Recipe.

To Remove Old Paint from Woodwork. (i) Make a very strong solution of common washing soda, and apply it to the paint with a brush until the paint can be scraped away. (2) Apply naphtha to the paint in the same manner, giving it a second and even third damping with this substance until the paint yields. When soft enough scrape it away with a knife. (3) Slake 3 lbs. of stone lime in water, and then add to this 1 lb. of pearlash, and sufficient water to bring the whole to the consistency of thick cream. Apply the preparation with a brush, and leave it on the paint for from eighteen to twenty-four hours, when it will be found that the paint is softened and may be easily scraped off.

The amateur will find it necessary, perhaps, to do his painting work at intervals, often few and far between. If he leaves paint in the paint pot for some length of time, he will discover, much to his annoyance, on resuming work, that the paint is too hard and thick to be used. The addition of some oil and turpentine may save a

little of it, but it will neither work pleasantly, nor, indeed, be worth using. Whenever paint must be put aside, a little cold water must be poured on the top of the paint. This prevents the evaporation of the oil, and keeps the paint all right for future use by excluding the air and preventing its action in drying and hardening the paint.