Handicraft for boys

by A. Frederick Collins

Doing Repoussé Work

Repoussé (pronounced re-poo′-say) is a French word and means to form in relief, and repoussage (pronounced re-poo′-sazh) is the word you want to use when you mean the process of producing designs in relief on sheet metal by hammering it on the back.

Tools Needed for Repoussé Work.

—Very few tools are needed for this kind of work but it is important to use the right kind.

The repoussé hammer is a jeweler’s hammer which has one end, or face of it flat and the other rounded like a peining hammer; it is shown in [Fig. 35].

Fig. 35. how to hold a repoussé hammer

Then a number of blunt chisels and markers called repoussé tools as shown at [B, Fig. 35], are needed to emboss the design in the sheet metal. These tools cost about 30 cents apiece and a set of eight or ten tools will serve you well. For the bolder parts of the work boxwood punches can be used but steel punches are always used for the finer work.

Fig. 35b. a punch and punch designs for repoussé work

How to Prepare the Work.

—The kind of metal that is easiest to work is cold-rolled sheet copper[29] No. 32 Brown and Sharp gauge, but brass, aluminum and pewter can also be hammered.

[29] Can be bought of Patterson Brothers, Park Row, New York, or of the Frost and Adams Co., Cornhill, Boston, Mass.

Fig. 35c. how to hold a repoussé punch

To get the work ready fasten the piece of sheet metal to a wooden block with a cement made as follows: melt 1 pound of Burgundy pitch in an iron pan, or skillet, and stir in 1 pound of dental plaster of paris,[30] until they are thoroughly mixed. Then put in a tablespoonful each of tallow and of resin which will make the cement stick better.

[30] This is very fine plaster and can be bought of any dentist.

Take a board 1 inch thick, 10 inches wide and 12 inches long and make a tray of it by nailing a strip of wood around it so that it is ¹⁄₂ an inch higher than the surface of the board. Pour the cement while it is still hot on the board and press the sheet of metal hard down on it; let it get cold when it will be firmly cemented to it.

Tracing the Design.

—After you have drawn the design on the sheet of metal either with a pencil or by means of transfer paper you can begin to trace the design by punching it with the straight and curved edge chisels.

To hold a chisel right, grip it between your thumb and index finger, let your next, or medius, finger lie gently on the shank of the tool and your third, or annularis, finger rest on the sheet of metal as shown at [C in Fig. 35].

The handle of the hammer is long, thin and springy and you hold it by the end with your index finger laying on it as shown at [A in Fig. 35]. Do not strike the tool hard or the punch may go clear through the metal sheet but instead give it a succession of light, gentle taps at the rate of about 100 a minute or so and you will make the tracing nice and even.

Bossing the Work.

—After you have traced the outline of the design with the chisels hold the plate over an alcohol or a Bunsen flame and when it is hot enough you can take it off of the cement.

Then cement it to the block again, but this time put the other side down. Now use your boxwood or steel punches and hammer the copper, or other metal, into bold relief or you can matt the ground with any one of the numerous punches shown at [B].

	THE RING FOR THE CANDLE
		THE CANDLESTICK WHEN DONE
THE DESIGN ON THE METAL

Fig. 36. a repoussé candlestick

How to Make a Flat Candlestick.

—This is a good piece of work for you to start with because it is at once simple, artistic and more or less useful. To make it, cut out a sheet of brass 6¹⁄₂ inches square and draw a spider and his web and a poor little fly or two making a bee-line for it as shown at [A in Fig. 36].

Punch the outline with your chisels and raise the bodies of the insects with your molding tools. The ground can be left flat or you can put it in with a marker. When you have the bossing done scallop the edges with your snips and bend them up so that it is 5 inches square.

For the handle cut a strip of brass ³⁄₄ inch wide and 4³⁄₄ inches long; raise the middle of it by hammering it in a groove cut in a block of hard wood; bend it and then rivet it to a corner of the brass sheet.

To make the ring which holds the candle cut out a strip of brass 1 inch high and 3 inches long and cut out three tongues as shown at [B]. Scribe a circle in a corner of the sheet of brass, cut three slots on it, slip the tongues through the slots and bend them over.

Rub the candlestick all over with some brass polish and then cover the bottom with a piece of green billiard cloth if you can get it, or any other kind you may have at hand. It is shown complete at [C].

How to Make a Photo Frame.

—The front of this frame can be made of brass, copper or German silver and the back of it can be made of a sheet of tin or brass.

You can make the frame round, oblong or square and with a round or an oval opening in it to suit your fancy. Suppose you make the outside of it 7 × 9 inches and the oval opening 3¹⁄₂ × 5 inches as shown at [A in Fig. 37]. Draw or transfer the design to the surface of the metal and work it into shape as I have previously described.

Do not cut the opening or trim the metal sheet to the size you want them until after you have hammered it as this draws the metal out. After you have finished the front make a back for it of sheet tin or brass, 5 inches wide and 6 inches long, and bend over the edge of one end and both of the side edges ³⁄₈ inch as shown at [B].

Solder the edges to the back of the frame and then solder a stay, or stand on the back of it. This completes the frame and the photograph can be slipped in it between the front and the back.

THE HAMMERED FRONT

THE BACK OF THE FRAME

Fig. 37. a repoussé photo frame

Cleaning and Polishing Brass, Copper and German Silver.

—To clean any of these metals mix some powdered rotten stone with some machine oil and rub them with a pad made of a soft flannel rag.

To polish wipe off the rotten stone and oil perfectly clean and then rub the work with a chamois skin dampened with alcohol and on which you have put some red rouge.

Frosting, Coloring and Lacquering Metals.

—You will find recipes for finishing articles in these styles in [Chapter III].