Material: Heavy copper, No. 8 gauge, 10 inches long by 11⁄4 inches wide.
Tools: Drill press and drills, jewellers' saw frame, cold chisel, files, vise, emery cloth, few wire nails (1⁄2 in.) two blocks of hard wood, one, 10 × 11⁄4 × 11⁄4 ins., and the other, 6 × 2 × 1⁄2 ins.
Cut out the design and paste it on the copper plate. If our shears could cut copper as heavy as this we would have little trouble to cut our design out. But the shears can't do this work, so we have to put the copper into the vise and cut the design out with a cold chisel and hammer. Place the copper into the vise with the line of design to be cut flush with the top of the vise. With hammer and chisel, cut along this line. The back part of the vise will act as a shear and help in the cutting and will prevent the copper breaking away and leaving the edge rough. When this is done, place the paper knife in the vise and file all the edges smooth. Now that it's cut out and smoothed up we are ready to saw out the design in the handle. To do this drill holes in the design as a starting point for the sawing. Take the drill press and put a 1⁄16-in. drill into the chuck. Drill a hole in any part of the design. Take the jewellers' saw frame and fasten one end of the small saw into one of the legs of the frame; push the loose end through the hole made by the drill. Fasten the loose end to the other leg of the saw frame so the saw is fairly tight. In order to saw properly, we must have something to support the piece while we are working on it. This is best done by taking a block of wood 6 × 2 × 1⁄2 ins. and cutting out a V-shaped notch in one end. Place this in the vise, or nail one end of it to a bench so that the V-shaped end will extend over the bench or vise to be free to work upon. Put the handle to be sawed out on this block so that it will be supported on both sides of the parts to be sawed out (see sketch of work in vise). The saw will play freely up and down in the notch. All sawed work is done in the same way.
To file the edges sharp: Take your hard wood block, 10 × 11⁄4 × 11⁄2 ins.; fasten the cutter down tight by driving two short wire nails half their length into the wood at each end of the cutter. Place the cutter between these nails, bend the ends over, and fasten down (see sketch). Place all into the vise jaw and tighten it up. With a rough flat file, file the edges down, working from the centre line both ways. When one side is filed about half the thickness of the copper, bend the nails, take off the cutter. Reverse it, put it back, and file as before. Do this until the edges become sharp.
To finish this piece of work as it should be done, we must do some draw filing. The draw filing is done in this way: Take hold of both ends of the flat file, the handle in one hand and the end of the file in the other. Stand lengthwise of the piece. Place the file flat down on the blade with the teeth of the file pointing in the same direction as the blade. Push it from you and pull it toward you, at the same time pressing down on the blade. This is draw filing and it is the only way to make a piece of metal true, and free from the marks of the cross filing which was done in the beginning. Repeat this on the other side until the whole paper cutter including the handle is smooth. Wrap a piece of emery cloth around a block and rub all over the surface. Polish and finish as before described.
A very beautiful nut set consisting of a bowl, four plates, and a nut spoon or a shovel, can be made out of copper. One uses the same tools to make this set as were used for the copper bowl, and the work of making it is done in much the same way.
Material: 9-in. disc of No. 20 copper (bowl). Four 5-in. discs (for plates). Piece of copper 2 × 3 ins. (No. 8).
Take the 9-in. disc and hammer it into the desired bowl shape, on the hard wood block. The plate should be hammered up in the same way, keeping the depression in the centre of the plates about 1⁄2 in. deep. A very beautiful finish can be made on these bowls and plates by the use of the round end of the raising hammer and a flat-iron. Place the handle of the iron between your knees, face up. Put the bowl or plate, face up on the flat-iron and go over every part with the rounded end of the hammer. This produces a surface covered with oval facets, giving a mottled effect. The edges of the bowl and plates may be left straight or they may be rounded, according to the design.
Draw the design on paper. Cut the design out and paste it on the copper. This piece of No. 8 copper is too heavy to be cut with the shears, so it must be placed in the vise. See that the outline is even with the top of the vise jaws. With the cold chisel and hammer cut along the top of the vise as you did when making the paper knife. Now you have a shovel-shaped metal of the same thickness all over. Where the handle joins the bowl the metal should be left thicker than in any other place, otherwise the spoon will bend in the using. To thin out the metal of the bowl, hammer it. Begin where the handle joins the bowl and thin out to the edge. The handle is shaped by working from the bowl out toward the handle end, constantly widening and flattening it. Cut off the surplus metal, keeping to the original design. The handle may be left plain or some simple sawed out design may be put on. File up, rounding the edges off so that the spoon feels smooth and is comfortable to handle. Place the whole on a hard wood block and beat the bowl and handle into shape. Many nut spoons have designs sawed out in the bowl to lighten the weight.
Soldering is a process of joining two metals together. It is not hard to learn to do. If you are careful when you do the work to have the materials to be used perfectly clean, you may be sure of success, for, after all, it's one of the easiest and simplest of all the operations done with metals.
Material: 1. Borax: bought in lumps, wrapped in tin foil, or pulverized.
2. Borax slate: a square piece of slate with a small depression in one side. Any piece of clean slate will do. This is used to grind the lump borax, or to mix the pulverized borax to a pasty condition on.
3. Solder: silver solder, sometimes called hard solder. It can be bought by the sheet in large or small quantities. Bunsen burner, or either one of the following: blowpipe and foot bellows with gas flame, a blacksmiths' fire with coke or charcoal.
Directions: The parts of the metals to be joined should, first of all, be scraped or filed bright. This prepares them best for the solder. Take a lump of borax, grind it up and mix with a little water, on the slate, until it is like a paste. Take a sheet of silver solder, cut a number of slits lengthwise down the sheet and then cut them crosswise. You will have a number of pieces about 1⁄16 in. square. These bits are dropped into the borax solution until they are completely covered with the paste. With a camels' hair brush, wash the edges of the metal to be joined, with the solution of the borax. Tie the pieces together with an iron binding wire, taking care to have the edges to be joined close together and in the proper position. If you don't, the solder will not fill up all the openings and cracks, and parts will be left unsoldered. Now, wash all around the joint with the borax solution. Place bits of solder at intervals along the joint, fairly close. Warm the work gently in the flame. This drives off the water in the borax solution. When the borax is quite dry in the joint direct a stronger flame over the whole work. Heat it gradually, but be careful that no part of the metal, except that around the joint, becomes red-hot, and that both sides of the joint get red-hot at the same time. If you don't guard this, the solder will climb to the hotter side and leave the other, and the edges will not unite. Cool it off in water and file the joint perfectly smooth.
For mending teakettles, tin cans, tin cups, or anything made of tin, galvanized iron, or lead.
Material: Lead solder, comes in small bars. Flux (1.) Resin and sweet oil. (2.) Muriatic acid. (3.) Tallow candle.
Tool: Soldering iron (can be made out of a piece of half-inch round copper.)
How to solder: Soft solder is a mixture of tin and lead in even proportions. This solder melts at a very low temperature. That is why we can do the work with the soldering iron. I find I can solder many things at home with the soft solder, and I'm going to tell you how I mended a leak in the teakettle the other day. First, I took a pocket knife and cleaned all around the hole or leak, scraping the dirt off both inside and out. Then I mashed a little resin up fine and mixed a little sweet oil with it. Then I washed inside and outside of this leak with the mixture. After heating my soldering iron in a stove (any kind of fire will do) I took a bar of solder, held it over the leak, and melted off a bit with the hot iron. You can make the solder flow over the leak by pressing the iron right on the hole. You see, the heat of the iron melts the solder and at the same time it heats the tin hot enough to make the solder cling to it. Before the part got cold I rubbed off the oil and resin with a woollen cloth. This left the work nicely cleaned. You can mend any leak in anything made of tin, in this way.
Galvanized iron utensils are soldered in exactly the same way, but you must use muriatic acid in place of the resin and sweet oil. But if you wish to solder anything made of lead or pewter a tallow candle is rubbed over the place to be mended, instead of resin and sweet oil or muriatic acid. In every other way the work is just the same. But lead, you know, melts at a very low temperature, so you must be careful when working on it that your soldering iron is just hot enough to melt the solder and not hot enough to melt the lead. And now I am going to tell you how you can make your own soldering iron out of copper.
Material: A piece of 1⁄2-in. round copper, 3 ins. long, a piece of No. 8 wire, 18 ins. long, or a piece of light telephone or telegraph wire will do. Some soft solder. Resin and sweet oil. Small piece of clean tin. Manufactured fluid for soldering (used sometimes in place of muriatic acid).
Tools: Punch, vise, file, hammer.
Place the end of the copper rod in the fire and heat it red-hot. Take it out of the fire and punch a hole about 1⁄2 in. from the end of the rod, large enough to allow the No. 8 wire to go through. Push the wire through this hole until half is on one side and half is on the other. Bend the wire close up to the sides to form the handle. In order to make this rigid, place the rod into the jaws of the vise and pinch the wire into the copper rod. This prevents any swinging motion. Take hold of both ends of the wire with the pincers and twist them close to the copper rod. This makes a good handle. Heat the copper end of the rod red-hot, and with a hammer flatten it to a four-sided tapering end about one inch long and ending in a blunt point. (See picture.) Cool off in water and file the end of soldering iron smooth.
Now it must be tinned. On your piece of tin place some soft solder, oil, and resin. Heat the soldering iron hot enough to melt the solder, rubbing it up and down on the tin, mixing all together. Do this on all four sides, and in a little while you'll find the solder has covered the end of the soldering iron. When this is done the iron is ready to be used.
There are many forms of candle holders. Perhaps the one we are all most familiar with is the candlestick. Before the days of lamps and electricity the candle was everywhere. Many different designs of candlesticks have come down to us. Some were large, some small, some plain, while others were highly decorated. But however much the designs vary, there are many points that all have in common. There is the base, large or small, and a cylindrical shaft which rises from the centre of the base. This holds the candle. The drip pan is fastened to this shaft close to the top. It catches the wax as the candle melts. Handles are sometimes soldered on, and sometimes the candlestick is made without one. They are attached to the rim or to the shaft.
Material: Disc of copper, No. 20, 5 ins. in diameter. One piece 3 × 21⁄2 ins., No. 20, (for stem). Disc, 2 ins. in diameter (drip pan). One piece, 3⁄4 × 6 ins. long, No. 16, (for handle).
Tools: Hard wood block, raising hammer, smooth file, dividers, saw, round wood peg, 3⁄4 × 6 ins.
Directions: Beat the copper disc into a saucer shape, for the base. Take the sheet of copper for the stem, fold it around the wooden peg till the edges come together. Scrape and solder the joint with silver solder.
Drip pan: Take the small disc; with the raising hammer, curve it slightly to make a drip pan. With the dividers, describe a circle 3⁄4 in. in diameter in the centre of the drip pan. Cut out this centre circle and make it fit tightly on the stem. Push it down about one inch, scrape the stem, and solder the drip pan to it.
Handle: A strip of copper 3⁄4 × 6 in. long. Cut a tapering slip off each side so that one end will measure 3⁄4 in. and the other 1⁄2 in. Shape with the fingers over the round peg (place the peg in the vise to do this) until you have the shape you wish (see design). The wide end of the handle should fit down on the outside of the rounding part of the base, and the other end against the stem under the drip pan. Bore a hole in each end and rivet the handle in place. If a round handle is desired, take a strip of copper 3⁄4 in. wide and 11⁄2 ins. long, shape round with the fingers. Scrape and solder at the joints, and then solder on the edge of the base. Place and finish up each part as described. This candle design can be greatly varied. It can be made taller, shorter, with various kinds of handles, or with no handle at all.
This kind of candle holder, or night light, is made to hold a short, thick candle about 2 ins. in diameter, which will burn from 6 to 10 hours. A round base supports the candle, and a shade with a handle on the back is fastened to the base. It can be adjusted so that the candle burns freely all night, while the shade protects the eyes from the light. Nothing is more convenient than one of these holders, for summer homes or for camping.
Material: Brass, No. 24, 31⁄2 × 4 ins. for reflector. 61⁄4 × 7⁄8 ins. for cylinder. 2-in. disc for base. No. 20, 6 × 1⁄4 ins. for handle.
Directions: Picture shows a small night candle made of brass. Cut out a 2-in. disc. Bend the 61⁄4 × 7⁄8-in. strip to fit it. Solder the two ends of the ring and make it perfectly round. Be careful when rounding it up not to stretch it larger than the disc. Push disc into the ring flush with the bottom. Solder the bottom into the ring. Draw the outline of the reflector on the 31⁄2 × 4-in. piece and cut away the corners. Bend it to fit the holder. It should cover about one half of the circle. Solder the reflector on. Soft solder is strong enough for this work. Now bend the handle piece according to the sketch. Rivet or solder it to the back of the reflector. Polish and finish.
The ordinary tallow or wax candle is used in this night candle holder. You will notice from the sketch that the general style is much like that of the small holder. However, in this design, a small cup or stand to fit the candle is soldered on to the base, a little toward the front.
Material: No. 24 brass—A 4-in. disc. 12 × 1⁄2 ins., for band to go around the disc. Reflector, 7 × 7 ins. Cup, 7⁄8 × 23⁄4 ins., and handle piece, 6 × 1⁄4 in.
The reflectors are sometimes left plain, though the facets made by a flat placed hammer reflect the light when the candles are lighted and soften the light by day. The greater the reflecting power of the surface, the better is the effect. If each part is carefully filed and finished before they are all put together there will be nothing but the polishing needed.
The sconce is a candle holder made to fasten upon any wall. It is both useful and decorative. Some are made to hold but one candle; they can be made, however, for two, three, or four candles. All sconces should have a reflector, a bowl, shaft, and drip pan. But the designs vary to suit the individual taste and surroundings. The design given here is a very simple one and one that works out well in copper or brass.
Material: One piece of No. 20 copper, 10 × 31⁄4 ins., for the reflector. One piece of No. 20, 21⁄2 × 1 in., for candle socket. One piece of No. 20 copper, 11⁄2-in. disc. One piece of 1⁄4-in. round copper 4 ins. long.
Directions: Make a drawing like sketch shown here. Place this drawing upon the 10 × 31⁄4-in. sheet of copper and cut the metal to fit the outline. Mark on this sheet of metal the embossed line shown in the sketch. Place the sheet of the copper on the hard wood block and with a chasing tool placed on the line, strike with the planishing hammer on the end of the chasing tool. This, in turn, will drive the metal into the wood. Repeat this till the outline stands out above the face of the reflector about 1⁄32 in. If this is done carefully the raised part will be a true smooth line. The same tool will widen the line any width desired. Cut into a wood block a form like the impression you see back of the candle. Place the sconce over this impression and with a wooden peg drive the metal into it. The dotted line on the sketch will show how deep this should be. Drive out any buckles that may have formed during the working of the metal. This is done by placing the sconce face down on the bench and striking down on the raised parts until it lies flat.
Candle holder: Bend the stock for the holder around a 3⁄4-in. mandrel or wood peg till the two ends meet. Clean and solder these ends. Cut a 3⁄4-in. disc to fit the inside of this and solder in. Place this on the 11⁄2-in. disc and drill a hole through the centre of both.
Bracket for candle: Take the 1⁄4-in. round stock. Put it in the vise with one end projecting above, about 1⁄2 in. Drive down on this end, at the same time bend it as shown in the drawing. File the end flat. Cut a piece of No. 20 copper 1⁄2 in. × 3⁄8 in. and solder it on the end just filed. This plate is drilled with two 1⁄8-in. holes, and filed around. Bend the shape as shown in the drawing and on the other end file a shoulder and 1⁄8-in. pin. This is now placed through the hole of the disc and the candle holder, and both riveted to the bracket. The bracket now is placed on the bottom of the sconce (see drawing), and riveted on. The whole sconce may now be nailed with round head nails to a flat 1⁄4-in. board to give weight, or there may be riveted to the back, angles made of No. 20 metal, 5⁄8 in. wide and bent 3⁄8 in. one way and 1⁄4 in. the other way. These angle pieces are riveted on the sides and on the two ends.
Rivets add much to the decoration of the work if they are placed at intervals and properly spaced. They make a nice finish. A hole can be drilled at the top of the reflector, to hang it upon the wall.
Material: One piece of copper, No. 20, 7 × 7 ins. One piece 4 × 4 ins. (for lid). One piece 3⁄8 in. wide and long enough to go around the opening of the vase or jar.
Tools: Round stake, anvil stake, driving and planishing hammers, dividers, and shears.
Design: Vase, having a base 21⁄2 ins. in diameter, height 3 ins., 31⁄2-in. opening at the top, and lid to fit. The full height of the vase is 41⁄2 ins.
Directions: Take the 7 × 7-in. piece of copper and draw a 7-in. circle. With the dividers set 11⁄4 in., using the same centre, describe a circle. This outlines the 21⁄2-in. circle for the base. Drive up this disc as you did the one for the copper bowl on the wood block, making it as deep as possible. In the same way as you flattened the bottom of the copper bowl, flatten the bottom of this piece of work. Place the bowl over the round head stake. With your hammer drive on the outside. This driving with the hammer on the outside decreases the diameter and increases the length. You will remember that the copper bowl was driven up almost entirely by the use of the raising hammer on the inside and finished by work on the outside with the planishing hammer. This vase or jar calls for the shaping hammer. The vase is placed over the round stake and driven into shape by work on the outside with the shaping hammer. When the rough bowl shape is on the round head stake, drive the sides straight, beginning the strokes at the line of the base circle. Repeat till the sides begin to straighten and take the shape of the design. Take it off the round stake and place it on the anvil stake.
When the sides are symmetrical, mark with lead-pencil a line 3⁄4 of an inch from the top. Work the copper above this line, over toward the centre, until the opening of the vase is about 31⁄2 ins. in diameter. Smooth the work up with a planishing hammer. If the hammer marks made by driving the bowl into shape are carefully done they leave a very beautiful mottled surface of themselves.
To make the rim for the lid to rest upon: Take the 3⁄8-in. strip of metal. Bend it into a circle small enough to fit on the opening left at the top of the vase. Be careful to have this just to fit, otherwise much filing will have to be done, and in this position filing is almost impossible. Cut it the right length, scrape both ends, and solder. Make it perfectly level so that it lies flat when placed upon the bench. Test it by placing it upon the top of the vase. File the top flat, bind the rim in place. Wash, then place bits of solder all around it and heat it until the solder runs. Cool off in water, file off all rough edges left by the solder, clean and polish.
Lid: Take the 4 × 4-in. piece. Cut a 4-in. circle. Place the bowl upside down upon this disc, draw with a pencil all around the rim on this copper plate. This marks the diameter of the rim on the plate, also the line where the copper should be bent to form the lid to fit the rim.
With the anvil stake in the vise, place the disc against the sharp end of the stake, with the line on the edge. Drive with the raising hammer against the part projecting above the stake. Turn the disc, keeping the circle line on the sharp edge of the stake. Repeat this till the sides are at right angles to the top. Place the lid upside down on a wooden block, drive on the inside, shaping it like the drawing. Make it fit the rim, trim off the rough edges, file up smooth, and polish.
Do not forget constant annealing, for you know hammering always makes the metal hard.
Material: 3 pieces of copper, 6 × 6 ins., No. 20. One piece of round rod copper, 1 in. long. One piece of copper, 12 × 1⁄4 ins. (for rim). Solder.
Tools: Hard wood block, round head and anvil stakes, combination stake, shears, dividers, planishing hammer, raising hammer, and shaping hammer, files, emery cloth.
Parts: Bowl, stem, base, lid, ornamental top of the lid.
Directions: Make a working drawing (full size) on drawing paper, plan and elevation.
Bowl: Take the 6 × 6-in. piece of copper. Cut out a 6-in. disc. Drive the bowl up as you did the copper bowl. It should be the same shape as the copper bowl. Do not flatten the bottom. The drawing shows that the bottom should be rounding, to fit the stem.
Stem and base: Take another piece of 6 × 6-in. copper. Cut 6-in. disc. With the dividers make a 1-in. circle in the centre of the disc. This inner circle must be beaten up until it becomes the stem. To do this place the disc on the round top stake, with the marked circle touching the edge of the round top. Strike with the raising hammer just above the circle line, turning the disc each time. When you have made one turn of the disc, repeat this twice, hammering just above the part driven up before. Keep repeating this until you have reached within an inch and a half of the outer edge of the disc.
The drawings numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, show the steps in the working up of the copper disc into the stem.
You now have a bell-shaped piece. Anneal the metal and repeat the hammering, beginning at the same place and working up to the same place as before. Anneal whenever the metal seems springy and keep working until the stem is tapered about 3⁄4 in. at the small end, gradually widening into the vase. Place the bell-like stem on the table and flatten it so that it lies perfectly smooth, with the stem perpendicular to the base. Find the centre of the bowl, describe a 3⁄4-in. circle. Scrape both the circle and the small end of the stem. Turn the bowl upside down, place the stem end of the base on the bowl, and solder in the usual way.
To make the lid: Take the 6 × 6-in. piece. Cut a 6-in. disc. Find the centre. Drive the centre down by using the small end of the planishing hammer. This makes a cone-shaped centre, with the sides gradually widening to the edge of the lid. The highest point of the cone is one inch above the level of the lid. Place the lid on the table and tap gently on the outside until it lies flat. Take the small 3⁄8-in. piece of round rod, file a small shaped ornament (to taste) on one end of the rod and a shoulder on the other end. Drill a hole in the cone-shaped part of the lid, push the rod 1⁄8 in. through this hole and rivet it on the inside.
Rim: Strip of copper, 12 × 1⁄4 ins. Bend it into a circle just to fit the outside of the lid. Cut off the proper length and solder. Make it perfectly round and perfectly flat. Place the lid on the chalice bowl so that it overlaps a little all around, evenly. Draw a pencil line all around the edge of the bowl on the under side of the lid. This is where the rim is to go. Before soldering, test, by placing the rim on the face of the lid. Any openings seen must be closed by pressing the rim down to the lid. Bind tightly with binding wire, scrape, and solder. File and finish.
By this time you will have many pieces of scrap copper on hand. These should be kept in a small box and used whenever suitable.
Material: A piece No. 20 gauge, 11⁄2 × 1⁄2 ins., is enough to make the head of a hat pin. The pin part must be of steel, copper is too soft. Buy any cheap hat pin in a dry goods store. (A cent apiece.) Break the glass top or black top and use the pin for the copper head.
Tools: One chasing tool, half moon; shears, dividers, planishing hammer.
Design: Hat pin with hexagonal top (6 sides) 11⁄2 ins. across. With your dividers draw a circle on the piece of copper, having a diameter of 11⁄2 in. With the radius of the circle, mark off the circumference into 6 equal parts. Draw lead-pencil lines from one point to another, just touching the circle at these points. With your shears cut along these straight lines. Now you have a 6-sided piece of copper 11⁄2 ins. across. Place this piece of copper on the flat end of the hard wood block (the grain end of the wood), and make impressions on it with the half moon tool like your designs. This tool you can make yourself. Take a piece of steel, 5⁄16 in. square or round, heat one end to a red heat and flatten it, like the flat end of a chisel. File the end just flattened blunt and rounding. This end should be hardened to prevent it from wearing rough. To do this heat it to a dark red heat and plunge it into cold water. Place your tool on the upper sides of this plate and drive it with a hammer into the copper, being careful not to drive it through into the wood. If you drive the tool through you will spoil the design and have rough edges. This makes a simple raised or embossed design and is quite easily done.
When this pattern has been stamped in, curve the piece of copper any shape you wish by placing it in the depression in the hard wood block. Place the embossed side down, and with the round end of the planishing hammer, drive with light blows so as not to flatten the design. In this way, you can shape it as you wish. The top could now be soldered right on to the pin itself, but that would not make a strong hat pin. It would be weak and too easily broken from the head. In order to have a strong hat pin we make a little mushroom shaped pin holder which is fastened on the under part of the head of the hat pin and in which the pin itself fits.
Material: Copper, No. 24, 3⁄8 in. square to make the flat disc. Copper No. 24, 3⁄8 in. length and about 5⁄16 in. wide to make the cylinder.
With a pair of dividers draw a circle 3⁄8 in. in diameter. Cut out the circle. Place this little disc on the flat end of the hard wood block and with a punch make a hole 1⁄8 in. in diameter in the middle of the disc. On the same end of the block, file (using round file) a groove right across the corner, about 1⁄8 in. deep. Place the small piece of copper (3⁄4 × 5⁄16 ins.), over the groove. Take the steel wire belonging to the hat pin and place it on top of the copper and over the groove. With the hammer, strike so as to drive the pin, and at the same time the copper, into the depression. The copper sinks into the groove and the two sides lap up on each side of the pin. Drive the two sides down until they lap around the wire, the edges meeting. This makes a copper cylinder which fits exactly around the wire of the pin. Take the cylinder off, fit it into the holes of the small disc. Wash the two pieces with a borax solution, place a little solder on, and solder the disc to the cylinder. After cooling the piece in water, shape the disc so that it fits the under side of the hat pin top. Polish the end of the wire pin with an emery cloth, also the top of the pin holder and the inside of the hat pin top. Push the wire into the little cylinder so that it comes flush with the disc.
Now the pin is all ready to solder to the head, but there is great difficulty in getting it in straight. In order to do this I make a little device out of copper, which helps me in getting things on straight. Take a piece of copper 1 in. wide and 5 ins. long. Bend each end, one 2 ins. and the other 3⁄4 in., both in the same direction at right angles. With the shears cut a V-shaped piece in the short end. This little stand is good for soldering any upright piece to a flat piece, when they should be at right angles to each other.
Place the top of the pin on the long leg of the stand and, with the pin in the slot, place in proper position and solder.
Here is a good design for a hat pin holder, a welcome addition to any dresser. The design is very simple and the holder is easily made if one follows out the directions carefully.
Material: Disc 31⁄2 ins. of No. 20 gauge, for the base. One piece of 3⁄4-in. copper tubing, 4 ins. long for the body. Solder.
Tools: Iron rod, 3⁄8-in. round, 8 ins. long. Hard wood block. Planishing hammer.
Directions: Bore a 3⁄4-in. hole one inch deep in the wooden block. Place the 31⁄2-in. disc over this hole and, with the round end of the planishing hammer, drive the centre of the disc into the hole 1⁄4 in. Be careful not to drive a hole through the copper disc. Turn the piece upside down. Place the iron rod in the vise. Put the bossed end of the disc on the end of the iron rod and flatten the boss down. Shape the base by rounding the edge down all around. See that it lies flat on the table, without rocking.
Stem: All copper tubing should be annealed before any work is done on it. After annealing, place the 3⁄8-in. rod through the hole of the tube and with the wooden mallet drive down on the tubing, beginning two inches from the end and using the hard wood block for an anvil. This constant driving and turning reduces the copper to any size required. We must make the end of this tubing fit the 3⁄8-in. rod. The tube must widen toward the other end, which is beaten out. Place it on the small end of the anvil stake. Drive with the raising hammer, turning it all the time. In this way you constantly increase the diameter, making the cup-shaped top like the design. Now the stem and base are ready for soldering. File the ends perfectly smooth and level. Bind in places and solder, as before. The filing, finishing, and polishing must be done as with other copper pieces.
Hat pin holders are usually filled with some soft material. The hat pins are pushed down into this, which helps to keep them in place. Some are covered on the top with a metal disc which has five or six holes bored through, a little larger than the bar of the hat pin. These holes are drilled into the disc and then the disc is soldered on to the top of the holder. The pins cannot fall out with such an arrangement, and they are not likely to gather on one side and tip the holder over.
Riveting is one of the processes of joining two pieces of metal together without the use of solder. To rivet, you must first punch or bore holes into the metals along the edges to be joined. Place a rivet through these holes, and either with the hand hammer or rivet set, flatten down the projecting end of the rivet, forming a head similar to the head of the rivet itself. Be careful to have the rivet holes just large enough to let the rivet slip in and leave no extra space. If the holes are too large the rivet will bend instead of flattening.