towards the Punching End, and Tryed by the _A Gage_, as you were
taught to use the Square, _Numb._ 3. _Vol._ I. Yet, for this and other
Triangular _Punches_, I commonly reserve my worn-out three square
Files, and make my _Counter-Punch_ of a piece of one of them that best
fits the Body I am to Cut.
Having by your _A-Gage_ fitted the Top-Angle and the Sides of this
_Counter-Punch_, you must adjust its Heighth by one of the three
_Face-Gages_ mentioned in §. 12. ¶. 5. _viz._ by the Ascending
_Face-Gage_; for _A_ is an Ascending Letter. By Adjusting, I do not
mean, you must make the _Counter-Punch_ so high, as the Depth of the
Ascending _Face-Gage_; because in this Letter here is to be considered
the Top and the Footing, which strictly, as by the large Draft of _A_,
make both together five sixth Parts of a thin Space: Therefore five
sixth Parts must be abated in the Heighth of your _Counter-Punch_, and
it must be but four thin Spaces, and one sixth part of a thin Space
high, because the Top above the _Counter-Punch_, and the Footing below,
makes five sixth Parts of a thin Space, as aforesaid.
Therefore, to measure off the Width of four thin Spaces and one sixth
Part of a thin Space, lay three thin Spaces, or, which is better, the
Letter e, which is three thin Spaces, as aforesaid; and . which is one
thin Space and one sixth part of a thin Space, upon one another; for
they make together, four thin Spaces, and one sixth part of a thin
Space; and the thickness of these two Measures shall be the Heighth of
the _Counter-Punch_, between the Footing and the Inner Angle of _A_.
And thus, by this Example, you may couple with proper Measures either
the whole forty-two, which is the whole Body, or any number of its
Parts, as I told you before.
This Measure of four thin Spaces and one sixth part of a thin Space
is not a Measure, perhaps, used more in the whole Set of Letters to
be Cut to the present Body, therefore you need not make a _Standing
Gage_ for it; yet a present _Gage_ you must have: Therefore use the
_Sliding-Gage_ (described in §. 12. ¶. 4. and _Plate_ 10. at B.) and
move the Socket _c c_ on the Beam _a a_, till the Edge of the Sholder
of the Square of the Socket at the under-side of the Beam stands just
the Width of four thin Spaces and one sixth part of a thin Space, from
the Point of the Tooth _b_; which you may do by applying the Measure
aforesaid just to the Square and Point of the Tooth; for then if you
Screw down the Screw in the upper-side of the Sliding Socket, it will
fasten the Square at that distance from the Point of the Tooth. And
by again applying the side of the Square to the Foot of the Face of
the _Counter-Punch_, you may with the Tooth describe a small race,
which will be the exact Heighth of the _Counter-Punch_ for _A_. But _A_
hath a Fine stroak within it, reaching from Side to Side, which by the
large Draft of _A_, you may find that the middle of this cross stroak
is two Thin Spaces above the bottom of this _Counter-Punch_; and with
your common _Sliding-Gage_ measure that distance as before, and set off
that distance also on the Face of your _Counter-Punch_. Then with the
edge of a Fine _Knife-File_, File straight down in that race, about the
depth of a Thin Space, or somewhat more; So shall the _Counter-Punch_
for _A_ be finisht. But you may if you will, take off the Edges or
Sholder round about the Face of the _Counter-Punch_, almost so deep
as you intend to strike it into the _Punch_: for then the Face of the
_Counter-Punch_ being Filed more to a Point, will easier enter the
_Punch_ than the broad Flat-Face.
But note, That if it be a very Small Bodied _A_ you would make, the
Edge of a Thin _Knife-File_ may make too wide a Groove: In this case
you must take a peece of a well-Temper’d broken Knife, and strike its
Edge into the Face of the _Counter-Punch_, as aforesaid.
¶. 3. _Of Sinking the_ Counter-Punches.
Having thus finisht his _Counter-Punch_, he Hardens and Tempers it, as
was taught _Numb._ 3. _fol._ 57, 58. _Vol._ I. And having also Filed
the Face of his Punch he intends to cut his _A_ upon, pretty Flat by
guess, he Screws the Punch upright, and hard into the Vice: And setting
the Face of his _Counter-Punch_ as exactly as he can, on the middle of
the Face of his Punch, he, with an Hammer suitable to the Size of his
_Counter-Punch_, strikes upon the end of the _Counter-Punch_ till he
have driven the Face of it about two Thin Spaces deep into the Face of
the Punch. So shall the _Counter-Punch_ have done its Office.
But if the Letter to be _Counter-Puncht_ be large, as _Great-Primmer_,
or upwards, I take a good high Blood-red Heat of it, and Screw it
quickly into the Vice; And having my _Counter-Punch_ Hard, not
Temper’d, because the Heat of the Punch softens it too fast: And also
having before-hand the _Counter-Punch_ Screwed into the _Hand-Vice_
with its Shank along the Chaps, I place the Face of the _Counter-Punch_
as before, on the middle of the Face of the Punch, and with an Hammer
drive it in, as before.
Taking the Punch out of the Vice, he goes about to Flat and Smoothen
the Face in earnest; for it had been to no purpose to Flat and Smoothen
it exactly before, because the Sinking of the _Counter-Punch_ into it,
would have put it out of Flat again.
But before he Flats and Smoothens the Face of the Punch, He Files by
guess the superfluous Steel away about the Face of the Letter, _viz._
so much, or near so much, as is not to be used when he comes to finish
up the Letter, as in this present Letter _A_, which standing upon a
Square Face on the Punch, meets in an Angle at the Top of the Letter.
Therefore the Sides of that Square must be Filed away to an Angle at
the Top of the Face of the Punch. But great care must be taken, that
he Files not more away than he should: For he considers that the left
hand Stroak of _A_ is a Fat Stroak, and that both the left-hand and
the right-hand Stroak too, have Footings, which he is careful to leave
Steel enough in their proper places for.
The reason why these are now Fil’d thus away, and not after the Letter
is finisht, is, Because in the Flatting the Face there is now a less
Body of Steel to File away, than if the whole Face of the Punch had
remain’d intire: For though the following ways are quick ways to
Flatten the Face, yet considering how tenderly you go to Work, and with
what Smooth Files this Work must be done, the riddance made will be far
less when a broad Face of _Steel_ is to be Flatned, than when only so
much, or very little more than the Face of the _Letter_ only is to be
Flatned.
To Flat and Smoothen the Face of the Punch, he uses the _Flat-Gage_,
(described §. 12. ¶. 3. and _Plate_ 10. at A.) thus, He fits one
convex corner of the Shank of the Punch, into the Concave corner of
the _Flat-Gage_, and so applies his _Flat-Gage-Punch_ and all to the
Face of the _Using-File_, and lets the _Counter-Puncht_ end, _viz._
the Face of the Punch Sink down to the Face of the _Using-File_: And
then keeping the convex Corner of the Shank of the Punch close and
steddy against the Concave corner of the _Flat-Gage_, and pressing
with one of his Fingers upon the then upper end of the Punch, _viz._
the Hammer-end, he also at the same time, presses the lower end of
the Punch, _viz._ The Face against the _Using-File_, and thrusts the
_Flat-Gage_ and _Punch_ in it so oft forwards, till the extuberant
Steel on the Face, be Rub’d or Fil’d away: which he knows partly by the
alteration of colour and Fine Furrows made by the _Using-File_ on the
Face of the Punch, and partly by the falling away of the parts of the
Face that are not yet toucht by the _Using-File_: So that it may be
said to be truly Flat: which he knows, when the whole Face of the Punch
touches upon the Flat of the _Using-File_, or at least, so much of the
Face as is required in the Letter: For all Counter-Puncht-Letters, as
aforesaid, must have a greater Face of Steel than what the bare Letter
requires: for the reason aforesaid.
Another way I use is thus. After I have Fil’d the Face as true as I can
by guess, with a _Rough-Cut-File_, I put the Punch into an Hand-Vice,
whose Chaps are exactly Flat, and straight on the upper Face, and sink
the Shank of the Punch so low down in the Chaps of the Hand-Vice, that
the low side of the Face of the Punch may lye in the same Plain with
the Chaps; which I try with the Liner. For the Liner will then shew if
any of the Sides stand higher than the Plain of the Chaps: Then I Screw
the Punch hard up, and File off the rising side of the Punch, which
brings the Face to an exact Level: For the Face of the Chaps being Hard
Steel, a File cannot touch them, but only take off the aforesaid Rising
parts of the Face of the Punch, till the _Smooth-File_ has wrought it
all over exactly into the same Plain with the Face of the Chaps of the
_Hand-Vice_.
Some _Letter-Cutters_ work them Flat by Hand, which is not only
difficult, but tedious, and at the best, but done by guess.
The inconvenience that this Tool is subject to, is, That with much
using its Face will work out of Flat. Therefore it becomes the Workman
to examine it often, and when he finds it faulty to mend it.
When they _File_ it Flat by Hand, they Screw the Shank of the Punch
perpendicularly upright into the Chaps of the Vice, and with a
_Flat-Bastard-Cut-File_, of about Four Inches long, or if the Punch
be large, the File larger, according to discretion, and File upon the
Face, as was shewn _Numb._ I. _fol._ 15, 16. Then they take it out
of the Vice again, and holding up the Face Horizontally between the
Sight and the Light, examine by nice observing whether none of its
Angles or Sides are too high or too low. And then Screwing it in the
Vice again, as before, with a _Smooth-Cut-File_, he at once both Files
down the Higher Sides or Angles, and Smoothens the Face of the Punch.
But yet is not this Face so perfectly Flatned, but that perhaps the
middle of it rises more or less, above the Sides: And then he Screws
it in his _Hand-Vice_, and leans the Shank of the Punch against the
Tach, pretty near upright, and so as he may best command it, and with
a _Watch-Makers Half-Round-Sharp-Cut-File_, Files upon it with the
Flat-Side of his File; But so that he scarce makes his forward and
backward Stroaks longer than the breadth of the Face of his Punch, lest
in a long Stroak, the hither or farther end of his File should Mount or
Dip, and therefore keeps his File, with the Ball of his Finger upon
it, close to the Face of the Punch. Then with the Liner he examines how
Flat the Face of the Punch is, and if it be not yet Flat, as perhaps
it will not be in several Trials, he again reiterates the last process
with the _Small-Half-Round-File_, till it be Flat. But he often Files
cross the Furrows of the File, as well because it makes more riddance,
as because he may better discern how the File bears on the Face of the
Punch.
When it is Flat, he takes a Small well-worn Half-Round-File, and
working (as before) with the _Sharp-Cut-File_, he Smoothens the Face of
the Punch.
Having thus Flatted the Face of the Punch, and brought the Letter to
some appearance of Form, He Screws the Punch in the Hand-Vice, but
not with the Shank perpendicular to the Chaps, but so as the Side
he intends to File upon may stand upwards and aslope too, and make
an Angle with the Chaps of the Hand-Vice. And holding the Hand-Vice
steddy in his left hand, he rests the Shank of the Punch pretty near
its Face upon the Tach: and then with a small _Flat-File_, called a
_Pillar-File_, in his right hand, holding the Smooth Thin Side of it
towards the Footing of the Stem, he Files that Stem pretty near its due
Fatness, and so by several reiterated proffers, lest he should File too
much of the Stem away, he brings that Stem at last to its true Fatness.
Then he measures with the Ascending _Face-Gage_, the Heighth of the
Letter: For though the _Counter-Punch_ was imagin’d (as aforesaid)
to be made to an exact Heighth for the inside of the Letter; yet with
deeper or shallower Sinking it into the _Punch_, the inside oft proves
higher or lower: Because, as aforesaid, the Superficies of the Face
of the _Counter-Punch_ is less than the true measure. But as it runs
Sholdering into the Shank of the _Counter-Punch_ the Figure or Form of
the inside becomes bigger than the inside of the Letter ought to be.
Therefore the deeper this Sholdering Shank is sunk into the Face of
the _Punch_, the higher and broader will the Form of the inside of the
Letter be, and the shallower it is Sunk in, the Shorter and Narrower by
the Rule of Contraries.
He measures, as I said, with the Assending Face-Gage, and by it finds
in what good Size the Letter is. If it be too high, as most commonly
it is, because the Footing and Top are yet left Fat, then with several
proffers he Files away the Footing and Top, bringing the Heighth nearer
and nearer still, considering in his Judgment whether it be properest
to File away on the Top or Footing, till at last he fits the Heighth of
the Letter by the Assending _Face-Gage_.
But though he have fitted the Heighth of the Letter, yet if the
_Counter-Punch_ were made a little too little, or Sunk a little too
shallow, not only the Footing will prove too Fat, but the Triangle
above the Cross-stroke of _A_ will be too small; or if too big, the
Footing and part of the Top will be Filed away, when it is brought to
a due Heighth, and then the Letter is Spoil’d, unless it be so deep
Sunk, that by working away the Face, as aforesaid, he can regain the
Footing and Top through the Slope-sholdering of the _Counter-Punch_,
and also keep the inside of the Letter deep enough.
But if the Footing be too _Fat_ or the Triangle of the Top too little
in the Inside, he uses the Knife-backt Sculpter, and with one of the
edges or both, that proceeds from the Belly towards the Point of the
Sculpter (which edges we will for distinction sake call _Angular
edges_) he by degrees and with several proffers Cuts away the Inside
of the Footing, or opens the Triangle at the Top or both, till he hath
made the Footing lean enough, and the Triangle big enough.
But if he works on the Triangle of the Top, he is careful not to Cut
into the Straight of the Inside lines of the Stems, but to keep the
Insides of that Triangle in a perfect straight line with the other part
of the Inside of the Stem.
The small arch of a Circle on the Top of _A_ is Fil’d away with a
Sizable Round-File. And so for all other Letters that have Hollows
on their Outsides; he fits himself with a small File of that shape
and Size that will fit the Hollow that he is to work upon: For thus
the Tails of Swash-Letters in Italick Capitals are Fil’d with half
Round Files Sizable to the Hollows of them. But I instead of Round
or Half-Round Files, in this Case, bespeak Pillar Files of several
Thicknesses, and cause the _File-maker_ to Round and Hatch the Edges:
which renders the File strong and able to endure hard leaning on,
without Breaking, which Round or Half-Round Files will not Bear.
I need give no more Examples of Letters that are to be Counter-punched:
And for Letters that need neither Counter-punching or Graving, they are
made as the Out-sides of _A_, with Files proper to the shapes of their
Stroaks.
¶. 4. _Of Graving and Sculping the Insides of_ Steel Letters.
The _Letter-Cutter_ elects a _Steel Punch_ or _Rod_, a small matter
bigger than the Size of the Letter he is to Cut; because the Topping or
Footing Stroaks will be stronger when they are a little Bevell’d from
the Face. The Face of these Letters not being to be Counter-punched are
first Flatned and Smoothed, as was shewed, ¶. 3. Then with the proper
_Gage_, _viz._ the Long, the Ascending, or else the Short _Face-Gage_,
according as the Letter is that he intends to Cut, He measures off the
exact Heighth of the Letter, Thus; He first Files one of the Sides of
the Face of the _Punch_ (_viz._ that Side he intends to make the Foot
of his Letter) exactly straight; which to do, he screws his _Punch_
pretty near the bottom end, with its intended Foot-side uppermost,
aslope into one end of the Chaps of his _Hand-Vice_. So that the Shank
of the _Punch_ lies over the Chaps of the _Hand-Vice_, and makes an
Angle of about 45 Degrees with the Superficies of the Chaps of it:
Then he lays the under-side of the Shank of his _Punch_ aslope upon
his _Tache_, in one of the Notches of it, that will best fit the size
of his _Punch_, to keep it steady; and so Files the Foot-Line of the
_Punch_.
But he Files not athwart the sides of his _Punch_; for that might make
the Foot-Line Roundish, by a Mounting and Dipping the Hand is prone
to; as I shewed, _Vol._ I. _Fol._ 15, 16. But he holds his File so as
the Length of it may hang over the Length of the Shank of the _Punch_,
and dip upon it at the Face of the _Punch_, with a Bevel, or Angle,
of about 100 Degrees with the Face of the _Punch_. This Angle you may
measure with the _Beard-Gage_, described in _Plate_ 10. _Fig._ C. at
_k_. Then Filing with the File in this Position, the Foot-Line will be
made a true straight Line. But yet he examines it too by applying the
_Liner_ to it; and holding the _Punch_ and _Liner_ thus to the Light;
If the _Liner_ touches all the way on the Foot-Line, he concludes it
true; if not, he mends it till it do.
Then he uses his proper _Steel-Gage_, and places the Sholder of it
against the Shank of the _Punch_ at the Foot-Line; and pressing the
Sholder of the _Steel-Gage_ close against the Foot-Line, he, with the
Tooth of the _Gage_ makes a Mark or Race on the side of the Face,
opposite to the Foot-line: And that Mark or Race shall be from the
Foot-Line, the Bounds of the Heighth of that Letter.
Then on the Face he draws or marks the exact shape of the Letter, with
a Pen and Ink if the Letter be large, or with a smooth blunted Point
of a Needle if it be small: Then with sizable and proper shaped and
Pointed Sculptors and Gravers, digs or Sculps out the Steel between the
Stroaks or Marks he made on the Face of the _Punch_, and leaves the
Marks standing on the Face.
If the Letter be great he is thus to Sculp out, he then, with a Graver,
Cuts along the Insides of the drawn or marked Stroaks, round about all
the Hollow he is Cutting-in. And having Cut about all the sides of
that Hollow, he Cuts other straight Lines within that Hollow, close
to one another (either parallel or aslope, it matters not) till he
have filled the Hollow with straight Lines; and then again, Cuts in
the same Hollow, athwart those straight Lines, till he fill the Hollow
with Thwart Lines also. Which straight Lines, and the Cuttings athwart
them, is only to break the Body of Steel that lies on the Face of the
_Punch_ where the Hollow must be; that so the Round-Back’d Sculptor may
the easier Cut through the Body of the Steel, in the Hollow, on the
Face of the _Punch_; even as I told you, _Numb._ 4. _Vol._ I. §. 2. the
Fore-Plain makes way for the Fine Plains.
The _Letter-Cutter_ does not expect to perform this Digging or Sculping
at one single Operation; but, having brought the Inside of his Letter
as near as he can at the first Operation, he, with the flat side of a
Well-worn, Small, Fine-Cut, Half-round File, Files off the Bur that his
Sculptors or Gravers made on the Face of the Letter, that he may the
better and nicelier discern how well he has begun. Then he again falls
to work with his Sculptors and Gravers, mending, as well as he can, the
faults he finds; and again Files off the Bur as before, and mends so
oft, till the Inside of his Letter pleases him pretty well. But before
every Mending he Files off the Bur, which else, as aforesaid, would
obscure and hide the true shape of his Stroaks.
Having well shaped the Inside Stroaks of his Letter, he deepens the
Hollows that he made, as well as he can, with his Sculptors and
Gravers: And the deeper he makes these Hollows, the better the Letter
will prove. For if the Letters be not deep enough, in proportion to
their Width, they will, when the Letter comes to be Printed on, Print
Black, and so that Letter is spoiled.
How deep these Hollows are to be, cannot be well asserted, because
their Widths are so different, both in the same Letter, and in several
Letters: Therefore he deepens them according to his Judgment and
Reason. For Example, O must be deeper than A need be, because the
Hollow of O is wider than the Hollow of A; A having a Cross Stroak in
it; and the wider the Hollow is, the more apt will the wet Paper be to
press deeper towards the bottom in Printing. Yet this in General for
the Depth of Hollows; You may make them, if you can, so deep as the
_Counter-Punch_ is directed to be struck into the Face of the Punch.
See ¶. 3. of this §.
Having with his Gravers and Sculptors deepned them so much as he thinks
convenient, he, with a _Steel Punch_, pretty near fit to the shape
and size of the Hollow, and Flatted on its Face, Flattens down the
Irregularities that the Gravers or Sculptors made, by striking with a
proper Hammer, upon the Hammer-end of the _Punch_, with pretty light
blows. But he takes great care, that this _Flat-Punch_ be not at all
too big for the Hollow it is to be struck into, lest it force the sides
of the Stroaks of the Letter out of their shape: And therefore also
it is, that he strikes but easily, though often, upon the end of the
_Flat-Punch_.
Having finished the Inside, he works the Outsides with proper Files; as
I shewed before, in Letter A; and smoothens and Pollishes the Outside
Stroaks and Face with proper worn-out small _Watch-makers Files_.
The Inside and Outside of the Face thus finished, he considers what
Sholdering the Shank of the _Punch_ makes now with the Face, round
about the Letter. For, as the Shank of the Letter stands farther off
the Face of any of the Stroaks, the Sholdering will be the greater
when the Letter is first made; because the Outsides of the Letter,
being only shaped at first with Fine Small Files, which take but little
Steel off, they are Cut Obtusely from the Shank to the Face, and the
Steel of the Shank may with Rougher Files afterwards, be Cut down more
Tapering to the Shank. For the Sholder of the Shank, as was said before
in this ¶, must not make an Angle with the Face, of above 100 Degrees;
because else they would be, first, more difficult to Sink into Copper;
And Secondly, The broad Sholders would more or less (when the Letter
is Cast in such Matrices) and comes to the Press, be subject, and very
likely to be-smear the Stroaks of the Letter; especially, with an Hard
Pull, and too wet Paper; which squeezes the Face of the Letter deep
into the Paper, and so some part of the Broad Sholdering of the Letter,
receiving the Ink, and pressing deep into the Paper, slurs the Printed
Paper, and so makes the whole Work shew very nasty and un-beautiful.
For these Reasons it is, that the Shank of the _Punch_, about the Face,
must be Filed away (at least, so much as is to be Sunk into Copper)
pretty close to the Face of the Letter; yet not so as to make a Right
Angle with the Face of the Letter, but an Obtuse Angle of about 100
Degrees: For, should the Shank be Filed away to a Right Angle, _viz._ a
Square with the Face, if any Footing or Topping be on the Letter, these
fine Stroaks will be more subject to break when the _Punch_ is Sunk
into Copper, than when the Angle of the Face and Shank is augmented;
because then those fine Stroaks stand upon a stronger Foundation.
Therefore he uses the _Beard-Gage_, and with that examines round about
the Letter, and makes the Face and Shank comply with that.