Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1905-12-16
CARING FOR FURNTTrpp
Should Be Polished and Re,o,...,
Crudely Vanished ana Spoiled ~ W
in Time

You must first determine for .....
whether your old furniture is
considerable expenditure Of ti,e, a.. '"e
ergy required for the renoyari,,.. '''-
II the material is good HARD 49,
tae make Is strong and simple. p,sr,.. ..,
old furniture will repay IN. i.r "'
vowed IN cleaning. and viii nr.:,ot. "@-
sesS an individuality not Ia ln f'.'s. U.s.
modern goods, unless made Ia cs.l,. ~. -i
hlSh price. And even inferior sec. , .-
on an unsupported respectahilitr. WIN,
ugly smears and scratches arn '.''n
| have III mind a chean pina 1890. .'r..' '''
set, that had been stained dars t..,. W."
walnut l suppose it woun t'
been called. Its only meri, e
utility and absence of mor4.r...., u.s.
9dornment, and it certainly ,n,
disGoura gmgly battered. Tie o,,...
tei'lizea, however, that such as !,
was, IT must serve. and She ser IN ,,......'
A mixture of raw oil and fine .,,.'....
pnhllce stone was made. and bed 4r,...
er. and washstand were labpriniISiv ,.
over with the paste. Old UuolpH ,,,'T
that had been "felted" in WASHING y1s
hsed, and circular motion was fanl5
10 answer best. To be effective tIf'
work must be thoroughly done. and of.
er short interval the surface. larsr io
wiped with clean, soft cloth. SCra4r,.
es, soil. and unevenness will have 5;.
appeared: and if a dull finish is desired
rubbing with a mixture of encausti,. mn
turpentine will produce il \ polish com
posed OF one part turpentine and +srr,.
parts paraffine oil. well mixed. and
runped ana rerubbed, gives a nice finish.
put III this particular case the encalIstic
mixture was used with satisfactory r..
suit. ~
To make encaustlc. use one ounce
laundry soap and a quarter pound bees.
wax, cut small; add two and halr
pints of boiling water. When dissolved
add half an ounce of salsoda Take
from the fire. and stir frequently while
cooling. Keep i'll glass jar. and mix o
portion of it thoroughly with an ennai
portion of turpentine, say half a cunfnl
of each. Carefully corked, this crpamy
mixture may be kept on hand. In aU
furniture cleaning and polishing the win
lng-oH process must be thorough: and
care must be used in disposing Of thu
soIled, oily rags, rs there is danger of
fire from spontaneous combustion.
One often sees shapely. well-preSarved
chairs and tables which have been
robbed of all beauty by frequent applied,
tons of varnish. In many households
the rule has been if the chairs loci,
shabby to send them to the cabinet.
makers and let him varniSh them How
he makes them shine! Ugh. Or. worse
still, let mother or sister do them And
armed with a lOOse-haired brush and Il
tin of inferior fast-drying varnish, she
takes the luckless chairs to cool room
and gives them a good, thick coat. And
soon they will again show every scratch
and smear, and next year be given an
other application. Right here is a good
place to try to impress upon readers that
furniture should never be relinished with
out first having all the old finish re-
moved, and so getting down to the nat
ural wood. Numerous varnish removers
are on the market, and the advertise
ment of firms dealing in them can be
found in the House Beautiful: or if one
lives convenient to q furniture factory
it will probably be possible to procure
a pint of the required solvent.
Removing several coats of yaruish is
hard, disagreeable work. Even the pro-
fessional repairer finds it so, and
strength and enthusiasm will be required
to carry the home worker through this
| task The best place to work is in some
room with rough floor, and one must
wear ones painting clothes. Pour some
of the remover" into cup, and with a
varnish brush apply it to the surface to
be tereated. Do not attempt to do too
much at once, and go over it a second
time When the varnish is soft and curl
pentine or benzine preferably the latter.
Sometimes a good deal of the varnish
can be scarped off with a dull knife and
what remains can be removed as Sug-
gested above. Practice will make this
work less difficult, but it never becomes
pleasant or easy, and if you can find a
man who does such jobs, you had better
induce him to take the task off your
hands, which will certainly he To the
advantage of said hands. Some time
ago. / had some old dining chairs Of
walnut so treated. and after a little eX-
perimenting, found the following finish
very satisfactory The surface was
carefully gone over with paste of oil
and pumice stone and this was well
rubbed off. Next day the chairs were
rubbed again with soft cloth, and then
prepared wax was applied. This it
was necessary to rub hard, and Il tine,
hard bristle brush was used, also an old
hair flesh-mit. After a time a second
application was made, always with much
rubbing. Under this treatment these
chairs. which had been vanished. not
wisely but too well, Lave become OBJ
iects of real beauty. The color is q
lovely warm brown, and the grain ol
the wood is seen to perfection. House
beautiful