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Leather, Ink, and Miscellaneous: Overshoes

OVERSHOES Box for Overshoes. -Take up the boards from the back doorstep, cleat and hinge them, and make a box underneath for the family rubbers. Or make a shoe pocket to hang on the back of the outside door. Take a piece of any old waste material the width of the door, fold it upon itself about two thirds of the width, and stitch pockets on the sewing machine of a suitable width and number for the family overshoes. Turn a heading at the top, through which run a curtain stick, and attach brass rings to the top to hang it up by. Line the pockets, if desired, with oilcloth to facilitate washing.

Care of Overshoes. - Wash the dirt from rubber overshoes with a wet sponge. It will tend to rot them if left to dry on. After the newness has worn off, apply an ordinary paste polish, the same as for leather.

To Dry Rubber Boots. If rubber boots become wet on the inside, heat oats or coarse sand or newspapers crumpled until they are quite soft.

Fill the boots with any of these.

Repeat if necessary.

To Mend Rubbers. - If shoes are allowed to run down at the heel, overshoes will quickly wear out in the heel. To prevent this, replace the heels of shoes promptly.

Or glue a little crumpled paper in the heel of the overshoe. If the heel wears out when the rest of the overshoe is good, it can be mended by a shoe repairer for about five cents a heel. Or anyone can mend it by means of rubber cement. Cut a patch from an old overshoe. Rub the patch and the shoe with sandpaper to get a clean surface. Apply rubber cement thickly to both patch and shoe and let the cement dry. Do this four or five times. Then apply a last coat and put on the patch while the cement is still tacky. Let dry under a weight.

WATERPROOFING LEATHER To Oil Boots. - Sponge with warm water, and when nearly, but not quite, dry rub with kerosene oil or neat's-foot oil or castor oil.

Or dissolve 1 ounce of pure paraffin in 1 pint of the best lard oil by means of gentle heat.

Apply any of these with a sponge as warm as the hands will bear, and rub in with the palm and fingers.

Let dry and repeat. Use plenty of elbow grease. - To Waterproof Leather.

Substances recommended for waterproofing leather are various animal fats and oils, as beef and mutton tal low, suet, neat's-foot oil, castor oil, wax, rosin, pitch, solution of India rubber, and various preparations of varnish. The animal fats and oils, and wax or paraffin, are preferable to the vegetable oils, except castor oil, rosin, or any form of varnish. A solution of India rubber is perhaps the best material to apply to the seams.

Linseed and other drying oils, especially boiled oils, should not be used for upper leather, as they dry rapidly and have a tendency to make the leather stiff and hard. Most forms of varnish have also the same tendency. With these thoughts in mind, selection may be made from the following recipes:

Melt together with gentle heat equal parts of beeswax and mutton tallow. Mix to a soft paste with neat'sfoot oil or castor oil, and color, if desired, with ivory black. Apply hot. LEATHER, INK, AND MISCELLANEOUS Apply a mixture of equal parts of mutton suet and beeswax without other ingredients.

Or mix with gentle heat 4 ounces of beef suet, 2 ounces of beeswax, 1 ounce of rosin, 2 ounces of neat'sfoot oil, and 1 ounce of lampblack, and apply hot.

Or mix with gentle heat raw linseed oil, 8 ounces; suet, 4 ounces; wax, 3 ounces; rosin, 1/2 ounce; turpentine, 21 ounces, and apply hot. Or mix pound of boiled linseed oil, 1 ounce of rosin, 3 ounces of wax, and 4 ounces of dryer (litharge, red lead, or sugar of lead), and boil until the mixture becomes stringy. Thin with 11 pounds of oil of turpentine. Apply one or more coats with a brush while warm.

Or melt 1 pound of tallow and pound of rosin, and apply hot with a brush all the leather will absorb.

To polish, dissolve 1 ounce of wax in spirits of turpentine and add 1 ounce of lampblack. Apply this after the tallow and rosin mixture has thoroughly dried, thus producing a wax polish on the surface, but remember that this process tends to shrink the leather.

Or mix 2 ounces of mutton suet, 6 ounces of beeswax, 2 ounces of soft soap, 24 ounces of lampblack, and ounce of powdered indigo.

Dissolve with gentle heat, stir well, and add + pint of oil of turpentine.

Melt together with gentle heat 4 ounces of raw linseed oil, 5 ounces of boiled linseed oil, 4 ounces of suet, and 4 ounces of beeswax. Apply hot.

Or melt together with gentle heat 8 ounces of boiled linseed oil, 2 ounces of beeswax, 2 ounces of turpentine, and ounce of Burgundy pitch. Apply hot, while the leather is warm and dry, until thoroughly saturated. Let dry before wearing.

Or melt together with gentle heat castor oil, 5 ounces; Burgundy pitch, 2 drams. When cold, add ounce of spirits of turpentine.