But before he Flats and Smoothens the Face of the Punch, He Files by guess the superfluous Steel away about the Face of the Letter, viz. so much, or near so much, as is not to be used when he comes to finish up the Letter, as in this present Letter A, which standing upon a Square Face on the Punch, meets in an Angle at the Top of the Letter. Therefore the Sides of that Square must be Filed away to an Angle at the Top of the Face of the Punch. But great care must be taken, that he Files not more away than he should: For he considers that the left-hand Stroak of A is a Fat Stroak, and that both the left-hand and the right-hand Stroak too, have Footings, which he is careful to leave Steel enough in their proper places for.
The reason why these are now Fil’d thus away, and not after the Letter is finisht, is, Because in the Flatting the Face there is now a less Body of Steel to File away, than if the whole Face of the Punch had remain’d intire: For though the following ways are quick ways to Flatten the Face, yet considering how tenderly you go to Work, and with what Smooth Files this Work must be done, the riddance made will be far less when a broad Face of Steel is to be Flatned, than when only so much, or very little more than the Face of the Letter only is to be Flatned.
To Flat and Smoothen the Face of the Punch, he uses the Flat-Gage, (described §. 12. ¶. 3. and Plate 10. at A.) thus, He fits one convex corner of the Shank of the Punch, into the Concave corner of the Flat-Gage, and so applies his Flat-Gage-Punch and all to the Face of the Using-File, and lets the Counter-Puncht end, viz. the Face of the Punch Sink down to the Face of the Using-File: And then keeping the convex Corner of the Shank of the Punch close and steddy against the Concave corner of the Flat-Gage, and pressing with one of his Fingers upon the then upper end of the Punch, viz. the Hammer-end, he also at the same time, presses the lower end of the Punch, viz. The Face against the Using-File, and thrusts the Flat-Gage and Punch in it so oft forwards, till the extuberant Steel on the Face, be Rub’d or Fil’d away: which he knows partly by the alteration of colour and Fine Furrows made by the Using-File on the Face of the Punch, and partly by the falling away of the parts of the Face that are not yet toucht by the Using-File: So that it may be said to be truly Flat: which he knows, when the whole Face of the Punch touches upon the Flat of the Using-File, or at least, so much of the Face as is required in the Letter: For all Counter-Puncht-Letters, as aforesaid, must have a greater Face of Steel than what the bare Letter requires: for the reason aforesaid.
Another way I use is thus. After I have Fil’d the Face as true as I can by guess, with a Rough-Cut-File, I put the Punch into an Hand-Vice, whose Chaps are exactly Flat, and straight on the upper Face, and sink the Shank of the Punch so low down in the Chaps of the Hand-Vice, that the low side of the Face of the Punch may lye in the same Plain with the Chaps; which I try with the Liner. For the Liner will then shew if any of the Sides stand higher than the Plain of the Chaps: Then I Screw the Punch hard up, and File off the rising side of the Punch, which brings the Face to an exact Level: For the Face of the Chaps being Hard Steel, a File cannot touch them, but only take off the aforesaid Rising parts of the Face of the Punch, till the Smooth-File has wrought it all over exactly into the same Plain with the Face of the Chaps of the Hand-Vice.
Some Letter-Cutters work them Flat by Hand, which is not only difficult, but tedious, and at the best, but done by guess.
The inconvenience that this Tool is subject to, is, That with much using its Face will work out of Flat. Therefore it becomes the Workman to examine it often, and when he finds it faulty to mend it.
When they File it Flat by Hand, they Screw the Shank of the Punch perpendicularly upright into the Chaps of the Vice, and with a Flat-Bastard-Cut-File, of about Four Inches long, or if the Punch be large, the File larger, according to discretion, and File upon the Face, as was shewn Numb. I. fol. 15, 16. Then they take it out of the Vice again, and holding up the Face Horizontally between the Sight and the Light, examine by nice observing whether none of its Angles or Sides are too high or too low. And then Screwing it in the Vice again, as before, with a Smooth-Cut-File, he at once both Files down the Higher Sides or Angles, and Smoothens the Face of the Punch. But yet is not this Face so perfectly Flatned, but that perhaps the middle of it rises more or less, above the Sides: And then he Screws it in his Hand-Vice, and leans the Shank of the Punch against the Tach, pretty near upright, and so as he may best command it, and with a Watch-Makers Half-Round-Sharp-Cut-File, Files upon it with the Flat-Side of his File; But so that he scarce makes his forward and backward Stroaks longer than the breadth of the Face of his Punch, lest in a long Stroak, the hither or farther end of his File should Mount or Dip, and therefore keeps his File, with the Ball of his Finger upon it, close to the Face of the Punch. Then with the Liner he examines how Flat the Face of the Punch is, and if it be not yet Flat, as perhaps it will not be in several Trials, he again reiterates the last process with the Small-Half-Round-File, till it be Flat. But he often Files cross the Furrows of the File, as well because it makes more riddance, as because he may better discern how the File bears on the Face of the Punch.
When it is Flat, he takes a Small well-worn Half-Round-File, and working (as before) with the Sharp-Cut-File, he Smoothens the Face of the Punch.
Having thus Flatted the Face of the Punch, and brought the Letter to some appearance of Form, He Screws the Punch in the Hand-Vice, but not with the Shank perpendicular to the Chaps, but so as the Side he intends to File upon may stand upwards and aslope too, and make an Angle with the Chaps of the Hand-Vice. And holding the Hand-Vice steddy in his left hand, he rests the Shank of the Punch pretty near its Face upon the Tach: and then with a small Flat-File, called a Pillar-File, in his right hand, holding the Smooth Thin Side of it towards the Footing of the Stem, he Files that Stem pretty near its due Fatness, and so by several reiterated proffers, lest he should File too much of the Stem away, he brings that Stem at last to its true Fatness. Then he measures with the Ascending Face-Gage, the Heighth of the Letter: For though the Counter-Punch was imagin’d (as aforesaid) to be made to an exact Heighth for the inside of the Letter; yet with deeper or shallower Sinking it into the Punch, the inside oft proves higher or lower: Because, as aforesaid, the Superficies of the Face of the Counter-Punch is less than the true measure. But as it runs Sholdering into the Shank of the Counter-Punch the Figure or Form of the inside becomes bigger than the inside of the Letter ought to be. Therefore the deeper this Sholdering Shank is sunk into the Face of the Punch, the higher and broader will the Form of the inside of the Letter be, and the shallower it is Sunk in, the Shorter and Narrower by the Rule of Contraries.
He measures, as I said, with the Assending Face-Gage, and by it finds in what good Size the Letter is. If it be too high, as most commonly it is, because the Footing and Top are yet left Fat, then with several proffers he Files away the Footing and Top, bringing the Heighth nearer and nearer still, considering in his Judgment whether it be properest to File away on the Top or Footing, till at last he fits the Heighth of the Letter by the Assending Face-Gage.