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Here is a tool which is a combination of anvil stake and riveting tool. I use it for drawing out pieces of copper into different shapes; flattening round pieces, rounding up flat ones, and for riveting pieces of metal together, as you must do when you make a piece of work like my box.

Here is a little fire screen I made myself. You need one, you know, to put your metal in, at times, for annealing and soldering. It's a safe way to prevent the blaze burning the table or setting fire to anything. I take two pieces of board, each 6 × 12 × ⁷⁄₈ ins. (any kind of lumber will do). Nail the two 12-in. edges of the boards together, at right angles to each other. Nail this to a base and line the whole inside with asbestos. You can place any piece of metal you wish to heat in this corner and direct a flame upon it with perfect safety.

All the heat I need comes from a gas burner. Here I have a bunsen burner, and for such work as I do on rings, scarf pins, hat pins, etc., or for any work that doesn't need lots of heating in the process, the bunsen burner will do. But for annealing, which you have to do when you make bowls, or for soldering, when you make boxes, you must have a stronger flame. Then I use the gas range in the kitchen or the bellows blower and blow pipe. If you happen to be where you can't get a gas flame, an alcohol lamp with a mouth blow pipe can be used.

Bunsen burner

Bellows

Blow pipe

Fill the alcohol lamp with denatured alcohol (bought at any drug store). Light it. With the large end of the blow pipe in your mouth and the small end about ¹⁄₄ in. above and a little to the right of the flame, blow gently. This little blue flame will give you heat enough to solder small pieces. Even a small wood fire would give you heat enough to anneal any size pieces you wish. "Must I learn to make all these tools before beginning?"

"Oh, no, you'd better buy your tools; they don't cost very much. Then we can start to make something right away. The first thing you must do is to design the piece of work you are going to make. I made a bowl first."

"But I can't design."

"Neither could I when I began. You won't find it hard after you have once made a start."

"Let's begin now, John, I want to make something."

"I know you do," said John. "That's the way I felt. Now, I'm the teacher and you must do as I tell you until you can plan for yourself. Here are pictures of a lot of things we can choose from: bowls, boxes, trays, etc. If a boy can make all these models he can go on and make nearly anything in copper, or even silver, he would like to make. Here are the bowl designs I have drawn. Of course there are bowls of different shapes, and some have covers to them. But we will try to get the shape that's most pleasing. Let's take this wrapping paper and draw a number of shapes on it, keeping the diameter and depth of each bowl the same. This model is 4 ins. in diameter and 1¹⁄₂ ins. deep. Let's make all our drawings of bowls that size."

Bowls

"Which do you like best?"

"I like the first one."

"Now that we've decided on the size and shape of the bowl, I must tell you something about the copper to be used. All sheet copper is sold by number, the higher the number the thinner the metal. Number 20 is a good size to use for most bowls and boxes. I use size 20 for mine. If you want a bowl to be lighter, use size 22 or 24. You can buy the sheet copper at any hardware store."

This Boy Has a Well Equipped Shop—He is Just Finishing a Copper Bowl. You See His Vise, Shears, Mallet, Hammers.

"Now you know how to make your design and you know something, too, about the tools and copper in general. We are ready now to begin the bowl."

WORK IN COPPER

III

HOW TO MAKE A COPPER BOWL

Here are the tools and the material that we need to make our first piece of work:

Material: 1 Sheet of copper, 20 gauge. Powdered pumice stone.

Tools: Hard wood block, dividers, shears, round headed hammer, planishing hammer, round top stake, mallet, files.

Wood block

Directions: Take the sheet of copper, and with the dividers mark on the copper a circle having a diameter a little longer than the contour of your bowl design. Cut this circle out with your shears.

With the round headed hammer, using the rounded end, beat the metal disc into the hollow of the wooden block until it takes on a fairly even bowl shape. Keep turning the metal with the left hand while you hammer it with the right.

The long even buckles are easily hammered out; the short, sharp ones are the kind that cause the cracks

You soon have a rough shaped bowl full of bumps and wrinkles around the outer edge.

These wrinkles must come because the circumference of the metal disc decreases as it takes on the bowl shape. So long as these wrinkles are long regular curves, they will work out all right. If they should take short, sharp shapes there is danger of the metal splitting. In order to avoid this be sure to keep the wrinkles hammered out flat as you work along.

Smoothing