Mix as above.
III.—Make a mixture of water glass and lampblack of about the consistency of thin syrup, and another of finely levigated plumbago and mucilage of Soudan gum (or other cheap substitute for gum arabic), of a similar consistency. After getting rid of dust, etc., go over the stove with mixture No. 1 and let it dry on, which it will do in about 24 hours. Now go over the stove with the second mixture, a portion of the surface at a time, and as this dries, with an old blacking brush give it a polish. If carefully done the stove will have a polish resembling closely that of new Russian iron. A variant of this formula is as follows: Mix the graphite with the water glass to a smooth paste; add, for each pound of paste, 1 ounce of glycerine and a few grains of aniline black. Apply to the stove with a stiff brush.
Polishes For Wood:
See also Polishes for Furniture, Floors and Pianos.
In the usual method of French polishing, the pad must be applied along curved lines, and with very slight pressure, if the result is to be uniform. To do this requires much practice and the work is necessarily slow. Another disadvantage is that the oil is apt to sweat out afterwards, necessitating further treatment. According to a German patent all difficulty can be avoided by placing between the rubber and its covering a powder composed of clay or loam, or better, the powder obtained by grinding fragments of terra cotta or of yellow bricks. The powder is moistened with oil for use. The rubber will then give a fine polish, without any special delicacy of manipulation and with mere backward and forward rubbing in straight lines, and the oil will not sweat out subsequently. Another advantage is that no priming is wanted, as the powder fills up the pores. The presence of the powder also makes the polish adhere more firmly to the wood.
Oak Wood Polish.
Hard Wood Polish.
The polish is the same as for soft wood. The simplest method of applying wax is by a heated iron, scraping off the surplus, and then rubbing with a cloth. It is evident that this method is especially laborious; and for that reason solution of the wax is desirable. It may be dissolved rather freely in turpentine spirit, and is said to be soluble also in kerosene oil.
The following recipes give varnish-like polishes:
I.—Dissolve 15 parts of shellac and 15 parts of sandarac in 180 parts of spirit of wine. Of this liquid put some on a ball of cloth waste and cover with white linen moistened with raw linseed oil. The wood to be polished is rubbed with this by the well-known circular motion. When the wood has absorbed sufficient polish, a little spirit of wine is added to the polish, and the rubbing is continued. The polished articles are said to sustain no damage by water, nor show spots or cracks.