Bleaching White Goods

Ingredients

• two pounds of sal soda
• half a pound of chloride of lime
• half a gallon of water
• three and a half gallons of water
• twenty yards of muslin
• one pound of chloride of lime

Method

1. 1

   Dissolve lime in water and let stand overnight.

2. 2

   Dissolve soda in another water, add to lime-water, and strain.

3. 3

   Immerse cloth in boiling suds, then into the mixture for half an hour.

4. 4

   Rinse and lay out in the sun to whiten.

As published

This recipe was extracted from The household (of the Detroit free press) (1886) by Goff, May Perrin,, page 213. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

BLEACHING WHITE GOODS. 241 white flannels shrink, so as to have them thick, wash them in soapsuds and rinse them in cold water. Colored woolens that incline to fade should be washed with beef's gall and warm water before they are put in the soapsuds. To Whiten Old Flannel — Make a suds of hard soap and soft water ; dissolve a tablespoonful of borax and put in the suds ; put the flannel in the suds and let it lie a few minutes, then wash and rinse ; have ready somecloths dipped in melted brimstone, and wound on sticks ; two will be sufficient ; put them in a candlestick, or anything to hold them in an upright position ; hang the flannel in a barrel, so that the smoke can come up through the middle and around it ; light the brim- stone candles and set them in the bottom of the barrel and cover closely. If carefully done, they will come out nearly as nice as new. WASHING COMPOUNDS. Take one pound of Babbitt's pure concentrated potash, and one pound sal soda; put these in three gallons of soft water; boil until all is dis- solved ; then add three pounds of clean grease ; set it to boiling ; after boiling from one to six hours, and it becomes soap (keep the same quantity of water in the kettle as at first), add two ounces of liquid ammonia, half a pound of borax, quarter of a pound of rosin, six gallons of soft water ; stir well together, then your soap will be finished, and use this for boiling ; after rubbing the clothes through one water, they will usually come out white and clean. This is nice for spreads or heavy goods. Or this : One bar of Babbitt's potash, two ounces of ammonia, one ounce of salts of tartar ; put the potash into four quarts of rain water (use porcelain kettles if possible) and soak slowly, not boil ; when dis- solved remove from the stove ; when cool add the ammonia and salts and put up in jugs or bottles corked tightly, Soak the fine and coarse articles to be washed separately over night. The following morning, rinse out and use a half cake of soap, cut fine, one cup of fluid and two pails of soft water ; put fine pieces into this cokj. suds and boil a few moments ; take out, add a pail of cold water and put in the coarse clothes to boil ; suds, rinse, blue and starch as usual, and your clothes will be beautifully clear and white without rubbing. Wash colored clothes in the water the clothes are taken into from the boiler. Clothes will not rot if washed in this but they must not lay in the compound but be washed out quickly. BLEACHING WHITE GOODS. Two pounds of sal soda and half a pound of chloride of lime. Put half a gallon of water to the lime and let it stand all night. In the morning dissolve the soda in three and a half gallons of water ; add to 16 242 THE LA UNDR Y. the lime-water and strain. Immerse the cloth in boiling suds ; then take out and put directly into the mixture ; leave it in for half an hour, then rinse the muslin thoroughly and lay upon the grass or snow, or hang upon a line in the sun. To make it very white, dampen occasion- ally and leave it out for two or three days. This is equally good : For twenty yards of muslin take one pound of chloride of lime

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.