The Standard Book of Formulas: How to Make What You Use, by Harry Bennett (HC, $7, which is 1/3 the internet price.)
"Over 2,000 Practical Modern Working Formulas for Making Useful Products"
"Why should you pay $2 for an article that you can make for 11 cents- or pay 35 cents for one that you can duplicate for 3 cents? There is no reason in the world why you shouldn't make your own tooth-paste, shaving cream, hair tonic, mouthwash, ink, paste, sun-tan-oil, weed killer, paint remover, or any of a thousand other homely articles that national advertising and the cost of merchandising has sky-rocketed to a retail price out of all proportion to the cost of manufacture."
Also included are recipes for mosquito repelling oil, fly spray, ant poison, "chest rub" salve, rust prevention compound, patching plaster, library paste, dry cleaning fluid, fire extinguishing liquid, crayons,and silk stocking solution. (The latter solution keeps stockings from bagging at the knees.) Personally, I still plan on buying these things in the store. This book's formulas have too many warnings of "poison", "corrosive, or "inflammable" (which does not mean "not" flammable). Still, it is fun to check out how things were made in 1938. I also find the timing interesting. I wonder if more of these recipes were used during the war when such things became unavailable. Look for this book in the home arts section, avail. 12/21.
