Die Sinking
How to Make Badges, etc.
—It is fascinating work to sink a name into a piece of sheet metal with steel dies and yet it is very easy if you have the tools and you can make some money out of it too, for every boy wants a badge or a medal.
SHEET OF GERMAN SILVER OR BRASS WITH SHIELD MARKED ON IT
THE SHIELD CUT OUT
Fig. 79a, b. first steps in making a badge
Badges can be made of any kind of sheet metal ¹⁄₆₄ inch thick or more but German silver[78] makes mighty pretty ones for it takes a high polish and remains bright a long time. To cut out a shield, a star or any kind of a badge get a ¹⁄₄ and a ¹⁄₂ inch straight cold chisel and a ¹⁄₄ and a ¹⁄₂ inch curved cold chisel,[79] also a block of hard wood one side of which must be nice and smooth.[80]
[78] You can buy German silver in any quantity and thickness of Patterson Bros., Park Row, N. Y.
[79] The P. F. Smith Co., 325 West 42nd St., N. Y. C, make these chisels.
[80] You can make it so by scraping it with a piece of glass.
Draw the outline of the badge you intend to make on a sheet of metal; lay the latter on the block of wood and then cut it out with your chisels and hammer as shown at A and B in [Fig. 79]. When you have it cut out, file off the rough edges.
How to Sink the Letters.
—For this part of the work you will need a set of ¹⁄₈ inch steel letters[81] as shown in [Fig. 80] and they will cost in the neighborhood of $3.00.
[81] Can be had of Hammacher, Schlemmer and Co., Fourth Ave. and 13th Street, New York.
Fig. 79c. the badge on a flat-iron in a vise. d. sinking in the letters
Mark the lines on the badge on which the letters are to be sunk with a very soft lead pencil, or, better, wax the surface all over by tapping it with your finger on which you have rubbed some white wax and then mark the lines with a sharp pointed piece of bone. Otherwise you will have trouble in getting the lines out.
Now lay the badge on a perfectly smooth piece of iron—a flat-iron screwed in a vise, see [C], is good. Then take the middle letter of the name you are going to stamp and hold it with the notched side toward you and with the serifs[82] on the lower edge of the letter exactly on the middle of the line you have drawn as shown at [D].
[82] See [Chapter VII], on Printing.
Fig. 80. steel letters and figures for die sinking
Hold the steel letter perfectly straight and give it a goodly blow with the hammer when the die will sink into the metal and leave the impression of the letter below the surface. Finish stamping the name by working both ways from the middle letter, for this is the way to get the name on the badge evenly.
With a set of steel letters and figures you can also stamp key checks, jewelers’ checks, baggage checks and name plates and also sink names on wood, metal, leather, etc.
Finishing Up the Badge.
—The next thing to do is to solder a pin on the back of the badge as shown at [E in Fig. 79]. Scrape the back up and down the middle bright and clean; put a small safety pin on the badge and hold them together with a pair of tweezers. Then put on a couple of drops of soldering fluid.[83]
THE BACK WITH PIN SOLDERED ON
READY TO WEAR
Fig. 79e, f. last steps in making a badge
Hold the badge with the pin on top of it in the flame of your alcohol lamp or Bunsen burner and when the soldering fluid begins to sizzle touch the pin with a piece of wire solder. When the solder runs let it cool and the pin will be on securely enough for all ordinary purposes.
Next polish up the badge by rubbing it with powdered rottenstone mixed with a little machine oil and then finish it off with some crocus. If you have a lathe of any kind get a felt wheel[84] and use the rottenstone and oil on it and then the crocus.
[84] F. W. Gesswein Co., Inc., 16 John St., sells engravers’, opticians’, platers’ and polishers’ supplies.
Heat the stamped surface of the pin just a little and put some black enamel, which you can get at the hardware store, into the letters; rub off all that sticks to the surface but leave all that is in the sunk letters. Put it away and let the enamel dry thoroughly when you will have a regular badge as shown at [F].