Cleaning Engravings

Put the engraving on a smooth board, cover it thinly with common salt, finely pounded; squeeze lemon-juice upon the salt so as to dissolve a considerable portion of it; elevate one end of the board, so that it may form an angle of about 45° or 50° with the horizon.

Pour on the engraving boiling water from a tea-kettle, until the salt and lemon-juice are all washed off; the engraving will then be perfectly clean, and free from stains. It must be dried on the board, or on some smooth surface, gradually. If dried by the fire or the sun, it will be tinged with a yellow color.

Polishing Mother-Of-Pearl

Go over it with puinice-stone finely powdered and washed to separate the impurities and dirt, with which polish it very smooth; then apply putty powder and water by a rubber, which will produce a fine gloss and good color.

Floors

Take some clean, sifted, white or silver sand, and scatter it on the floor. Dissolve one pound of American potash or pearlash, in one pint of water, and sprinkle the sand with this solution. Have a pail of very hot water, and scrub the boards lengthwise with a hard brush, using the mottled soap. Change the water frequently. This is the best way to scour and whiten boards. The potash, if applied as directed, will take out all stains.

Ink stains may be removed from boards by using either strong vinegar or salts of lemon.

Cleaning House Paint

Old paint-work should be first well dusted, then cleaned by washing with a ley of pearlash and water; it is sometimes necessary, after the washing, to give a coat of weak size, and as soon as it is dry, apply varnish, using copal for light work, and carriage for dark. Some handrails, doors, and so on, are so saturated with grease, that no washing will remove it. When this is the case, brush the foul parts over with strong fresh-made lime-wash, let that dry, then rub it off; if the grease is not removed, repeat the lime-washing, until the grease is thoroughly drawn out; wash the lime off clean, and afterward apply the sizing, and lastly the varnish.

How To Wash Silver Ware

Never use a particle of soap on your silver ware, as it dulls the luster, giving the article more the appearance of pewter than silver. When it wants cleaning, rub it with a piece of soft leather and prepared chalk, the latter made into a kind of paste with pure water, for the reason that water not pure might contain gritty particles.

Cleaning Gilt Frames

Gilt frames may be cleaned by simply washing them with a small sponge, wet with urine, hot spirits of wine, or oil of turpentine, not too wet, but sufficiently to take off the dirt and fly marks. They should not be afterward wiped, but left to dry of themselves.

Scouring Articles Of Dress

Among the spots which alter the color fixed upon stuffs, some are caused by a substance which may be described as simple, and others by a substance which results from the combination of two or more bodies, that may act separately or together upon the stuff, and which may therefore be called compound.