Encyclopedia of Practical Receipts and Processes

How to silver a mirror, brew ginger beer, kill moths, make fireworks, tan a hide, bronze iron, cure a ham and clean a straw hat: William B. Dick's numbered encyclopedia answered the questions a nineteenth-century household actually had.

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Belgian Burnishing Powder

3229. Plate Cleaning Powder. For A burnishing powder in use in Belgium is cleaning silver and plated articles, &c. Mix 1 burnishing powder in use in Belgium is cleaning silver and plated articles, &c. Mix + composed of pound fine chalk, 3 ounces pound jeweler's rouge with pound prepared pipe clay, 2 ounces white lead, ounce mag-chalk. Or: 1 pound levigated putty powder, nesia (carbonate), and the same quantity of & pound burnt hartshorn, 1 pound prepared jeweler's rouge. chalk, and 1 ounce rose-pink. 3224. Το Protect Silver-Ware from 3230. Το Clean Silver. To clean sil- Tarnishing. The loss of silver which results from the impregnation of our atmosphere with sulphur compounds, especially where gas is burned, is very great. Silversmiths tooth-brush for the purpose. ver, mix 2 tea-spoonfuls of ammonia in a quart of hot soap-suds. Put in the silverware and wash it, using an old nail-brush or many as the vessel will hold; leave them in a short time, then take them out, and dry them over a fire; when all the articles have been thus treated, put into the solution clean woolen rags; when they are saturated, hang them up to dry. These will be excellent for polishing the silver, as well as for cleaning brass door-knobs, &c. may thank one of their confraternity-Mr. 3231. To Clean Silver and Silver Strolberger, of Munich-for a happy thought. Plated Articles. Boil 1 ounce finely pow- He seems to have tried various plans to save dered and calcined hartshorn in 1 quart water, his silver, if possible. He covered his goods and while on the fire, insert the articles, as with a clear white varnish, but found that it soon turned yellow in the window, and spoiled the look of his wares. Then he tried waterglass (solution of silicate of potash), but this did not answer. He tried some other solutions, to no purpose; but at last he hit upon the expedient of coating his goods over with a thin coating of collodion, which he found to answer perfectly. No more loss of silver, and no longer incessant labor in keeping it clean. The plan he adopts is this: He first warms the articles to be coated, and then with Canton flannel. (See next receipt.) paints them over carefully with a thinnish 3233. Τοo Clean Silver Ornaments. collodion diluted with alcohol, using a wide soft brush for the purpose. Generally, he says, it is not advisable to do them over more than once. Silver goods, he tells us, protected in this way, have been exposed in his window more than a year, and are as bright as ever, 3232. Τo Preserve the Polish on Silver. Wash it twice a week (if in daily use) with soft soap and hot water, and polish Boil then in soft soap and water for five. minutes; then put them in a basin with the same hot soap and water, and scrub them gently with a very soft brush while hot; then rinse and dry with a linen rag. Heat a piece of common unglazed earthenware, or a piece while others unprotected have become perfect- of brick or tile in the fire; take it off, and ly black in a few months. place the ornaments upon it for the purpose

3225. To Prevent Coins and Small of drying them, and causing every particle of Ornaments from Tarnishing. All orna- moisture to evaporate; as the moisture, ments, whether gold or silver, can be kept which otherwise would remain on the silver, from tarnishing if they are carefully covered will cause it to tarnish, or assume a greenish from the air in box-wood sawdust, which will hue. also dry them after being washed. The tarnish 3234. To Clean Silver. Moisten on silverware is most often due to sulphur. some finely powdered whiting or Paris white A gentleman who wears a silver watch finds with spirits of hartshorn, rub the silver into that it is tarnished from the sulphur fumes of it, let it dry, then rub it off with a soft cloth the rubber ring which holds together his ferry tickets. Sulphur fumes enough get into the air to account for all ordinary cases of tarnishing.

3226. Το Clean Silver. Immerse for half an hour the silver article into a solution made of 1 gallon water, 1 pound hyposulphite and polish it with chamois leather. Some kinds of silver soap keep silver looking nicely, but many of them are chemical compounds that injure the silver. 3235. Το Clean Silver Plate. Whiting finely powdered and moistened with a little sweet oil is excellent to clean silver. of soda, 8 ounces muriate of ammonia, 4 oun- Let the mixture dry on, then rub it off with a ces liquid ammonia, and 4 ounces cyanide of soft linen cloth and polish with chamois potassium; but, as the latter substance is poisonous, it can be dispensed with if necessary. The article, being taken out of the solution, is washed, and rubbed with a wash leather. leather. This gives silver a beautiful white appearance, and if well done the silver will keep clean a long time. 3236. Το Remove Ink Stains from Silver. The tops and other portions of silver inkstands frequently become deeply move by ordinary means. It may, however,

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