TO CLEAN MARBLE, BRICK. AND STONE To Clean Marble.—To clean marble mantels, table tops, tops of bureaus, washstands, and other polished marble surfaces, wipe them with a cloth mois tened in kerosene.
Or mix 9 ounces of common soda, 1 ounce of pumice stone, and 1 ounce of fine common salt, and dilute with water to the consistency of cream. Pour this mixture over the marble and let stand until all stains are removed. Afterwards wash the marble with salt and water, rinse, and wipe dry.
Or mix soft soap and whiting to a thin paste, and apply to the marble by means of a soft brush. Let stand until fully dry, and wash off with lukewarm suds made of hard white or yellow soap.
Or give the marble a coating of mu cilage made by boiling to the con sistency of thick cream 4 ounces of gum arable in 1 quart of water. Dilute with hot water if necessary. Apply with a brush and expose the article to the sun and air until the mucilage cracks and can be readily rubbed off, then wash with clear water and a soft cloth. Repeat if necessary.
Or stir into 1 pint of soft soap 1 teaspoonful of bluing and 2 teaspoon fuls of whiting, and bring to a boil. Apply hot, let dry, and rinse off the clear water.
Or make a paste of equal parts of whiting, soap, and sal soda with a small amount of bluing; apply with a piece of felt or velveteen and rinse with clear water. Wipe dry, and pol ish with a flannel cloth or chamois.
Or dissolve 1 pound of pipe clay in 1 quart of boiling water. Add 1 quart of beer and a few drops of bluing. Bring to a boil and stir. Apply this freely with a cloth, wipe dry, and pol ish.
To Remove Iron Rust from Marble. —To remove iron stains from marble, dilute 1 part of oxalic acid with 10 parts of alcohol, or 1 part of sul phuric acid with 25 to 50 parts of al cohol; cover the spot and let stand 15 minutes to a half hour. Wash off with water containing aqua ammonia to stop the action of the acid. Re peat if necessary.
Or cover the spot thickly with salt and moisten with lemon juice.
Or apply 1 part of nitric acid dilut ed with 25 parts of water, and rinse with aqua ammonia.
Or apply strong nitric acid direct to the stain by means of a small swab or cloth, or cotton on the end of a stick, and at once rinse off with aqua ammonia and water. Remember that the acid tends to eat and inj ure the marble if it is not immediately rinsed off; hence rinse well. If the surface of the marble is roughened by the acid, scour with a moist cloth dipped in rotten stone or powdered pumice.
Or cover the spot with salts of lem on, and add just enough water to dis solve the crystals.
Or mix equal quantities of salts of lemon and pumice stone, and rub the spot with a cloth dipped in this mix ture. Continue until removed.
To Clean Marble Steps.—To clean coarse marbles, as doorsteps, monu ments, and the like, mix equal quan tities of quicklime and potash lye and dilute with water to a thin cream. Apply with a brush, let stand twen ty-four hours or more, and wash off with hot soapsuds.
To Remove Stains from Marble.— Cut a lemon in half and rub with it, or apply a saturated solution of oxalic acid.
Or make a paste of equal parts of whiting and sal soda dissolved in water. Cover the stains, and let stand for several hours. Afterwards wash off with soapsuds.
To Remove Oil Stains from Marble. —Apply common clay, starch, whit ing, or prepared chalk, and saturate with gasoline or other petroleum product. Should these inj ure the pol ish, scour with a moistened cloth dipped in pumice stone, and polish with whiting.
Or mix with boiling water 2 ounces of soft soap, 2 ounces of caustic pot ash, and 4 ounces of fuller's earth.
Cover the spots thickly, and let stand for several hours. Rinse with clear water.
To Polish Marble. — For polishing marble, sandstone, sand and water, emery powder, putty powder, tripoli, and whiting are all recommended. But the coarser materials, such as sandstone and fine sand, should only be used on rough marble which has never been previously polished. Select material suitable to the condition of the marble, and follow with a finer one until the desired polish is ob tained.