Copper Work: A Text Book for Teachers and Students in the Manual Arts

by Augustus F. Rose

Plate 25.

Take a strip of metal as wide as the required depth of the box and as long as the sum of the four sides. The length of each side is measured off on this strip and a line scratched at right angles to the edge. The strip is then placed over a block of metal and, with a rawhide hammer bent at right angles at scratched lines, making three corners, leaving the ends to meet at the fourth corner where they are to be soldered. These ends should be mitered as in Box 1, before soldering. After the corner has been soldered and the box pickled, it is again placed over a block and trued up square. Having decided which is to be the top and which the bottom of the box, file the bottom edges level and at right angles to the sides. A piece of metal is then cut for the bottom large enough to allow about 1/16" to project on all four sides.

It is then prepared for soldering and bound together with iron wire, [Figure 20]. The solder should be cut in small pieces and placed about the inside edges. In soldering the bottom, care must be taken not to unsolder the corner. This may be avoided by keeping the flame away from the soldered corner until the rest of the solder has run, applying it to the corner at the last and only for a fraction of a minute.

After the soldering, the box is pickled and the edges of the bottom filed square. The 1/16" that was allowed to project may be filed flush with the sides of the box or left to project a little.

The cover is made by taking a strip of metal about 3/16" wide and long enough to fit around the inside of the box. The length of the sides (inside measurement) is laid out and then bent over a block as previously described. The corner is soldered and the upper edges are filed off level and soldered to a piece of metal, forming the top. This strip on the inside keeps the cover in place. If the design on the cover is to be carried out in enamel it should be done after the cover is completed. If the design is to be embossed, it should be done before the strip which holds the cover in place is soldered on.