Or mix 3 ounces of ivory black, 1 quart of molasses, and 1 pint of sweet oil. Add 12 ounces of sulphuric acid. Stir in 8 ounces of coarse brown sugar. Thin with stale beer.
Or 4 ounces of molasses, ounce of lampblack, 1 teaspoonful of yeast, and 1 teaspoonful of oil of turpen tine. Apply with a sponge.
Or 1 pound of ivory black, 4 ounces of brown sugar, and the whites of 6 eggs. Mix, dilute with beer, and simmer with gentle heat, but without boiling, for 10 minutes, Dissolve in 2 quarts of water 1 ounce of best logwood extract. Bring the solution with gentle heat nearly to the boiling point, but do not boil. Add 1 dram of bichloride of potash and 1 dram of yellow prussiate of potash. Stir until the mixture turns to a deep blue. Stir in 1 ounces of powdered borax until dissolved. Add 1 ounce of aqua ammonia and 8 ounces of shellac, and stir until all are dissolved. Bottle for use.
Or mix 1 pint of best vinegar with pint of soft Water. Add 2 ounces of pulverized blue, 4 ounces of log wood chips, 2 ounces of powdered in digo, 2 ounces of castile-soap jelly, and ounce of isinglass. Boil 15 minutes and strain through cheese cloth. Cork tightly.
Or mix equal quantities of glycerin and black ink. Apply with a brusb or swab.
Or dissolve 4 ounces of shellac in 3 pints of alcohol. Add 1 ounce of gum camphor, and when dissolved stir in 1 ounce of lampblack. Apply with a brush.
Care of Patent Leather.—Clean patent-leather shoes with a sponge and warm water. Warm the leather with gentle heat, but take care not to get it too hot, and apply sweet oil or olive oil with or without an equal quantity of turpentine. Apply the oil with u. sponge or cloth, and rub with the palm of the hands while the leather is warm. Apply ordinary blacking to the edges of the sole, or liquid varnish blacking with a sponge or brush, but do not apply paste or liquid blackings to patent leather.
Or mix in 1 quart of water 4 ounces of molasses, I ounce of lamp black, 1 ounce of sweet oil, ounce of gum arabic, and I ounce of isinglass. Stir together with gentle heat. Cool and add 1 ounce of al cohol and, if convenient, the gall of an ox.
Or, to replace the enamel when it becomes cracked or chipped, mix 2 ounces of Prussian blue, 1 ounce of ivory black, and 1 quart of linseed oil. Melt with gentle heat, grinding the pigments carefully in the oil. Apply two coats with a brush. Then add to the mixture 2 ounces of amber or copal varnish, and apply this as a last resort. When dry polish with a moist cloth dipped in powdered pumice.
To Clean Harness.—Never apply oil or blacking to leather which is dry or dirty. First wash the leather free from dirt or grease with soap and water. Then apply the oil, and finally blacken and polish. Prepare a tub full of soapsuds, hot but not boiling; take the harness to pieces, put these in the hot suds, and let them soak over night. Then remove the pieces, scrape them clean with a stiff brush, and rub dry with a coarse cloth.
Apply with a brush a black dye made by dissolving with gentle heat 1 ounce of extract of logwood and 12 grains of bichromate of potash in 2 quarts of water. Bottle and cork for use.
Let the harness stand under shade in a draught for three or four hours, and apply warm neat's-foot oil with a brush. Follow with a second coat of one third castor oil and two thirds neat's-foot oil mixed, and wipe dry with a woolen cloth.
Or mix neat's-foot oil with a small quantity of ivory black, but do not use lampblack, as it will rub off. A second oiling should usually be given. Treating a harness in this way three or four times a year will more than double its wear.
Or add to each quart of neat's-foot oil 1 ounce of beeswax. Simmer with gentle heat until dissolved, and add pound of oil of tar. Stir un til dissolved, and apply to clean, warm, slightly moist leather surfaces.
To make this waterproof, add 1 dram of India rubber dissolved in 1 ounce of naphtha; or mix with gentle heat 2 ounces of beeswax and 1 pint of neat's-foot oil. Dissolve 1 ounce of gum arabic in 1 gill of hot water. Shave fine 1 pound of castile soap, and dissolve in I gill of hot water. Mix all together and simmer with gentle heat to the right consistency. Apply to clean, warm, and slightly moist leather.