by being in a strong solution of potash and slacked lime, in which it becomes jelly-like and can be moulded. This must be subjected to pressure to expel the moisture. By adding a little glycerine its brittleness is much diminished. Artificial Bonework.—Reduce the bone or ivory to a very fine, flour-like powder, mix it very thoroughly with the white of eggs, and a very hard and tough mass will be the result. This can be turned and highly polished. This is improved in hardness To properly dust Clothes.—The following extract on cleaning garments is taken from my forthcoming work, entitled One Hundred Arts:— “The obvious way to remove dust from a coat—as some take evil out of children (vide Northcote’s Fables)—is by whipping or beating with a stick. This, indeed, effects the purpose, but it speedily breaks the fibre of the cloth. Therefore in Germany, as in Italy, a little bat plaited of split cane or reeds is employed to exorcise the demon of dust, known as Papakeewis to the Chippeways. But better than this is a small whisp-broom. Half a century ago this simple contrivance was only known in the United States and in Poland. “Whip the garment with the side of the soft whisp, and as the dust rises to the surface brush it away. If the reader will try this on any coat, however clean it may be, he will be astonished to find how much dust he will extract or raise. “All the dust which thus lies hidden in cloth, when it comes to the surface, acts as grit or powder insensibly but certainly, and helps to wear away the surface whenever it is touched. That we take in dust every time we go out will appear from inspecting a silk hat. Again, the dust on a coat, &c., every time it is rubbed by the cleanest hand, takes in grease, which in time aids in spoiling the surface. In fact, half the wear-out of all cloth is due to dust alone. “Therefore, if we carefully dust our clothes with a whisp, every time we take them off, fold them with care, and lay them in a drawer, they will last much longer than they do. Pure air free from dust is as conducive to the well-being of coats as to that of their wearers, and Dominie Sampson uttered more truth In proof of this it may be observed, that as a sandblast attacks some substances exclusively, so dust or grit injures certain fabrics and not others, and that the latter are all known as the more lasting fabrics. |
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