Take the jump if you're interested in things like "how to clean marble busts" or "a paint for wood or stone that resists all moisture."
An Agreeable Disinfectant:- Sprinkle fresh ground coffee on a shovel of hot coals, or burn sugar on hot coals. Vinegar boiled with myrrh, sprinkled on the floor and furniture of a sick room, is an excellent deodorizer.
To Prevent Mold:-A small quantity of carbolic acid added to paste, mucilage and ink will prevent mold. An ounce of the acid to a gallon of whitewash will keep cellars and dairies from the disagreeable odor which often taints milk and meat kept in such places.
To Make Tracing-Paper:-Dissolve a ball of white beeswax, one inch in diameter, in half a pint of turpentine. Saturate the paper in this bath and let it dry two or three days before using.
To Preserve Brooms:-Dip them for a minute or two in a kettle of boiling suds once a week and they will last much longer, making them tough and pliable. A carpet wears much longer swept with a broom cared for in this manner.
To Clean Brass-Ware, etc.:-Mix one ounce of oxalic acid, six ounces of rotten stone, all in powder, one ounce of sweet oil, and sufficient water to make a paste. Apply a small portion, and rub dry with flannel or leather. The liquid dip most generally consists of nitric and sulphuric acids; but this is most corrosive.
Polish or Enamel for Shirt Bosoms is made by melting together one ounce of white wax, and two ounces of spermaceti; heat gently iand turn into a very shallow pan; when cold cut or break into pieces. When making boiled starch the usual way, enough for a dozen bosoms, add to it a piece of the polish the size of a hazel nut.
{Ed. Huh?}
An Erasive Fluid for the Removal of Spots on Furniture, and all kinds of fabrics, without injuring the color, is made of four ounces of aqua ammonia, one ounce of glycerine, one ounce of castile soap and one of spirits of wine. Dissolve the soap in two quarts of soft water, add the other ingredients. Apply with a soft sponge and rub out. Very good for cleaning silks.
To Remove the Odor of Onion from fish-kettle and saice pans in which they have been cooked, put wood-ashes or sal soda, potash or lye; fill with water and let it stand on the stove until it boils; then wash in hot suds and rinse well.
To Clean Marble Busts:-First free them from all dust, then wash them with very weak hydrochloric acid. Soap injures the color of the marble.
{Ed.Hydrochloric acid is better for colored marble than soap? Hmmph.}
To Remove old Putty from Window Frames pass a red hot poker over it and it will come off easily.
Hanging Pictures:-The most safe material and also the best, is copper wire of the size proportioned to the weight of the picture. When hung the wire is scarcely visible, and its strength is far superior to cord.
To Keep Milk Sweet:-Put into a panful a spoonful of grated horse-radish, it will keep it sweet for days.
{Ed.Or simply get a refridgerator. That'll work, too.}
To Take Rust from Steel Implements or Knives:-Rub them well with kerosene oil, leaving them covered with it a day or so; then rub them hard and well with finely powdered unslaked lime.
{Ed: am I the only one wondering how people didn't die on the spot when this stuff was used on stuff that touched food?}
Poison Water:-Water boiled in galvanized iron becomes poisonous, and cold water passed through zinc-lined iron pipes should never be used for cooking or drinking. Hot water for cooking should never be take from hot water pipes; keep a supply heated in kettles.
Scouring Soap for Cotton and Silk Goods:-Mix one pound of common soap, half a pound of beef-gall and one ounce of and a half of Venetian turpentine.
{Ed: Because Venetian Turpentine is like the fanciest Dijon Ketchups}
A Paint for Wood or Stone that Resists all Moisture:-Melt twelve ounces of resin; mix with it, thoroughly, six gallons of fish oil and one pound of melted sulphur. Rub up some ochre or any coloring substance with a little linseed oil, enough to give it the right color and thickness. Apply several coats of the hot composition with a brush. The first coat should be very thin.
To be continued...
Posted by Kathy at January 3, 2006 10:33 AM | TrackBack