Many of the articles shown in these pages could be made of brass, bronze, copper, German silver, or similar metals, and it must not be forgotten that finish is most important, but this depends on the possession of good taste by the maker. The finish chosen must suit the object and its surroundings. The colour should be uniform and beautiful and should be consistent with the metallic character of the work. The necessary steps to be taken for preparing the work ready for colouring or finishing are numerous. Thorough cleaning is carried out in the following manner: The object should be held by a piece of copper or brass wire, or by brass tongs, etc., so that it is not stained by the hands. It is then boiled in a solution of caustic soda (1 lb. to the gallon of water) to remove all grease, dirt, or old lacquer. [N.B.-Articles of aluminium, tin, or zinc must be treated with care, as they may be partially dissolved by this liquid.] The object is then well scoured with fine wet sand and well washed in running water. It is placed in pickle to soak for one to three hours, according to the strength of the pickle. (This is spent dip with water added.) Then it is washed and scoured with sand and water, washed again in cold water then passed through boiling water. It is then run through the old dip, then through the bright dip, through three washing waters, and finally through boiling water. It is necessary that the object should be quickly dried, and this drying is done by shaking it about quickly in plenty of hot sawdust.

The above applies to all copper, brass, bronze, and similar metals. The object is now ready to be bronzed, as described on p. 154, scratch brushed, polished, or electroplated. For scratch brushing a brush made of fine brass wire is required. Hand or lathe scratch brushes can be bought. The work is brushed with this and stale beer or water and vinegar. It is then well rinsed in two washing waters, finally in hot water, and dried in hot sawdust. It can now be relieved or lightened up by burnishing with a steel, agate, or bloodstone burnisher and stale beer, wiped off and lacquered. If the object is to be polished, it may be pressed against a revolving calico or other mop or bob fixed on the spindle of a polishing head which revolves at a very high rate of speed. The mop or bob may be of leather (rhinoceros or walrus hide, which is sometimes called bull neck), felt, calico, or wool, and fed with carborundum, emery, sand, bathbrick, tripoli, rouge, lime, tallow, etc. Mops or bobs are made in various sizes, but are not usually larger than about 12 in. diameter and 2 in. thick. After being polished the work is usually greasy. The grease is removed by washing in two or three baths of paraffin or benzene. Nearly all metalwork after finishing and colouring should be lacquered. Lacquering may be accomplished by dipping the article into a vat of lacquer and drying in a special room or oven, by putting the lacquer on with a brush when the work is hot or cold (depending on the lacquer), and drying, or by spraying the lacquer on with a patent air spray or brush as it is called. Lacquer is a thin spirit varnish made in various colours. It is generally shellac dissolved in alcohol and coloured with dragon's blood, turmeric, saffron, etc. What are known as cold lacquers (all of which are patents and go by fancy names) are made with amyl acetate and coloured with aniline dyes. Many of these lacquers smell like essence of pears. It is essential that the work should be free from all dirt, dust, grease, etc., before being lacquered. Skill and artistic taste are required for the blending and lacquering of metallic objects. Figure work is sometimes brushed over with white paraffin wax or beeswax.

Iron and steel articles, structures, etc., are preserved from rusting by gilding, painting with oil colours, or coating with another metal which is not affected by the atmosphere, such as tin, zinc, copper, nickel, etc. Before being protected by painting, ironwork should be heated sufficiently to dispel all moisture, and while hot should be painted with a coat of boiled linseed oil applied at a boiling heat. After twenty-four hours this operation should be repeated, and then the colour coats applied, or it may now be gilded after the necessary sizing. Tin plate is wrought iron or mild steel sheets, thoroughly cleaned, passed through a bath containing molten tin with about 4 in. of tallow on the top, then through rollers which squeeze off the surplus tin. The plates are dried in bran. Iron is galvanized or coated with zinc by hot galvanizing, electro galvanizing, Sherardizing, or dry galvanizing. For hot galvanizing the work is cleaned by sand blasting, pickling in hydrochloric acid, or burning. It is then passed through a bath of molten zinc, and allowed to cool. Work preserved in this manner can be distinguished by its spangled appearance. Electro galvanizing is done in a similar manner to the electro deposition of other metals (see p. 155), but owing to the difficulty of depositing zinc, slight modifications are necessary.

The Cowper Coles process is most successful for this work. Sherardizing is a process invented by Mr. Sherard Cowper Coles, and is somewhat as follows:

The work is cleaned as previously described and then placed in an airtight drum charged with zinc dust. This is rotated and heated to 5000 or 6oo° F. for a few hours and allowed to cool. When removed the articles are found to be coated with zinc depending in thickness upon the temperature and duration of the treatment. They are of a brighter colour than articles done by the electro deposition method.

It is possible by this method to galvanize only certain parts, by coating portions of the articles with a composition which prevents the zinc being deposited.

The following are a few simple and useful recipes for general work:-

Bright Dip for Iron:-

Bright Dip for Brass, Copper, and Similar Metals:-