GENERAL SUMMARY.
In polishing metals, whether brass, iron, steel, or of whatever nature,
it is essential that the tool marks and scratches of files, or other
agents, should be entirely removed before the final gloss is given,
otherwise the work will have a cheap look that detracts very much from
its appearance.
If emery of the finest character (flour) is used, with oil, the result
will be very beautiful, but this makes a mess about the lathe it is
desirable to avoid. Polish with oil is softer in appearance than dry
polishing, and is much more durable, being not so liable to rust and
tarnish. Dry polishing is performed with sand paper of various grades,
running from ½ to 0. This gives a very bright, dazzling finish, that is
easily rusted. Brass must be treated with rotten stone and oil to be
nicely polished, and after this the burnisher should be used. Lacquers
are employed for the purpose of preserving the polish unimpaired, and
are made as follows:
LACQUERS.
2 gals. Alcohol, proof, specific gravity not less than 95 per. cent.
1 lb. Seed-lac.
1 oz. Gum Copal.
1 oz. English Saffron.
1 oz. Annotto.
_Another._
40 ozs. Proof Alcohol.
8 grs. Spanish Annotto.
2 drs. Turmeric.
½ oz. Shellac.
12 grs. Red Sanders.
When dissolved add 30 drops Spirit of Turpentine.
_Directions for Making._—Mix the ingredients, and let the vessel
containing them stand in the sun, or in a place slightly warmed, for
three or four days, shaking it frequently till the gum is dissolved,
after which let it settle from 24 to 48 hours, when the clear liquor
may be poured off for use. Pulverized glass is sometimes used in making
lacquers, to carry down the impurities.
The best burnisher is a piece of bloodstone ground to shape and set in
a handle; they can be bought for about a dollar and a half at any
watchmakers’ tool store. Rouge powder is also an excellent thing for
polishing brass and German silver. German silver, in wire, also in
sheet, can be had at the same place.
For silver plating fluid the workman will find that manufactured by
Howe & Stevens, Boston, Massachusetts, to be the best of its class, as
it leaves a thin coating of pure silver on the metal, which can be
renewed from time to time, as it wears, by a fresh application.
Any articles that require to be gilt can be best done by electro
platers, who will deposit as much gold on the surface as one desires,
even to the thirty-second part of an inch. It is better, however, to
buy a small battery, which can be had for four or five dollars, and do
this for yourself. Very many other things can be electro-plated, and
fac similes of medals produced at a small cost, which will be both
instructive and ornamental.
SOLDERING.
There are many ways of soldering, but the amateur will find the spirit
lamp and the soldering iron the most convenient and expeditious.
In soldering tinned surfaces, no particular care is needed, as the
solder will adhere easily, but in brass, or other metals, it does not
do so without the aid of a rosin flux or acid solution. These simply
act to make the surfaces chemically clean, so that the solder will
hold. In fact, cleanliness is absolutely indispensable to success, for
the solder will crawl off of any thing that is dirty or greasy, even
though it may not appear to be so. Lead and tin are used for solder,
and can be bought of any tinner very cheaply. The end of the soldering
iron (which is not iron, but copper, by the way) should be tinned,
otherwise the solder will not hold on it, neither will it follow when
the iron is drawn along a seam.
The iron is readily tinned in this way. File it to the shape you want
it, and put it in the fire, heating it pretty hot, but nothing like
redness. You are then to wipe it clean quickly on a rag wet with
soldering fluid, which can be had in drug stores, and is made of
muriatic acid and sheet zinc dissolved in the same; the zinc must be
clean, and in small strips, and shaken gradually until dissolved. The
solution must then be well diluted with water. It is used by wetting
the rag aforesaid with it and rubbing the iron in it; if block tin in
strips be now rubbed on the end of the iron, it will adhere, and the
iron will be ready for use. The iron must not be heated so as to melt
off the tin and expose the copper underneath; for the iron is then
useless until tinned again.
The soldering fluid is always to be used when brass, or any surfaces
not coated with tin, are to be united.
By the spirit lamp you can join metallic surfaces very easily and
quickly as follows: take your plate, or whatever it is you wish to join
together, and scour it bright with fine sand-paper or pumice stone and
water, on the faces to be united. Apply the soldering fluid, hold it
over the spirit lamp blaze, and as soon as it is well heated, rub it
over with a stick of tin; when it is well tinned, lay it on a hot flat
iron or the stove for a minute, until you have tinned the other piece,
then clap both together, and they will set instantly.
The blowpipe is very convenient for soldering small pieces together
that cannot be touched with the iron, but as it requires some skill to
use it, the amateur is not likely to be very successful with it. The
articles to be soldered in this way, should be placed on a piece of
charcoal, so that the heat will be equally distributed and kept up
during the process.
VARNISHING AND POLISHING.
On no account is a second coat of varnish to be applied before the
first one is dry. If this _is_ done the result will be a sticky, ridgy,
dirty looking job. Before the work is varnished even, it must be
thoroughly sand-papered to remove inequalities, and the last
sand-papering should be with the finest grade. Then apply the varnish,
taking care not to put too much on for the first coat. When that is dry
and _hard_, sand-paper with fine paper again and varnish again. Three
to four coats are enough for ordinary work. When the last coat is dry
and hard, get some floated pumice stone flour, that is, pumice stone
flour that has been washed, mix it with water to about the thickness of
cream; apply it to a woolen rag, and rub it gently over the work; not
too hard, for that would cut the varnish off down to the wood. After a
while you will see that the surface of the varnish begins to have a
hard, smooth body, like carriage work. When this occurs, you can wash
the pumice stone all off, and take a little Tripoli or rotten stone and
oil, and rub gently all over the job; you will then have a surpassingly
beautiful and brilliant surface, that will show the grain and vein of
the wood to perfection. If you desire the gloss that varnish gives, you
must apply a thin coat of wearing varnish after this. In varnishing,
you must buy “rubbing varnish” if you intend to polish and oil varnish,
not spirit, which is apt to crack and rub up under the treatment.
BRUSHES.
In varnishing, you, of course, desire to have a true and even surface,
without a ridge to show where the brush left it. Camel’s hair flat
brushes are used for this purpose, but they will not answer in spirit
varnishes, as the hairs drop out or are loosened from the action of the
spirit on the shellac or glue, which holds them in. Bristle brushes are
the best for general use. They must be soaked for an hour or more in
cold water, to fasten the bristles before using.
PEARL.
This substance is easily sawed into shape, and is easily turned with a
common steel tool. It is polished readily with pumice stone and water
and “putty powder,” this last to be had of chemists or lapidaries. It
is better to preserve the colored surface as nature left it, for the
beautiful rays and tints presented by it are owing to a peculiar
disposition of thin scales on the surface, which retain the light; if
these be destroyed, the beauty of the material is lost. It is to be had
of marine store keepers generally, or the amateur can get it more
readily of the nearest button manufacturer.
MISCELLANEOUS TOOLS.
If you buy any tools, always buy the best that money can get. P. S.
Stubs’ files, wire, rimmers, and screw plates, are standard tools, and
the amateur cannot go astray in choosing them. A vise is indispensable,
and it should be large enough to hold the work without springing.
CURVING MAPLE VENEERS.
If you wish to curve a veneer so that it will fit a half or a whole
circle, it is easily done by dipping it in hot water, when it will
instantly curl up into any shape you want. I do this with bird’s eye
maple. This wood is easily stained any hue, and is rather handsomer in
chocolate brown than in its natural color. It is then the nearest to
French oak of any wood that we have, and that is unquestionably superb.
Such markings and mottlings as it has, surpass anything ever seen; it
is a deep, rich, chocolate brown color, full of snarls, curves, and
knots, not over five eights of an inch in their largest diameters, and
so beautiful that it seems as if some hand must have arranged them.
The French oak is susceptible of a splendid polish, but I am unable to
say how it works, for I never worked any, nor do I know where to get
it. Curled maple will also take a handsome dye. Get Howe & Stevens’s
Dye Colors in powder—they can be had in any apothecary’s store, of any
shade—put it in an earthen dish and boil it, then dip or sponge the
veneer with it. The color will strike through and through, and you may
sand-paper it as much as you please without removing it. It is a very
beautiful job to take a plain ogee moulding and curl a bird’s eye maple
veneer on the round part, and an ebony veneer on the fillet or hollow,
and then varnish and polish it. It makes one of the most beautiful
picture frames that ever was seen; having all the effect of mouldings
made from the solid wood.
CUTTING MISCELLANEOUS MATERIALS.
By these I mean horn jet, malachite, alabaster, cannel coal, glass, and
similar substances. For all of these, except malachite, steel will
answer, but that steel will not touch. It is not a nice material to
work, being apt to check and crack in the most unlooked-for manner. To
those who have never seen it, I will say that it is a stone, or species
of marble, obtained in Russia, and is green in color, marked with white
and greenish gray stripes. The green is specially brilliant, and the
effect is very fine. Although it is so hard that steel will not cut it,
it is easily scratched in use, and is a soft stone, and can be readily
cut on a common vulcanite emery wheel, and polished on a razor strop
covered with rouge powder. It is frequently used for jewelry. Glass is
easily filed in a lathe with a common file, but I do not know what any
one should wish to work glass for, as it is exceedingly dangerous from
the splinters which fly from it, is quite friable and easily broken,
and is, moreover, so common that no value attaches to it. Very pretty
vases can be made out of alabaster by turning them in the lathe.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
INDEX.
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Acid in soldering, 127
African black-thorn, 97
Alabaster, Cutting, 133
Apple-Wood, 85
Arbors, 74
Artistic Wood-Turning, 96
Bamboo Pattern, 63
Bank-Bills, Work on, 73
Bastard Ebony, 83
Beach Chuck, 94
Bird’s-eye Maple, 84
Bit for Turning, 88
Black Thorn, 97
Boiler for Toy Engine, 53
Boring, 55
Boxes, Joints of, 123
Box for Pins, 62
Boxwood, 81
Brushes for Varnishes, 131
Burnisher, 126
Buttons, Solitaire Sleeve, 59
Cam Wood, 81
Centers, 65
Chasers, 33, 35
Chasing, 33
Chucking, 42, 49
Chucks, Geometrical, 73
Chucks, Wooden, 43
Clamps for Polishing, 48
Cocoa Wood, 80
Colored Woods, 107
Coloring Maple, 132
Curled Maple, 84
Curving Veneers, 132
Cushman’s Scroll Chuck, 42
Cutting Alabaster, 133
Cutting Horn, 133
Cutting Jet, 133
Cutting Malachite, 133
Cutting Miscellaneous Materials, 133
Cutting, Ornamental, 59
Cutting Screws, 33
Designs for Inlaying, 121
Designs in Mosaic, 106
Diamond Point, 21
Doctor, 37
Drills, Twist, 75
Dyeing Ivory, 118
Ebony, 82
Elliptic Chuck, 74
Fancy Turning, 71
Finishing Outside, 110
Foot Lathe, 13
Foreign Woods, 77
General Summary, 125
Geometrical Chuck, 73
Gilding, 127
Glass Filing, 133
Globe, and Spur within, 68
Glueing in Veneers, 115
Good Tools necessary, 20
Granadilla, 80
Hand Lathes, 19
Heel Tools, 27
Height of Lathe, 22
Holding the Tool, 23
Hole Boring, 55
Holly, White, 82
Holtzapfel Lathe, 38
Holtzapfel, Work by, 16
Horn, Cutting, 133
Hubs, 40
Indigenous Woods, 77
Inlaying, 97, 114
Inlaying, Designs for, 121
Inlaying Stamps, 102
Iron for Soldering, 128
Ivory, 116
Jet Cutting, 133
Joints of Boxes, 123
Lacquers, 126
Lac Varnish, 112
Lathe, Foot, 13
Lathe, Height of, 22
Lathe, Holtzapfel, 38
Lathe, Speed of, 23
Lathe, Uses of, 16
Lathes, Hand, 19
Laurel Root, 82
Leopard Wood, 78
Malachite, Cutting, 133
Mandrels, 38, 74
Maple, Bird’s-eye, 84
Maple, Coloring, 132
Maple, Curled, 84
Metal Spinning, 51
Metals, Polishing, 125
Miscellaneous Tools, 131
Mosaic Designs, 106
Natural Colored Woods, 107
Novel Ornament, 68
Oiled Wood, 113
Olive Wood, 83
Ornamental Cutting, 59
Ornamental Designs for Inlaying, 121
Ornamental Woods, 77
Ornamental Work, 14
Outside Finishing, 110
Parallel Holes, to bore, 55
Patterns, 99
Pearl, 131
Pear Wood, 85
Polishing, 46, 129
Polishing Metals, 125
Polishing Ivory, 118
Polygon and Spurs, 69
Rack for Tools, 75
Rest, Slide, 57
Rest, The, 24
Rosewood, 84
Rosin Flux, 127
Rouge Powder, 127
Roughing off, 24
Sandal Wood, 83
Sawing, Scroll, 123
Scrapers, 30
Screw Cutting, 33
Screws, Tool for Small, 72
Scroll Chuck, 73
Scroll Chuck, Cushman’s, 42
Scroll Sawing, 123
Shellac Varnish, 112
Silver-plating Fluid, 127
Sleeve Buttons, Solitaire, 59
Slide Rest, 54, 57
Snake Wood, 78
Soldering, 127
Soldering Iron, 128
Solitaire Sleeve Buttons, 59
Speed of Lathe, 23
Spinning Metals, 51
Stamp Inlaying, 102
Steel Mandrels, 75
Straight Tools, 27
Tamarind, 80
Tempering Tools, 92
Tinning Soldering Iron, 128
Tool for Boring Holes, 55
Tool for Inlaying, 114
Tool for Small Screws, 72
Tool Tempering, 92
Tools, 22
Tools, Holding, 23
Tools, Miscellaneous, 131
Tools for Wood Turning, 90
Traversing Mandrel, 38
Treatment of Woods, 85
Tulip Wood, 79
Tunbridge Ware Work, 101
Turning, Fancy, 71
Turning, Wood, 87
Turning, Artistic Wood, 96
Turtle Wood, 122
Twist Drills, 75
Uses of the Lathe, 16
Varieties of Woods, 77
Varnishing, 111, 129
Veneers, 104
Veneers, Curving, 132
Veneers, Gluing in, 115
White Glue, 123
White Holly, 82
Wooden Chucks, 43
Wooden Mandrels, 74
Woods for Inlaying, 107
Woods, Ornamental, 77
Wood Turning, 88
Wood Turning, Artistic, 96
Work, Ornamental, 14
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TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE:
Obvious print and punctuation errors were corrected.
Spelling and hyphenations were made consistent based on frequency
of usage within text and common usage for that time period.
• Pg 20, excute -> execute
• Pg 57, cuttter -> cutter
• Pg 62, "Fig. 43, It may" -> "Fig. 43. It may"
• Pg 69, th -> the
• Pg 108, "a regenerally" -> "are generally"
• Pg 112, thorougly -> thoroughly
• Pg 121, "colors will will be found" -> "colors will be found"
• Pg 130, sandpaper -> sand-paper
• Pg 136, tuning -> turning