Part 11

5. In executing any proposed work, a drawing is first made on paper, commonly with a lead-pencil. The part of the paper not embraced in the outline is then cut away, and the remaining portion is laid upon the surface of the wood. The outlines are next drawn on the wood, by moving the pencil around those on the paper. The design having been thus transferred, the superfluous portions of the wood are cut away with carving tools, of which there is a considerable variety of both size and form. The tools are driven with a mallet or with the palm of the hand, but in most cases with the latter.

6. A capacity for designing, and a knowledge of drawing and modelling, are particularly necessary to make a finished carver. Without these qualifications, at least in some degree, one may be a mechanic, but not an artist. The subject most difficult of execution, is the human figure, and in producing it with accuracy, the same qualifications in the artist are required, and the same general process is pursued, as in producing it in marble.

THE GILDER.

1. Carving and gilding are, in most cases, ostensibly united as one business, although in fact they are branches of manufacture totally distinct. The gilder, therefore, who writes over his door, "Carver and Gilder," seldom has any practical knowledge of carving. For every thing in this line of work, he is dependent on the carver, who commonly pursues his business in a private way.

2. The operation of gilding, as performed by those whose business is now under consideration, is executed chiefly on wood. It is employed most frequently for picture and looking-glass frames, and for upholstery fixtures. It is a mechanical process, and consists in applying gold-leaf to surfaces, in such a manner as to adhere with tenacity.

3. Before the application of the metal, a tedious process must be performed, by way of preparation. The surface to be gilded is successively covered with from five to seven coats of glutinous size, made by boiling scraps of parchment in water, with the addition of a little whiting. The average thickness of the coat thus produced, is about one-sixteenth of an inch.

4. The surface is next rubbed with freestone and pumice stone, of a shape corresponding with the pattern of the frame, while a small quantity of water is occasionally applied, to increase their effects. After this, the sizing is rendered still smoother, by friction with sand-paper. This surface is then covered with three coats of _burnished gold size_, which is composed of English pipe clay, venison suet, and French bole, or red chalk, mixed in a suitable quantity of weak parchment size. The preparation is completed by rubbing the surface with worn sand-paper, by washing it in water with a sponge, and by rubbing it with a piece of cloth.

5. The leaf is laid on with a broad, but thin brush, called a _tip_. Before the gold is applied, however, the surface is well wet with alcohol and water. When dry, the parts designed to be bright, are burnished with a polished agate or flint. In the best kind of work, a second coat of the leaf is required. In gilding irregular surfaces, such as the ornaments at the corners of frames, a size made of linseed-oil, white lead, yellow ochre, and japan, is laid on a few hours before the application of the leaf. This is called _gilding in oil_.

6. The ornaments on the frames are cast in moulds, and are made of a composition of glue, whiting, rosin, turpentine, and Burgundy pitch. The moulds are taken from patterns, originally executed by the carver.

THE COOPER.

1. The cooper manufactures casks, tubs, pails, and various other articles for domestic use, as well as vessels for containing all kinds of liquids and merchandise of a dry nature. He also applies hoops to boxes which are to be transported, with their valuable contents, to a distance from the cities.

2. The productions of this art being of prime necessity, the trade must have been exercised at a very early period. Roman writers on rural economy speak of the existence of its productions more than two thousand years ago; nevertheless they are still unknown in some countries, and there the inhabitants keep or carry liquids in skins daubed over with pitch.

3. Bottles of this kind were used, more or less, in all parts of the Roman empire, in the days of our Savior; and to such he alluded, when speaking of putting new wine into old bottles. Earthen vessels of various dimensions, were also in extensive use at the same time. The custom of keeping wine in such vessels, is still common in the southern parts of Europe. Pliny accords to the Piedmontese the merit of introducing casks. In his time, they were daubed with pitch.

4. Cedar and oak are the woods chiefly employed as materials in this business; and the persons who carry it on, as well as journeymen, confine their attention to the production of wares from one or the other of these woods; hence the division of the workmen into _cedar coopers_ and _oak coopers_.

5. It is not always the case, however, that every cooper executes all kinds of work belonging to either one of these divisions of the trade; but this is not because there is any peculiar difficulty attending any part of the business, but because some particular kind of coopering is required in preference to others; for example, in some places, flour barrels are the casks most needed; in others, those for sugar, tobacco, pearlash, or some kind of spirits.

6. In illustrating the general operations of this business, we will describe the process of making a tub. The timber is first cut to the proper length with the kind of saw used in the cities for cutting fire-wood. It is next split into pieces with a _frow_, the curvature of which corresponds, at least with some degree of exactness, to that of the proposed vessel. The several pieces are then shaved on the edges with a straight _drawing-knife_, on the inside with one of a concave form, and on the outside with one of corresponding convexity.

7. After this, they are jointed on a long plane, which is placed with its face upwards, in an inclined position. The workman is guided in giving the proper angle to the surface cut with the plane, by a wooden gauge of peculiar form. The staves, having been thus prepared, are set up in a _truss-hoop_; and after this has been driven down, one or two others which are to remain are put on. The outside is then made smooth with a convex drawing-knife, and the inside with a smoothing-plane, the edge of which is circular, to correspond with the form of the surface. The inside of small wooden vessels is generally made smooth with a crooked drawing-knife.

8. The staves are now sawn off to a uniform length at the bottom, and a groove is cut for the insertion of the bottom. The latter operation is performed by means of a cutting instrument fixed in a kind of gauge. The several pieces to compose the bottom are brought to the proper form and smoothness with a straight drawing-knife; and, having been slightly fastened together by wooden pins, the whole, as one piece, is inserted in its proper place by driving it down from the top on the inside. The whole process is finished by driving on the hoops, and making the holes in the handles.

9. The cedar employed in this business is a considerable tree, which grows in various parts of the world, but especially in the United States, where it occupies large tracts called _cedar_ or _cypress swamps_. The wood is soft, smooth, and of an aromatic smell. It is likewise much used for shingles. The Dismal Swamp, lying in Virginia and North Carolina, contains an abundance of this kind of timber.

10. The operations in oak vary from those in cedar so far as to conform to the nature of the material, and the form of the vessels manufactured. In bringing the staves to the proper form, the workman is guided altogether by the eye; and, if they must be bent, they require to be heated. The fire for this purpose is made of shavings and chips in a small furnace of sheet iron, called a _crusset_. The hoops, both for cedar and oak wares, are made of thin strips of iron, or of small oak, hickory, ash, or cedar saplings. Within a few years, several machines have been invented, for getting out staves, and for bringing them to the proper form, as well as for performing several other parts of the cooper's operations.

11. The coopers in England derive a great deal of their employment from the West India trade. Barrels, puncheons, and hogsheads, are carried out of the country filled with dry goods, and are returned filled with rum and sugar. In the United States, much work of this kind is done for the same market; but then the staves and heads are only fitted and marked here, to be afterwards put together in the West Indies.

THE WHEELWRIGHT.

1. The artisan who makes the wood-work of common wheel carriages, or the wheels of coaches, is denominated a wheelwright; but, under this head, we propose to include whatever we may say on constructing and finishing wheel carriages in general.

2. It must be evident, even to a superficial observer, that this business, in its different branches, occupies a large space in our domestic industry, since almost every farmer in the country owns a vehicle of some sort, and since the streets of our busy cities and towns exhibit, during a great part of the day, scenes of bustle occasioned, in a great measure, by the passing and repassing of carriages of different kinds.

3. The principal kinds of wheel carriages made in this country, are the cart, the wagon, the gig, and the coach; and of each of these there are various sorts, differing in strength and mode of construction, to suit the particular purposes to which they are to be applied. The business of making these vehicles is divided into a number of branches; but, as the manufacture of the coach embraces a greater variety of operations than any other species of carriage, we have selected it as affording the best means of explaining the operations of the whole business.

4. In large establishments for making coaches and other vehicles of the best workmanship, the operators confine their attention to the execution of particular parts of the work; for example, one man makes the wheels, another the carriage and body, another fashions and applies the iron, another does the painting and polishing, and another the trimming. In smaller establishments, a greater proportion of the work is executed by one person.

5. The wheels of the coach, as well as those of every other vehicle in which they are used, are composed of a _hub_, and several _spokes_, and _felloes_. The hubs are commonly made of a kind of tough wood, called _gum_, which is reduced to the desired form in the lathe. The hole through the centre is made with a common auger, and enlarged with one tapering towards the point, and having through its whole length two cutting edges. The mortices for the spokes are made with a chisel driven with a mallet.

6. The spokes are made of white oak, and the felloes, of ash or hickory; and both are brought to the required form and smoothness with the saw, axe, drawing-knife, spoke-shave, chisel, and sand-paper. The constituent parts of the _carriage_, or _running gears_, are the _axles_, _perch_, and _spring_-_beds_, or _bolsters_, to which are added the _tongue_, or _pole_, and some other parts connected with it.

7. The joints in this part of the vehicle are made perfectly tight by the application of putty; whereas, in the body, glue is used for this purpose. The latter substance will not answer in the former case, since it cannot bear exposure to water. The wood generally employed for the carriage part, as well as for the frame of the body, is ash; and the several parts are sawn from planks of suitable thickness. In this part of the work, the operator is guided by patterns made of thin pine boards. The panels of the body are made of thin boards of poplar or bass-wood. The manner in which the several parts are dressed and put together is too obvious to need description.

8. The wheels and the carriage, after having received one coat of paint, are sent to the blacksmith to be ironed. The hub is bound, at each end with hoops of iron, commonly plated with brass or silver, and the outside rim or felloes are bound with an iron _tire_, and fastened with strong nails or spikes. The tires are made red-hot before they are applied, that they may be made to fit in every part with accuracy.

9. Bands, bolts, or strips of iron, are applied to those parts of the wood-work which may be exposed to friction, or which require additional strength. The axles are also made of wrought iron, either by the blacksmith who executes the other iron work, or by persons who manufacture them by the quantity for sale. The same remark is applicable to the _thorough-boxes_, which are inserted into the hub to prevent injury by friction, and to cause the wheel to revolve with freedom and accuracy.

10. The painting, varnishing, and polishing, of the body of the coach, when done in the best manner, comprise a tedious process. It is first covered with a coat of paint; the grain of the wood is then filled up with putty, and the surface is again covered with paint. Five coats of _filling_, composed of ochre, japan varnish, and spirits of turpentine, are next successively applied. After the surface has been rubbed with a solid piece of pumice-stone, it is again painted, and rubbed with sand-paper. Several coats of paint are next laid on, and the work is finished by the application of a few coats of copal-varnish, and by the use of pumice-stone. The painting and varnishing of the wheels and carriage part, is far less expensive and tedious.

11. The nature of the trimmings, and the manner in which they are put together and applied, need not be described, since a few moments' inspection of a finished vehicle of this kind, will give any one a clear conception of the whole of this branch of the business. So far as trimming the inside, and the manufacture of cushions are concerned, the operations are similar to those of the upholsterer.

12. Wheel carriages may be classed among the primitive inventions, although the first authentic notice we have of their use, we find in the scripture history of Joseph, the son of Jacob, in which it is related, that this great and good man "was made to ride in the second chariot" of the king's, and that he sent wagons from Egypt to convey thither his father and family from the land of Canaan.

13. Covered wagons were used in the days of Moses; and the wandering Scythians, in the time of the Romans, had them covered with leather. The seat for the driver is said to have been invented by Oxylus, an Ætolian, who took possession of the kingdom of Elis, about 1100 years before Christ. Many of the nations of antiquity used chariots in the field of battle, and the axles were sometimes armed with scythes or some other sharp cutting instruments. Two persons commonly occupied one vehicle, one of whom drove the horses, and the other fought the enemy. The inhabitants of the promised land fought in chariots, even before the settlement of the people of Israel in that country; and the Greeks likewise employed them, for warlike purposes, at the siege of Troy.

14. The carriages used by the Romans were of various kinds, some of which were carried on the shoulders of men, and others, having two or four wheels, were drawn by horses, asses, mules, or oxen. Nevertheless, neither they, nor any other nation of antiquity, ever suspended the body of any carriage on leathers, or supported it on springs; and the use of almost every species of vehicle for the conveyance of persons, was banished by the policy of the barbarous nations that afterwards became masters of civilized Europe, the feudal lords conceiving it important, that their military vassals should serve them on horseback.

15. Even as late as the sixteenth century, ministers rode to court, and magistrates of imperial cities to council, on the back of this animal; and, in the same manner, kings and lords made their public entry on the most solemn occasions. In accounts of papal ceremonies which occurred during several centuries, we find no mention of a state-coach; but, instead of it, state-horses or state-mules. The horse for his holiness was required to be a gentle and tractable nag, of a gray color; and a stool with three steps was necessary to aid him in mounting. The emperor or kings, if present, held his stirrup, and led his beast. Bishops also made their public entrance on horses or asses richly decorated.

16. Covered carriages, however, were known in the principal states of Europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; but they were at first used only by women of rank, since the men thought it disgraceful to ride in them. At this period, when the electors of the German empire did not choose to be present at the meetings of the states, they excused themselves to the emperor by stating that their health would not permit them to ride on horseback, and it was not becoming for them to ride like women.

17. But, for a long time, the use of carriages was forbidden even to women; and, as late as the year 1545, the wife of a certain duke obtained from him, with great difficulty, the privilege of using a covered carriage in a journey to the baths. The permission was granted on the condition that her attendants should not enjoy the same favor. Nevertheless, it is certain that emperors, kings, and princes, began to employ covered carriages on journeys, in the fifteenth century; and a few instances occur of their use in public solemnities. Ambassadors appeared, for the first time, in coaches, at a public solemnity, in 1613, at Erfurth.

18. In the history of France, we find many proofs, that, in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries, the French monarchs commonly rode on horses, the servants of the court on mules, and the princesses, together with the principal ladies, sometimes at least, on asses. Carriages of some sort, however, appear to have been used at a very early period there. An ordinance of Philip the Fair, issued in 1294, forbids their use by the wives of citizens.

19. In the year 1550, three coaches were introduced into Paris; one of which belonged to the queen, another to Diana de Poictiers, and the third to Raimond de Laval, a cavalier of the court of Francis I., who was so large that no horse could carry him. It is not certain, however, that the body of these vehicles were suspended on leather straps. The inventor of this material improvement cannot be ascertained, nor is it positively determined, that it had been made, until about the middle of the seventeenth century.

20. Coaches were introduced into Spain and Portugal, in the year 1546, and into Sweden near the close of the same century. In the capital of Russia, there were elegant coaches as early as the beginning of the seventeenth century. In Switzerland, they were rare, as late as 1650. Carriages began to be used at Naples in the thirteenth century; from this place they spread all over Italy; and here, also, glass panels originated.

21. Carriages of some sort were used in England at a very early period, and those first employed by the ladies, were called _whirlicoats_. According to some authors, coaches were introduced in the year 1555; but, according to others, not until twenty-five years after this period. Before the latter date, Queen Elizabeth, on public occasions, rode on the same horse with her chamberlain, seated behind him on a pillion; although, in the early part of her reign, she owned a chariot.

22. In 1601, men were forbidden the use of the coach by act of Parliament, the legislators supposing such indulgence to be too effeminate; but this law seems to have been little regarded, as this vehicle was in common use, about the year 1605. Twenty years after this time, hackney coaches began to ply in London; but these were prohibited, in 1635, on the alleged ground that the support of so many horses increased the expense of keeping those belonging to the king. Two years after this, however, fifty coaches were licensed, and, in 1770, there were one thousand.

23. The stage-coach was first employed in France, and was introduced into England, near the middle of the eighteenth century, by Jethro Tull, the celebrated agriculturist. They were not employed, in any country, in the transportation of the mail, until the year 1784. Before this time, it was carried chiefly on horseback.

24. In the United States, the manufacture of carriages of every kind has greatly increased within a few years, and those lately made exhibit many improvements on those of former periods. The places which seem to be most distinguished for the manufacture of good carriages, in this country, are Philadelphia, Newark, and Troy.

THE POTTER.

1. The artisan called the potter converts plastic materials into hard and brittle vessels of various kinds, denominated, in general terms, _earthen ware_.

2. Alumine is the basis of all clays, and is the only earth that possesses the degree of plasticity which renders the operations of the potter practicable. It is, however, never found or used in a pure state, but in combination with other substances, particularly with silex, lime, magnesia, and the oxyde of iron.

3. In the manufacture of vessels from argillaceous compounds, the different degrees of beauty and costliness depend upon the quality of the raw materials, and the labor and skill expended in the operation. The various productions of the pottery may be classed under the following denominations--common earthen ware, white earthen ware, stone ware, and porcelain; but of each of these there are many varieties.

4. _Common earthen ware._--This ware is made of a kind of clay very generally diffused over the earth, and which is essentially the same with that employed in making bricks. The potters are often supplied with this material by the brickmakers, who select for them that which is too tenacious, or _fat_, for their own purpose. All common clays contain more or less of the oxyde of iron, which causes the wares made of them to turn red in burning.

5. In preparing the clay for use, the potter adds to it, when necessary, a portion of fine loam, in order to lessen its tenacity, and to prevent the vessels to be made of it from cracking, while undergoing the fire. When the materials have been mixed, and partially incorporated with water, the mass is thrown into a tub, fixed in the ground about one-half of its depth. In the centre of this tub, is placed a shaft, in a perpendicular position, from which radiate, in a horizontal direction, a number of knives or cutters.

6. This machine is put in motion by horse-power, and by it the clay is repeatedly cut, and properly kneaded. The workman then cuts it into thin slices with a small wire, and, having rejected all matters not fit for his purpose, he further kneads it with his hands, and forms it into lumps, corresponding in amount of matter with the different vessels which he proposes to make.

7. For the best kinds of this ware, the same species of clay is used; but then it is differently prepared. It is first dissolved in water; and, when the coarser particles have settled to the bottom of the vessel, the fluid suspending the rest is drawn off, and made to pass through a sieve into a reservoir. After the particles of the material have precipitated, the water is drawn off, and the residuum is thrown upon a large flat pan or reservoir made of bricks, where the mass is freed from its superfluous moisture by evaporation in the air, or by means of artificial heat applied beneath. It is then laid by in a damp place, for future use.