This method of bending is much practiced in the provinces, and, for
anything I know to the contrary, is one of the best methods in use, as
by it you are likely to get a good substance of metal on the back of
the bend whether the plumber be a good or a bad workman. Proceed as
follows: Cut the pipe down the center to suit the length of your bend,
as shown at A B, Fig. 44. It will be quite as well if you first set
out this bend on the bench, then you may measure round the back, as
from C to L, to obtain the distance of the cut, which should always be
three or four inches longer than the bend. You may also in this way
obtain the correct length for the throat, G H I; here you will see
that you have a quantity of lead to spare, i.e., from A to E, all of
which has to be got rid of in uncut bends--some plumbers shift from
front to back, but how many? Not one in twenty. After you have cut the
pipe, open the throat part, bend out the sides, and pull this part
round a little at a time, then with a dummy, Fig. 38, work the
internal part of the throat outward to as nearly the shape as you can.
Go carefully to work, and do not attempt to work up the sides, A D B,
until your throat is nearly to the proper shape, after which you may
do so with a small boxwood dresser or bossing-stick (It is not
necessary to explain minutely what a bosser or dressing-stick is, as
they can be bought at almost any lead-merchants--the dresser is shown
at E, Fig. 1; the bossing-stick is somewhat similar, the only
difference being that it has a rounded face instead of flat.) Keep the
dummy up against the sides when truing it. If you have proceeded
properly with this throat part, you will not require to work up the
sides or edges, as in working the throat back the sides will come up
by themselves. Next take the back, pull it round a little at a time,
the dummy being held inside, with your dresser work the two edges and
sides slowly round, and the back will follow. Never strike the back
from the underside with the dummy. After you have made a dozen or two
you will be able to make them as fast as you please, but do not hurry
them at first, as the greater part of this work is only to be learned
by patient application, perseverance, and practice.
[Illustration: FIG. 44.]
After you have made the bend it will require to be soldered, but
before you can do this you must have the joint quite perfect and the
edges true one with the other. A good bender will not require to touch
his edges at all, but a novice will have to rasp and trim them up so
that they come together. Having your edges true, soil them, take a
gauge-hook, which may be described as a shave-hook with a gauge
attached, and shave it about 1/8 in. each side; now solder it to look
like the solder A, Fig. 45, which is done as follows: With some fine
solder tack the joint at A D B, Fig. 44, put on some resin, and with a
well-heated copper-bit drop some solder roughly on the point from B to
A, then draw the bit over it again to float the solder, being
especially careful not to let the joint open when coming off at A.
Some plumbers think fit to begin here, but that is a matter of no
importance. Do not forget that if your joint is not properly prepared,
that is to say, true and even, it is sure to be a failure, and will
have a "higgledy-piggledy" appearance. Some difference of opinion
exists as to the best method of making these joints: one workman will
make a good joint by drawing it while, on the other hand, another one
will do it equally well by wiping it. Drawing will be fully explained
in a part on pipe making. It may, however, be here mentioned that it
is a method of making the joint by floating the solder along the joint
with the ladle and plumbing-iron.
[Illustration: FIG. 45.]
It is not uncommon for plumbers to make their bends with only one
joint on the back.