Chapter IV: Part 4

To use it, describe on the Centre of the Circle an Arch of almost a Semi-Circle: This Arch must be exactly of the same Radius with that I prescribed to be made on the _Gages_ _a b_, from _e_ to _f_ and from _g_ to _h_; then count in your Circle of Degrees from any Diametral Line 110 Degrees; and laying a straight Ruler on the Centre, and on the 110 Degrees aforesaid, make a small Mark through the small Arch; and placing one Foot of your Compasses at the Intersection of the small Arch, with the Diametral Line, open the other Foot to the Mark made on the small Arch for 110 Degrees, and transfer that Distance to the small Arch made on the _Gage_: Then through the Marks that the two Points of your Compasses make in the small Arch on the _Gage_, draw two straight Lines from the Centre _c_: and the Brass between those two straight Lines being filed away, that _Gage_ is made. In like manner you may set off any other number of Degrees, for the making of any other _Gage_.

In like manner, you may measure any Angle in the Drafts of Letters, by describing a small Arch on the Angular Point, and an Arch of the same Radius on the Centre of your divided Circle: For then, placing one Foot of your Compasses at the Intersection of the small Arch with either of the straight Lines proceeding from the Angle in the Draft, and extending the other Foot to the Intersection of the small Arch, with the other straight Line that proceeds from the Angle, you have between the Feet of your Compasses, the Width of the Angle; and by placing one Foot of your Compasses at the Intersection of any of the straight Lines that proceed from the Centre of the divided Circle, and the small Arch you made on it, and making a Mark where the other Foot of your Compasses falls in the said small Arch, you may, by a straight Ruler laid on the Centre of the divided Circle, and the Mark on the small Arch, see in the Limb of the Circle the number of Degrees contained between the Diametral, or straight Line and the Mark.

If you have already a dividing-Plate of 360 Degrees, of a larger Radius than the Arch on your _Gage_, you may save your self the labour of dividing a Circle (as aforesaid,) and work by your dividing-Plate as you were directed to do with the Circle that I shewed you to divide.

In these Documents I have exposed my self to a double Censure; First, of _Geometricians_: Secondly, of _Letter-Cutters_. _Geometricians_ will censure me for writing anew that which almost every young Beginner knows: And _Letter-Cutters_ will censure me for proposing a Rule for that which they dare pretend they can do without Rule.

To the _Geometricians_ I cross the Cudgels: yet I writ this not to them; and I doubt I have written superfluously to _Letter-Cutters_, because I think few of them either will or care to take pains to understand these small Rudiments of _Geometry_. If they do, and be ingenious, they will thank me for discovering this Help in their own Way, which few of them know. For by this Rule they will not only make Letters truer, but also quicker, and with less care; because they shall never need to stamp their _Counter-Punch_ in Lead, to see how it pleases them; which they do many times, before they like their _Counter-Punch_, (be it of A _A_ V v W w _V_ _W_, and several other Letters) and at last finish their _Counter-Punch_ but with a good Opinion they have that it may do well, though they frequently see it does not in many Angular Letters on different Bodies Cut by the same Hand. And were _Letter-Cutting_ brought to so common Practice as _Joynery_, _Cabinet-making_, or _Mathematical Instrument-making_, every young Beginner should then be taught by Rules, as they of these Trades are; because _Letter-Cutting_ depends as much upon Rule and Compass as any other Trade does.

You may in other places, where you find most Convenience (as at _i_) make a Square, which may stand you in stead for the Squaring the Face and Stems of the _Punch_ in _Roman_ Letters, and also in many other Uses.

And you may make _Gages_, as you were taught before to try the _Counter-Punches_ of Angular Letters; as, A K M N V X Y Z, _Romans_ and _Italicks_, _Capitals_ and _Lower-Case_. But then, that you may know each distinct _Gage_, you may engrave on the several respective _Gages_, at the Angle, A _A_ 4 _&c._ For by examining by the Drafts of Letters, what Angle their Insides make, you may set that Angle off, and make the _Gage_ as you were taught before, in the _Gage_ for the Slope of _Italicks_.

¶. 7. _Of the_ Liner.

The _Liner_ is marked E in _Plate_ 10. It is a thin Plate of Iron or Brass, whose Draft is sufficient to express the Shape. The Use of it is on the under-edge _a b_ (which is about three Inches long) and is made truly straight, and pretty sharp or fine; that being applied to the Face of a _Punch_, or other piece of Work, it may shew whether it be straight or no.

¶. 8. _Of the_ Flat-Table.

The _Flat-Table_ at F in _Plate_ 10. The Figure is there sufficient. All its Use is the Table F, for that is about one Inch and an half square, and on its Superficies exactly straight and flat. It is made of Iron or Brass, but Brass most proper. Its Use is to try if the Shank of a _Punch_ be exactly Perpendicular to its Face, when the Face is set upon the _Table_; for if the Shank stand then directly upright to the Face of the _Table_, and lean not to any side of it, it is concluded to be perpendicular.

It hath several other Uses, which, when we come to _Casting_ of _Letters_, and _Justifying_ of _Matrices_, shall be shewn.

¶. 9. _Of the_ Tach.

The _Tach_ is a piece of Hard Wood, (Box is very good) about three Inches broad, six Inches long, and three quarters of an Inch thick. About half its Length is fastned firm down upon the _Work-Bench_, and its other half projects over the hither Edge of it. It hath three or four Angular Notches on its Fore-end to rest and hold the Shank of a _Punch_ steady when the End of the _Punch_ is screwed in the _Hand-Vice_, and the _Hand-Vice_ held in the left hand, while the _Workman_ Files or Graves on it with his Right Hand.

Instead of Fastning the _Tach_ to the _Bench_, I _Saw_ a square piece out of the further half of the _Tach_, that it may not be too wide for the Chaps of the _Vice_ to take and screw that narrow End into the Chaps of the _Vice_, because it should be less cumbersome to my _Work-Bench_.

¶. 10. _Of Furnishing the_ Work-Bench.

The _Workman hath all his great _Files_ placed in Leather Nooses, with their Handles upwards, that he may readily distinguish the _File_ he wants from another _File_. These Nooses are nailed on a Board that Cases the Wall on his Right Hand, and as near his _Vice_ as Convenience will admit, that he may the readier take any _File_ he wants.

He hath also on his Right Hand a Tin Pot, of about a Pint, with small _Files_ standing in it, with their Handles downwards, that their Blades may be the readier seen. These small _Files_ are called _Watch-makers Files_, and the _Letter-Cutter_ hath occasion to use these of all Shapes, _viz._ _Flat_, _Pillar_, _Square_, _Triangular_, _Round_, _Half-Round_, _Knife-Files_, _&c._

He also provides a shallow square Box, of about five Inches long, and three Inches broad, to lay his small Instruments in; as, his _Gages_, his _Liner_, some common _Punches_, _&c._ This Box he places before him, at the further side of the _Work-Bench_.

He also provides a good _Oyl-Stone_, to sharpen his _Gravers_ and _Sculpters_ on. This he places at some distance from the _Vice_, on his Left-Hand.

§. 13. ¶. 1. _Of_ Letter-Cutting.

The _Letter-Cutter_ does either Forge his _Steel-Punches_, or procures them to be forged; as I shewed, _Numb._ 1. _Fol._ 8, 9, 10. in _Vol._ I. _&c._ But great care must be taken, that the Steel be sound, and free from Veins of Iron, Cracks and Flaws, which may be discerned; as I shewed in _Numb._ 3. _Vol._ I. For if there be any Veins of Iron in the Steel, when the Letter is Cut and Temper’d, and you would Sink the _Punch_ into the Copper, it will batter there: Or it will Crack or Break if there be Flaws.

If there be Iron in it, it must with the Chissel be split upon a good Blood-Red-Heat in that place, and the Iron taken or wrought out; and then with another, or more Welding Heat, or Heats, well doubled up, and laboured together, till the Steel become a sound entire piece. This Operation _Smiths_ call _Well Currying of the Steel_.

If there be Flaws in it, you must also take good Welding Heats, so hot, that the contiguous sides of the Flaws may almost Run: for then, snatching it quickly out of the Fire, you may labour it together till it become close and sound.

Mr. _Robinson_, a _Black-Smith_ of _Oxford_, told me a way he uses that is ingenious, and seems rational: For if he doubts the Steel may have some small Flaws that he can scarce discern, he takes a good high Blood-Red Heat of it, and then twists the Rod or Bar (as I shewed, _Numb._ 3. _Vol._ I.) which Twisting winds the Flaws about the Body of the Rod, and being thus equally disposed, more or less, into the Out-sides of the Rod, according as the Position of the Flaw may be, allows an equal Heat on all sides to be taken, because the Out-sides heat faster than the Inside; and therefore the Out-sides of the Steel are not thus so subject to Burn, or Run, as if it should be kept in the Fire till the Middle, or Inside of it should be ready to Run. And when the Steel is thus well welded, and soundly laboured and wrought together with proper Heats, he afterwards reduces it to Form.

Now, that I may be the better understood by my Reader as he reads further, I have, in _Plate_ 10. at _Fig._ G described the several Parts of the _Punch_; which I here explain.

G The Face.
_a a_, _b b_ The Thickness.
_a b_, _a b_ The Heighth.
_a c_, _b c_, _b c_ The Length of the Shank, about an
Inch and three quarters long.
_c c c_ The Hammer-End.

This is no strict Length for the Shank, but a convenient Length; for should the Letter Cut on the Face be small, and consequently, the Shank so too, and the Shank much longer, and it (as seldom it is) not Temper’d in the middle, it might, with Punching into Copper, bow in the middle, either with the weight of the Hammer, or with light reiterated Blows: And should it be much shorter, there might perhaps Finger-room be wanting to manage and command it while it is Punching into the Copper. But this Length is long enough for the biggest Letters, and short enough for the smallest Letters.

The Heighth and Thickness cannot be assign’d in general, because of the diversity of Bodies, and Thickness of Letters: Besides, some Letters must be Cut on a broad Face of Steel, though, when it is Cut, it is of the same Body; as all Letters are, to which _Counter-Punches_ are used; because the Striking the _Counter-Punch_ into the Face of the _Punch_ will, if it have not strength enough to contain it, break or crack one or more sides of the _Punch_, and so spoil it. But if the Letter be wholly to be Cut, and not Counter-Punch’d, as I shall hereafter hint in general what Letters are not, then the Face of the _Punch_ need be no bigger, or, at least, but a small matter bigger than the Letter that is to be cut upon it.

Now, If the Letter be to be Counter-punch’d, the Face of the _Punch_ ought to be about twice the Heighth, and twice the Thickness of the Face of the _Counter-Punch_; that so, when the _Counter-Punch_ is struck just on the middle of the Face of the _Punch_, a convenient Substance, and consequently, Strength of Steel on all its Sides may be contained to resist the Delitation, that the Sholder or Beard of the _Counter-Punch_ sinking into it, would else make.

If the _Letter-Cutter_ be to Cut a whole Set of _Punches_ of the same Body of _Roman_ and _Italica_, he provides about 240 or 260 of these _Punches_, because so many will be used in the _Roman_ and _Italica_ _Capitals_ and _Lower-Case_, _Double-Letters_, _Swash-Letters_, _Accented Letters_, _Figures_, _Points_, _&c._ But this number of _Punches_ are to have several Heighths and Thicknesses, though the Letters to be Cut on them are all of the same Body.

What Heighth and Thickness is, I have shewed before in this §, but not what Body is; therefore I shall here explain it.

By Body is meant, in _Letter-Cutters_, _Founders_ and _Printers_ Language, the Side of the Space contained between the Top and Bottom Line of a Long Letter. As in the Draft of Letters, the divided Line on the Left-Hand of A is divided into forty and two equal Parts; and that Length is the Body, thus: J being an Ascending and Descending Letter, _viz._ a long Letter, stands upon forty-two Parts, and therefore fills the whole Body.

There is in common Use here in _England_, about eleven Bodies, as I shewed in §. 2. ¶. 2. of this Volumne.

I told you even now, that all the _Punches_ for the same Body must not have the same Heighth and Thickness: For some are Long; as, J j Q, and several others; as you may see in the Drafts of Letters: and these long Letters stand upon the whole Heighth of the Body.

The Ascending and Descending Letters reach from the Foot-Line, up to the Top-Line; as all the Capital Letters are Ascending Letters, and so are many of the Lower-Case Letters; as, b d f, and several others. The Descending Letters are of the same Length with the Ascending Letters; as, g p q and several others. These are contained between the Head-Line and the Bottom-Line. The Short-Letters are contained between the Head-Line and the Bottom-line. These are three different Sizes of Heighth the _Punches_ are made to, for Letters of the same Body. But in proper place I shall handle this Subject more large and distinctly.

And as there is three Heighths or Sizes to be considered in Letters Cut to the same Body, so is there three Sizes to be considered, with respect to the Thicknesses of all these Letters, when the _Punches_ are to be Forged: For some are m thick; by m thick is meant m _Quadrat_ thick, which is just so thick as the Body is high: Some are n thick; that is to say, n _Quadrat_ thick, _viz._ half so thick as the Body is high: And some are _Space_ thick; that is, one quarter so thick as the Body is high; though Spaces are seldom Cast so thick, as shall be shewed when we come to _Casting_: and therefore, for distinction sake, we shall call these Spaces, Thick Spaces.

The first three Sizes fit exactly in Heighth to all the Letters of the same Body; but the last three Sizes fit not exactly in Thickness to the Letters of the same Body; for that some few among the Capitals are more than m thick, some less than m thick, and more than n thick; and some less than n thick, and more than Space thick; yet for Forging the _Punches_, these three Sizes are only in general Considered, with Exception had to Æ _Æ_ _Q_, and most of the Swash-Letters; which being too thick to stand on an m, must be Forged thicker, according to the Workman’s Reason.

After the Workman has accounted the exact number of Letters he is to Cut for one Set, he considers what number he shall use of each of these several Sizes in the _Roman_, and of each of these several Sizes in the _Italick_; (for the _Punches_ of _Romans_ and _Italicks_, if the Body is large, are not to be Forged to the same shape, as shall be shewed by and by) and makes of a piece of Wood one Pattern of the several Sizes that he must have each number Forged to. Upon every one of these Wooden Patterns I use to write with a Pen and Ink the number of _Punches_ to be Forged of that Size, lest afterwards I might be troubled with Recollections.

I say (for Example) He considers how many Long-Letters are m thick, how many Long-Letters are n thick, and how many Long-Letters are Space thick, in the _Roman_; and also considers which of these must be Counter-punch’d, and which not: For (as was said before) those Letters that are to be Counter-punch’d are to have about twice the Heighth and twice the Thickness of the Face of the _Counter-Punch_, for the Reason aforesaid. But the Letters not to be Counter-punch’d need no more Substance but what will just contain the Face of the Letter; and makes of these three Sizes three Wooden Patterns, of the exact Length, Heighth and Thickness that the Steel _Punches_ are to be Forged to.

He also counts how many are Ascendents and Descendents, m thick, n thick, and Space thick; still considering how many of them are to be Counter-punch’d, and how many not; and makes Wooden Patterns for them.

The like he does for short-letters; and makes Wooden Patterns for them, for Steel _Punches_ to be Forged by.

And as he has made his Patterns for the _Roman_, so he makes Patterns for the _Italick_ Letters also; for the same shap’d _Punches_ will not serve for _Italick_, unless he should create a great deal more Work to himself than he need do: For _Italick Punches_ are not all to be Forged with their sides square to one another, as the _Romans_ are; but only the highest and lowest sides must stand in Line with the highest and lowest sides of the _Roman_; but the Right and Left-Hand sides stand not parallel to the Stems of the _Roman_, but must make an Angle of 20 Degrees with the _Roman_ Stems: so that the Figure of the Face of the _Punch_ will become a _Rhomboides_, as it is called by _Geometricians_, and the Figure of this Face is the Slope that the _Italick_ Letters have from the _Roman_, as in proper place shall be further shewed. Now, should the _Punches_ for these Letters be Forged with each side square to one another, the _Letter-Cutter_ would be forced to spend a great deal of Time, and take great pains to File away the superfluous Steel about the Face of the Letter when he comes to the Finishing of it, especially in great Bodied Letters. Yet are not all the _Italick_ Letters to be Forged on the Slope; for the _Punches_ of some of them, as the _m n_, and many others, may have all, or, at least, three of their sides, square to one another, though their Stems have the common Slope, because the ends of their Beaks and Tails lie in the same, perpendicular with the Outer Points of the Bottom and Top of their Stems, as is shewed in the Drafts of Letters.

Though I have treated thus much on the Forging of Punches, yet must all what I have said be understood only for great Bodied _Punches_; _viz._ from the _Great-Primer_, and upwards. But for smaller Bodies; as _English_, and downwards, the _Letter-Cutter_ generally, both for _Romans_ and _Italicks_, gets so many square Rods of Steel, Forged out of about two or three Foot in Length, as may serve his purpose; which Rods he elects as near his Body and Sizes as his Judgment will serve him to do; and with the edge of a Half-round File, or a Cold-Chissel, cuts them into so many Lengths as he wants _Punches_. Nay, many of these Rods may serve for some of the small Letters in some of the greater Bodies; and also, for many of their _Counter-Punches_.

Having thus prepared your _Punches_, you must Neal them, as I shewed in _Numb._ 3. _Vol._ I.

¶. 2. _Of_ Counter-Punches.

The _Counter-Punches_ for great Letters are to be Forged as the _Letter-Punches_; but for the smaller Letters, they may be cut out of Rods of Steel, as aforesaid. They must also be well Neal’d, as the _Punches_. Then must one of the ends be Filed away on the outside the Shank, to the exact shape of the inside of the Letter you intend to Cut. For Example, If it be _A_ you would Cut; This _Counter-Punch_ is easie to make, because it is a Triangle; and by measuring the Inside of the Angle of _A_ in the Draft of Letters, as you were taught, §. 12. ¶. 6. you may make on your Standing _Gage-Plate_ a _Gage_ for that Angle: So that, let the Letter to be Cut be of what Body you will, from the least, to the biggest Body, you have a Standing _Gage_ for this _Counter-Punch_, so oft as you may have occasion to Cut A.

The _Counter-Punch_ of _A_ ought to be Forged Triangularly, especially 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.

Yet Swash-Letters, especially _Q_, whose Swashes come below the Foot-Line, and whose Length reaches under the Foot-Line of the next Letter, or Letters in Composing, ought to have the Upper Sholder of that Swash Sculped down straight, _viz._ to a Right Angle, or Square with the Face; at least, so much of it as is to be Sunk into Copper: Because the Upper Sholder of the Swash would else be so broad, that it would ride upon the Face of the next Letter. Therefore the Swash-Letters being all Long-Letters, the lower end of the Swashes reach as low as the Bottom-Line; which cannot be Filed Square enough down from the Head-Line, unless the Steel the Swash stands on, should be Filed from end to end, the length of the whole Shank of the _Punch_, which would be very tedious; and besides, would make that part of the Shank the Swash stands on so weak, that it would scarce endure Striking into the Copper. Therefore, as I said before, the Upper Sholder of the Swash ought to be Sculped down: Yet I never heard of any _Letter-Cutters_ that had the knack of doing it; but that they only Filed it as straight down as they could, and left the _Letter-Kerner_, after the Letter was Cast, to Kern away the Sholdering. Yet I use a very quick way of doing it; which is only by Resting the Back of a Graver at first, to make way; and afterwards a Sculptor, upon the Shank of the _Punch_, at the end of the Swash, one while; and another while on the Shank, at the Head, that the Swash may be Sculped down from end to end: and Sculping so, Sculp away great Flakes of the Steel at once, till I have Cut it down deep enough, and to a Right Angle.

Then he Hardens and Tempers the Punch; as was shewed, _Numb._ 3. _Vol._ I. _Fol._ 57, 58.

But though the _Punch_ be Hardned and Temper’d, yet it is not quite finished: for, in the Hardning, the _Punch_ has contracted a Scurf upon it; which Scurf must be taken off the Face, and so much of the sides of the Shank as is to be Sunk into Copper. Some _Letter-Cutters_ take this Scurf off with small smooth Files, and afterwards with fine Powder of _Emerick_. The _Emerick_ they use thus. They provide a Stick of Wood about two Handful long, and about a _Great-Primer_, or _Double-Pica_ thick: Then in an Oyster-shell, or any sleight Concave thing, they powr a little Sallad-Oyl, and put Powder of _Emerick_ to it, till it become of the Consistence of Batter made for Pan-cakes. And stirring this Oyl and _Emerick_ together, spread or smear the aforesaid Stick with the Oyl and _Emerick_, and so rub hard upon the Face of the _Punch_, and also upon part of the Shank, till they have taken the Scurf clean off.

Mr. _Walberger_ of _Oxford_ uses another way. He makes such an Instrument as is described in _Plate_ 10. at H, which we will, for distinction sake, call the _Joynt-Flat-Gage_. This Instrument consists of two Cheeks about nine Inches long, as at b, and are fastned together at one end, as the Legs of a _Carpenter_’s Joynt-Rule are in the Centre, as at _c_, but with a very strong Joynt; upon which Centre, or Joynt, the Legs move wider, or closer together, as occasion requires. Each Leg is about an Inch and a quarter broad, and an Inch and three quarters deep; _viz._ so deep as the Shank of the _Punch_ is long. At the farther end of the Shank b (as at _d_) is let in an Iron Pin, with an Head at the farther end, and a square Shank, to reach almost through a square Hole in the Shank b, that it twists not about; and at the end of that Square, a round Pin, with a Male-Screw made on it, long enough to reach through the Shank a, and about two Inches longer, as at _e_; upon which Male-Screw is fitted a Nut with two Ears, which hath a Female-Screw in it, that draws and holds the Legs together, as occasion requires a bigger or less _Punch_ to be held in a proper Hole. Through each of the adjoyning Insides of the Legs are made, from the Upper to the Lower Side, six, seven, or eight Semi-Circular Holes (or more or less, according to discretion) exactly Perpendicular to the upper and under Sides of each Leg, marked _a a a a_, _b b b b_. Each of these Semicircular Holes is, when joyned to its Match, on the other Leg to make a Circular Hole; and therefore must be made on each Leg, at an equal distance from the Centre. These Holes are not all of an equal Size, but different Sizes: Those towards the Centre smallest, _viz._ so small, that the _Punch_ for the smallest Bodied Letters may be pinched fast in them; and the biggest Holes big enough to contain, pinch and hold fast the _Punches_ for the great Bodied Letters. The upper and under-sides of this _Joynt-Flat-Gage_ is Faced with an Iron Plate, about the thickness of an Half Crown, whose outer Superficies are both made exactly Flat and Smooth.