COLORING AND CARE OF LEATHER Grain Side Black for Leather. Throw into a tight tub or cask a quantity of old iron; fill it nearly full of salt water, and add 1 pint of sul phuric acid. Stir occasionally with a stick, and in a month or two it will be first-rate blacking for the grain side of leather. This is also suitable for boot, shoe, and harness edges.
Or dissolve 2 ounces of ground log wood and 12 ounces of bablah in 12i pounds of water. Boil down to 6} pounds, and filter through cheese cloth, and add 1 ounce of powdered gum arabic, 1 ounce of sugar, and 3 ounces of copperas. Add also 1 or 2 drams of corrosive sublimate to pre vent mold.
Or boil ounce of extract of log wood in 2 quarts of water 2 or 3 min utes. Remove from the fire, and add 96 grains of gum arabic, 48 grains of bichromate of potash, and 8 grains of prussiate of potash.
Or mix 1 pint of alcohol with ounce of sweet oil. Add 1 ounces of tincture of iron, 1 ounce of extract of logwood, 1 ounce of pulverized nutgalls, and pint of water. This gives a very fine finish, but is some what expensive.
Or, to blacken tan leather, make a saturated solution of copperas in water and apply with a swab or brush.
To Dye Leather. — To dye leather blue, steep it in an indigo bath.
For red, steep it in alum water and pass it through a warm decoction of Brazil wood.
For purple, steep the skins in alum water, then in a warm decoction of logwood.
For yellow, apply a dilute solution of picric acid with the alum.
For green, apply first picric acid and afterwards aniline blue. But in all of the above the liquor must not exceed the temperature of 70 per cent, or it will prevent the dye from penetrating the leather.
Care of Harness. — Wash harness frequently with a sponge or cham ois and warm water, but without soap, and apply oil before the leather is fully dry. The use of varnishes should as a rule be omitted, but the harness should be frequently wiped over with a cloth moistened in a good harness oil, as neat's-foot or castor oil, or a combination of 1 part castor oil with 2 parts neat's-foot oil; or a mixture of 1 pint of neat's-foot oil, 2 ounces of beef tallow, and 1 table spoonfuls of lampblack. To this add
2 ounces of beeswax for summer use.
Care of Leather Furniture. — To restore leather furniture, first wash the leather with a sponge and warm water to remove the dirt. Or wash the leather with a cloth wrung out of hot milk, and varnish with the white of an egg.
Or apply u thin coating of cream, and rub off with a soft cloth.
Or rub with a small piece of pre pared wax.
Or take 6 ounces of eggs, yolks and whites beaten together, 1 ounce of molasses, 1 ounce of isinglass, and 5 ounces of water. Dissolve the isinglass in the water with gentle heat, mix with the other ingredients, and color with lampblack.
Or beat together the yolks of 2' eggs and the white of 1, add 1 table spoonful of alcohol and 1 teaspoon ful of sugar, and thicken with ivory black. The two last, of course, apply only to black leather. They are suit able for leather belts, leather bags, and all black leather objects or arti cles.
To Remove Grease from Leather. —To remove grease and oil stains from leather, apply pipe clay pow dered, and mixed with water to a thick cream. Let stand two or three hours, and repeat if necessary.
Or apply the white of an egg to the stain, and dry in the sun.
Or make a paste of boiled mealy potatoes, vinegar, and turpentine.
Apply to the let dry, and rub off.
Or sponge with a flannel cloth dipped in alcohol.
To remove mildew, apply vaseline with a flannel cloth.
To remove ink from leather, touch the spot with water to see if the ink runs. If it does, it is probably nigro sine or eosin or some other coal-tar ink. In that case apply a paste of baking soda in water; keep it mois tened till the ink is absorbed. If it does not run, apply oxalic acid mois tened with water. When the ink is absorbed, rinse with aqua ammonia and water to neutralize the acid.