Preventing Another Kind of Meltdown

D. Peters of La Puente is looking for a hardener for candle wax. After partly burnt-down candles are remolded, Peters has found that the new candles fold over soon after being lit, instead of burning straight. Can you help with this burning issue, or will Peters wax hot because this meltdown business is no soft touch?

Rose Cooper of Beverly Hills wants to get her hands on a cleaner for white kid gloves. All kidding aside, can you help Cooper come clean, or will she feel like taking the gloves off because she can’t get a handle on her problem?

Saundra Felker of Cerritos is searching for a product (or a service) that removes rust from a concrete driveway. Can you help by putting somebody on the spot, or will the lack of staying power only cement Felker’s feeling of repair?

For her hardwood floors, Joan Burke of Newport Beach would like a lightweight scrubber-polisher with rotating disks to which one can attach either brushes or polishing pads ; she does not want a shampooer that also scrubs and polishes. Can you help floor Burke with a source or will she scrub the whole project because she’s been given the brushoff?

Reader-to-Reader Help Line: Mrs. Smith at (714) 551-3694 would love to find an Englander King Foam Red Line mattress to replace the one she’s been using for many years. Please don’t sleep on this problem; instead, help our reader rest easy. . . . Forty years ago, Fred at (213) 431-4176 installed a Rimcon electric switching system in his house. Some of the circuits are now beginning to fail, and the system is no longer being made. Please help Fred see the light before the sparks fly in his house. . . . Janet at (714) 838-4119 is eating her heart out trying to complete a set of Kongo stainless-steel flatware by Dansk, which has not been available in years. Please show your mettle before Janet is reduced to serving finger food. . . . Karis at (619) 931-0778 would like to add to her collection of Small People dolls by Cecily , who signs and dates the dolls on the bottom of their feet; but no one seems to have them. To get to the bottom of this, please be on your toes for any sign of these dolls.

Note: The Reader-to-Reader Help Line is only for one-time items and for products no longer available in stores. And you must give us written permission to publish your telephone number, so that others may contact you directly.

Florence Oberst of Whittier, who was looking for a product (or a firm) that cleans lamp shades, will soon be able to see the light. We have a number of products. Mrs. E. C. Patterson of Gardena gets a Shade Safe lamp-shade cleaner made by Angelo Bros. Co., Philadelphia, Pa. 19154. Grace Hogan of Hollywood says Anthony Enterprises, 225 East 4th Ave., San Mateo, Calif. 94401, sells a shade cleaner for $6.59 a pint.

Good news for Margot Eiser of Ojai, who was looking for Italian-made Frigoverre refrigerator storage containers from Italy. Five readers--Janet St. Amant of West Hollywood, J. Briggs of Whittier, Vickie Williams of La Canada, Bev Kumler of Camarillo and Mrs. R. S. Doll of San Clemente--wrote that the item is available at Williams-Sonoma. If Eiser can’t find a store convenient to Ojai (the one in Woodland Hills may not be close enough), she should write to Williams-Sonoma, Mail Order Department, P.O. Box 7456, San Francisco, Calif. 94120-7456.

Herb Hain cannot answer mail personally but will, space permitting, respond in this column to readers who need--or have--helpful information. Write (do not telephone) to You Can Help!, You section, the Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles 90053.