Keeping Scissors Blades Apart Lengthens Their Service
Scissors will wear better and keep their cutting edges longer, if they are kept hanging up with the blades apart when not in use. The better-grade scissors, especially the longer pairs, are made with each blade slightly bowed, so that in cutting, the edges cross at an angle near the cutting point. Keeping them closed tends to weaken the springiness of the blades, and the points are worn by contact under tension.—John M. Bonbright, Philadelphia, Pa.
Making Lead Soldiers and Similar Small Castings
By E. R. GARFIELD
The boy who likes to play games in which the lead soldier and other features of imitation warfare have a part, can make his own lead soldiers, and other castings, by the use of a plaster-of-Paris mold. If he cannot undertake this work alone, the process is interesting for his older brother, or even for “daddy.” A mold of plaster of Paris, as shown in the illustration, is used for the casting box. The hollow impression of the soldier is filled with the molten lead, which is poured in through the sprue hole at the top. When the lead cools, the mold is opened, the casting removed, and the process repeated. An entire army can thus be made with a single mold.
First obtain a small lead soldier, and coat it with shellac. Make a box somewhat larger than the pattern for the soldier, as shown in the sketch. Make it about 1¹⁄₂ in. deep, and set bolts near the corners, as shown, pouring the plaster around them. Fill the box half full of plaster of Paris. While still soft, press the pattern into the center of the plaster so that half its thickness is imbedded. Permit the under mold to dry, and remove the pattern. Shellac the surface of the plaster and the impression. Wrap a layer of oiled paper around the bolts. Replace the pattern in the impression and fill the remaining half of the box with plaster, and permit it to dry.
Also make a small wooden plug, and set it in the center, its point touching the pattern, and pour the plaster around it. When the mold is dry remove this plug, thus forming the sprue hole, through which the molten lead is poured into the mold.
Lead Soldiers, and Many Other Small Castings, can be Made by the Use of This Plaster-of-Paris Mold
When the second part of the mold is dry, lift it carefully from the under mold, and remove the pattern. Shellac the surface of the top mold, cleaning away any small bits of plaster around the edges. Trim down the box so that the top mold projects over it about ³⁄₈ in., making it easy to drop the top mold into place over the bolts. To use the mold, make certain that it is clean inside and set the top into place. Fasten down the wing nuts at the washers. Be very careful that the mold is dry, as hot metal poured on a wet surface may cause a dangerous splash. Repeat this process, and if care is taken about 300 castings can be made with one mold. The soldiers can be painted suitably and even sold in sets. The process can be adapted to many forms of other small castings, using other suitable metals, or wax, where the casting is to be molded into shape further.