Today, Savo Kusić’s offer is focused on timber windows, timber-aluminium windows, custom-made windows, doors and quotation requests. This text remains an archival record and is not an offer of dry cleaning, impregnation, fur processing or chemical polishing.
Important safety warning: the procedures and recipes described come from a historical source and must not be used as modern instructions. The listed chemicals can pose serious risks to health, the environment and fire safety. Do not mix or use them without a current safety data sheet, risk assessment, professional supervision, adequate ventilation and personal protective equipment. For fabrics, follow the manufacturer’s care label and contact a professional dry cleaner; industrial processes must follow current regulations and supplier instructions.
Dry cleaning
Main principle: if a textile becomes stained, the historical text recommends treating the stain immediately because fresh stains are much easier to remove. Soap and lukewarm water are often sufficient for an initial response.
The first step is to determine the origin of the soiling (for example, vegetable fat, mineral grease, oil, tar, sugar, resin, adhesive, paint, rust or ink). The type of textile should then be established (for example, wool, cotton, a wool-cotton blend, cellulose silk, artificial silk, Perlon, nylon, Orlon, PVC, linen or hemp). If the textile’s origin is unknown, the historical text recommends testing the cleaning agent on an inconspicuous area to determine whether it damages the material.
Identifying textiles
Several fibres are pulled from the fabric in both the lengthwise and crosswise directions for a wet-strength test and a flame test.
To determine wet strength, the historical text describes taking a fibre 15-20 cm long, stretching it and having another person hold its centre with wet fingers. If the moistened fibre breaks in the middle, the text identifies it as cellulose; otherwise, as cotton.
The historical source presents a flame test as the surest method of identifying textiles. It states that asbestos and glass fibres do not burn, while synthetic textiles and acetate silks melt rather than burn. Fibres of animal origin (wool and rabbit hair) burn with difficulty, may spit slightly like burning fat and give off a smell like burning hair. The residue is described as swollen grey or black ash that crumbles easily (Figure 1, part 1).
Safety boundary: this historical description is not an invitation to burn unknown fibres. Asbestos and other unknown materials must not be sampled, cut, burned or processed without professional identification and the prescribed protective measures.
The source states that fibres of plant origin—cotton, linen and hemp—as well as viscose silk and cellulose burn with a large flame and leave whitish-grey, crumbly ash.
Preparation for cleaning
The historical preparation uses a smooth table, a clean nail brush, talcum powder, a sponge, absorbent or filter paper, cotton wool, a clean white cloth and chemicals. It says that flammable chemicals (petrol, ether and alcohol) should be handled by an open window, away from ignition sources, with prolonged ventilation afterwards (Figure 1, part 2).
Figure 1. Fibre test and preparation for cleaning
The text recommends washing the fabric before stain treatment; otherwise, the cleaned area may remain lighter than the surrounding material. It describes placing 2-3 layers of filter paper or absorbent material, or a piece of white cloth, beneath the fabric. A clean cloth is wetted with the selected chemical and worked from the edge of the stain. After most of the stain has been removed, the area is moistened with a few drops of solvent, left for 2–3 minutes and dried with filter paper. If necessary, a small brush is used to loosen the fibres before repeating the treatment.
Historical recipes for removing stains
Mineral and animal fats
If the stain contains other dirt, then we will make a slurry of talc and gasoline (carbon tetrachloride, turpentine), which we apply in a thick layer to the stain. We keep the paste on the stain until the solvent evaporates and the talcum powder becomes powdery. We remove the talcum powder with a brush. If there is something left of the greasy stain, we repeat the same process. The chemical will dissolve the dirt, while the talc, due to its hygroscopicity and absorption, will bind to itself grease and other dirt. If the talc is wet, it should be dried first.
Stains from shoe grease are removed with turpentine or benzene, and color from creams with hydrogen peroxide.
Remove lipstick stains with alcohol, then soap and lukewarm water, and red color with hydrogen peroxide.
We wash fruit, compote, candy stains from woolen fabrics with lukewarm water and soap, then with alcohol and formic acid. If the wool is white, we can also use hydrogen peroxide. After cleaning, the fabric is washed again with water to remove excess chemicals, which could damage the fabric.
After soaping and washing in hot water, cotton fabrics are treated with hydrogen peroxide.
Rust stains are removed with oxalic acid. Because it is poisonous, the historical text says to replace it with citric acid (15%) or a hydrochloric-acid solution of bisulphite.
Stains caused by grasses (chlorophyll stains) are removed with alcohol. We treat older stains with diluted alcohol and ammonium hydroxide and then wash in a large amount of lukewarm water.
Ink from stamps, numbering devices and similar sources is treated with water heated to about 60°C with added alcohol. The text also states that alcohol heated to 60°C, ether or chloroform can remove most of the colour. The remaining colour is bleached with hydrogen peroxide, followed by thorough washing to remove excess chemicals.
Tar stains are removed with xylene, toluene or benzene and then with soapy water.
Rub sweat stains with 10% ammonium hydroxide, then wash with water or soap. White fabrics can then be bleached with citric acid or hydrogen peroxide.
Stains from greasy paints are cleaned with varnish-gasoline or turpentine oil. We soak the dried spots in turpentine for 2-4 hours. Neutralization of colors is carried out with hydrogen peroxide.
Remove nail polish with acetone or ether.
Stains from ballpoint pens and ink are removed with alcohol, potassium carbonate or glycerin.
Stains from nitrocellulose paints are removed with their corresponding solvents, or acetone. The remaining colour is treated with citric acid or hydrogen peroxide.
If the blood stain is fresh, it is easily removed with water. Remove the dried stain with 3% hydrogen peroxide solution, then with 10% ammonia solution, then with water.
Fabric impregnation
The historical impregnation procedure for making fabrics water-resistant is described as follows: the fabric is dipped in a basic aluminium-formate solution with a concentration of 2 B°, exposed to water vapour as the formate decomposes, then dried and ironed.
Preparation of aluminium formate
The text places 160 parts by weight of hot water in a vessel and adds 34 parts by weight of aluminium sulphate. A second solution contains 60 parts by weight of water and 16 parts by weight of sodium carbonate without water of crystallisation. The prepared solutions are mixed; the resulting precipitate is separated by filtration, washed and dried, then dissolved in 15 parts by weight of formic acid.
Raincoats are made water-resistant with a solution of 0,35 parts aluminium sulphate and 0,15 parts sodium carbonate. The aluminium sulphate is dissolved in 1,5 lit. of water and the sodium carbonate in 0,5 lit. of hot water. The two solutions are mixed, the resulting precipitate is filtered, dissolved in 150 ml of formic acid and made up to 1000 ml. The textile is soaked with the preparation, steamed over boiling water, dried and ironed.
For backpacks, windbreakers and other less sensitive fabrics, the text describes briefly soaking the item in a 50 g/lit. aqueous potassium-soap solution heated to about 40°C, then keeping it in a hot 60 g/lit. alum solution for 2-3 hours before drying and, if appropriate, ironing.
In addition to fabrics - especially in winter - it is important to make shoes waterproof.
For shoe soles, the source describes melting a mixture of 30g castor oil, 50 g linseed oil, 40 g paraffin, 20 g stearin and 10g resin, dissolving it in 20 g petrol, then brushing or applying the mixture to the soles.
For the leather upper, it describes melting 20 g paraffin, 10 g tallow, 10 g resin and 10 g fish oil with 50 ml mineral oil, then rubbing or brushing on the lukewarm mixture.
Fur processing
Not exactly a chemist’s task, but something similar. The skin of many small animals can be used for fur processing, but the skin of tame and wild rabbits is most often used.
Only the skin of a rabbit slaughtered in winter is suitable for fur processing. Summer furs are used only in the hat industry.
The skin is stretched on a wooden frame and dried in a draught, away from direct sunlight. Drying must not be too rapid because an overdried skin is difficult to process.
Soaking is intended to remove mechanical dirt and restore the amount of water present in the skin when it was removed from the animal. Over 24 hours, the fur is soaked in water at room temperature and the fatty membrane is opened with a knife. The fur is then placed in a soaking solution whose volume should be about 15 times the volume of the hide.
Composition of the soaking solution
40 g / l table salt,
0,5 ml / l of lactic acid,
0,5 ml / l of formic acid,
0,5 ml / l of formalin, add water to 1000 ml.
The fur is kept in the prepared solution for 24 hours and worked again with a knife to remove the fatty membrane together with residual fat and flesh.
Tanning
Tanning (preserving) the raw hide is carried out in the following solution:
60 g / l table salt,
0,5 ml / l of lactic acid,
2 ml / l sulfuric acid,
1 ml / l of acetic acid and add water to 1000 ml.
This means that 15 litres of tanning solution contain 900 grams of salt, 7,5 ml of lactic acid, 30 ml of sulphuric acid (in the digitised source the conjunction “i”, meaning “and”, was misread as “1”) and 15 ml of acetic acid. The solution is prepared by dissolving the table salt first and then adding the remaining components.
The fur is kept in the tanning solution for two days, and the solution is stirred 4-5 times each day.
Oiling and softening
The fur is oiled with an emulsion made from one part red Turkey oil and 0,1 part mineral oil. The mixture is diluted with water in a ratio of 2:1. About half a litre of emulsion is required for one rabbit skin. It is applied with a brush or cloth and rubbed thoroughly into the leather side. After two hours, the skin is dried in rooms at 30-35°C.
Furs prepared in this way are then mechanically worked. To soften them, the skins are tumbled for about three hours in rotating drums containing wood shavings. They are then worked crosswise with suitable blunt objects. Softening continues in rotating drums containing petrol-moistened wood shavings, followed by further working of the skins.
Chemical polishing
Chemical polishing removes small irregularities and roughness from metal surfaces to produce a mirror-like finish. The process is carried out in special “baths”.
The composition and concentration of these baths are very important because an unsuitable mixture can produce the opposite effect. The historical text lists sulphuric acid, phosphoric acid and various heavy-metal salts used as catalysts.
Rough polishing of aluminium
70 wt. % phosphoric acid,
22% sulphuric acid,
8% boric acid.
Temperature 90°C. Polishing time 3-8 minutes
Polishing aluminium
95 weight % phosphoric acid,
4,5 weight % nitric acid,
0,5 weight % nickel nitrate.
Bath temperature 90°C, polishing time 3-5 minutes.
Polishing of iron surfaces
1000g of 75% phosphoric-acid solution,
400 g 70% nitric acid,
600 g 95% sulphuric acid,
Mixed with 192 g of water.
Bath temperature 100°C, polishing time 5-10 minutes.
Copper and brass polishing
600 ml of 75% phosphoric-acid solution,
200 ml 40 B° nitric acid,
400 ml of 98% acetic acid and 10 g molasses.
Bath temperature 25°C, polishing time 1 minute.
For polishing zinc and cadmium, the text specifies a 1/4-1/2% nitric-acid solution.
Polishing technology
The bath solutions are heated to 90°C. The objects to be polished are placed in the baths for 3-8 minutes, removed, washed in warm water and dried. The historical text specifies vessels made from heat-resistant glass, ceramic or metal coated with PVC. Objects are degreased before polishing. If the metal contains more than 2% silicon, the text states that it cannot be chemically polished. Chemically polished surfaces are described as suitable for anodising and painting.
Final safety note: the historical concentrations, temperatures and times in this text are not current operating procedures. Dry cleaning, leather treatment and industrial polishing require identified substances, compatible equipment, vapour control, safe storage and disposal, trained operators and documentation compliant with current regulations.