Take care not to place the hands in the lye solution, hot or cold, as it is very injurious to the skin. Any lye solution accidently spilled on cloth will eat holes in it unless washed out with plenty of water immediately. The work should be handled with wire hooks when lifting it out of the lye bath.
A fresh lye bath should be made up occasionally as it loses its cleansing power in proportion to the work boiled up in it. Lye may be added to a bath already made up if this bath has not accumulated too much dirt.
Fig. 98.
Vent Holes.—If a can is used to represent a boiler or is made up into a drum-like structure, such as a wheel, and is not soldered up air tight, it is apt to fill up with the hot lye solution when placed in it. Unless there are two air holes or vents provided in such a boiler or wheel, the lye or water will not all run out when it is removed from the bath, but it will ooze out from time to time perhaps after the toy has been painted for some time. The lye thus liberated will ruin all paint with which it comes in contact.
At least two vent holes should be punched or bored in all drum-like structures employed about the toys, one hole at the top to admit air and another hole at the bottom to allow the water or lye solution to escape. These vent holes are particularly necessary in wheels that are made from cans, see [Fig. 98].