1338 The Cornell Reading-Courses 



To polish furniture 

 Apparatus: 

 A bottle of furniture polish, a small handful of cotton waste, and one or 

 two flannelette dusters or old soft cloths. 

 Procedure: 



1. Take a piece of the cotton waste or an old soft cloth, put some polish 



on it, and rub it on the wood. Use as little polish as possible, but 

 rub hard to remove dirt and scratches. Rub with the grain of 

 the wood. 



2. Take the rest of the cotton waste and rub as much of the polish as 



possible off the piece of furniture. 



3. Polish finally with the flannelette, rubbing briskly but lightly until 



the surface is bright and there is no appearance of oiliness. Be 

 especially careful to rub out corners. 



4. Burn all the cotton waste. Be careful about this, because oily cotton 



has often caused a fire through its spontaneous combustion. 



5. Put away the polish bottle, wiping the outside carefully. 



6. Wash the dusters and hang them up to dry. 



Recipe for furniture polish: 



8 oz. linseed oil | oz. alcohol 



I pt. vinegar ^ oz. butter of antimony 



I oz. muriatic acid 



Mix the ingredients thoroughly, and keep in a closely corked bottle. 

 This polish should not be used on pianos. 



To clean a piano case 

 Apparatus: 



A bottle of olive oil, a bottle of alcohol, some new or perfectly clean can- 

 ton flannel, a perfectly clean chamois leather, and a basin of water. 

 Procedure: 



1. Wet a small piece of the flannel and drop on it a few drops of oil. 



2. Rub, with the wet flannel, a small section of the case at a time, and 



immediately rub it thoroughly with a dry piece of the flannel, 

 before proceeding to a fresh section. 



3. Polish finally with the chamois or a fresh piece of the flannel. Rub 



with the grain of the wood, and breathe on it occasionally to help 

 remove any oiliness that may remain. A very little flour rubbed 

 with the grain of the wood will also help to remove oiliness, but 

 its use should not be necessary. 



4. Wash the piano keys with a corner of the flannel wet with alcohol. 



Be careful, however, to avoid touching the wood with the alcohol, 

 as it will ruin the varnish. 



