Art Metalwork Chapter 13 Cont.

BEATING DOWN

Next beat down the depression in the plate. Draw a line with the pencil dividers where the depression starts; then hold the plate on the end of a block of wood and beat it down on the edge of the block with the ball-pein hammer along the pencil line, Fig. 63.

If the plate is to have a deep depression, it will be necessary to anneal it, because it gets hard while being beaten down.

ACID CLEANING SOLUTION.

Annealing a piece of work usually makes it dark and dirty, owing to a thin coating of black oxide that forms on copper when it is heated. To clean it, immerse for about ten minutes in a solution of one part sulphuric acid and two parts water; then wash in running water. Be careful not to get any of this acid solution on the clothes, as it will destroy the cloth. It will not hurt the hands if it is immediately washed off with cold water.
Now polish the plate with emery cloth or steel wool, or, better still, with the wire polishing brush, Fig. 64, and it is ready for the process of planishing described in Chapter 12.
For the planishing of the plate the following new tools will be needed, Fig. 64:

No. 10 bottom-stake, costing 65 cents.
No. 146-A tee-stake, costing 75 cents.
Wire polishing brush, costing 30 cents.
After the plate has been well polished, put the No. 10 bottom-stake in the vise and hold the plate on top of it. Start planishing the bottom of the plate in the center with the flat face of the ballpein hammer, gradually working out toward the edge, Fig. 65.

Do this planishing carefully, striking lightly with the center of the hammer. It is not necessary to raise the hammer more than four inches away from the plate to get a blow of sufficient force. When the bottom is smooth it should be slightly raised in the center so that the plate will rest on the outer edge of the bottom. To planish the side of the plate put the No. 146-A tee-stake in the vise and planish from the outside. Next, place the edge or border of the plate on the lapping-stake, and beat it flat and smooth with the mallet. The plate is now ready for polishing, coloring, and wax-finishing by the previously described methods.
The large oval serving tray, Fig. 66,

was made in exactly the same way as the round plate, excepting that the edge or border was planished the same as the bottom. Handle may be made of heavy round wire and riveted on, or holes may be cut out with the jeweler's saw, and the edge lapped. See also Fig. 72.

FLUTING AND MODELING

To make the fluted and modeled plates shown in Fig. 67,

first lap the edge, then beat down the depression, and anneal as described before. Then get a piece of hard wood about 8" long, 2" wide, and 1" thick, and on the end file a flute the same shape as you wish to reproduce on the plate border, and with the end of the neck hammer that fits the flute best, beat the plate border into the wooden model; then polish and finish.
The rectangular trays, Figs. 68, 69, 70, and 71,

are made in little different manner from the round trays, the method being as follows : Cut out a piece of metal about ½" larger than the finished tray is to be ; on the edge of the block of wood beat down the depression with the neck hammer; then cut the tray to the desired outline and lap over the edge; planish and finish. The reason for this difference in method between the round and rectangular trays is that the sides draw in on any square or rectangular piece of work in the same way as shown in the drawing of the lantern-top in Chapter 12.
The problems described in this and the preceding chapter call for painstaking care and attention to details, and as it is not possible to make a good lantern or plate without some previous experience, the easiest and best way is to start at the beginning of the series and make at least one of each of the problems described. In that way the student will become familiar with the tools and processes. He should remember that it is always better to have one good piece of work than many poor pieces.

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