Chapter III: Part 3

These operations require great bodily strength as well as considerable skill on the part of the workmen, who are obliged to seize the heated metal with long tongs, and to catch it in the same way as it comes out from the mill.

The iron which is intended for castings is melted in a “cupola furnace,” so called on account of the dome-like shape in which it is built, which has something to do with the more perfect heating of the metal. When the iron is completely melted so that it will run freely, the lower portion of the furnace is opened, and the white-hot stream is received in the _casting ladle_, or, where it has to be carried for some distance, and the casting is large, in great iron pails carried in a sort of frame by two men. From the casting ladle it is at once poured into the _mould_.

The mould is a sort of iron box filled with a peculiar sort of sand, into which a wooden pattern of the intended casting is pressed, and the sand firmly rammed down and made solid. There are, in fact, two boxes of sand, each of which is impressed with one half of the thickness of the required casting, so that when they are brought together, and firmly fastened with the pins, as shown in the picture, the patterns which have been taken out have left a half of the impression in each box, each corresponding exactly to the other. A hole in the box receives the melted metal, for which a channel has been left in the sand, that it may freely run into the hollows left by the pattern, and completely fill them; then, when it has sufficiently cooled, the casting is removed, and when the rough edges have been removed, and the irregularities trimmed off, it is ready for use, and may be fitted to its other parts, which have perhaps been separately cast, as in the case of garden seats, fenders, chandeliers, umbrella stands, or ornamental girders and columns.

We have only described solid castings, but as ornamental iron work is generally made hollow, this has to be cast in rather a different way, though the only difference is that what are called “cores” are used. These cores are in fact solid metal patterns made a little smaller than the hollow left by the real pattern, and allowed to remain in the mould. The melted iron then flows between the surface of the core and the surface of the mould, and the casting is hollow, so that when the core is removed the metal is only the thickness of the space left between the two surfaces. You will see what is meant by placing a small teacup inside a larger one, and then pouring water between them.

The tools used by the Ironfounder are not very numerous: the casting ladles and mould have already been mentioned; the uses of the _shovel_ and the _mould weight_, the _rammer_, and the _furnace iron_ need no description.

The designers, and pattern makers, and the mould maker have the most important duties, and the latter will have to use a small _trowel_ and a _spatera_ for arranging his sand and loam, a _level_ that it may be perfectly true, and a _brush_ and a _pair of bellows_ for removing any particles of grit from the surface of the channels where the pattern has been impressed.

Almost all irons are improved by admixture with others, and, therefore, when superior castings are required they should not be run direct from the smelting furnace, but the metal should be remelted in a cupola furnace, which gives the opportunity of suiting the quality of the iron to its intended use. Thus, for delicate ornamental work, a soft and very fluid iron will be required, whilst for girders and castings exposed to cross strain the metal will require to be harder and more tenacious. For bed-plates and castings which have merely to sustain a compressing force, the chief point to be attended to is the hardness of the metal.

Castings should be allowed to remain in the sand until cool, as the quality of the metal is greatly injured by the rapid and irregular cooling which takes place from exposure to air if removed from the moulds in a red hot state, which is sometimes done in small foundries to economise room.

THE BLACKSMITH.

In the building and fitting of the house a large portion of the iron work will have to be furnished by the Smith, and as we have already given some description of iron founding, it will be necessary to say something about the Blacksmith, or the worker in iron or black metal, whose business is different from that of the whitesmith, which has to do more particularly with white or yellow metal.

The way in which malleable iron, that is, iron fit for the hammer, is produced has been mentioned in connexion with the trade of the iron founder, who in fact supplies the Blacksmith with the raw material. It is not very easy to tell you much about the way in which the Blacksmith makes the great variety of articles which his trade furnishes, for there is no business the success of which depends more upon personal skill. As the trade of the Smith, or at all events the worker in metal, is one of the most ancient, and existed in times when there were few tools,—as, in fact, it is the Smith who has to make tools,—so at the present day, he has to depend chiefly on his own ability in the use of the hammer and a few other simple instruments to fashion the articles that come out of his workshop.

It is he who supplies the various articles of wrought iron work used in a building; as pileshoes, straps, screw bolts, dog-irons, chimney-bars, gratings, and wrought-iron railings and balustrades for staircases. Wrought iron was formerly much used for many purposes for which cast iron is now generally employed; the improvements made in casting during the present century having caused a great alteration in this respect. It is not only for building purposes that the Blacksmith is employed, however, since there is scarcely anything constructed of iron in which his aid is not required, from important portions of machinery to the rough horse-shoes which have to be finished and fitted by the farrier. In the forge, where the great bellows suspended to the ceiling make the furnace roar, and the sparks fly, the clinking of hammers is heard all day long.

The _anvil_, on which the iron is beaten into shape, the bench, fitted with a _vice_ for holding such portions of the work as require the _file_, the _tongs_, with which the red hot metal is held, the _sledge hammer_, and the _set hammers_, are the principal tools.

The sledge hammer is used for beating the metal until it is tempered and easily formed into shape, and it is in the tempering of the metal by beating that the great skill of the Smith is often displayed. The set hammers are used for setting out the work, and have heads of different shapes, according to the form which the metal is required to assume. The various _gauges_ are placed upon the anvil for the similar purpose of shaping the work, and the _callipers_, _compasses_, and _square_, measuring and adjusting it. The _heading tools_ consist of cutting, punching, and stamping instruments, and are probably so called, because they are furnished with heads to receive the blows of the heavy hammer, by which they are forced into the hot metal on the anvil.

These heading tools are held, not by handles of their own, which would break off with the concussion of the hammer, but by a sort of withe of birch, or some other tree fastened loosely round them at their heads, and bound by a ring to keep them from parting. The _punch_ is used in making bolts or rivets, the _slice_ and _fire irons_ for arranging the fuel in the furnace, and removing small articles after they are heated, the _double hooks_ for removing or suspending bars, and for some other purposes.

THE BRASSFOUNDER.

Next to iron, perhaps brass is the metal chiefly employed in the manufacture of articles of daily use, and the trade of the Brassfounder is therefore of very great importance, especially in connexion with the small metal fittings, such as catches, locks, bolts, hooks, screws, and other objects used in completing and furnishing the house.

Brass is not a pure metal, but is what is called an alloy, that is, a mixture of various metals. It is composed of copper and zinc in such proportions as may be necessary to obtain various degrees of hardness and colour, according to the use for which the compound is to be employed. The best proportions for common brass are about two parts of copper to one part of zinc. Formerly brass was made by heating copper with _calamine_ (which is the ore of zinc) and charcoal, but it is now formed from melting the two metals together. It is then cast into plates, which are either broken up for recasting into any required form, or rolled into sheets. Common brass is very malleable, is more easily melted than copper, and may be cast into any form. It will take a very high polish, does not rust or tarnish by exposure to the air, and, although it is durable in wear, is sufficiently soft to yield readily to the file and other tools used by the workmen. These properties make it useful for a great variety of purposes where steel or iron could not be so well employed.

The smelting or mixing houses where the brass is made are fitted with air furnaces, and in some of the best workshops the _crucibles_ or melting pots are made of _plumbago_ or pure blacklead, which, although it is more expensive, is much more durable than the Stourbridge clay, of which the commoner crucibles are formed.

A very fine quality of brass for best castings consists of three parts of best selected copper, and two of spelter, with some best scrap brass and a little tin; while a second quality is formed of two parts of ordinary copper and one part of spelter, melted into ingots with a proportion of scrap brass and brass filings. Before the latter are used the iron filings are separated from them by a _magnet_, or by a series of magnets fastened to a revolving chain frame.

The sheet brass is procured from the mills where it is rolled, and the brass wire is also supplied from the special manufactories where it is drawn ready for use.

The method of _making moulds_ for casting iron has already been mentioned, and those employed by the Brassfounder are quite similar, the tools used by the mould maker being the _trowel_, _mallet_, _rule_, and _sand hook_, the _shovel_ for removing the sand, the _brush_ for sweeping the surface, the _bellows_ for blowing off the dust, and the _compasses_ for measuring accurately.

The principal materials for making foundry moulds for brass castings are fine sand and loam mixed in various proportions, according to the nature of the work. New sand is used for fine castings, old sand for ordinary work. The requisite external support is given by a couple of shallow rectangular iron frames without tops or bottoms, called _flasks_ or _casting boxes_.

The two halves constituting a casting box carry ears corresponding exactly with one another, one set pierced with holes, the other furnished with points entering truly into these holes, and which may be made fast in them by cross-pins or wedges. One of the flasks is laid face downward on a board longer and wider than it, and is then rammed full of moulding sand; the surface is struck off level with a straight metal bar or scraper, a little loose sand is sprinkled upon it, and another board of proper size placed over it and rubbed down close. The two boards and the flask contained between them are turned over and the top board is taken off; the clean surface of moist sand now exposed is dusted over with perfectly dry fine parting sand, or very fine red brickdust. The patterns or models are now properly arranged on the surface of the same, the cylindrical or thick parts being partly sunk in the latter, and care being also taken to leave sufficient space between the several patterns to prevent one part breaking into the other, and also passages or _ingates_, by which to pour in the metal and allow the air to escape. The patterns are arranged on both sides a central passage or runner, technically called a _ridge_, from which again small lateral passages are made, leading into every section of the mould. The general surface is then properly arranged with the aid of small _trowels_, and a little fine parting sand or brickdust is shaken over it. When this has been accomplished, the upper part of the flask is fitted to the lower by the pins, and then also rammed full of mould sand. The fine dry parting sand or brickdust serves to prevent the two halves from sticking together. A board is now placed on the top of the upper half, and struck smartly in different places with a mallet, after which the upper half and its board are lifted up very gently and quite level, and then turned over, so that the upper half rests inverted on its board. The models are next removed, and channels scooped out from the cavities left by them to the hollows or pouring holes (_ingates_) at the end of the flask. Solid _cores_ of sand or metal are adjusted in the proper places when the article is required to be cast hollow (brass cocks, for instance), and also iron rails intended to have brass heads cast on them, or such other articles of iron as are required to be solidly united with the brass. The faces of both halves are now finally dusted with waste flour or meal dust; the two halves are then replaced upon each other, and the box is fixed together by screw clamps. The moulds for _fine castings_ (articles with ornamental surfaces, as screens, sconces, bell-levers, &c.) are faced with various fine substances, such as charcoal, loamstone, rottenstone, &c. that they may retain a sharp impression; after which they are most carefully dried. For ordinary work it is generally considered better that the sand should retain a little moisture, though great care must be taken in this respect, to guard against the danger of explosion.

The _mould_ then is a square frame, mostly of iron, filled with peculiar dark red sand, which is pressed into a firm mass, in which the patterns of the casting are imbedded and their perfect shape impressed. The casters work at a large _trough_ filled with the sand, and the workshop, with its forge, has some resemblance to a bakehouse where black bread is being kneaded into loaves. The first mould is made for what is called the “odd side” of the pattern—that is to say (in solid castings), the lower, or inferior side—and this serves as a sort of pattern to which the moulder refers in fine castings. The pattern being lifted off or out as soon as the sand-mould is sufficiently solid, the whole surface, in which the chasing of the pattern is clearly defined, is dusted with bean-floor or pounded “pot” first, and afterwards with loam, sand, charcoal, or coal-dust. This has the effect of making a smooth surface, and effectually filling the interstices in the sand, so as to prevent any raggedness in the casting. Each mould, or rather the two sides of the mould, are then placed near the surface and slightly baked, a channel having been made in the edge of each for conducting the melted metal to the pattern. The two sides are then placed together and held firmly by their pins and sockets, and the mould is ready for the casting. The “pots,” or crucibles of greyish clay, which turn red by the action of the fire, are in the furnaces like so many tall flower-pots. The dirty yellowish brass ingots, made on the premises at a large mixing furnace, having been first placed across the tops of the pots, that they may expand before being melted, are about twenty minutes afterwards reduced to a molten mass, above which hovers a light sea-green flame mingled with streaks of brilliant colour, like the water from a dyehouse; meanwhile the moulds have been placed in a slanting position, with the opening in the side upwards, against a bank of sand or brickwork, and everything is prepared for pouring. A man, who should be strong in the wrist, stands on the _furnace_, which has the openings at the top, like a French cooking-stove, and taking off the brick covers from the square aperture, whence rushes out a tongue of green flame, lifts out the _pot_ with a pair of _tongs_, and after the dross is removed by the _skimmer_ or _grunter_, hands it to the pourer, who fills each mould in succession. The fumes which rise from the midst of the coloured fire are peculiar and penetrating, and the zinc eliminated from the molten brass falls in a metallic snowstorm, its flaky particles adhering to everything with which they come in contact, while the resistance of the sand to the metal causes a series of reports like muffled pistol-shots.

The brass cocks and plugs used in gas-fittings are all cast in one central stem, like cherries on a stick, their hollow forms being secured by means of _cores_ made of hardened sand placed in the shape impressed in the mould. These are broken off the central stem with a pair of _pincers_ immediately after casting.

The ornamental “vases” and larger ornaments which form the body of ordinary gas chandeliers and lamps are formed out of thin metal by a process called “stamping out,” the plates of metal being placed on a hollow die, upon which a heavy hammer, or rather weight, is brought down, being released from a latch and worked by the foot. The depth of the casting would make so heavy a blow necessary that there would be danger of splitting the metal, an accident which is prevented by the introduction of a leaden shape and a layer of clay, which is decreased after each blow of the hammer until the proper depth is gradually secured without injury.

The process called “reversing” is an operation which secures a hollow casting, the inner or hollow side being called the “reverse.” For this purpose a mould is made from one in wax, and the impression in the mould hardened, so that another model can be taken from it. This enables the moulder to secure a core which fits the impression in the mould, as one cup would stand inside another; and between the mould containing the sunk pattern and that with the projecting core there are placed strips of black clay, to secure sufficient thickness of metal, by not allowing the hollow to be too accurately filled. The pattern when cast is “laid out” on a hollow hemisphere of iron filled with pitch, and the irregularities of the casting removed by hand tools, _files_, _rasps_, and _knives_. In the case of figures, such as cupids, &c. forming ornaments for candelabra, the various limbs have often to be modelled in separate “cores,” which are afterwards baked hard, and put together like a puzzle-map, imbedded in the sand of the mould previous to casting. This requires great skill to effect successfully, and an experienced “reverser” is a man of mark in the factory.

The completed castings are now removed to the chasing-room, where we may watch the gradual process of beautifying to which they are subjected, and the sharpening of the ornamental details by means of _tool_ and _graver_, in a similar way to the first rough “laying-out,” which removes the irregularities of the pattern. The arms and branches which form a part of the gas chandelier work, as well as many of the scroll-work ornaments, are cast in halves, which are taken to the soldering-room, where a workman, seated at a forge-like furnace, heats them in the burning embers, and applies to the edges the solder, with which is mingled a flux of borax and water to secure its melting. The heat is increased by a blowpipe, which is in reality a double or jacketed tube, the inner one supplying gas, and the outer being connected with a large pair of bellows, and mixing atmospheric air with the lighted gas at the point of combustion.

The pickling room is a large shed-like place filled with tubs, troughs, and earthen pans. Into one of these, containing diluted aqua-fortis, the metal is plunged for the purpose of removing the scale produced on the surface by the action of the fire; from this it is dipped in a stronger solution, to undergo the process called “fizzing,” and its final baptism in pure acid restores the beautiful primrose colour which properly belongs to it. It is still dull, however, and goes to be “scratched,” an operation effected by means of a revolving wire-brush, turned by a wheel and treadle, and kept continually wet with water.

The ornamental processes have next to be considered, and these are many. Previous to burnishing, the work is dipped in argot or tartar (the lees of wine-casks steeped in water), so that it may be subject to a strong antioxyde. The burnishing itself produces those bright veins and ornamental surfaces so often seen in brass work, and is effected by fixing the work in a vice, and rubbing the parts of the pattern which are to be brightened with a steel tool having a smooth bevel edge. After being treated with ox-gall, bean flour, and acid, to remove any still adhering grease, the work is dried, by being first dipped in hot water and afterwards buried in a pan of warm sawdust. Then there is lacquering, both black and white, a simple process enough, since the lacquer is laid on with a brush, and the work dried on a warm plate. Much of the work of the Brassfounder, as far as regards these latter operations, is of course effected by machinery, but the casting itself is entirely completed by the skill of the workmen.

THE GILDER.

When once the house is built and the work of bricklayer, carpenter, plumber, painter, glazier, and mason is finished, it is necessary to set about those decorations which accompany the furnishing; and one of the first of the trades needed for this purpose is that of the Gilder, who has to do not only with cornices, mouldings and other ornaments, but also with the frames of pictures and looking-glasses that adorn the walls and chimney-pieces.

These frames, however, have first to be made by the joiner, and then receive the work of the carver, or the ornament maker. The joiner does little more than put the plain groundwork of the frame together; but the duty of the carver is of a very artistic description; and to be a good carver in wood requires an education and a taste very nearly equal to that of the sculptor, with whom the artists in wood formerly held a high rank.

Most of the ornaments now used for frames, however, are less expensive than those formerly produced by the carver who added a fresh value to the painting or the looking-glass by exercising his skill upon the costly settings in which they appeared. Composition ornaments are now in general demand for all but the most expensive frames, and as this composition—which is formed of glue, water, linseed oil, resin, and whiting—is pressed into moulds when it is of about the consistence of dough, it is evident that the mould maker has partially taken the carver’s place. A new substance, however, has to a great extent superseded the old composition, and this is _papier-mâché_, or the pulp of paper (literally, mashed or beaten paper), which, from its lightness, its greater strength and durability, and the thinness to which ornaments made of it can be reduced, is preferable for all large decorations.

Whatever may be the size or pattern of the frame, however, we will suppose that the ornament maker received it from the joiner, who puts it together after it has been covered with coatings of hot size and whiting; the size being made from parchment cuttings or kid leather parings boiled to a sort of jelly. The nail or screw holes are then filled up with putty by the help of the putty knife, and the surface of the frame smoothed with pieces of pumice stone. The ornament maker next fixes on the decorations and hands it to the Gilder, whose first business is to wash the ornaments carefully in order to remove any oil that may have remained on their surface from the inside of the cast.

The principal tools required by the Gilder are, first: the _cushion_, which is a flat board covered with several layers of woollen or flannel and afterwards with a piece of leather, which is stretched tightly over it and nailed down to the edges, thus forming a firm but soft and elastic bed. A rim of parchment carried round one end of the cushion serves to hold the gold leaf. Second: a _gold leaf knife_—which is a straight smooth-edged instrument, not very sharp, but carefully pointed at the end. Third: the _tip_—a tool generally made of two pieces of card or very thin board glued together and holding between them a row of camel’s hairs. It is also necessary to have a _badger tool_ and a _duster_; the first for removing the loose edges and flying scraps of gold leaf, after the gilding is completed, and the latter for brushing away dust from the frame.

The _burnishers_ are pieces of smooth stone (flint or agate) set in handles, and are used for rubbing some parts of the gold, when it is set on the frame, until it attains a brilliant polish and smoothness of surface: the bright gold portions of a frame being known as _burnish_, and the dull parts or “dead gold” as _matt_.

A _chisel_ and _knife_ are necessary for removing any inequalities or overflowings of size from the edge of the frame; the _feather duster_ is used to dust the new gilding before it is sent home; the _size pot_ is the vessel in which the size is melted, and the _pan_ receives it before it is laid on. The _putter-down_ is a large soft brush used for pressing down the gold into the ornaments, and removing the ragged edges of the gold-leaf from those parts of the frame where it is most difficult to place it smoothly.

The _gold box_ is of course a receptacle for the gold leaf, and as the leaf is sent from the gold beaters in sheets placed between leaves of paper sewn together like a volume, this is naturally called the _gold book_.

Having received his frame, then, the Gilder first gives it two or three coatings of “thin white,” which is the name by which the size and whiting is known in the trade. If any part of the frame is to be burnished, it afterwards receives a coat or two of rather thicker size.

When these are dry, strong warm size is laid on with a brush; this is called _clear cole_, and produces a smooth glossy surface, which prevents the _oil gold size_ from sinking through. Oil gold size is the next coating given to the frame, and it is made of ochre and boiled linseed oil, ground up together into a smooth creamy liquid, which is thinned with more boiled linseed oil, and put on very carefully with a soft brush. In a few hours, after the oil gold size is put on, it is sufficiently dry to receive the gold leaf; the surface being then slightly sticky, so that it will hold it firmly and without its own surface being disturbed.

The Gilder now commences the most important part of his work by taking the cushion on his left hand, with his thumb through a loop which is attached to the bottom of the leather; between the fingers of the same hand he places the tools that he will have to use,—namely, the tip, the gold knife, and the camel-hair pencil. He then takes a gold book and carefully blows out a leaf at a time on to the cushion, until he has eight or ten leaves all heaped together within the rim of parchment which holds them from flying away. This is a very delicate operation, since if he should blow too hard the leaves would be carried all over the room. He next separates one of the leaves from the rest with his knife, and without cutting or tearing it lays it down smoothly upon the front part of the cushion, partly by a gentle use of the knife itself, and partly by skilfully blowing upon it. Then taking the tip in his right-hand he carefully presses it on the leaf, to which it adheres, and by this means transfers it to that part of the frame where he is at work. Where the ornaments are very deep, the same part is gilt three or four times over, and the gold is sometimes pressed in with a wad of cotton.

After the whole surface is carefully _skewed_, or gone over with the brush which removes the ragged edges and still further presses the gold into the ornaments, the frame is well dusted with another soft brush, and then sized with clear size, after which the work is complete.

Supposing however that any part of the frame is to be of burnished gilt, the clear cole and the oil gold size must not be suffered to touch that portion,—burnish gold size, a substance made of grease, clay, black lead, red chalk, and bullock’s blood, is used instead of the oil gold size. Several coats of this are laid on the part to be burnished, each being allowed to dry, and perfectly smoothed, before the other is applied. The surface is then washed with a sponge and clean water, another coating of gold size is laid on, the gold leaf is applied, and the burnishing tools used to impart the required lustre.

THE CABINET MAKER AND UPHOLSTERER.

The trades of the Carpenter and the Joiner having been considered, we may now turn to that of the Cabinet Maker, who, though he makes the furniture of the house, and seldom has anything to do with building or fitting the house itself, uses many of the same tools as the joiner.

As the Cabinet Maker mostly works in more costly woods, and the operations of his trade have to be performed with greater nicety, his implements are generally of rather a better sort; while he has to fashion the articles in which he deals in so many different shapes that some of his tools, such as _planes_ and _gouges_, are constructed especially for him, like the _panel plane_, used as its name implies in smoothing and forming the edges of panels for wardrobes, chiffoniers, and other pieces of furniture before they are placed in their frames, and the _veneer plane_, intended for putting on _veneers_, or the thin slabs of costly wood with which more common woods are frequently covered. The _smoothing plane_ and the _rebate plane_, as well as the _hand saw_, the _tenon saw_, the _gimlet_, and the _rule_ and _square_, have already been mentioned in connexion with the joiner’s business.

Then there are moulding planes, with their blades shaped hollow so that they will cut a strip of wood into a rounded form, or shaped round so as to cut a hollow groove.

Sometimes boards are joined at the edges by a process called match boarding: a groove being made along the edge of one board while the edge of another is cut with a tongue along the middle to fit accurately into the groove. For this purpose a pair of match planes are used, one of which makes the groove and the other the tongue exactly of the proper size to fit perfectly. This kind of joint is used for common doors, which it is not worth while to frame together in panels. The boards after being _matched_ are nailed close together to strong cross-pieces.

The operations of mortising and dovetailing have been described in the description of joiner’s work. The various fittings and joints used in making chairs, couches, tables, cabinets, side-boards, and other furniture are adaptations of the same kind, or differ only according to the shape and position of the various parts. In ornamental cabinet work the separate parts, such as pillars, legs, arms, and other pieces, are often supplied by the turner and the wood carver, who sometimes carry out their designs under the direction of the Cabinet Maker.

Mahogany and many other of the harder woods are difficult to work, as the grain does not all run the same way, so that in planing them the wood is likely to split or chip where it should be shaved off smoothly. To remedy this inconvenience, the Cabinet Maker’s planes are furnished with double irons, that is, an iron with a flat dull edge is screwed on to the face of the cutting iron, so as to prevent the shavings chipping against the grain. The more cross-grained the wood is the closer the workman brings down the dull iron towards the edge of the sharp one, and his shavings are consequently finer.

The _veneering plane_ is about the same size as the _smoothing plane_, but the iron instead of having a smooth edge is toothed like a fine saw, so that, instead of taking off shavings, it makes scratches all along the grain of the wood. This is applied to the veneer as well as to the wood to which the veneer is to be glued, so that the glue may easily hold the two rough surfaces together.

Previous to the veneer being put on, the work is well warmed before a fire, and the glue brush worked freely over both the veneer and wood to which it is to be applied. When the veneer is put on, it is rubbed backward and forward, at the same time being pressed down with the hands until it sticks in the right place. There are often lumps here and there where there is too much glue, and these are remedied by the _veneering hammer_, the head of which is made of wood furnished with a strip of iron plate. This strip is laid flat on the veneer, and the head of the hammer pressed with the hand while it is worked about by the handle, pressing out the glue as it moves towards the edge. When a piece of furniture is too large to be covered with one veneer, these thin slabs of wood are laid on in several pieces, the edges being first planed quite straight and made to meet with the greatest accuracy. The whole surface is afterwards worked with the toothing plane, and then scraped with a flat square piece of steel, which takes off a wonderfully fine thin shaving and leaves the surface perfectly smooth. It is afterwards finished with sandpaper. It is then _French polished_ with a liquid composed mostly of rectified spirits of wine, gum, shellac, gum seed lac, and Venice turpentine, the furniture being previously well oiled that it may better receive this sort of varnish.

_Clamps_ are a sort of screw vice for holding the various parts of the work. The _bow saw_ is a small fine blade of steel notched like a saw, and fixed to a short handle, from which a wooden or metal bow extends to the other end of the blade. The bow keeps the saw from buckling or breaking, and the tool is used for small work, like the fretwork in front of pianos, where a corner has to be turned and the piece sawn out. The _screws_ seen in the larger picture hanging above the Cabinet Maker’s bench are used for holding pieces together after being glued, or on other occasions.

It is supposed that there are about 50,000 workers in wood in London, and 350,000 in all England. About 160,000 timber trees of average size are required to make the furniture for the new houses built every year in England and Wales. In cabinet making there are many departments, such as the chair maker, the bedstead maker, the carver, the general manufacturer of tables, drawers, side-boards, wardrobes, &c. and the fancy Cabinet Maker, who uses costly woods and makes workboxes, desks, dressing-cases, and similar articles.

A good set of Cabinet Maker’s tools is worth from £30 to £40.

The Upholsterer, whose trade is generally joined to that of the master Cabinet Maker, does what is called the “soft work,” that is, he undertakes the curtains, hangings, cushions, carpets, beds, and the stuffing of the seats of chairs. For these operations he requires but few tools.

The _devil_ is the ugly and very absurd name given to a machine consisting of a box, inside which a spiked wheel turns; the use of this implement is to separate and tear to pieces such woven substances as, when reduced to shreds, serve for the stuffing of furniture, as also to soften and make finer hemp or tow for the same purpose, when horsehair, which is the best and most expensive material, is not used. Cocoa-nut fibre is now sometimes applied for this purpose; and in the commonest furniture hay is frequently placed as a foundation, with a small quantity of horsehair on the top. The _bench screw_ is a kind of vice which will hold a very thick substance, like the seat of a chair or sofa, without injuring the woodwork; the _web strainer_ is used for stretching strong cross-pieces of webbing across the bottom of the seats of chairs or couches, to make a firm foundation for the stuffing to rest upon, and with the ordinary _strainer_ to bring the canvas cover that confines the stuffing tightly and firmly to its place, an operation which requires great care, especially when metal springs are placed beneath the horsehair to make the seat more elastic. The Upholsterer’s _hammer_ is of such a shape that it will drive a small nail deeply down in a space when it is hidden by the damask or leather covering of the furniture. The _punches_ are for a similar purpose; while the _needle_ and the _regulator_ are used in stuffing the seats and properly adjusting the hair or other material.

FLOOR-CLOTH MANUFACTURER.

The trade of manufacturing floor-cloth may be said to be connected with the furnishing of the house, since this very useful covering for the floors of halls and passages is now in almost universal use. Floor-cloth is generally made in large factories built for the purpose, since considerable space is required, not only for preparing, painting, and putting the pattern upon the cloth, but also for drying it when it is finished, the great lengths in which it is made rendering it necessary to hang it from a great height, in order that it may dry without the paint being damaged (_see drying warehouse_). The smell of the paint and other substances also makes it desirable to have the factory well ventilated, and situated at some distance from dwelling-houses.

The cloth is made partly of hemp and partly of flax, the former being the cheaper of the two, but the latter being fitted to retain the oil and paint on the surface without allowing it so easily to sink or soak through. In order to avoid the necessity for seams or joinings in the cloth, looms are constructed expressly for weaving canvas of the greatest width likely to be required. When the pieces of cloth are taken to the floor-cloth factories, they are generally either 100 yards long and 6 yards wide, 108 yards long and 7 yards wide, or 113 yards long and 8 yards wide. The flax and hemp are spun and the canvas woven principally in Scotland, in the town of Dundee.

The canvas is cut into pieces (_see cutting knife and shears_), varying from 60 to 100 feet long, and each of these pieces is stretched over a frame in a vertical position, most factories having a large number of such frames, some often 100 feet long by 18 or 20 feet high, and others of smaller dimensions. A wash of melted size is applied by means of a brush to each surface; and while this is wet the surface is well rubbed with a flat piece of pumice stone, by which the little irregularities of the canvas are worn down, and a foundation is laid for the oil and colour afterwards to be applied.

The preparation of japanned cottons, which are used for table covers, or what is known as “oil-cloth,” is very similar.

The paint employed for floor-cloth consists of the same mineral colours as that used in house painting, and is mixed with linseed oil in the same way; but it is very much thicker and stiffer in consistence, and has very little turpentine added to it. The canvas receives several coatings on the back as well as on the front, and is well dried and smoothed at intervals.

The pattern is placed on by means of wooden blocks, on the first of which the rudiments, or ground work, of the design is cut, and on the rest other portions of the pattern, so that, as they are covered with paint and applied to the cloth by the workman, the pattern is gradually printed, and appears in the different colours which are successively applied to each block.

The blocks are made of pear-tree wood on one side and of deal on the other, the pear-tree wood being more easily engraved with the pattern.

The blocks (which we will suppose to be four for one pattern—red, yellow, blue, and green) being ready, and the prepared canvas spread out on a flat table, the printing commences.

The paint (say red) is applied with a brush to the surface of a pad or cushion formed of flannel covered with floor cloth; the block held by a handle at the back is placed face downwards on this cushion, and the layer of paint thus obtained on the surface of the block is printed on the canvas by pressing the block smartly down upon the surface of the latter. A second impression is made in the same way, by the side of and close to the first, until the whole surface of the canvas is printed over with the pattern of this first block, which is generally about 15 inches square. Then the second block is applied, and adds a little more to the pattern in another colour; the third follows, adding still more; and then the fourth, which completes the printing.

The _trowel_ and _palette knife_ spreading and mixing the paint, the _roughing comb_ for patterns where the grain of wood is imitated, and the pots, cans, and jars, for the colours, are the principal tools besides those already described.

THE PAPER STAINER.

The trade of the Paper Stainer has grown to be one of considerable importance, and this is not to be wondered at when we consider how much the art of paper staining has increased the means of decorating our houses, by hanging the walls with elegant patterns printed in beautiful colours, instead of leaving them of one dull uniform hue, or a bare surface of wood and plaster.

In old times the walls of rooms were either of panelled wood, sometimes carved and polished, or were hung with tapestry made with the needle, or with woven silk, cotton, or linen, but the former was extremely costly, and the latter neither cleanly nor healthy. The trade of the Paper Stainer has to a great extent superseded both, and the interior walls of houses are now seldom formed entirely of wood, since they are intended to be covered with various qualities of paper hangings.

The mode of printing or painting a pattern on large sheets of paper has now been in use for nearly two hundred years, although, of course, improved methods are at present employed.

There are three modes of producing the pattern on paper hangings. 1st. Wooden blocks are carved with the outlines of the figures only in relief; with these the paper is printed, and the pattern is afterwards finished by hand painting with a pencil. This mode is slow and too expensive for ordinary use. 2dly. A sheet of leather, tin, or copper, is cut with holes in the required pattern, and a brush dipped in colour is worked over the sheet after it is laid upon the paper, so that the paint goes through the holes, and leaves the pattern in colour. This is called stencilling, and is only employed for very common hangings. The third process consists of carving a wood block for each of the colours used in the pattern, and printing the paper by almost exactly the same method as that employed for printing floor-cloth, an operation which has already been described.

The paper is printed in pieces twelve yards long. A piece is laid out on a long bench and the ground colour applied, consisting of whiting tinted with some sort of pigment and liquefied with melted size. This is laid on with large brushes. When the paper is dry it is ready to receive the print at the _printing press_, where the blocks are pressed upon it by a sort of weighted arm which comes down from above the centre of the bench. There must generally be as many blocks as there are colours in the pattern.

Some paper hangings have a glossy or satin ground. To produce this a ground of satin white, properly tinted, is laid on; this ground is then rubbed with powdered French chalk, and worked with a brush till a gloss is produced. Sometimes these papers are passed between heated rollers which have been engraved with a sort of pattern, and this produces a pattern without any additional colour, like that of figured or watered silk.

Flock papers are those in which part of the pattern resembles cloth. To produce this the pattern is printed, not in paint, but in size, and then the paper being passed through the _flock drum_, the flock (which is composed of fragments of woollen cloth) adheres to the pattern.

Striped hangings are sometimes produced by the paper being quickly passed on a roller beneath a trough, the colour in which flows through a number of parallel slits in the bottom; and occasionally various coloured stripes are obtained by dividing the trough into cells, with one cell and one slit for each colour. Some papers, in order to bear washing or cleaning, are printed with colours mixed with oil or varnish instead of size.

THE CALICO PRINTER.

The trade of the Calico Printer may be said to be one of the most important in this country, since we export such immense quantities of cotton prints to our various colonies, as well as to other countries in the world, that this business forms a very considerable part of British commerce.

Calicoes, muslins, &c. intended for printing must first have the fibres removed from their surface by the operation of the singeing machine; which consists of a half-cylinder of iron or copper laid horizontally, and kept at a bright heat by a range of gas-flames or a furnace; over this half-cylinder the length of cloth is drawn with a steady motion till the down or fibre is singed off.

The next process is that of bleaching, because the whiter the cotton cloth becomes, the more light it will reflect from the surface, and the more brilliant the colour of the dyes will appear.

The principal chemical substance used for bleaching cotton is chloride of lime, which is known as bleaching powder; but there are several processes employed in its application, as well as various methods which are adopted by different manufacturers to increase its effects by mechanical contrivances, the application of heat, or otherwise.

The first operation of bleaching, however, and that which immediately follows singeing, is boiling the cloth in an alkaline bath consisting of a solution of soda. For this purpose a _bowking apparatus_ is used. This machine (_see cut_) is, in fact, a large cauldron, with a flat false bottom to protect the cloth from being scorched by the fire beneath. Through the centre of this false bottom a vertical pipe rises from near the real bottom to a height above the top of the cauldron, and carries a conical cap like an umbrella above its open end at top. When the liquid in the cauldron begins to boil thoroughly the steam forces a constant stream of liquid up the pipe, which stream is scattered by forcing against the umbrella-shaped cap, and so falls with some force back on to the cotton in the cauldron. When this process has continued long enough, the liquor is allowed to cool, and the cotton is taken to be rinsed at the _dash wheel_, where it is subjected to the free action of water, or to a rinsing machine, so constructed that the web travels on rollers, and is thoroughly washed during its course.

The simplest and earliest method of imprinting figures upon calico is by means of a wooden block, upon the face of which the design is cut in relief, as in an ordinary wood-cut. The block is of sycamore, holly, or pear-tree wood, or more commonly of deal, faced with one of these woods. The block varies in size from nine to twelve inches long, and from four to seven inches broad, and it is furnished on the back with a strong handle. When the design is complicated, and a very distinct impression is required, the figure is sometimes formed by the insertion of narrow slips of flattened copper wire, the space between being filled with felt.

The printing block, which is worked by hand, is charged with colour by pressing it gently upon a piece of superfine woollen cloth called the _sieve_, stretched tightly over a wooden drum, which floats in a tub full of size or thick varnish to give it elasticity, so that every part of the raised device may acquire a sufficient coating of colour. The sieve is kept uniformly covered with the colouring matter by a boy or girl called the tearer, who takes up with a brush a small quantity of the colour contained in a small pot, and distributes it uniformly over the surface; for if this were not done, the block would take up the colour unequally.

The printing shop is a long well-lighted apartment, the air of which is kept warm for the purpose of drying the cloth as it is printed; to insure which it is passed over hanging rollers, so as to expose a large surface to the air. The printing table, which is about six feet long, is made of some well seasoned hard wood, such as mahogany, or of marble, or flag-stone, the object being to present a perfectly flat hard surface. This table is covered with a blanket, upon which the calico is extended, and the block, being charged with colour, is applied to its surface, a blow being given with a wooden mallet to transfer the impression fully to the cloth. It is necessary, of course, to join the different parts of the design with precision, and in doing so the printer is guided by small pins at the corners of the block. Thus, by repeated applications of the block to the woollen cloth and to the calico alternately, the whole length of calico is printed.

By this method, a single block prints only one colour, so that, if the design contain three or more colours, three or more blocks will be required, all of equal size, the raised parts in each corresponding with the depressed parts in all the others; in order, therefore, to print a piece of cloth twenty-eight yards long, and thirty inches broad, with three blocks, each measuring nine inches by five, no less than 672 applications of each, or 2,016 applications of the three blocks, are necessary. Thus it will be seen that printing by hand is a tedious operation, requiring more diligence than skill.

When the design, however, consists of straight parallel stripes of different colours, they may be applied by one block at a single impression. For this purpose the colours are contained in as many small tin troughs as there are colours to be printed. These troughs are arranged in a line, and a small portion of each colour is transferred from them to the woollen cloth by a kind of wire-brush. The colour is distributed evenly in stripes over the surface of the sieve by a wooden roller covered with woollen cloth. For the rainbow style, as a peculiar pattern is called, the colours are blended into one another at their edges by a brush or rubber.