All kinds of recipes, from flowers to boiler stone, from radiator sealant to preserving wood, from drilling glass to limescale remover

Keep flowers fresh

The flowers are cut off early in the morning or late in the evening with a sharp knife, a smoothly cut stem absorbs the water much better. In addition, the stem is cut diagonally, so that the stems cannot close at the bottom of the flower vase. The leaves that would end up in the vase or in the water are cut off. The flowering stage in which the flowers should be depends on the species and is very different. Immediately after the flowers have been cut, they are placed as deep as possible in water. Only then can they be bound and possibly shipped.

Cut flowers should never be in direct sunlight. If possible, keep the room quite humid, the temperature low, about 7℃. During the night the room may become even cooler.

The flower vases should not have a narrow neck, the air should be able to get between the stems and the water. The flowers need fresh water every day. The stems are also shortened slightly every day, the fresh cut wound lets through much better and more water.

Flowers that start to wilt can be refreshed by dissolving half a tablet of aspirin in the water. Furthermore, they become fresher again by immersing them as deeply as possible in cold water for 10 hours. In addition, they are also put only with the stems in hot water (not boiling) for half an hour in the dark and then put them back in cold water.

Coloring artificial flowers

In many cases, the material, cotton, silk or rayon, is dyed before cutting or die-cutting. You can either dye first and then finish or add the dye to the starch bath. The material can also be stiffened and cut out, after which the flowers are dipped in the dye solution.

Direct dyeing dyes are used, such as Auramine, Rhodamine, patent blue and brilliant green, the dyes already mentioned in the dyeing of cotton and silk. Usually one takes a very concentrated solution to make the coloring very fast and to make the color very intense. For rapid drying, the dyes are dissolved in a mixture of equal parts of water and alcohol.

Colored water

Bottles are filled with this, which are placed in display cabinets in the sun, for example. The liquid, which should actually be in the bottles, in most cases spoils and is replaced by colored water. The color must of course be absolutely lightfast.

Ultraviolet filter

A solution of 2% sodium nitrite in a layer of 1 cm thick, e.g. between two glass plates.

Anti-scale agent

Calcined soda	87		dl
Trisodium Phosphate	10		dl
Starch	1		dl
Tannin	2		dl

Biological fixing fluid

Alcohol 60 %	100		dl
Nitric acid 1,42	4	,5	dl
Ether	3	,5	dl
Cupric nitrate	2		dl
Paranitrophenol	5		dl

Frost-proof radiator fluids

At the following temperatures, the solution should have the specified specific gravity.

One of the three substances mentioned is mixed until a liquid with one of the indicated specific weights is obtained. This liquid then freezes at the temperature above the column and can therefore be used up to this temperature.

Non-freezing liquid

Spirit	50		dl
Methanol	10		dl
Glycerin	30	,7	dl
Water	10		dl

Destroy algae

In a swimming pool you can absolutely destroy the annoying algae by adding copper sulfate to the water. Take 1 kg of copper sulphate per 2000 m² of water. The copper sulfate is put in a bag and pulled through the water until the salt is dissolved.

Drilling in glass

Take a drill of good hard steel and keep it moist while drilling with a saturated solution of camphor in turpentine oil.

Remove scale in radiators

All deposits in radiators can be removed by dissolving 1% trisodium phosphate in the cooling water. Let the engine run until everything is loose. After this, everything is rinsed away with clean water.

Matches

Extinguishing agent

If the laboratory does not have suitable fire extinguishers, thin-walled bottles can be filled with the extinguishing liquid and smashed on the burning appliances. Burnt-out light bulbs can also be used for this: the tip of vacuum lamps is broken off under tetra, they are filled with tetra and the opening is sealed with sealant.

Cigar aroma

Havana cigar aroma

Coumarin (pure)	2		dl
Methyl benzoate	8		dl
Cascarilla oil	2		dl
Valerian oil	1		dl
Vanilla essence	800		dl
Ethyl Acetate	150		dl
Alcohol	400		dl