Varnish And Polish For Gun Stocks

Gum shellac, 10 oz.; gum sandarac, 1 oz.; Venice turpentine, l drachm; 98 per cent. alcohol, 1 gallon; shake the jug occasionally for a day or two, and it is ready for use. Apply a few coats of this to your gunstocks, polish by rubbing smooth, and your work is complete.

Silversmith's Stripping Liquid

Sulphuric acid, 8 parts; nitre, 1 part. Use to re-cover silver on old plated ware.

Watchmaker's Drills

Drills of the smallest kind are heated in the blue part of the flame of a candle; larger drills are heated with the blow-pipe flame, applied very obliquely, and a little below the point. When very thin, they may be whisked in the air to cool them; but they are generally thrust into the tallow of a candle or the oil of a lamp. They are tempered either by their own heat, or by immersion in the flame below the point of the tool.

Solution Of Copper On Zinc

Dissolve 8 oz. (troy) cyanide of potassium, and 3 oz. cyanide of copper or zinc, in 1 gallon of rainwater. To be used at about 160° F., with a compound battery of 3 to 12 cells.

Brass Solution

Dissolve 1 lb. (troy) cyanide of potassium, 2 ozs. cyanide of copper, and 1 oz. cyanide of zinc, in 1 gal. of rainwater; then add 2 oz. of muriate ammonia. To be used at 100° F., for smooth work, with a compound battery of from 3 to 12 cells.

Brassing Iron

Iron ornaments are covered with copper or brass, by properly preparing the surface so as to remove all organic matter which would prevent adhesion and then plunging them into melted brass. A thin coating is thus spread over the iron, and it admits of being polished or burnished.

How To Enamel Copper And Other Vessels

Flint glass 6 parts, borax 3 parts, red lead 1 part, oxide of tin 1 part. Mix all together, frit, grind into powder, make into a thin paste with water, apply with a brush to the surface of the vessels (after scaling by heat and cleaning them), repeat with a second or even a third coat, afterwards dry, and lastly fuse on by heat of an enamelled kiln.

Moulds And Dies

Copper, zinc, and silver in equal proportions, melt together under a coat of powdered charcoal, and mould into the form you desire. Bring them to nearly a white heat, and lay on the thing you would take the impression of, press with sufficient force, and you will get a perfect and beautiful impression.

Polishing Powder For Gold And Silver

Rock alum (burnt and finely powdered,) 5 parts; levigated chalk, l part. Mix; apply with a dry brush.