Part 130

Grind the chloride of lime with a little water to a thin paste, in a porcelain vessel, and add the remaining chemicals. Wash the objects with the aid of a soft brush with the solution, rinse several times in water, and dry in fine sawdust. {205}

«Cleaning Bronze Objects.»—Employ powdered chicory mixed with water, so as to obtain a paste, which is applied with a brush. After the brushing, rinse off and dry in the sun or near a stove.

«Cleaning Gilded Bronzes.»—I.—Commence by removing the spots of grease and wax with a little potash or soda dissolved in water. Let dry, and apply the following mixture with a rag: Carbonate of soda, 7 parts; whiting, 15 parts; alcohol (85°), 50 parts; water, 125 parts. When this coating is dry pass a fine linen cloth or a piece of supple skin over it. The hollow parts are cleaned with a brush.

II.—After removing the grease spots, let dry and pass over all the damaged parts a pencil dipped in the following mixture: Alum, 2 parts; nitric acid, 65; water, 250 parts. When the gilding becomes bright, wipe, and dry in the sun or near a fire.

III.—Wash in hot water containing a little soda, dry, and pass over the gilding a pencil soaked in a liquid made of 30 parts nitric acid, 4 parts of aluminum phosphate, and 125 parts of pure water. Dry in sawdust.

IV.—Immerse the objects in boiling soap water, and facilitate the action of the soap by rubbing with a soft brush; put the objects in hot water, brush them carefully, and let them dry in the air; when they are quite dry rub the shining parts only with an old linen cloth or a soft leather, without touching the others.

«Stripping Gilt Articles.»—Degilding or stripping gilt articles may be done by attaching the object to the positive pole of a battery and immersing it in a solution composed of 1 pound of cyanide dissolved in about 1 gallon of water. Desilvering may be effected in the same manner.

«To Clean Tarnished Zinc.»—Apply with a rag a mixture of 1 part sulphuric acid with 12 parts of water. Rinse the zinc with clear water.

«Cleaning Pewter Articles.»—Pour hot lye of wood ashes upon the tin, throw on sand, and rub with a hard, woolen rag, hat felt, or whisk until all particles of dirt have been dissolved. To polish pewter plates it is well to have the turner make similar wooden forms fitting the plates, and to rub them clean this way. Next they are rinsed with clean water and placed on a table with a clean linen cover on which they are left to dry without being touched, otherwise spots will appear. This scouring is not necessary so often if the pewter is rubbed with wheat bran after use and cleaned perfectly. New pewter is polished with a paste of whiting and brandy, rubbing the dishes with it until the mass becomes dry.

«To Clean Files.»—Files which have become clogged with tin or lead are cleaned by dipping for a few seconds into concentrated nitric acid. To remove iron filings from the file cuts, a bath of blue vitriol is employed. After the files have been rinsed in water they are likewise dipped in nitric acid. File-ridges closed up by zinc are cleaned by immersing the files in diluted sulphuric acid. Such as have become filled with copper or brass are also treated with nitric acid, but here the process has to be repeated several times. The files should always be rinsed in water after the treatment, brushed with a stiff brush, and dried in sawdust or by pouring alcohol over them, and letting it burn off on the file.

«Scale Pan Cleaner.»—About the quickest cleaner for brass scale pans is a solution of potassium bichromate in dilute sulphuric acid, using about 1 part of chromate, in powder, to 3 parts of acid and 6 parts of water. In this imbibe a cloth wrapped around a stick (to protect the hands), and with it rub the pans. Do this at tap or hydrant, so that no time is lost in placing the pan in running water after having rubbed it with the acid solution. For pans not very badly soiled rubbing with ammonia water and rinsing is sufficient.

«Tarnish on Electro-Plate Goods.»—This tarnish can be removed by dipping the article for from 1 to 15 minutes—that is, until the tarnish shall have been removed—in a pickle of the following composition: Rain water 2 gallons and potassium cyanide 1⁠/⁠2 pound. Dissolve together, and fill into a stone jug or jar, and close tightly. The article, after having been immersed, must be taken out and thoroughly rinsed in several waters, then dried with fine, clean sawdust. Tarnish on jewelry can be speedily removed by this process; but if the cyanide is not completely removed it will corrode the goods.

«OIL-, GREASE-, PAINT-SPOT ERADICATORS:»

«Grease- and Paint-Spot Eradicators.»—

I.—Benzol 500 parts Benzine 500 parts Soap, best white, shaved 5 parts Water, warm, sufficient.

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Dissolve the soap in the warm water, using from 50 to 60 parts. Mix the benzol and benzine, and add the soap solution, a little at a time, shaking up well after each addition. If the mixture is slow in emulsifying, add at one time from 50 to 100 parts of warm water, and shake violently. Set the emulsion aside for a few days, or until it separates, then decant the superfluous water, and pour the residual pasty mass, after stirring it up well, into suitable boxes.

II.—Soap spirit 100 parts Ammonia solution, 10 per cent 25 parts Acetic ether 15 parts

III.—Extract of quillaia 1 part Borax 1 part Ox gall, fresh 6 parts Tallow soap 15 parts

Triturate the quillaia and borax together, incorporate the ox gall, and, finally, add the tallow soap and mix thoroughly by kneading. The product is a plastic mass, which may be rolled into sticks or put up into boxes.

«Removing Oil Spots from Leather.»—To remove oil stains from leather, dab the spot carefully with spirits of sal ammoniac, and after allowing it to act for a while, wash with clean water. This treatment may have to be repeated a few times, taking care, however, not to injure the color of the leather. Sometimes the spot may be removed very simply by spreading the place rather thickly with butter and letting this act for a few hours. Next scrape off the butter with the point of a knife, and rinse the stain with soap and lukewarm water.

«To Clean Linoleum.»—Rust spots and other stains can be removed from linoleum by rubbing with steel chips.

«To Remove Putty, Grease, etc., from Plate Glass.»—To remove all kinds of greasy materials from glass, and to leave the latter bright and clean, use a paste made of benzine and burnt magnesia of such consistence that when the mass is pressed between the fingers a drop of benzine will exude. With this mixture and a wad of cotton, go over the entire surface of the glass, rubbing it well. One rubbing is usually sufficient. After drying, any of the substance left in the corners, etc., is easily removed by brushing with a suitable brush. The same preparation is very useful for cleaning mirrors and removing grease stains from books, papers, etc.

«Removing Spots from Furniture.»—White spots on polished tables are removed in the following manner: Coat the spot with oil and pour on a rag a few drops of “mixtura balsamica oleosa,” which can be bought in every drug store, and rub on the spot, which will disappear immediately.

«To Remove Spots from Drawings, etc.»—Place soapstone, fine meerschaum shavings, amianthus, or powdered magnesia on the spot, and, if necessary, lay on white filtering paper, saturating it with peroxide of hydrogen. Allow this to act for a few hours, and remove the application with a brush. If necessary, repeat the operation. In this manner black coffee spots were removed from a valuable diagram without erasure by knife or rubber.

«WATCHMAKERS’ AND JEWELERS’ CLEANING PREPARATIONS:»

«To Clean the Tops of Clocks in Repairing.»—Sprinkle whiting on the top. Pour good vinegar over this and rub vigorously. Rinse in clean water and dry slowly in the sun or at the fire. A good polish will be obtained.

«To Clean Watch Chains.»—Gold or silver watch chains can be cleaned with a very excellent result, no matter whether they be matt or polished, by laying them for a few seconds in pure aqua ammonia; they are then rinsed in alcohol, and finally shaken in clean sawdust, free from sand. Imitation gold and plated chains are first cleaned in benzine, then rinsed in alcohol, and afterwards shaken in dry sawdust. Ordinary chains are first dipped in the following pickle: Pure nitric acid is mixed with concentrated sulphuric acid in the proportion of 10 parts of the former to 2 parts of the latter; a little table salt is added. The chains are boiled in this mixture, then rinsed several times in water, afterwards in alcohol, and finally dried in sawdust.