Part 88

«Cleaning Varnish Brushes.»—Varnish brushes, and brushes used in varnish stain, buggy paint, and all color in varnish require different handling than paint brushes. They should be more thoroughly dry cleaned, in order that all loose hairs may be worked out. After working them through the hand it is a good thing to pass the brush back and forth over a sheet of sandpaper. This rough surface will pull out the loose bristles and smooth down the rough ends of the chisel point. The brush should then be washed by working it for a few minutes in clean turpentine and swinging it dry. It should never be put in water. For carriage work and fine varnishing the brush should be broken in on the rubbing coat in order to work out all the dust particles before it is used on the finishing coats.

«Setting the Paint-Brush Bristles.»—For the first 2 or 3 days new brushes require special care while at rest. They should be dipped in raw oil or the paint itself and smoothed out carefully, then laid on their sides over night. The chisel-pointed brushes should be set at an incline, the handle supported just enough to allow the brush to lie along the point. This is done to prevent twisting of the bristles, and to keep the shape of the brush. It is necessary to do this only 2 or 3 times before the shape becomes set.

«Paint Brushes at Rest.»—An important principle in brush care is never to leave the brush on end while at rest. Even for temporary rest during a job the brush should never stand on end. At night it should always be placed in a “brush-keeper”—a water-tight box, or a paint keg, with nails driven through the sides on which the brushes can be suspended in water. Holes are bored in the handles so the brush will hang free of the bottom, but with the bristles entirely under water. Before placing them in water the brushes should be wiped so as not to be too full of paint, but not cleaned.

«Varnish Brushes at Rest.»—Varnish brushes should be kept at rest in turpentine and varnish, or better, in some of the varnish that the brush is used for. They should preferably not be kept in turpentine, as that makes the brush “lousy”—roughening the bristles.

«Washing Brushes.»—All brushes should be washed in benzine or turpentine and shaken dry—not whipped—when it is desired to change from one color to another, or from one varnish to another.

«To Restore Brushes.»—A good remedy to restore lettering brushes which have lost their elasticity and do not keep a point, is as follows:

Put the pencil in oil and brush it several times over a hot iron in such a manner that the hairs touch the iron from each side; then dip the pencil quickly in cold water.

«A Removable Binding.»—The bristle bunch of brushes is bound with rope so as to keep them together for use. Instead of the twine, a covering of rubber may be employed, which is easily slipped over the bristles and can be conveniently removed again. The cleaning of the brush is much facilitated thereby, and the breadth of the stripe to be drawn with the brush can be accurately regulated, according to how far the covering is slipped over the brush.

See also Cleaning Preparations and Methods.

BUBBLES IN GELATIN: See Gelatin.

BUBBLE (SOAP) LIQUID: See Soap Bubble Liquid.

«BUBBLES.»

Bubbles of air often adhere to molds immersed in depositing solutions. They may be prevented by previously dipping the object into spirits of wine, or be removed by the aid of a soft brush, or by directing a powerful current of the liquid against them by means of a vulcanized india-rubber bladder, with a long and curved glass tube attached to it; but the liquid should be free from sediment.

BUG KILLERS: See Insecticides.

BUNIONS: See Corn Cures. {142}

«BURNS:»

See also Ointments and Turpentine.

«Mixture for Burns.»—I.—A mixture of castor oil with the white of egg is recommended for burns. The eggs are broken into a bowl and the castor oil slowly poured in while the eggs are beaten. Enough oil is added to make a thick, creamy paste, which is applied to the burn. The applications are repeated often enough to prevent their becoming dry or sticky. Leave the surface uncovered.

II.—Put 27 parts, by measure, of menthol into 44 parts, by measure, of witch hazel (distillate) and apply freely. A good plan is to bandage the parts and wet the wrappings with this mixture.

III.—A very efficacious remedy for burns is a solution of cooking salt in water. It is best to immerse fingers, hands, and arms in the solution, which must be tolerably strong. For burns in the face and other parts of the body, salt water poultices are applied.

«Butter»

(See also Foods.)

«Butter Color.»—Orlean, 80 parts, by weight; curcuma root (turmeric), 80 parts, by weight; olive oil, 240 parts, by weight; saffron, 1 part, by weight; alcohol, 5 parts, by weight. The orlean and turmeric are macerated with olive oil and expressed. The weight of the filtered liquid is made up again to 240 parts, by weight, with olive oil, next the filtered saffron-alcohol extract is added, and the alcohol is expelled again by heating the mixture.

«Artificial Butter.»—I.—Carefully washed beef suet furnishes a basis for the manufactures of an edible substitute for natural butter. The thoroughly washed and finely chopped suet is rendered in a steam-heated tank; 1,000 parts of fat, 300 parts of water, 1 part of potassium carbonate, and 2 stomachs of pigs or sheep, are taken. The temperature of the mixture is raised to 113° F. After 2 hours, under the influence of the pepsin in the stomachs, the membranes are dissolved and the fat is melted and rises to the top of the mixture. After the addition of a little salt the melted fat is drawn off, stood to cool so as to allow the stearine and palmitin to separate, and then pressed in bags in a hydraulic press. Forty to 50 per cent of solid stearine remains, while 50 to 60 per cent of fluid oleopalmitin (so-called “oleomargarine”) is pressed out. The “oleo oil” is then mixed with 10 per cent of its weight of milk and a little butter color and churned. The product is then worked, salted, and constituted the “oleomargarine,” or butter substitute. Leaf lard can be worked in the same way as beef suet, and will yield an oleopalmitin suitable for churning up into a butter substitute.

II.—Fat from freshly slaughtered cattle after thorough washing is placed in clean water and surrounded with ice, where it is allowed to remain until all animal heat has been removed. It is then cut into small pieces by machinery and cooked at a temperature of about 150° F. (65.6° C.) until the fat in liquid form has separated from the tissue, then settled until it is perfectly clear. Then it is drawn into the graining vats and allowed to stand for a day, when it is ready for the presses. The pressing extracts the stearine, leaving a product commercially known as oleo oil which, when churned with cream or milk, or both, and with usually a proportion of creamery butter, the whole being properly salted, gives the new food product, oleomargarine.

III.—In making butterine use neutral lard, which is made from selected leaf lard in a very similar manner to oleo oil, excepting that no stearine is extracted. This neutral lard is cured in salt brine for from 48 to 70 hours at an ice-water temperature. It is then taken and, with the desired proportion of oleo oil and fine butter, is churned with cream and milk, producing an article which when properly salted and packed is ready for the market. In both cases coloring matter is used, which is the same as that used by dairymen to color their butter. At certain seasons of the year—viz., in cold weather, a small quantity of sesame oil or salad oil made from cottonseed oil is used to soften the texture of the product.

IV.—“Ankara” is a substance which in general appearance resembles a good article of butter, being rather firmer at ordinary temperatures than that substance, approaching the consistency of cocoa butter. It is quite odorless, but in taste it resembles that of a fair article of butter and, what is more, its behavior under heat is very similar to that of butter—it browns and forms a sort of spume like that of fat. Ankara consists of a base of cocoa butter, carrying about 10 per cent of milk, colored with yolk of egg. While not derived from milk, on the one hand, nor does it come from a single vegetable or animal fat on the other, {143} ankara may be considered as belonging to the category of the margarines. Ankara is obtained in the market in the form of cakes or tablets of 2 pounds in weight.

V.—Fresh butter, 150 parts, by weight; animal fat, 80 parts, by weight; sunflower oil, 40 parts, by weight; cocoanut oil, 30 parts, by weight.