Fig. 6. Three Types of Followers
In starting to spin a difficult shell it sometimes happens that the necessarily small follower will not hold the blank. To prevent this slipping, the face of the follower is covered with emery cloth. Often, however, on rough work, the spinner will not stop to face the follower, but will make a large shallow dent at the center of the blank; the extra pressure required to force the metal against the form will usually overcome the slipping tendency.
Fig. 7. Specimens of Metal Spinning
Hand Tools
Hand tools, in great variety, form the principal asset of the spinner’s kit. Spinning tools are made of tool steel forged to the required shapes, and are hardened and polished on the working end. The round steel from which they are made varies from ½ inch to 1½ inch in diameter, according to the class of work upon which they are to be used. The length of a spinning tool is about 2 feet, and it is fitted into a wooden handle 2 inches diameter and 18 inches long, making the total length of the handled tool about 3 feet, as shown in Fig. 8. As the spinner holds this handle under the right armpit, he secures a great leverage upon the work and is better able to supply the physical power required to bring the metal to the desired shape.
Figs. 8 and 9. Spinning Tool and Swivel Cutter
The commonest and by far the most useful of the spinning tools is the combination “point and ball” which together with a number of other tools, is shown in [Fig. 11]. This tool is used in doing the bulk of the spinning operations—for starting the work and bringing it approximately to the shape of the form. Its range of usefulness is large on account of the many different shapes that may be utilized by merely turning the tool in a different direction. Next in importance comes the flat or smoothing tool which, as the name implies, is for smoothing the shell and finishing any rough surfaces left by the point and ball tool. The fishtail tool, so named from its shape, is used principally in flaring the end of a shell from the inside, “spinning on air,” as it is sometimes termed. This tool is used to good advantage in any place where it is necessary to stretch the metal to any extent, and its thin rounding edge proves useful in setting the metal into corners and narrow grooves. Other tools are the ball tool which is adapted to finishing curves; the hook tool, used on inside work; and the beading tool which is needed in rolling over a bead at the edge of a shell when extra strength or a better finish is desired.
When much beading of one kind is being done, a large heavy pair of round-nose pliers (Fig. 10) with the jaws bent around in a curve and sprung apart enough to allow for the thickness of the metal proves to be a handy tool. After the edge of the shell has been flared out to start the bead, the pliers are opened enough to admit the metal and then closed and the stock guided around to form the bead as far as possible. In this way the larger part of a bead is rapidly formed, one jaw of the pliers acting as a spinning tool and the other corresponding to the back-stick. During this operation, the pliers are, of course, supported by being held against the T-rest.