The bottle, B, is also ornamented with the same tools. It is hollow down the neck, and is intended to contain a tin or glass of water; in the stopper is glued a small camel’s-hair brush, which rests in the water, and is meant to be used for wetting postage-stamps, and fastening them upon letters. The bottom of the neck unscrews at fig. 1, and the part below it is hollowed out like a box, to hold the stamps. The neck is ornamented in steps. Set the cutter quite flat, facing the side of the work; use the tool No. 5; cut one line, move the brass wheel of the lathe just far enough to make the second cut join the first, and the same all round. In the next row make the first cut half-way between the others; thus, if you have begun at the numbers, 1, 6, 12, in the second row begin at 3, then go to 9, then to 15, and so on. Every row of steps begins half-way through the former ones, and for each row move the cutter on the slide rest the breadth of the tool. The convex moulding at the bottom of the neck is done by putting one of the hollow tools of the sliding rest into a handle, and rounding the ornament with it. The other patterns are all done with the same cutter, by placing the tools at different angles. In the same [plate, 9], the two patterns F and G are very beautiful, they are worked with the eccentric cutter. F resembles the scales of fish lying one over another: put the most angular tool, No. 5, (of the cutter tools), into the cutter; describe a circle from the edge of the middle line to the outer one; cut one circle very deep, move ten numbers on the brass wheel of the lathe, and so on to the end.
The pattern, G, is worked exactly the same, only a less angular tool, No. 4, is used, and fewer numbers are counted: it resembles leaves, one lying over the other.
The stopper of the bottle, B, is also ornamented with this cutter, and with an angular tool. First turn the stopper quite circular, (the knob at the top must be glued in afterwards). Set the sliding rest at a convenient distance, and place under it one of the slide-rest tools, so as to raise it in an uneven manner; screw the rest firmly, and set the circle just large enough to encircle half the stopper. By this means the tool cuts the UNDER part of the circle, and passes over the other half: this pattern must be cut very deep, and about five numbers be counted between each cut on the brass wheel of the lathe.
D is another pattern for a stopper; it is worked with a round-ended drill. Cut the holes rather deep, and as near as you can to one another, only leaving a very little thin shell of ivory between them, and the pattern will resemble a honeycomb. The lighter case, E, is ornamented with the drill and vertical cutter. Turn the upper part very thin, then drill long lines quite through the ivory, leaving a space between each; this looks light and elegant, if lined with coloured paper. The base is cut in steps with the vertical cutter; count twenty for each cut; the second row, make each cut between the former ones, moving for each row the breadth of the tool. The top is cut out in leaves with the drill tool No. 8.
To sharpen all these tools, use the goneometer, taking care that you fix it exactly at the proper angle, by counting the position by the numbers. If you do not place the tool just at the right angle, it will cut the patterns quite crooked.
ECCENTRIC CHUCK.
“The centre mov’d—a circle straight succeeds;
Another still, and still another spreads.”
Plate 10.