Fireplace Screens and Tools
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Your entire fireplace arrangement may dazzle you with charm in the evening, but in the harsh light of the next day, your equipment is likely to look rather battle weary.
Clean a fireplace screen with a vacuum as part of your regular cleaning routine in the room. A screen catches more than the sparks that want to go flying into the room. It also catches a lot of dust. Periodically, give it a more substantial cleaning with soap and water. If you pick a sunny day and work outside, the chore will be almost pleasant. Make a sudsy solution of warm water and
a few squirts of dishwashing liquid and scrub the screen with a stiff-bristled brush dipped in the solution. Then rinse it off with the garden hose. If you're working inside, rinse with a sponge dipped in clean water. Allow the screen to dry thoroughly. If it has brass parts, clean them with a brass polish.
Clean fireplace tools (shovels, pokers, tongs, and such), as well as and irons and grates, with the same brush and soapy solution. Use extra-fine (000) steel wool on rust or stubborn dirt. Dry the tools with a soft cloth. Give them a light coat of mineral oil with a clean cloth; then wipe them dry with another cloth.
If rust is a problem on your screen or tools, you can renew the finish with a coat of high-temperature black spray paint, sold in hardware stores.
Clean glass fireplace doors with a touch of caution. (See Watch Out.) But there is one certain guideline: Doors should be cleared only when they're cool, never when they're hot. Common glass cleaners, such as Windex, don't work very well on black creosote deposits. A solution of ammonia and water will clean them up, but the solution also may trip your doors of their heatproof coating. Instead, try this
To Clean the rod grips, use the same cloth and soapy solution. Cork demands to careful handling, because rough treatment could cause pieces to break off. A very dirty or damaged cork grip is another candidate for a professional repair job. Allow cork grips to air-dry to avoid mildew.
Fishponds
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Your entire fireplace arrangement may dazzle you with charm in the evening, but in the harsh light of the next day, your equipment is likely to look rather battle weary.
Clean a fireplace screen with a vacuum as part of your regular cleaning routine in the room. A screen catches more than the sparks that want to go flying into the room. It also catches a lot of dust. Periodically, give it a more substantial cleaning with soap and water. If you pick a sunny day and work outside, the chore will be almost pleasant. Make a sudsy solution of warm water and
a few squirts of dishwashing liquid and scrub the screen with a stiff-bristled brush dipped in the solution. Then rinse it off with the garden hose. If you're working inside, rinse with a sponge dipped in clean water. Allow the screen to dry thoroughly. If it has brass parts, clean them with a brass polish.
Clean fireplace tools (shovels, pokers, tongs, and such), as well as and irons and grates, with the same brush and soapy solution. Use extra-fine (000) steel wool on rust or stubborn dirt. Dry the tools with a soft cloth. Give them a light coat of mineral oil with a clean cloth; then wipe them dry with another cloth.
If rust is a problem on your screen or tools, you can renew the finish with a coat of high-temperature black spray paint, sold in hardware stores.
Clean glass fireplace doors with a touch of caution. (See Watch Out.) But there is one certain guideline: Doors should be cleared only when they're cool, never when they're hot. Common glass cleaners, such as Windex, don't work very well on black creosote deposits. A solution of ammonia and water will clean them up, but the solution also may trip your doors of their heatproof coating. Instead, try this
- Dip a damp rag in ashes from the fireplace and rub the glass with that. Then wipe dry with a clean cloth. Or dip a cloth in white vinegar and wash. Dry with newspaper.
- If you're still seeking perfection, try rubbing with automotive white polishing compound. You can buy in it hardware stores or auto supply stores.
- Try Rutland Hearth & Grill Conditioning Glass Cleaner, made especially for glass fireplace doors. Like most such speciality products, it's fairly expensive, but you may decide it's well worth it. The cleaner is available at hardware stores, home improvements centers, and chimney and fireplace shops.
See also Brass
Fishing Rods
Fishing Rods
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You fell for some nice fishing gear hook, line, and sinker. Now you want to keep it functioning and beautiful for years to come. The biggest enemies of your gear are sand and--especially--salt, which are abundant at many favorite fishing spots (unless you fish only fresh water). The trick is to consistently clean up after every outing you make. If you put equipment away while it is wet, slimy, and salty, its performance will suffer.
To clean you rod, mix 1 teaspoon of dishwashing liquid in 1 quart of water. Dip a cleaning cloth in the solution and wipe the rod. Rinse the soap off with running water and wipe it dry with a clean cloth.
If mud or other stuff has built up around the line guides, scrub them with an old toothbrush dipped in the soapy solution. Use the same treatment on dirt around the reel seat that can't be wiped off.
Don't shine your rod with oil, which can destroy the protective coating and eventually loosen the line guides and reel seat. Bamboo rods are an exception--polish them with a cream-type furniture polish.
To lubricate the joints of the ferrules (those metal connector sleeves) and keep them clean and smooth, dab a little pertroleum jelly on one joint and slide the two pieces together and apart several times. Use a cotton swab to wipe off the petroleum jelly and dirt. If the ferrules have become rusted, you may be able to clean them with fine steel wool (00) or sandpaper, but you don't want to spoil the fit and wind up with a rod that flies apart when you're casting. It may be best to send the rod to a repair specialist.
Not Reel Simple
You fell for some nice fishing gear hook, line, and sinker. Now you want to keep it functioning and beautiful for years to come. The biggest enemies of your gear are sand and--especially--salt, which are abundant at many favorite fishing spots (unless you fish only fresh water). The trick is to consistently clean up after every outing you make. If you put equipment away while it is wet, slimy, and salty, its performance will suffer.
To clean you rod, mix 1 teaspoon of dishwashing liquid in 1 quart of water. Dip a cleaning cloth in the solution and wipe the rod. Rinse the soap off with running water and wipe it dry with a clean cloth.
If mud or other stuff has built up around the line guides, scrub them with an old toothbrush dipped in the soapy solution. Use the same treatment on dirt around the reel seat that can't be wiped off.
Don't shine your rod with oil, which can destroy the protective coating and eventually loosen the line guides and reel seat. Bamboo rods are an exception--polish them with a cream-type furniture polish.
To lubricate the joints of the ferrules (those metal connector sleeves) and keep them clean and smooth, dab a little pertroleum jelly on one joint and slide the two pieces together and apart several times. Use a cotton swab to wipe off the petroleum jelly and dirt. If the ferrules have become rusted, you may be able to clean them with fine steel wool (00) or sandpaper, but you don't want to spoil the fit and wind up with a rod that flies apart when you're casting. It may be best to send the rod to a repair specialist.
Not Reel Simple
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Reels are loaded with springs, screws, nuts, washers, bearings, gizmos, sprockets, shims, and shafts, most of them tiny. It is a real challenge to take a reel apart for cleaning and get it back in
working order with nothing left over. You can avoid the job, or at least postpone it, by careful routine care,
which simply means washing the reel after every outing. Use water or a tea-spoon of dishwashing liquid in a quart of water. Scrub gently with a soft-bristled tooth-brush.Also wash your tackle, including any lures that you used. Rinse everything well and dry with a clean cloth.
After ever couple of outings, do a partial takedown of the reel, advises Chris Sox, consumer service technician at Shakespeare Fishing Tackle, in Columbia, South Carolina.
Strip out the main drive gears and the pinion gear and soak them in a degreaser, such as mineral spirits, available at hardware and home improvement stores. Then wash them with harm water and dry well.
Periodically, a reel will need to be really taken apart, cleaned, and oiled. If you are determined to do the job yourself, make sure you have the internal diagram and parts list that came with the reel, and follow the directions. However, this is really a good job for a professional. Check with your local bait shop or send the reel away to a professional shop.
Reels are loaded with springs, screws, nuts, washers, bearings, gizmos, sprockets, shims, and shafts, most of them tiny. It is a real challenge to take a reel apart for cleaning and get it back in
which simply means washing the reel after every outing. Use water or a tea-spoon of dishwashing liquid in a quart of water. Scrub gently with a soft-bristled tooth-brush.Also wash your tackle, including any lures that you used. Rinse everything well and dry with a clean cloth.
After ever couple of outings, do a partial takedown of the reel, advises Chris Sox, consumer service technician at Shakespeare Fishing Tackle, in Columbia, South Carolina.
Strip out the main drive gears and the pinion gear and soak them in a degreaser, such as mineral spirits, available at hardware and home improvement stores. Then wash them with harm water and dry well.
Periodically, a reel will need to be really taken apart, cleaned, and oiled. If you are determined to do the job yourself, make sure you have the internal diagram and parts list that came with the reel, and follow the directions. However, this is really a good job for a professional. Check with your local bait shop or send the reel away to a professional shop.
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To Clean the rod grips, use the same cloth and soapy solution. Cork demands to careful handling, because rough treatment could cause pieces to break off. A very dirty or damaged cork grip is another candidate for a professional repair job. Allow cork grips to air-dry to avoid mildew.
Fishponds
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On way to clean your manmade fishpond would be to turn the job over to a great blue heron. Herons eat lots of fish, and too many fish make a fishpond dirty. Fish urine, like that of other animals, contains toxic ammonia.
The best approach to the problem is to work with nature rather than against her. Even a small pond is a complex ecological system, and the right mix of two plant groups--submerged plants to oxygenate the water and floating plants to provide shade--will help control algae. The mix must be in the right proportions to work effectively. A good book on creating ponds will tell you how to do it.
Routine pond maintenance consists mostly of removing debris such as dead leaves from the water. Use a long-handled swimming pool skimmer net. Don't expect your pond to be Absolut-vodka clear. The water should be a pale green. Environmental balance takes a long time to establish, so don't be too quick to upset it by emptying and refilling the pond.
Simple SOLUTIONS
A Cleaner Home for Your fish >
To keep a pond cleaner, an aerator of some kind (any device, such as a fountain that mixes air into the water) will help, as will freshwater snails. And don't forget the blue heron.
A major pond cleaning is called for when there is a lot of muck or too many fish in the water. The pond may have been over stocked, or the fish may have multiplied. In either case, you may have to find new homes for some of your scaly friends. A rule of thumb is that each fish in a pond should have about a barrel of water. The best time--and many experts say the only time--to clean the pond is in early spring, when cool temperatures provide a less stressful environment for the fish and plants. Even so, always keep the fish and plants that you remove from the pond in the shade to avoid stressing them. Here's what to do:
On way to clean your manmade fishpond would be to turn the job over to a great blue heron. Herons eat lots of fish, and too many fish make a fishpond dirty. Fish urine, like that of other animals, contains toxic ammonia.
The best approach to the problem is to work with nature rather than against her. Even a small pond is a complex ecological system, and the right mix of two plant groups--submerged plants to oxygenate the water and floating plants to provide shade--will help control algae. The mix must be in the right proportions to work effectively. A good book on creating ponds will tell you how to do it.
Routine pond maintenance consists mostly of removing debris such as dead leaves from the water. Use a long-handled swimming pool skimmer net. Don't expect your pond to be Absolut-vodka clear. The water should be a pale green. Environmental balance takes a long time to establish, so don't be too quick to upset it by emptying and refilling the pond.
Simple SOLUTIONS
A Cleaner Home for Your fish >
A major pond cleaning is called for when there is a lot of muck or too many fish in the water. The pond may have been over stocked, or the fish may have multiplied. In either case, you may have to find new homes for some of your scaly friends. A rule of thumb is that each fish in a pond should have about a barrel of water. The best time--and many experts say the only time--to clean the pond is in early spring, when cool temperatures provide a less stressful environment for the fish and plants. Even so, always keep the fish and plants that you remove from the pond in the shade to avoid stressing them. Here's what to do:
- Begin by removing the edge plants and then the floating ones, pot and all. Put them int the shade.
- Use a bucket to draw water off the top (the cleanest part) of the pond. Place a kiddie wading pool in a shady spot and fill it with the water, which will be the right pH and temperature to hold the fish. Save as much of the rest of the pond water as you can in extra containers, unless it is really disgusting.
- Start removing the remaining water with a pump or siphon. As the water level drops, remove the submerged plants and put them in the kiddie pool, too.
- When the pond has been half drained, remove the fish with a net and transfer them to the kiddie pool. Cover it with a mesh screen, in case you have any aspiring flying fish.
- While there is still water at the bottom of the pond, clean the sides with a soft-bristled scrub brush. Continue to drain until the bottom layer of crud is in sight. Then stop pumping and remove the bottom debris with a dustpan.
- Rinse the sides of the pool with a hose and then remove the pump and rinse that. Gently scrub the bottom.
- Replace the plants before you begin refilling. Use a water conditioner, available at pet or aquarium stores, to neutralize chlorine in the new water. Return the water that you saved in the kiddie pool and other containers to the pond, and let the pond warm slightly before returning the fish.
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