Chapter 7

RUSSET SHOES—TO POLISH

Remove stains with lemon juice, and polish with beeswax dissolved in turpentine.

SHOES—TO PREVENT FROM CRACKING

Saturate a piece of flannel in boiled linseed oil and rub it well over the soles and round the edges of the shoes, then stand them, soles upward, to dry.

SILK—TO RENOVATE

Sponge faded silks with warm water and soap; then rub them with a dry cloth on a flat board; afterward iron them on the inside with a smoothing-iron. Old black silks may be improved by sponging with spirits. In this case, the ironing may be done on the right side, thin paper being spread over to prevent glazing.

SILK AND SATIN—TO CLEAN

Pin the breadths on a soft blanket; then take some stale breadcrumbs, and mix with them a little powder-blue. Rub this thoroughly and carefully over the whole surface with the hand or a piece of clean linen; shake it off and wipe with soft cloths. Satin may be brushed the way of the nap with a clean, soft, hair-brush.

SILK—TO TAKE STAINS FROM

Mix two ounces of essence of lemon and one ounce of turpentine. Grease and other spots in silks are to be rubbed gently with a linen rag dipped in this mixture.

SILKS—TO WASH

For a dress to be washed, the seams of a skirt do not require to be ripped apart, though it must be removed from the band at the waist, and the lining taken from the bottom. Trimmings or drapings, where there are deep folds, the bottom of which is very difficult to reach, should be undone, so as to remain flat. A black silk dress, without being previously washed, may be refreshed by being soaked during twenty-four hours in soft, clear water, clearness in the water being indispensable. If dirty the black dress may be previously washed. When very old and rusty, a pint of alcohol should be mixed with each gallon of water. This addition is an improvement under any circumstances, whether the silk be previously washed or not. After soaking, the dress should be hung up to drain dry without being wrung. The mode of washing silks is this: The article should be laid upon a clean, smooth table. A flannel just wetted with lukewarm water should be well soaped, and the surface of the silk rubbed one way with it, care being taken that this rubbing is quite even. When the dirt has disappeared, the soap must be washed off with a sponge and plenty of cold water, of which the sponge must be made to imbibe as much as possible. As soon as one side is finished, the other must be washed precisely in the same manner. Let it be understood that not more of either surface must be done at a time than can be spread perfectly flat upon the table, and the hand can conveniently reach; likewise the soap must be quite sponged off one portion before the soaped flannel is applied to another portion. Silks, when washed, should always be dried in the shade, on a linen horse, and alone. If black or dark blue, they will be improved if they are placed on a table when dry, and well sponged with alcohol.

SILVER—TO POLISH

Boil soft rags for five minutes (nothing is better for the purpose than the tops of old cotton stockings) in a mixture of new milk and ammonia. As soon as they are taken out, wring them for a moment in cold water, and dry before the fire. With these rags rub the silver briskly as soon as it has been well washed and dried after daily use. A most beautiful deep polish will be produced, and the silver will require nothing more than merely to be dusted with a leather or a dry, soft cloth before it is again put on the table.

SILVER—TO CLEAN

Wash in hot soap suds (use the silver soap if convenient); then clean with a paste of whiting and water, or whiting and alcohol. Polish with buckskin. If silver was always washed in hot suds, rinsed well, and wiped dry, it would seldom need anything else.

SILVER—TO REMOVE STAINS FROM

Steep the silver in lye four hours; then cover thick with whiting wet with vinegar; let this dry; rub with dry whiting; and polish with dry wheat bran. Egg-stains may be removed from silver by rubbing with table salt.

SOAK CLOTHES FOR WASHING—TO

Take a gallon of water, one pound of sal soda, and one pound of soap; boil one hour, then add one tablespoonful of spirits of turpentine. Put the clothes to soak over night; next morning soap them well with the mixture. Boil well one hour; rinse in three waters; add a little bluing to the last water.

SOFT SOAP—TO MAKE

The ashes should be of hardwood (hickory is best), and kept dry. When put in the hopper, mix a bushel of unslacked lime with ten bushels of ashes; put in a layer of ashes; then one slight sprinkling of lime; wet each layer with water (rain water is best). A layer of straw should be put upon the bottom of the hopper before the ashes are put in. An opening in the side or bottom for the lye to drip through, and a trough or vessel under to receive the lye. When the lye is strong enough to bear up an egg, so as to show the size of a dime above the surface, it is ready for making soap; until it is, pour it back into the hopper, and let it drip through again. Add water to the ashes in such quantities as may be needed. Have the vessel very clean in which the soap is to be made. Rub the pot over with corn meal after washing it, and if it is at all discolored, rub it over with more until the vessel is perfectly clean. Melt three pounds of clean grease; add to it a gallon of weak lye, a piece of alum the size of a walnut. Let this stew until well mixed. If strong lye is put to the grease, at first it will not mix well with the grease. In an hour add three gallons of strong hot lye; boil briskly, and stir frequently; stir one way. After it has boiled several hours, cool a spoonful upon a plate; if it does not jelly, add a little water; if this causes it to jelly, then add water to the kettle. Stir quickly while the water is poured in until it ropes on the stick. As to the quantity of water required to make it jelly, judgment must be used; the quantity will depend upon circumstances. It will be well to take some in a bowl, and notice what proportion of water is used to produce this effect.

To harden it: Add a quart of salt to this quantity of soap; let it boil quick ten minutes; let it cool. Next day cut it out. This is now ready for washing purposes.

BROWN TAR SOAP—TO MAKE

Take eight gallons of soft soap, two quarts of salt, and one pound of rosin, pulverized; mix, and boil half an hour. Turn it in a tub to cool.

SOAP-POTASH—TO MAKE

Six pounds of potash, five pounds of grease, and a quarter of a pound of powdered rosin; mix all well in a pot, and, when warm, pour on ten gallons of boiling water. Boil until thick enough.

SOAP FOR CLEANING SILVER, ETC.—TO MAKE

One bar of turpentine soap, three table-spoonfuls of spirits of turpentine, half a tumbler of water. Let it boil ten minutes. Add six tablespoonfuls of ammonia. Make a suds of this, and wash silver with it.

SPERMACETI—TO REMOVE

Scrape it off; put brown paper on the spot and press with hot iron.

ACID STAINS—TO REMOVE

Apply ammonia to neutralize the acid; after which apply chloroform. This will remove paints from garments when benzine has failed.

STARCH—TO PREPARE

Wet two tablespoonfuls of starch to a smooth paste with cold water; pour to it a pint of boiling water; put it on the fire; let it boil, stirring frequently until it looks transparent; this will probably require half an hour. Add a piece of spermaceti as large as half a nutmeg, or as much salt, or loaf sugar—this will prevent the starch from sticking to the iron.

STARCH—COLD-WATER

Mix the starch to a smooth cream with cold water, then add borax dissolved in boiling water in the proportion of a dessertspoonful to a teacupful of starch.

MUSLINS—TO STARCH

Add to the starch for fine muslins a little white gum Arabic. Keep a bottle of it ready for use. Dissolve two ounces in a pint of hot water; bottle it; use as may be required, adding it to the starch. Muslins, calicoes, etc., should never be stiffer than when new. Rice-water and isinglass stiffen very thin muslins better than starch.

TAR AND PITCH—TO REMOVE

Grease the place with lard or sweet oil. Let it remain a day and night; then wash in suds. If silk or worsted, rub the stain with alcohol.

Paraffin will remove tar from the hands.

UMBRELLAS—CARE OF

An umbrella should not be folded up when it is wet. Let it stand with handle downwards, so that the wet can run off the ends of the ribs, instead of running towards the ferrule and rusting that part of the umbrella.

VELVET—TO RENEW

Hold the velvet, pile downwards, over boiling water, in which ammonia is dissolved, double the velvet (pile inwards) and fold it lightly together.

WALL-PAPER—TO CLEAN

Tie cotton upon a long stick; brush the walls well with this. When soiled, turn it, or rub the walls with stale loaf bread. Split the loaf, and turn the soft part to the wall.

WHITEWASH—TO MAKE

Put half a bushel of unslacked lime in a barrel; cover it with hot water; stir occasionally, and keep the vessel well covered. When slacked, strain into another barrel through a sieve. Put a pound of glue in a glue-pot; melt it over a slow fire until dissolved. Soak the glue in cold water before putting the pot over the fire. Dissolve a peck of salt in boiling water. Make a thin paste of three pounds of ground rice boiled half an hour. Stir to this half a pound of Spanish whiting. Now add the rice paste to the lime; stir it in well; then the glue; mix well; cover the barrel, and let it stand twenty-four hours. When ready to use, it should be put on hot. It makes a durable wash for outside walls, planks, etc., and may be colored. Spanish brown will make it red or pink, according to the quantity used. A delicate tinge of this is very pretty for inside walls. Lampblack in small quantities will make slate color. Finely pulverized clay mixed with Spanish brown, makes lilac. Yellow chrome or yellow ochre makes yellow. Green must not be used; lime destroys the color, and makes the whitewash peel.

WINDOWS—TO WASH

Wash well with soap suds; rinse with warm water; rub dry with linen; and finish by polishing with soft dry paper. A fine polish is given to window-glass by brushing it over with a paste of whiting. Let it dry; rub off with paper or cloth, and with a clean, dry brush, remove every particle of the whiting from the corners. Once a year will be altogether sufficient for this.

Back to Index Next