A MANUAL OF
Mending and Repairing
WITH DIAGRAMS
BY
Charles Godfrey Leland
——
NEW YORK
DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY
1896
Copyright, 1896,
By DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY.
BURR PRINTING HOUSE, FRANKFORT AND JACOB STS., N. Y.
INTRODUCTION
The author of this work modestly trusts that all who read it with care will admit that in it he has distinctly shown that mending or repairing, which has hitherto been regarded as a mere adjunct to other arts, is really an art by itself, if not a science, since it is based on chemical and other principles, which admit of extensive application and general combination. It has its laws—a fact which has never been hinted at by any writer, since all recipes for restoration in existence are each singly inventions made to suit certain cases. This work has been conceived on a different principle.
A thorough knowledge of this art of repairing, mending, or restoring various objects is of very great value, since there is no household in which it is not often called into requisition. In the kitchen or drawing-room, in the library and nursery, there are daily breakages, of which a large and needless proportion are losses, simply because such a man as a general mender, who is accomplished in all branches of the art, does not exist. And, what is more, it is equally true that no one has ever realised to what a vast extent mending and saving may be carried, with a little expenditure of time, practice, and money, by any intelligent person who will devote serious attention to it. Within a comparatively few years discoveries in science or in nature have enlarged the ability of the mender to an extraordinary extent—I need only mention the applications now made with silicate of soda, celluloid, gutta percha, and glycerine to confirm what I say—so largely, indeed, that only the accomplished technologist and chemist is really aware of what can be done in general repairing compared to what was possible only a few years ago. I believe that there are few thoroughly practical persons (and, I may add, few who take an interest in art in any form, or even in books) who will read this work without deep interest, and without acquiring information of such value that in comparison to it the cost of the book will seem a trifle.
Though mending or restoring is a subject which in some form comes home to and concerns everybody, and which it is assuredly everybody’s interest to understand, this is, I believe, the first book in which its application to a great variety of wants has been made, and that in such a clearly co-ordinated manner, and according to such a simple principle, that whoever reads it can have no difficulty in mending any object, even though it be not described here. In all works of the kind which I have seen the recipes for repairing have been given simply according to their subjects, without any view to general principles of application, and a great proportion of these were in turn simply copied from old books of miscellaneous “receipts,” or newspapers in which every so-called new discovery is announced as infallible, or as if it had been tried and tested to perfection. That I have not recklessly accumulated in this fashion all kinds of recipes to fill my pages will appear very plainly to every chemist or technologist, who will perceive that, proceeding from a comprehensive table of generally recognised and long-tested bases of cements, I have given deductions and combinations scientifically agreeing with their laws and with experiment. The true object of giving a great number of recipes has not been solely or simply to supply the house-keeper or mechanic with instructions for certain repairs, but also to suggest to the technologist and inventor new ideas and applications. Thus, when we know that given proportions of zinc in powder, silicate of soda, and chalk form a strong cement, resembling zinc, it is as well to suggest that this may be varied by employing other metals and substances, such as bronze-powders and mineral oxides, to be always preceded by a little experiment. I venture to say that any intelligent person who masters this work can, on this hint, make for himself innumerable inventions; and I am sure that there is not the editor of a single technological journal who will not testify to the fact that every year a great many patents are taken out and fortunes made from recipes which are neither so scientifically combined nor practically useful as those which I here give. That there are fortunes still to be made is abundantly proved by the fact that there are very few people, comparatively speaking, who know where to get or how to make waterproof glue, or how to mend with it, neatly and durably, shoes, umbrellas, and many rents in garments; how to unite a broken strap; mend, by felting, torn hats; rehabilitate perfectly worm-eaten and torn-away paper; restore decayed broken wood; or mend, in fact, anything except with common glue or mucilage—both of which soon give way and crack or melt. So long as such general ignorance prevails, just so long there will be an opportunity for the inventor to make and sell cements, and for the repairer to find employment.
I call special attention to the fact that this book contains no merely traditional, untested recipes which have been simply transferred from one Housekeeper’s Manual to another for generations. Where I have not been guided by my own personal experience—which is, I venture to say, not very limited—I have either followed truly scientific works, such as the three hundred volumes of the Chemical-Technical Library of A. Hartleben; or, when citing from older authors, have invariably given recipes which agree with the principles advanced by modern analysts and inventors. And though not a professor of chemistry, yet, as I studied it and natural philosophy in my youth under Leopold Gmelin, L. Passelt, and Professor Joseph Henry, I trust that I have been sufficiently qualified to avoid errors in what I have written. In short, that I have not recklessly accumulated every recipe which I could find, and that what I give are really trustworthy, will appear plainly to the chemist or technologist, who will perceive that, proceeding from a given table of generally recognised and long-tested bases of cements, &c., I have then given deductions and combinations scientifically agreeing with their laws and with experiment. My book is not a pièce de manufacture, or of hack-work, but one which is the result of many years of practical experience in the minor arts and industries, on which subject alone I have published twenty-two works, without including pamphlets, lectures, and at least one hundred letters or articles in leading magazines and newspapers. There is, in short, very little mending or making described in this book which I have not at one time or other personally effected, having had all my life a passion for mending and restoring all kinds of objects, and that scientifically and thoroughly.
As I have observed, there is in every household continual breakage of many kinds—“or of the rending which cries for mending”—it is a matter of some importance that some one in the family should pay special attention to such matters. How often have I seen very valuable objects stuck together—anyhow and clumsily—with putty, wafers, sealing-wax, glue, flour-paste, or anything which will “hold” for a time, when a perfect cure might have just as well been effected had the proper recipe been taken to the first chemist. This is equally true as regards taking ink or stains out of garments, or repairing the latter perfectly, or mending shoes or indiarubber cloth, or felting worn hats and many other articles, all of which are treated of in this work.