Home › Wash Day › Wash Day: Dissolve

Wash Day: Dissolve

Washing Fluids with Sal Soda.- Dissolve + pound of sal soda and sound of borax in 1 gallon of boiling soft water. Add 2 gallons of cold soft water and 1 ounce of gum camphor dissolved in pint of alcohol. Stir well and put in corked bottles or fruit jars. Add 4 teaspoonfuls of this preparation to 1 pint of soft soap or 1 bar of hard soap cut into fine shavings, and dissolve the whole in a boilerful of hot water before putting in the clothes.

Or dissolve 1 pound of washing soda and pound of borax in 4 quarts of boiling soft water. When cold add teacupful of aqua ammonia and pour into corked bottles or fruit jars. Dissolve in the wash boiler in the proportion of 1 teacupful to 1 pailful of water before the clothes are put in.

Or dissolve 1 pound of sal soda and pound of quicklime in 6 quarts of boiling water. When the mixture has settled, pour off and bottle the clear liquid, which is soda lye. This is a very powerful washing fluid. One cupful is added to a boilerful of hot water containing 1 pint of soft soap or 1 pound of hard soap cut in shavings will thoroughly cleanse and bleach the clothes. This fluid tends to brighten rather than to fade the colors of calico and colored flannels. The clothes must not be allowed to lie in the water. The boiling, sudsing, rinsing, and bluing must follow each other in rapid succession until the clothes are hung on the line, which should be by ten o'clock in the morning.

Dissolve in 1 gallon of cold soft water 1 pound of concentrated lye and 2 ounces each of powdered ammonia (muriate of ammonia) and salts of tartar. Preserve in glass bottles or fruit jars, tightly corked. Use a cupful of this fluid with a bar of soap and boil 15 minutes.

Or make a saponaceous lye by boiling 1 gallon of wood ashes in sufficient soft water to dissolve the ashes, then add 2 or 3 handfuls of fresh quicklime. Mix thoroughly while boiling and afterwards cool until the sediment settles. Draw off the pure water and add 1 pint of oil or melted a grease strained through cheese cloth for each 20 quarts of this liquid.

Ashes from hard wood are the best, but if the ashes do not contain a sufficient amount of alkali a small amount of potash or soda may be added. The result should be a milkwhite liquor. Use 1 cupful to a boilerful of water with 1 pound of shaved hard soap.

Or this composition, used by the French: hard soap, 1 pound; water, 6 gallons; spirits of turpentine, ounce; aqua ammonia, 1/2 ounce. Mix well and bottle ready for use.

Or brown soap, 2 pounds. Cut it up and put it into a clean pot, adding 1 quart of clear soft water. Set over the fire and melt thoroughly, stirring it up from the bottom occasionally. Take from the fire and stir in real white vinegar, 1 teaspoonful; aqua ammonia, 2 large teaspoonfuls; spirits of turpentine, 7 large teaspoonfuls.

Stir all well together, put the mixture immediately into a stone jar, and cover without delay so that the ammonia will not evaporate. Keep it closely covered.

Washing Powders. Commercial washing powders, such as pearline, soapine, and the like, are said by chemists to be composed of hard white soap ground to powder and mixed with pulverized sal soda in approximately equal parts. Hence they are liable to the same objections as sal soda, which is well known to contain an excess of alkali. They are, however, useful for dishwashing, scrubbing, and many other purposes. They can be made at home much more cheaply than they can be purchased.

To make washing powder, melt in a double boiler 1 ounce of good white glue in 1 gallon of hot water to make a thin glue size. Mix equal parts of granulated soda ash with granulated sal soda, pulverizing them into grains about the size of coarse sand by means of a rolling pin. Pour over this mixture the solution of glue, or use instead pure linseed oil and stir until the mass forms a stiff, thick paste. Spread out the whole on a WASH DAY table top or other flat surface in a warm room to dry.

Or, instead of the solution of glue, use a solution of 1 pint of linseed oil to 1 gallon of water.

Soap Jelly.-Dissolve 1 teaspoonful of any good washing powder in a cupful of hot water, or dissolve any desired quantity of shaved hard white or yellow soap in twice its own bulk of hot water, using a double boiler.

Use instead of soft soap for delicate fabrics.

Kerosene for Washing. This is a favorite labor-saving article in many households. Use for each boilerful of water 1 pound of good hard soap in shavings and 1 teaspoonful of kerosene to each pail of water, or about 2 tablespoonfuls for a wash boiler two thirds full of water. Should it be necessary to add more water after the first or second boiling, put in pound of shaved soap and 1 tablespoonful more of kerosene. This mixture will not injure fabrics and will evaporate when the clothes are laundered so as to leave no odor. When kerosene is used very little rubbing will be required.

Special Hints. When rinsing large linen pieces, as sheets, tablecloths, and large towels, gather the middle of the piece into the hand and souse the edges in the water several times. This leaves the selvage smooth and ready for the iron.

If a little cooked starch is put into the rinsing water it will add just enough stiffness to launder properly and will give to old linen the appearance of new.

A little pipe clay dissolved in the water in which the linens are washed will assist in cleansing the more soiled articles, and also in giving them the appearance of having been bleached.

The addition of a teaspoonful of paraffin will assist in removing stains.

A small vegetable brush may be used to apply soap and water to the spots on the coarser linens, and a nailbrush is convenient to use on the delicate fabrics, Fine cotton goods, as lawns, cambrics, and muslins, should not be washed with linen, especially unbleached linen, as the latter has a tendency to discolor them.

Delicate dresses of lawn, muslin, cambric, and print goods should not be boiled or rubbed with soap. They should be washed in tepid water in which soap has been previously dissolved, rinsed quickly, and dried in the shade.

A quart of bran sewed into a tight bag and boiled in the wash boiler will assist in cleansing delicate garments.

The addition of a handful of salt helps to set the colors of light cambrics and dotted lawns. A little beef gall will brighten yellow, purple, or green tints. - Handkerchiefs.

Handkerchiefs used by persons who have affections of the nose, throat, and lungs, as grippe, catarrh, bronchitis, and the like, should not be put in laundry bags or clothes hampers containing the family wash. The easiest and most sanitary method of handling these articles is to keep for the purpose a large tin or enameled-ware pan containing a strong solution of common salt. Drop the handkerchiefs into this, place the pan on the stove when clear from cooking, and bring to a boil. They may now be rinsed with clean water and put into the rest of the laundry, or the pan may be filled with boiling water containing a tablespoonful of any good washing powder, the handkerchiefs returned to it and boiled from twenty minutes to half an hour, then removed, rinsed, and laid aside for ironing.

To Wash Corsets. - Choose a clear, sunny day; make a strong solution of good soapsuds and a small amount of ammonia, spread the corsets on a clean board or table and scrub with a good stiff brush until thoroughly clean. Apply clear water in the same way to rinse them and hang immediately in the sun. Do not wring out. Let them drip dry, and the shape will not be changed.

Or make good warm suds, lay the corsets on a washboard and scrub thoroughly on both sides with a stiff brush. Then scald a little, rinse thoroughly, starch slightly, and dry. When ironed they look much better than when rubbed on a washboard.

Special Pieces. In addition to the regular wash day it is often advisable to lay aside small muslins, laces, ribbons, and other delicate articles to be washed at other times when they can have special attention, rather than to put them into the weekly wash. Blankets and other heavy articles can also be washed to better advantage by themselves, and in the season when the days are long and bright.