GENERAL HINTS

Evening Star, Issue 20998, 12 January 1932, Page 2

GENERAL HINTS

FOR SPORTSMEN. Sportsmen who return home feeling stiff and sore should prepare a warm bath and add to it a large cupful of vinegar. Remain in tho bath not more than seven or eight minutes. Then have a brisk rub down with a rough towel, and preferably rest for half an hour.—C.M.W. (Ballarat). TO DRILL A HOLE. When you wish to drill a hole and find that tho bit of tho required size is broken or missing, take a nail slightly smaller than the hole! On an axehead flatten out about Lm of_ tho point to tho size of the hole required. File off any rough edges, cut off the head of tho nail, and grip it in tho drill. You will find that this will boro as clean a hole as any bit. USE FOR OLD CLOCK. Do not discard old clocks which no longer work. They are useful in the sick room and in the kitchen. Set the clock to the time at which you are required to administer tho next dose of medicine in the sick room, and in the kitchen an old clock -will prevent many a burnt cake or pie if you set the hands to tho time at which the dish should be removed from the oven. —V.C. (Ballarat). A CHEAP FILTER. When there is any doubt about the purity of the water from the tap,, and you have no filter, a cheap one may bo made as follows:—Take a piece of thick white flannel about Sin square. Double it to form a triangle, stitching one side firmly together. Place the open part, firmly bound with string, round the mouth of the tap, leaving tho point of tho bag some 2in or so below the tap. If the bag is scalded once a week it will keep fresh and will catch all impurities.—A.ll. (Camberwell). TO SOLDER ENAMELWARE. Take a chisel and chip off just sufficient enamel'from around the hole to bo soldered to give a surface to work on. Sandpaper or file the part until you have a bright surface. Now dissolve one teaspoonful of copper sulphate (bluestone) in half a cup of boiling water. With a brush dipped in tho liquid clean tho part throughly and let it dry for a minute. Now you havo a copper' surface to work on. Apply spirits and solder in the usual way. If the hole be large place a piece of tin over the hole to act as a patch or filling, and solder on the opposite side. —F.G. (Nyah West).

JACKET FOR HOT-WATER CISTERN.

Hot water is so useful in tho morning that it is strange that more people do not ensure a supply by the simple plan of jacketing the cistern. If the cistern is enveloped in a layer of nonconductivo material in tho morning the water will be scalding hot, although the fire in the kitchen range may have been out for many hours. Take a number of sheets of tho stoutest brown paper you can procure. Then prepare a good bowl of paste, and cover the cistern with tho paper. Jt is well not to paste tho sheets down too closely, as air between tho layers helps to chock tho loss of heat. Five or six layers of paper are not too many for the cistern. Place them all around tho sides and as much orr tho top as possible. Then take an old blanket, some hits of sacking, or any thick material, and employ this to complete the covering of the cistern. The material may be sewn into position with a few stitches. TENNIS SHOES. The rubber soles of tennis shoos have an aggravating way of wearing out long before the top part of the shoes is affected. Tho most troublesome defect is the crack which appears after the shoes have been worn but a. short time. This may bo rectified in the following way:—Heat an iron skewer, open tho crack, and thrust the hot iron down, rubbing it well into the sides. This precess melts the rubber. When the surface is soft press tho sides of the crack together. Hold them together for a few minutes until tho rubber has set. Nov heat the skewer again and pass it over the top of tho crack until all trace of it has been hidden by a layer of newly melted rubber. When holes appear in tho soles it is easy to patch them with pieces of old bicycle tyres. Cut* the patch a little larger than the hole, molt tho i"'" her by applying heat all round the hole, then press the patch on. Apply the hot skewer all round the edges.

Motal roofs and nutters have long been a source of trouble, remarks an English writer. While it is true that paint docs not adhere well to new tin, which is loft greasy, this can easily ho remedied. The roof should be thoroughly scrubbed with Soap and water, rinsed with clean water, and allowed to dry, before the paint is applied. It is a wise, though not a usual, plan to paint the lower side of the tin before laying it on tho roof. This should receive a coat of heavy and good paint, which will prevent corrosion from below. There are plenty of compositions sold for paintin'; these surfaces, the secret of success residing in following the directions implicitly.