Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 94, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 April 1916 — To Wash Willow Furniture. [ARTICLE]

To Wash Willow Furniture.

To clean willow furniture, provide yourself with a coarse brush dipped in strong salt and water, scrub each piece well, then dry with a soft brush. Salt cleans willow and also keeps it from turning yellow. If it is desired to keep the natural light color of the willow, apply a coat of linseed oil. By this treatment the willow strands of which the piece is woven will lose their dry brittleness and become softer and more pliable, bending under a blow instead of breaking. This treatment has another good effect besides making the chair last longer—it makes it less noisy. A coat of oil allows the strands to slip more smoothly and easily, and therefore more quietly upon each other.