We may suppose now that you have completed the first process, so we pass on to the second.
Smoothing.—Lift off the strap by raising the part nearest to you off the wheel, and let the strap lie loose upon it. The strap consequently falls off the reel. Unscrew Q. Raise the arm K L, which remains raised by its own weight. Lift the lead lap carefully out and put it aside. Set up the beech wood lap instead. Use another jam-pot of water at Z, and see that no emery-grit gets upon the wood lap. Dip your right hand in water and thoroughly wet the surface of the lap while it slowly revolves. Then dip the wet fingers in sifted silver-sand and rub them over the wood, and proceed as you did in the first process of grinding.
Our aim now is to smooth the surface of the stone, to carry to higher perfection the work of the emery. Do not go too fast, and keep the stone and lap well wetted, otherwise the heat caused by friction will crack the surface of the stone. Many a beautiful stone has been spoilt in this way. Do not use much sand. Wash and examine the pebble as you go on. See how beautiful it is getting to look! How wonderfully the texture and organism have been brought out by the smoothing! Make the work as perfect as you can upon the wood, and continue working your pebble without putting on any sand, until the wood seems free from grit. In the last stage of this smoothing process we work the stone almost entirely on moist wood, as the sand has been reduced to powder. Wipe the stone dry, and if you are satisfied that you cannot do anything more for it on the wood, we may pass on to the third process of facing the pebble.
Facing.—As before, remove the wood lap. And now we must proceed with extreme caution. We are going to set up the pewter lap. Bear in mind that ONE GRAIN OF SAND OR EMERY UPON THE PEWTER WILL RUIN YOUR WORK! The floor of the bench is covered with débris of sand and emery; there is a heap of emery in the corner. How can you possibly prevent catastrophe? Care and practice will bring success. Remember the caution, and you will do your best to keep clear of disaster. First of all sweep up the emery into a heap at J, keeping it well away from the vicinity of the lap. Thoroughly wipe the handle N, the clamp I, and the arm K L—everything that could bring a speck of grit upon the pewter. Shut the window, that no wandering breeze may work mischief. Wash your hands in a bowl of clean water, and put the bowl in place of the earthen vessel. Jam-pot of clean water at Z. Now set up the pewter lap. The first thing is to ‘notch’ the surface of the lap, that it may hold the rottenstone. This is done by holding a table-knife lightly by the handle in the right hand, and letting the edge of the knife play upon the surface of the lap as you slowly turn the handle N from right to left, and then from left to right. The result of this is to set up a ‘bibbering’ movement in the knife—such as you may notice in the bow when a nervous young lady is performing upon the violin. The surface of the pewter will soon be decorated, as in [Fig. 6], with markings not unlike the pattern on the case of a watch. When this is done wash the surface of the lap by dipping the fingers of the right hand in clean water. Take a lump of rottenstone, thoroughly washed and free from grit, and press it on the pewter while slowly revolving. The rottenstone is conveyed as a brown paste to the surface of the pewter.
Fig. 6.
Now scrub the pebble, cement and stick with the plate-brush in the bowl of water, until you feel certain that no speck of grit lurks in any crevice, and begin working the pebble on the pewter lap as in the other stages, putting pressure through the wrist of the right hand, and letting the weight of the arm play, so that a sort of rhythmical movement is imparted to the pressure difficult to describe, but soon understood when you see a lapidary at work.
In polishing a round stone you must be careful to avoid producing ‘ridges’ by dwelling too long on one spot. Keep on turning the stone slightly. Common sense will explain my meaning. And in this last stage BE SURE YOU NEVER WIPE YOUR HANDS OR YOUR STONE WITH THE CLOTH USED FOR THE SAND OR EMERY STAGE. Use a clean cloth. It took me two years to find out the force of this simple advice. I could not imagine how it was that just at the last moment, when I was putting the finishing touches to a pebble, some faint but hideous scratches would suddenly appear on its surface, ruining the beauty of the work. How many times have I despaired of success! How often have I written to lapidaries imploring advice, and feeling that there was some ‘wrinkle’ which had purposely been kept from my knowledge! But perseverance was at last rewarded.
There is no ‘dodge’ about it; the whole operation is one of patient labour and determination. After a little working on the pewter lap at one portion of your stone, wash and wipe it. That portion ought to be so perfectly polished that when held slantwise towards the window it reflects the landscape like a looking-glass; and if your work has been true this result will make your heart leap with delight. Continue working until the whole surface of the stone is finished. If at the end portions of it looked blurred, it may be that the texture of the stone is incapable of a high polish in such places; it may more likely be that you have not been particular enough in the first and second stages. Nevertheless the result ought to be encouraging. Your stone ought to be so far polished that you will be proud to show it to your friends, and say, ‘I found and I polished this stone!’
Probably, if you have carefully followed out my instructions, the result will be very creditable for a first attempt. And this is all you have a right to expect.