468 Hope Street, 
Providence, H.I. 
28 Not. 1912 
Pear Chamberlain: 
I have been cleanin’ up my desk a bit today 
and havd come across you unanswered letter of Nov. 20, which 
I will now proceed to answer to the best of my ability. 
Tarnish on silverware can almost instantly be removed 
In' using' a wet piece o§ cotton which has bee rubbed on cyanide. 
Of course you know of the dangerous nature of cyanide. 
Now, I am not .sure that the same trick will work on brass, but 
it is worth trying. Brass can be repolished by using* lenty 
of "elbow grease" ana a fine grade of polishing powder'. I do 
not what special powder to recommend, however. In factories 
:.>ne polishing is always, I believe, done on lathes and rapidly 
revolving brushes. The lacquer commonly used is merely*a 
very dilyte shellac. Dilute the ordinary shellac to about one 
part in ten of pood alcohol, and dip, if possible, the article 
m to it. ^If too larpe, or you have too small an araou&t of 
lacquer, imio article can ha,ve the shellac poured over it, or 
brushed over it. The laquer should be very thin. 
umbrella handles and caps of various sorts can often be 
securely affixed to handles which pro,jeot inside by using a 
mixture of_pitch, plaster parts, and tallow. Rosin is often 
supstitutea for the pitch. Merely as a guess at the proportions 
as I cannot recall them definitely, I should aay 2 or 3 parts 
of rosin (or.perhaps 4;, to 1 each of plaster and tallow. 
Tne plaster is to prevent the substance from running too easily 
when warmed, as by the hand, and the tallow lire vent s the ma¬ 
terial from cracking too easily. The ro&tn is melted and the 
other substances are stirred in. To test, cool a bit and 
see if it is firm but not easily broken. The hollow handle or 
car is filled with the melted pitch and the socket thrust in 
.lace while hot. The superfluous pitch is removed after cooling. 
Doubtless there are better ways than thisbut I know this 
is what was used 12 years ago in the Gorham MFg. Co. 
it has been showing here all day and is quite cold. I have 
been in the house all day trying to clean up things in rcy den 
in order to know who’s wyy andwhere’s what. 
j have really looked Into one or two moss books today, 
though that is about as far as the opportunity to study moss 
has developed. 
hell, it is about time 1 got this to the mail box. 
Yours, etc., 
