364 CLEANING GEAR, CARRIAGES, ETC. 



all adherent oil. As long as patent leather remains sound 

 it will require no other application than paraffin oil to 

 brighten it up. When it begins to " go," we may employ, 

 as may be required, a little harness composition to 

 renovate it. 



Enamelled leather, which is chiefly used in the hood of a 

 carriage, can be treated as patent leather. 



SERGE AND LINEN COVERED PANELS. 



These articles, if at all damp, should be carefully dried 

 on a saddle-dryer before a fire or in the sun ; or they 

 may be placed on hot water pipes in the drying room, 

 supposing that such conveniences exist. They should then 

 be beaten with a cane and well brushed, so as to soften 

 the panel, and to remove from it as far as practicable 

 the mineral matter which the soaked-in sweat has left behind 

 on evaporating. 



STEEL, IRON AND ALLOYS OF NICKEL. 



I may state in passing, that all cast metal articles, such 

 as annealed iron, malleable iron, and the various " never rust " 

 alloys of nickel, are unreliable in use. Although a cast iron 

 bit or cast iron stirrup can be turned out of a factory so 

 skilfully that it would be almost impossible to tell it from 

 a forged steel one, it will soon lose its polish from use, and 

 will be much more difficult to keep bright than a steel article. 

 Getting a high polish on wrought iron is out of the question. 

 Although the alloys of nickel which are used in the trade 

 do not rust, and easily acquire a brilliant polish ; their lustre, 

 even under the most favourable conditions, cannot be mistaken 

 for that of steel. With all these forms of metal, it is best 

 after use to place the bits or stirrups in water, so as 

 to loosen the dirt on them. In the case of steel or iron, 

 we may restore the brightness by taking some silver sand 



