Home › House Cleaning › House Cleaning: Brass

House Cleaning: Brass

Paint with black or other color of enamel paint or any desired stain, and afterwards apply a coat of copal or any hard white varnish. CLEANING BRIC-A-BRAC AND MIS- CELLANEOUS OBJECTS To Clean Brass Furniture. - Brass bedsteads and brass fittings on furniture may be cleaned by moistening a cloth in sweet oil and dipping it in powdered whiting or rotten stone pulverized finely and sifted through cheese cloth.

Or mix finely powdered tripoli with linseed oil. Apply with a sponge or rag, and polish with a piece of felt or velveteen.

Or moisten a cloth in ammonia and dip in powdered whiting.

To Clean Brass Inlaid Work.- Mix equal quantities of rotten stone, starch, and oxalic acid with water to a stiff paste and dilute with sweet oil. Apply with a piece of felt or velveteen, and polish with a flannel rag or moistened chamois.

To Clean Bric-a-Brac. - Brass ornaments on bric-a-brac may be cleaned with a piece of stale bread.

Hold the bread by the crust and rub carefully, allowing the crumbs to fall with the dirt. Brass candlesticks, lamps, and the like may be cleaned with soap and water, but lacquered articles require careful treatment without soap. - To Clean Bronzes.

Genuine bronzes may be washed with good soapsuds and a sponge or rag, and wiped dry with a soft flannel cloth or chamois.

Or dirt and stains may first be removed with a flannel cloth moistened in sweet oil; afterwards polish with flannel or chamois. To Clean Mother-of-Pearl. --Rub with a cheese-cloth bag containing dry pumice, or apply finely powdered pumice moistened with sweet oil, and polish with a piece of felt To Renovate Old Gilt Frames.- Gilt frames that are past retouching with gilt paint may be renovated by removing the gilding with fine sandpaper or rubbing down the surface | or velveteen. HOUSE CLEANING To Clean Upholstered Furniture. -In cities the pneumatic cleaning machine removes all dust and dirt from upholstered furniture with little labor, but where this is not available take the furniture out of doors and freely apply gasoline or naphtha. Pour these on so as to saturate the upholstered parts, and rub vigorously with a soft hair brush, sponge, or flannel cloth dipped in warm gasoline until all spots and soiled places are fully cleaned. Keep the furniture out of doors in a draught until the cleanser evaporates. This process will also destroy moths.

To Clean Brick or Stone Work.- Mop with a solution of caustic potash or soda with oxalic acid dissolved in water. Or pour the mixture over the surfaces and scrub with a scrubbing brush, but do not dip the hands in this mixture and do not use it too strong.

To Clean Ivory. - For cleaning ivory, use prepared chalk, lime, brick dust, turpentine, lemon juice, salt and vinegar, lime, potash, and alum.

Ivory ornaments, brooches, card cases, bracelets, carvings, piano keys, and the like may be cleaned by painting them over with spirits of turpentine and, when possible, exposing them for two or three days to sunshine, Or articles that can be taken out of doors may be bleached by simply moistening them with water and exposing them to direct sunshine. Or dissolve slaked lime in water to the consistency of milk. Cover the articles with this, or dip them in it if convenient, and steep as long as may be necessary. Remove them, allow the slaked lime to dry on, and when dry rub off and polish with a dry cloth.

Or apply salt and lemon juice.

Polish with whiting. Apply with a moist cloth and rub with a chamois.

If small ivory articles are badly stained and discolored, first soak them for 24 hours or longer in a solution of 1 part of baking soda to 4 parts of water. Rinse, and immerse in a solution of 1 part of sulphite of soda to 3 parts of water for another day or 2. Finally add to the latter solution 1 ounce of hydrochloric acid diluted with 6 ounces of water, and allow the articles to stand in this for 2 or 3 days. Wash in clean water, dry, and polish.

To Clean Bric-a-Brac. For deep, narrow-necked flower vases, rose bowls, or carafes, cut some potato parings in small squares and pour over them water in which baking soda has been dissolved. Put them into the glasses to be cleaned, let stand a few minutes, and shake well.

Afterwards wash in soapsuds and polish.

Or use 3 tablespoonfuls of vinegar to 1 of rice. Shake well.

To polish, use fuller's earth finely powdered or whiting. Never use hot water for these articles. Allow the water to cool until it will bear the hands comfortably.

To Clean a Chandelier.-Apply pure vinegar with a small sponge; afterwards wash in soapsuds and polish with flannel or chamois.

To renovate tarnished metallic parts, paint black with the dull-black paint used for ebonizing. Or apply white, gilt, or any other enamel paint desired.

Glass Stoppers. -The glass stoppers of decanters or carafes and other bottles sometimes stick and are very difficult to remove. To obviate this, use a large glass marble, either of clear glass or containing fancy figures. This makes a good stopper for a decanter or water bottle and is easily removed.

To remove a stopper that sticks, first apply a few drops of sweet oil or salad oil to the neck of the stopper, and let stand a few minutes to soak in between the stopper and the neck of the bottle.

If this does not loosen the stopper, apply heat to the neck of the bottle on the outside. It is well known that heat expands all substances, and, if applied to the outside, the neck of the bottle will expand before the stopper does, and the stopper will become loosened. This may be done by putting a narrow strip of flannel about the neck of the bottle and drawing it back and forth rapidly to create friction. This will sometimes cause heat enough in a few minutes.

Or hold the hand about the neck of the bottle until the heat of the hand causes it to expand.

Or, if this is not sufficient, dip a rag in water as hot as the hands will bear and wrap it about the neck of the bottle. This must not be done, however, when the bottle is very cold, as it may be cracked by expanding too suddenly. Or hold the neck of the bottle near a gas jet or an open flame, turning it constantly to prevent any part from becoming overheated.

Or wrap a piece of cloth about the stopper and with a light piece of wood tap it gently, first on one side, then on the other. Do not use a hammer or other metal tool or utensil for this purpose. To Clean Clocks. - To clean a clock, saturate a cloth or pad of cotton with kerosene oil and lay it inside on a small dish that will prevent the woodwork from being saturated. As it evaporates, the fumes will loosen any foreign substance on the wheels of the clock and cause it to drop. Repeat as often as necessary. The fumes also tend to lubricate the works. Or remove the works of alarm clocks and others which are made exclusively of metal, and place them in an earthenware jar or other clean vessel having a tight-fitting cover.

Pour over them kerosene oil through a cloth strainer or filter paper to remove all sediment. Let stand until the grease and dirt have been entirely cut and removed. The clock may be returned to its case without waiting for the excess of oil to evaporate.

To Oil Clocks. -To oil a clock, obtain the purest olive oil and cleanse it by adding half a pint of lime water to each quart of oil. Shake well and let stand three or four days, when the pure oil may be carefully poured off the sediment and strained through silk or filter paper. - To Clean Metals. Various acids are recommended for cleaning metals, as tartaric, oxalic, acetic, muriatic, and the like; also alcohol, turpentine, and petroleum products, and such materials as whiting, powdered pumice, rotten stone, bath brick, etc., mixed with water or oil.

Paste for Metals. - Mix 1 ounce of oxalic acid with 6 ounces of rotten stone, and dilute to a soft paste with equal parts of train oil and spirits of turpentine.

Or mix strong potash or soda lye with alcohol and apply to metals with a brush. Let dry, and polish with a soft cloth or moist chamois. This will remove verdigris and most other forms of rust or tarnish.

Brass - To Prevent Tarnishing. - Moisten powdered sal ammoniac with water and apply to the brass by means of a brush. Afterwards heat the article until the sal ammoniac is melted. Cool, and polish with dry whiting and soft cloth.

To Clean Brass.-Dissolve 1/2 ounce of oxalic acid in 1 pint of soft water and wash the brass, or moisten a cloth in sweet oil dipped in powdered whiting or rotten stone, and scour. Or mix to a soft paste 1 ounce of starch, 12 ounces of rotten stone, 2 ounces of sweet oil, and 2 ounces of oxalic acid with water, and apply with a cloth or chamois.

Or, to clean brass inlaid work, mix tripoli with linseed oil, and apply by means of a piece of folded velveteen or other suitable polisher. Or use a good furniture paste. But if the wood has a very high polish, finish the cleaning by rubbing on dry starch with the palm of the hand.

Or mix 2 ounces of sulphuric acid, 1½ ounces of nitric acid, 1 dram of saltpeter, and 2 ounces of rain water, and let stand until the solution settles. Dip the articles in this, or go HOUSE CLEANING over them with a soft brush dipped in this mixture, rinse immediately with soft water, and wipe dry. Or dry in sawdust. To prevent future tarnishing, apply a good coat of brass lacquer.

To Clean Bronze.--To clean genuine bronze, apply hot soapsuds or boil the article in suds. Rinse and wipe dry with a soft cloth or chamois skin.

Or, for small articles, apply sweet oil with a brush and rub off with a flannel cloth.

TO CLEAN MARBLE, BRICK. Al STONE To Clean Marble. -To clean marble mantels, table tops, tops of bureaus, washstands, and other polished marble surfaces, wipe them with a cloth moistened in kerosene. Or mix 2 ounces of common soda, 1 ounce of pumice stone, and 1 ounce of fine common salt, and dilute with water to the consistency of cream.

Pour this mixture over the marble and let stand until all stains are removed.

Polish with dry whiting and cham- Afterwards wash the marble with salt ois skin.

To Clean Nickel.-Mix equal quantities of alcohol and aqua ammonia and stir in whiting to the consistency of thin cream. Apply with a brush and soft cloth, let dry, and polish with a clean, dry cloth or chamois skin.

Or, to remove stains from nickel, dilute 1 part of sulphuric acid in 50 parts of alcohol, and dip the articles in the solution until the stains are removed, which should take not more than 5 or 10 seconds. Rinse in alcohol and afterwards in clear water, and polish with dry whiting and chamois. Repeat if necessary. To Clean Gilt Metals. - Metals finished in gilt or lacquer should not be washed with strong soaps containing free alkali, but preferably with clear, soft warm water and a fine sponge.

Or a little castile soap or other fine white soap may be used if necessary.

Clean out the crevices in the ornamental parts with a soft brush, as an old toothbrush, but use no more force than is necessary to avoid injuring the gilding. Wipe dry with chamois or a piece of soft woolen cloth er silk.

Bronzed articles, not genuine bronze, require only dusting or wiping with a soft cloth. Washing will injure the bronzing.

Burnishing Powder. - To make a high polish for metals, mix 4 ounces of prepared chalk, 1½ ounces of pipe clay, 1 ounce of white lead, ounce of carbonate of magnesia, and ounce of jeweler's rouge. and water, rinse, and wipe dry.

Or mix soft soap and whiting to a thin paste, and apply to the marble by means of a soft brush. Let stand until fully dry, and wash off with lukewarm suds made of hard white or yellow soap.

Or give the marble a coating of mucilage made by boiling to the consistency of thick cream 4 ounces of gum arabic in 1 quart of water. Dilute with hot water if necessary. Apply with a brush and expose the article to the sun and air until the mucilage cracks and can be readily rubbed off, then wash with clear water and a soft cloth. Repeat if necessary.

Or stir into 1 pint of soft soap 1 teaspoonful of bluing and 2 teaspoonfuls of whiting, and bring to a boil. Apply hot, let dry, and rinse off the clear water.

Or make a paste of equal parts of whiting, soap, and sal soda with a small amount of bluing; apply with a piece of felt or velveteen and rinse with clear water. Wipe dry, and polish with a flannel cloth or chamois. Or dissolve 1 pound of pipe clay in 1 quart of boiling water. Add 1 quart of beer and a few drops of bluing.

Bring to a boil and stir. Apply this freely with a cloth, wipe dry, and polish.