CLEANING PAINT To Clean Paint.—To clean paint and varnish, whiting, fuller's earth, cold tea, wood ashes, kerosene, soda, ammonia, turpentine, and bran wa ter are all recommended. Do not use much soap or washing powders containing free alkali to clean paint, nor any soap at all to clean varnish. Soap tends to streak or to remove paint. Keep the water warm, but not hot, and change frequently. Use a flannel cloth or chamois, as cotton and similar goods leave lint, which sticks to the paint.
Or use outing flannel or flannel ette.
Old underwear makes good wash cloths for woodwork. Moisture is good for woodwork, and hence it should be wiped off once a week with a damp cloth, and will be im proved by a thorough washing sev eral times a year. If woodwork is too dry, it tends to shrink. Hence,it is important to wash woodwork for the sake of moisture as well as for the sake of cleanliness. Beware of recipes which call for soft soap, lye, and strong soapsuds to clean paint. They will remove the dirt, but in time will take the paint with it.
To Clean White Paint and Var nish.—To clean white and other delicate colored paints and varnish, moisten chamois or flannel cloth with warm water, dip it in whiting or fuller's earth, and rub over the surface gently. This will remove the dirt and leave the paint as bright as new. Rinse with clear water and dry with a soft cloth.
Fuller's earth is an excellent sub stitute for soap.
Or, for white paint, moisten a cloth in milk, dip it in whiting or fuller's earth, and apply.
Or, to wash varnish or delicate paint, use cold tea, with or without whiting or fuller's earth. Apply with flannel and rub until clean.
Or boil a pound of bran in a gal lon of water and with it wash the paint. This will thoroughly clean the most delicate surfaces without injuring them.
To Clean Coarse Paint.—First go over it with a cloth dipped in kero sene to loosen the smoke and grime. Tben rinse with teacupful of kero sene in 1 gallon of water, and wipe dry with a soft cloth.
Or mix baking soda with water to form a thin paste. Smear the paint with this and wipe off with a cloth wrung out of clear warm wa ter. Cover a small surface at a time and remove the soda before it dries.
Or wet a cloth in strong soda and water, wash the paint quickly, rinse with clear water, and dry at once. This should not be used on varnish or delicate paint. The cloth should be damp rather than wet.
Or mix 1 tablespoonful of am monia with 1 quart or more of warm water for coarse or dirty woodwork. This saves labor and takes off the dirt, but should not be used on varnish or delicate painted surfaces.
Or dissolve 1 bar of hard white soap in 1 gallon of boiling water. Add I tablespoonful each of sal soda and saltpeter and 9 tablespoon fuls of ammonia. Bottle and cork tightly for future use.
Or mix 1 quart of sweet oil with 1 pint of turpentine and apply.
To Polish Woodwork.—Mix equal parts of lard oil and turpentine, or 9 parts of sweet oil to 1 part of turpentine, and rub the woodwork lightly with a cloth saturated with the mixture. This may be used on any painted surface after washing.
To Remove Smoke Stains.—To re move smoke stains, wet a cloth, dip it into very fine sifted wood or coal ashes, and scour the paint clean.
To Remove Match Stains.—To re move the marks left by scratching matches on paint, rub gently with a slice of fresh lemon and rinse with clear water, using a soft cloth.
To Remove Paint. — Detergents recommended for removing paint from woodwork are turpentine, ben zine, gasoline, chloroform, oxalic acid, ether, alcohol, caustic potash, sal soda, and quicklime. When paint begins to check, it indicates that its ingredients were impure, and it must be removed.
To soften the paint, apply with a paint brush wood alcohol, spirits of turpentine, benzine, or a strong so lution of equal parts of oxalic acid and water. Any of these will soften the paint so that it can be wiped off with a coarse cloth or scrubbed away. Repeat as often as necessary.
Or, if these do not soften the paint, apply chloroform, either alone or mixed with an equal quantity of spirits of ammonia. Moisten only a small surface, and scrape off the paint while moist before proceeding farther.
Or slake 3 pounds of quicklime, add 1 pound of potash, and dilute with water to the consistency of cream. Apply with a paint brush and let stand over night. Remove by washing the surface with a flan nel cloth or mop dipped in a strong solution of sal soda and ammonia.
Or scrub with a stiff scrubbing brush.
Or dissolve a bar of hard yellow soap in twice its bulk of water. When cool, add 1 tablespoonful of potash lye and 1 cupful of kerosene. Before the mixture sets, apply to the woodwork with a paint brush. After N hours apply a strong so lution of sal soda with a scrubbing brush.
Or paint may be burned off by going over the surface with a flat flame produced by a regular lamp made for that purpose, called a " paint burner." Or apply, a red-hot iron. Take care to remove the paint as soon as it is soft and before the wood is charred or burned.
To Remove Putty.—Go over the surface of the putty with a red-hot poker or other iron, taking care not to burn or char the woodwork. The putty can then be peeled off with a blunt knife blade.
Or with a brush apply a paste made of soap jelly containing caus tic potash or soda.
Or apply dilute sulphuric, nitric, or muriatic acid with a brush. But if any of these soaks into the wood work, it tends to rot the frames. Hence burning is the better method.
To Destroy the Odor of Paint.— Fill a pail partly full of hay and pour over it boiling water. Let it stand in the room which bas been painted.