powdered pumice and vinegar; wash the surface with the mixture, and
leave it for several hours, then brush hard and wash clean. When dry,
rub with whiting and washleather. (_b_) Equal parts caustic potash,
quicklime, and soft-soap; make into a thick paste with water, and
apply with a brush; leave for about a week, and apply again and again
until the stain has disappeared. (_c_) 2 parts soda (carbonate), 1 of
pumice, and 1 of finely powdered chalk. Mix into a fine paste with
water. Rub this over the marble, and the stains will be removed; then
wash with soap and water. (_d_) Wash thoroughly with soda and warm
water to remove any grease, and apply oxalic acid by laying a piece
of white cotton cloth saturated upon the spots for a short time. If
it destroys the polish, repolish with oxide of tin and water applied
with a cloth. If the stains are not deep, rub the surface only with
the oxalic acid and water upon a small piece of cloth quickly, and
wash, to free the marble of acid. Then, to give it a gloss, rub with
chalk wet with water. (_e_) Marble figures may be washed clean by
putting them out in a heavy shower. (_f_) Spots from sulphur and
phosphorus, caused by lucifer-matches, can be extracted from marble
by carbon bisulphide. (_g_) Removing rust from marble depends upon
the solubility of iron sulphide in a solution of potassium cyanide.
Clay is made into a thin paste with ammonium sulphide, and the
rust-spot is smeared with the mixture, care being taken that the spot
is only just covered. After a lapse of 10 minutes, this paste is
washed off, and replaced by one consisting of white bole mixed with a
solution of potassium cyanide (1:4), which is in its turn, washed off
after a lapse of about 2½ hours. Should a reddish spot remain after
washing off the first paste, a second layer may be applied for about
5 minutes. (_h_) Brush the dust off with a piece of chamois, then
apply with a brush a good coat of gum arabic about the consistency
of thick mucilage, expose it to the sun or wind to dry. In a short
time it will peel off. If all the gum should not peel off, wash it
with clean water and a clean cloth. If the first application does not
have the desired effect, it should be tried again. (_i_) Rub with the
following solution: ¼ lb. soft-soap, ¼ lb. whiting, 1 oz. soda, and
a piece of blue the size of a walnut; rub it over the marble with
a piece of flannel, and leave on for 24 hours, then wash off with
clean water, and polish the marble with a piece of flannel or an old
piece of felt. (_j_) Take 2 parts common soda, 1 of pumice, and 1 of
finely powdered chalk; sift through a fine sieve, and mix with water;
rub it well over the marble; then wash the marble over with soap and
water. (_k_) To take stains out of white marble, take 1 oz. ox-gall,
1 gill lye, 1½ tablespoonfuls turpentine; mix, and make into a paste
with pipeclay; put on the paste over the stain, and let it remain for
several days. (_l_) To remove oil-stains, apply common clay saturated
with benzine. If the grease has remained on long, the polish will be
injured; but the stain will be removed. (_m_) Ironmould or ink-spots
may be taken out in the following manner: Take ½ oz. butter of
antimony and 1 oz. oxalic acid; dissolve in 1 pint rain-water; add
enough flour to bring the mixture to a proper consistency. Lay it
evenly on the stained part with a brush, and, after it has remained
for a few days, wash off, and repeat the process if the stain be not
wholly removed.
Stone.--(_n_) To remove grease from stone steps or passages, pour
strong soda and water boiling hot over the spot, lay on a little
fullers’ earth made into a thin paste with boiling water, let remain
all night, and if the grease be not removed, repeat the process.
Grease may sometimes be taken out by rubbing the spot with a hard
stone--not hearth-stone--using sand and very hot water, with soap and
soda.
Plaster.--(_o_) By means of Dutch rush or shave-grass (_Equisetum
hyemale_), or exceedingly fine sandpaper, the plaster must be rubbed
over in an equal manner, and in every part. The rubbing, being done
in a skilful manner, opens the pores of the plaster; then brush
it over with the thick oil used for moulding, which will give it a
very pleasing yellow tint, and at the same time great solidity. If,
however, a white colour is preferred, soak the cast, after the first
operation has been performed, in a stearine bath. If placed in a
bath of hot stearine, and allowed to remain 4 hours, it will acquire
almost the solidity and the polish of marble.
Alabaster.--(_p_) Make a paste with quicklime and water; spread this
well over the discoloured article, and leave on for about 24 hours;
then remove with soap and water, applying some friction on parts
which are worse than others. (_q_) If not too much discoloured, clean
with a strong lye of soap and water. (_r_) The superficial dirt and
grease having been removed, wash with diluted muriatic acid.
_Metal Goods._--Brass.--(_a_) Wash with rock alum, boiled in a strong
lye in the proportion of 1 oz. to a pint; polish with dry tripoli.
(_b_) The government method prescribed for cleaning brass, and in use
at all the United States arsenals, is claimed to be the best in the
world. The plan is to make a mixture of 1 part common nitric acid
and ½ part sulphuric acid, in a stone jar, having also ready a pail
of fresh water and a box of sawdust. The articles to be treated are
dipped into the acid, then removed into the water, and finally rubbed
with sawdust. This immediately changes them to a brilliant colour.
If the brass has become greasy, it is first dipped in a strong
solution of potash and soda in warm water; this cuts the grease, so
that the acid has free power to act. (_c_) Rub the surface of the
metal with rottenstone and sweet oil, then rub off with a piece of
cotton flannel, and polish with soft leather. (_d_) A solution of
oxalic acid rubbed over tarnished brass soon removes the tarnish,
rendering the metal bright. The acid must be washed off with water,
and the brass rubbed with whiting and soft leather. (_e_) A mixture
of muriatic acid and alum dissolved in water imparts a golden colour
to brass articles that are steeped in it for a few seconds. (_f_)
First boil your articles in a pan with ordinary washing soda, to
remove the old lacquer; then let them stand for a short time in dead
aquafortis; then run them through bright dipping ditto. Swill all
acid off in clean water, and brighten the relieved parts with a steel
burnisher; replace in clean water, and dry out in beech sawdust. Next
place your work on stove till heated, so that you can with difficulty
bear your hand on articles, and apply pale lacquer with brush: the
work will burn if heated too much or too rapidly. (_g_) Put a coat
of nitric acid over the part you want cleaned, with a piece of rag;
as soon as it turns a light yellow, rub it dry, and the brass will
present a very clean appearance; if not, repeat. (_h_) Oxalic acid
and whiting mixed and applied wet, with brush, and brushed again
when dry with soft plate-brush to polish with dry whiting. (_i_) The
general idea is to use strong oil of vitriol or a strong solution
of oxalic acid. Now, these two substances are very corrosive, and,
although they undoubtedly clean the brasswork most effectually, they
do mischief in literally eating it away, so that delicate engraving
and fine edges soon disappear. In cases of brass name-plates, these
acids gradually insinuate themselves underneath the black filling
of the letters, generating gas, and forcing it up bit by bit. The
best thing to use is lemon pulp: the waste lemon from grog or
lemonade does excellently. It should be tied up in a piece of rag,
plum-pudding fashion, and when it becomes dry it should be dipped in
water. After the brasswork has been rubbed with the lemon it should
be well washed with water, and then finished off with rottenstone
and oil. One word about brass plates. There is no greater eyesore
to those who worship neatness than to see a rim of worn-away paint
round the brass plate on the hall door of an otherwise well-appointed
house. Such a defect may be easily avoided by cutting out a piece of
thick cardboard to the shape of the plate, and covering over with
it the paint surrounding the metal during the process of cleaning.
Another fatal mistake is to suppose that the black letters require
cleaning; they do not, and any efforts in this direction only result
in their being gradually worn away. (_j_) Embossed Surfaces.--Make
a mixture of 1 part nitric acid, 2 water, and 6 hydrochloric acid.
Boil the articles to be cleaned in a strong soda-lye, and then leave
them in the above solution, until they become covered with a black
layer. Remove from the mixed acids, rinse in plenty of water, and
use a fine scratch-brush to remove the black mud. When clean, rinse
in hot water, and dry in hot sawdust. Articles thus treated acquire
a brilliant lustre. To give a very rich orange-yellow tone to the
brass, the nitric acid may be replaced by an equivalent weight of
powdered alum. (_k_) Brass Instruments.--If the instruments are
very much oxidised or covered with green rust, first wash them with
strong soda and water. If not so very bad, this first process may be
dispensed with. Then apply a mixture of 1 part common sulphuric acid
and 12 of water, mixed in an earthen vessel, and afterwards polish
with oil and rottenstone, well scouring with oil and rottenstone, and
using a piece of soft leather and a little dry rottenstone to give
a brilliant polish. In future cleaning, oil and rottenstone will be
found sufficient. (_l_) Take a strip of coarse linen, saturate with
oil and powdered rottenstone, put round the tubing of instrument,
and work backwards and forwards; polish with dry rottenstone. Do not
use acid of any kind, as it is injurious to the joints. To hold the
instrument, get a piece of wood turned to insert in the bells; fix
in a bench vice. The piece of wood will also serve for taking out
any dents you may get in the bells. (_m_) Oil and rottenstone for
this purpose are, though very efficacious, objectionable on account
of dirt, on account of the oil finding its way to the pistons, and
because the instrument cleaned in this manner so soon tarnishes.
Dissolve some common soda in warm water, shred into it some scraps
of yellow soap, and boil it till the soap is all melted. Then take
it from the fire, and when it is cool add a little turpentine, and
sufficient rottenstone to make a stiff paste. Keep it in a tin box
covered from the air, and if it gets hard, moisten a small quantity
with water for use.
Scale-pans.--(_n_) Pour sufficient ammonia in the pan to cover the
bottom, and rub briskly till dry with a handful of dry pine sawdust.
For very dirty pans, take about 1 dr. potash bichromate, powder it in
a mortar, mix it with 2 or 3 times its bulk of concentrated sulphuric
acid, and add twice as much water. With this rub the pans (having a
care for the fingers), rinse well, and finish with rottenstone.
Brass or Copper.--(_o_) Mix together 1 oz. oxalic acid, 6 oz.
rottenstone, and ½ oz. gum arabic; all these are to be finely
powdered. Then add 1 oz. sweet-oil and sufficient water to form the
mixture into a paste. Apply a small portion to the article to be
cleaned, and rub dry with a flannel or washleather.
Bronze.--(_a_) For cleaning bronze statues, when blackened by
smoke and soot, wash with plenty of clean water, accompanied with
mechanical friction. Even this simple treatment is undesirable;
because the friction, however slight, accompanying the washing,
destroys, or tends to destroy, the sharpness of the outlines; and
the sulphurous and sulphuric acids of the prevailing smoke rapidly
corrode the surface of any bronze statue which is constantly being
washed. For these reasons, the Nelson monument at Liverpool, was
left untouched when it was re-erected, after the building of the new
Exchange surrounding it. It has been a matter of much debate whether
the soot-blackened surface of a bronze statue is not more pleasing to
the eye, than the metallic lustre of a new, or newly-cleaned statue.
(_b_) Weber finds that a dilute solution of caustic alkalies removes
overlying dirt, and allows the green patina to become visible. Where
the metal was not originally oxidised, the alkali simply cleanses
it, and does not promote any formation of green rust. (_c_) By
dipping fustian in soluble glass, and washing it with soap directly
afterwards, we get a fabric largely impregnated with silica, which
will be found very well adapted for cleaning bronzes, &c. Samples
of the material were in the Vienna Exhibition, and attracted some
notice. (_d_) The method of restoring a bronze tea-urn turned black
in parts will depend, to a great extent, on the metal and the colour.
Clean the surface, first of all, with whiting and water, or crocus
powder, until it is polished; then cover with a paste of graphite
and crocus, mixed in the proportions that will produce the desired
colour. Heat the paste over a small charcoal fire. If the bronzing
has been produced by a corrosive process, try painting a solution of
potassium sulphide over the cleaned metal. There are many recipes for
bronzing, and it is impossible to say which is suitable. The bronzed
surface may be polished; but it cannot be bright unless the surface
of the metal itself is polished, and then covered with transparent
lacquer to preserve the brightness.
Coins.--Coins can be quickly cleansed by immersion in strong nitric
acid, and immediate washing in water. If very dirty, or corroded with
verdigris, it is better to give them a rubbing with ½ oz. pure potash
bichromate, 1 oz. sulphuric acid, 1 oz. nitric acid; rub over, wash
with water, wipe dry, and polish with rottenstone or chalk. (Lyle.)
Copper Electros.--Copper electros should be well cleaned after
working, as the ink between the fine lines in time generates acids,
which destroy the electro. For this purpose turpentine and the brush
are employed; others also recommend the electros to be afterwards
well rubbed with an oil as free from acid as possible. Should the ink
be so dried up as to resist it, creosote should be applied, and the
electros treated with the brush.
Copper Vessels.--Use soft-soap and rottenstone, made into a stiff
paste with water, and dissolved by gently simmering in a water-bath.
Rub on with a woollen rag, and polish with dry whiting and
rottenstone. Finish with a leather and dry whiting. See also _Brass_.
Gas Chandeliers.--Very few chandeliers are gilt; they are burnished
and lacquered with yellow lacquer. Proceed as follows, whether gilt
or lacquered: Take the chandelier to pieces, and boil in strong soda
lye for a few minutes; brush over with a soft brush, pass through a
strong solution of potassium cyanide (deadly poison), wash through a
tubful of boiling water, dry in clean sawdust, wipe up bright with a
washleather, and relacquer.
Gilt Mountings.--Gilt mountings, unless carefully cleaned, soon lose
their lustre. They should not be rubbed; if slightly tarnished, wipe
them off with a piece of Canton flannel, or what is better, remove
them if possible, and wash in a solution of ½ oz. borax dissolved in
1 lb. water, and dry them with a soft linen rag; their lustre may be
improved by heating them a little, and rubbing with a piece of Canton
flannel.
Gold.--(_a_) To remove the brown tarnish from coloured gold, take a
piece of tissue-paper damped in liq. ammoniæ, gently rub the gold
till the tarnish disappears, then wash off carefully with soft brush,
soap, and water, dry in sawdust or before the fire; if this is not
sufficient, entrust the article to a jeweller. (_b_) Mix a little
rouge and spirits of wine together, and apply to the jewellery with a
rather stiff brush, and turn the brush round and round--not to brush
as if to polish, but rather tickle it and pat it with the hair of the
brush; but be sure to keep the brush wet with the mixture. After you
have got the tarnish off, wash it out with soap and boiling water,
and dry in box-dust. Take care of any stones with foil behind. (_c_)
Rub with a piece of tissue-paper, screwed up and wet with the tongue.
This will often do it; if not, re-colour it. (_d_) A weak solution of
potassium cyanide will clean gold braid. Use with small sponge, and
wash off with clean water. Strength, say 10 or 15 gr. to the oz. of
water. Care should be taken that the solution does not get into any
cuts or wounds, as it is very poisonous. The strength of the solution
would greatly depend on the condition of the lace. It can be made
stronger if necessary. (_e_) A solution of 20 dr. lime chloride, 20
dr. soda bicarbonate, and 5 dr. common salt, in 5¼ pints distilled
water, is prepared and kept in well-closed bottles. The article to
be cleaned is allowed to remain a short time in this solution (which
is to be heated only in the case of very obstinate dirt), then taken
out, washed with spirit, and dried in sawdust. (_Chem. Cent. Blatt._)
Iron and steel.--(_a_) Take a spongy piece of fig-tree wood and well
saturate it with a mixture of sweet-oil and finely powdered emery,
and with this well rub all the rusty parts. This will not only clean
the article, but will at the same time polish it, and so render the
use of whiting unnecessary. (_b_) Bright iron or steel goods (as
polished grates and fire-irons) may be preserved from rust in the
following manner. Having first been thoroughly cleaned, they should
be dusted over with powdered quicklime, and thus left until wanted
for use. Coils of piano-wire are covered in this manner, and will
keep free from rust for many years. (_c_) Dissolve ½ oz. camphor in 1
lb. hogs’ lard, and take off the scum; then mix with the lard as much
black-lead as will give the mixture an iron colour. Rub the articles
all over with this mixture, and let them lie for 24 hours; then
dry with a linen cloth, and they will keep clean for months. (_d_)
Table knives which are not in constant use should be put in a case
containing a depth of about 8 in. quicklime. They are to be plunged
into this to the top of the blades, but the lime must not touch the
handles. (_e_) Steel bits that are tarnished, but not rusty, can be
cleaned with rottenstone, common hard soap, and a woollen cloth.
(_f_) Removing paint from iron.--After a number of experiments, it
has been found that a paint-softener made of 1 lb. lime to 4 lb.
potash and 6 qt. water works better than any other proportions.
Plate Powders.--(_a_) Equal parts precipitated iron subcarbonate,
and prepared chalk. (_b_) An impalpable rouge may be prepared by
calcining iron oxalate. (_c_) Take quicksilver with chalk, ½ oz.,
and prepared chalk 2 oz., mix them. When used, add a small quantity
of spirits of wine, and rub with chamois leather. (_d_) Put iron
sulphate into a large tobacco pipe, and place it in a fire for ¼
hour, mix with a small quantity of powdered chalk. This powder should
be used dry. (_e_) The following makes a liquid polish for silver
plate--3 to 4 dr. potassium cyanide, 8 to 10 gr. silver nitrate, and
4 oz. water; apply with a soft brush, wash the object thoroughly with
water, dry with a soft linen cloth, and polish with a chamois skin.
(_f_) Take 2 oz. hartshorn powder and boil it in 1 pint water; soak
small squares of damask cloth in the liquid, hang them up to dry,
and they will be ready for use, and better than any powders. (_g_)
Add by degrees 8 oz. prepared chalk in fine powder to a mixture of 2
oz. spirits of turpentine, 1 oz. alcohol, ½ oz. spirits of camphor,
and 2 dr. aqua ammonia; apply with a sponge, and allow it to dry
before polishing. (_h_) Mix together 1 oz. fine chalk, 2 oz. cream of
tartar, 1 oz. rottenstone, 1 oz. red-lead, and ¾ oz. alum; pulverise
thoroughly in a mortar. Wet the mixture, rub it on the silver, and,
when dry, rub off with a dry flannel, or clean with a small brush.
(_i_) An excellent preparation for polishing plate may be made in
the following manner:--Mix together 4 oz. spirits of turpentine, 2
oz. spirits of wine, 1 oz. spirits of camphor, and ½ oz. spirits of
ammonia. To this add 1 lb. whiting, finely powdered, and stir till
the whole is of the consistency of thick cream. Use this preparation
with a clean sponge, cover the silver with it, so as to give it a
coat like whitewash. Set the silver aside till the paste has dried
into a powder; then brush off, and polish with a chamois leather. A
cheaper kind may be made by merely mixing spirits of wine and whiting
together.
Silver and Plated Goods.--(_a_) East Indian jewellers never touch
silver ware with any abrasive substance, but use, instead of
polishing paste, &c., slices of lemons; the goods to be cleaned are
well rubbed with these, and then left in a pan for a few hours,
covered with slices. For delicate jewellery, a large lime is cut in
half, the article inserted, the two halves applied together and tied
up for some hours; the article is then washed in several waters,
placed in a pan of nearly boiling soapsuds, stirred about, rinsed,
and dried on a metal plate, the smooth parts being gently rubbed
with wash-leather, if required. (_b_) Potassium cyanide solution
(rather weak) dissolves off the dirty surface gradually, but great
care is required. (_c_) Green tamarind pods (potash oxalic) are
greater detergents for gold and silver than lemons, and are often
employed for the purpose of removing stains, firemarks, &c. (_Boston
Journal of Chemistry._) (_d_) Eisner states that a polish equal to
that obtained by the use of the finest plate powder, can be produced
by simply cleaning the silver in water in which potatoes have been
boiled. (_e_) Dead or engraved silver goods should never be cleaned
with plate powder, but be washed out with a soft brush and some
strong alkali, and well rinsed afterwards. When the dead or frosted
parts are quite dry, the polished parts are carefully cleaned with
powder. (_f_) The following directions are given by a silversmith in
Christiania:--Silver filagree work is best cleaned by the application
of spirit of ammonia by means of a soft brush, and afterwards
thoroughly washing in soft-soap and warm water, and rinsing in
clean warm water, and quick drying by linen rags, blotting-paper,
or some similar clean absorbent. Should this method, after several
repetitions, cease to have the required effect, the article will have
to be sent to a silversmith to be heated and boiled in acid. The best
mode of preservation is to wrap the article in tissue paper before
placing it in the case. (_g_) The simplest and cleanest substance
for cleaning silver articles is, according to Professor Davenport,
soda hyposulphite. It acts quickly, and is inexpensive. A rag or a
brush, moistened with a saturated solution of the salt, cleanses
even strongly oxidised silver surfaces in a few seconds, without the
application of any polishing powder. (_h_) Mix 8 oz. prepared chalk,
2 oz. turpentine, 1 oz. alcohol, 4 dr. spirits of camphor, and 2 dr.
liquor of ammonia. Apply this mixture to the article with a sponge,
and allow to dry before polishing. (_i_) Dissolve 12 oz. potassium
cyanide in 1 qt. water; dip in this solution, and brush it with a
stiff brush until clean; then wash and dry. (_j_) A paste composed
of washed whiting, precipitated magnesia carbonate, and precipitated
iron peroxide. (_k_) Gin. (_l_) Apply whiting mixed with sweet oil
on a shammy. (_m_) Take 2 qt. water, ½ oz. hartshorn, and 1 oz.
whiting, and boil the whole together. While boiling, put as many of
the silver or plated articles into the vessel as it will conveniently
hold, and let remain for 5 minutes; withdraw, and leave to dry.
Polish with clean linen or woollen rags, which, after being soaked
in the above-named liquor, have been well wrung. Finally rub with a
clean soft leather. (_n_) The ink eraser sold by stationers has the
property of cleaning and brightening silver and gold mountings, such
as meerschaum pipe fittings, pencil-cases, watch-cases, &c. (_o_) Cut
some flakes of white curd soap, and put them into a saucepan of water
to simmer; sew the ornaments up in a muslin bag, and place in the
liquid for about 10 minutes whilst on the fire.
Tarnished Silver Lace.--(_p_) Sponge over with a weak solution of
potassium cyanide. (_q_) Dab over with a cream of heavy magnesia
and water, allowing this to dry, and then brushing it off with a
soft-haired brush.
Zinc Vessels.--Zinc articles, if small, can be cleaned by being
pickled in spirits of salt (hydrochloric acid) with water added, till
the articles are nicely cleaned, in about 3 minutes, without being
too strongly attacked, then washed and dried. Large articles like
refrigerators are cleaned by being rubbed with a swab, dipped in raw
spirits, then washed with water, and finished with whiting.