SPOON-MAKING.

The third method of spoon-making is used largely in the making of silver teaspoons, and is especially convenient when making spoons with large bowls, similar to the silver soup spoons shown in Fig. 154.

In this method the spoons are sawn out of a fiat piece of 15-gage silver. The spoon is not sawn out full size, but shorter in length, narrower in the bowl, and thicker in the shank, as is shown in Fig. 155.

The larger spoon of the two is the shape of the finished spoon. It is 6" long, and the bowl is 1 3/8" wide at the widest part; but when it was sawn out of the flat silver it was 5" long, and the bowl was 1 1/8 " wide, and the shank was wide, as shown by the smaller spoon in the sketch. The spoon was beaten and hammered into the desired shape by the use of the ballpein and neck hammers on the flat and round stakes.

The first step is to stretch the bowl wider by hammering on a flat anvil, striking the silver with the hammer held at a slight angle in the direction in which it is desired to make it wider. The method of hammering the bowl is shown in Fig. 156,

this hammer ing making the bowl thinner and wider. Next, the spoon is held on edge, on a rounding convex stake, and the shank is hammered narrower with the neck hammer, as shown in Fig. 157.

This will lengthen the spoon and at the same time will make the shank narrower and thicker. The tip of the handle is widened in the same manner as the bowl, and then the spoon will have to be annealed, and the process repeated and continued until the spoon is beaten roughly into shape. The rough edges are then filed smooth, and finally the entire spoon is carefully planished.
The spoons may be polished by hand or on a lathe ; in either case, remember the "fire scale," a description of which has been given before. The best course to pursue with silver spoons is as follows: polish all the scratches and file marks out with emery cloth, if the spoon is to be hand polished, or on the felt or leather wheel, with powdered pumice-stone, or coarse "tripoli," or oil and emery, if the polishing is done on the lathe. Then anneal the spoon thoroly to bring the fire scale on to the spots where it has been filed or polished off. Next planish the spoon on smooth tools with smooth bright hammers, and polish lightly with a piece of cotton flannel with a little red rouge for the final finish.
The fourth method of making a silver spoon is literally to forge it out of a bar of silver. The spoons shown in Fig. 158

were made by this method. This is the most difficult, but is the least expensive of the five methods, as there is less silver wasted. To make a tea-spoon 6" long we shall need a piece of silver 4" long, 1/2" wide, and 1/8" thick. The method pursued is exactly that of the black-smith, the silver being heated almost red-hot, and held by a pair of pincers while the bowl is forged out on an anvil. A forty-pound anvil may be bought for $4.00. Its flat polished surface and round horn make it an ideal tool for the spoon-maker, besides being of constant use in many other ways to the art metalworker.
Silver may be forged easier if it is nearly red-hot; care must be taken, however, not to hammer it while it is red-hot, as it will' crack. The bowl should be hammered until it is hard, and the shank and handle; thus saving time by getting the entire spoon hard before annealing a second time. When the spoon is forged roughly to shape, trim it with the shears and file, then planish and polish as described above.
The fifth and last method of making silver spoons is that of cutting the bowl from a piece of 18-gage silver, beating it into shape, and making the handle from a piece of 13-gage silver. The handle of the spoon shown in Fig.159

was made from a piece 3 1/2" long, 5/16" wide, and 13-gage thick. The shank was hammered on the edge until it was square, and the tip hammered out on the flat anvil until it was thinner and wider. This process lengthened the handle to 4 3/4". After the bowl and handle are soldered together it is necessary to planish the spoon again to make it stiff and hard, as the soldering anneals the silver and makes it soft. 

The spoon shown illustrates an ideal use of this process of spoon-making. The fact that the spoon and handle are two pieces, soldered together, has been honestly recognized; and, furthermore, it has been emphasized and used as a means of decoration. This is one of the basic principles of good design, and should be kept constantly in mind when working in any material, and especially in art metalwork, where there are so many opportunities to make use of it.

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