If the Letter be great he is thus to Sculp out, he then, with a Graver, Cuts along the Insides of the drawn or marked Stroaks, round about all the Hollow he is Cutting-in. And having Cut about all the sides of that Hollow, he Cuts other straight Lines within that Hollow, close to one another (either parallel or aslope, it matters not) till he have filled the Hollow with straight Lines; and then again, Cuts in the same Hollow, athwart those straight Lines, till he fill the Hollow with Thwart Lines also. Which straight Lines, and the Cuttings athwart them, is only to break the Body of Steel that lies on the Face of the Punch where the Hollow must be; that so the Round-Back’d Sculptor may the easier Cut through the Body of the Steel, in the Hollow, on the Face of the Punch; even as I told you, Numb. 4. Vol. I. §. 2. the Fore-Plain makes way for the Fine Plains.
The Letter-Cutter does not expect to perform this Digging or Sculping at one single Operation; but, having brought the Inside of his Letter as near as he can at the first Operation, he, with the flat side of a Well-worn, Small, Fine-Cut, Half-round File, Files off the Bur that his Sculptors or Gravers made on the Face of the Letter, that he may the better and nicelier discern how well he has begun. Then he again falls to work with his Sculptors and Gravers, mending, as well as he can, the faults he finds; and again Files off the Bur as before, and mends so oft, till the Inside of his Letter pleases him pretty well. But before every Mending he Files off the Bur, which else, as aforesaid, would obscure and hide the true shape of his Stroaks.
Having well shaped the Inside Stroaks of his Letter, he deepens the Hollows that he made, as well as he can, with his Sculptors and Gravers: And the deeper he makes these Hollows, the better the Letter will prove. For if the Letters be not deep enough, in proportion to their Width, they will, when the Letter comes to be Printed on, Print Black, and so that Letter is spoiled.
How deep these Hollows are to be, cannot be well asserted, because their Widths are so different, both in the same Letter, and in several Letters: Therefore he deepens them according to his Judgment and Reason. For Example, O must be deeper than A need be, because the Hollow of O is wider than the Hollow of A; A having a Cross Stroak in it; and the wider the Hollow is, the more apt will the wet Paper be to press deeper towards the bottom in Printing. Yet this in General for the Depth of Hollows; You may make them, if you can, so deep as the Counter-Punch is directed to be struck into the Face of the Punch. See ¶. 3. of this §.
Having with his Gravers and Sculptors deepned them so much as he thinks convenient, he, with a Steel Punch, pretty near fit to the shape and size of the Hollow, and Flatted on its Face, Flattens down the Irregularities that the Gravers or Sculptors made, by striking with a proper Hammer, upon the Hammer-end of the Punch, with pretty light blows. But he takes great care, that this Flat-Punch be not at all too big for the Hollow it is to be struck into, lest it force the sides of the Stroaks of the Letter out of their shape: And therefore also it is, that he strikes but easily, though often, upon the end of the Flat-Punch.
Having finished the Inside, he works the Outsides with proper Files; as I shewed before, in Letter A; and smoothens and Pollishes the Outside Stroaks and Face with proper worn-out small Watch-makers Files.
The Inside and Outside of the Face thus finished, he considers what Sholdering the Shank of the Punch makes now with the Face, round about the Letter. For, as the Shank of the Letter stands farther off the Face of any of the Stroaks, the Sholdering will be the greater when the Letter is first made; because the Outsides of the Letter, being only shaped at first with Fine Small Files, which take but little Steel off, they are Cut Obtusely from the Shank to the Face, and the Steel of the Shank may with Rougher Files afterwards, be Cut down more Tapering to the Shank. For the Sholder of the Shank, as was said before in this ¶, must not make an Angle with the Face, of above 100 Degrees; because else they would be, first, more difficult to Sink into Copper; And Secondly, The broad Sholders would more or less (when the Letter is Cast in such Matrices) and comes to the Press, be subject, and very likely to be-smear the Stroaks of the Letter; especially, with an Hard Pull, and too wet Paper; which squeezes the Face of the Letter deep into the Paper, and so some part of the Broad Sholdering of the Letter, receiving the Ink, and pressing deep into the Paper, slurs the Printed Paper, and so makes the whole Work shew very nasty and un-beautiful.
For these Reasons it is, that the Shank of the Punch, about the Face, must be Filed away (at least, so much as is to be Sunk into Copper) pretty close to the Face of the Letter; yet not so as to make a Right Angle with the Face of the Letter, but an Obtuse Angle of about 100 Degrees: For, should the Shank be Filed away to a Right Angle, viz. a Square with the Face, if any Footing or Topping be on the Letter, these fine Stroaks will be more subject to break when the Punch is Sunk into Copper, than when the Angle of the Face and Shank is augmented; because then those fine Stroaks stand upon a stronger Foundation. Therefore he uses the Beard-Gage, and with that examines round about the Letter, and makes the Face and Shank comply with that.
Yet Swash-Letters, especially Q, whose Swashes come below the Foot-Line, and whose Length reaches under the Foot-Line of the next Letter, or Letters in Composing, ought to have the Upper Sholder of that Swash Sculped down straight, viz. to a Right Angle, or Square with the Face; at least, so much of it as is to be Sunk into Copper: Because the Upper Sholder of the Swash would else be so broad, that it would ride upon the Face of the next Letter. Therefore the Swash-Letters being all Long Letters, the lower end of the Swashes reach as low as the Bottom-Line; which cannot be Filed Square enough down from the Head-Line, unless the Steel the Swash stands on, should be Filed from end to end, the length of the whole Shank of the Punch, which would be very tedious; and besides, would make that part of the Shank the Swash stands on so weak, that it would scarce endure Striking into the Copper. Therefore, as I said before, the Upper Sholder of the Swash ought to be Sculped down: Yet I never heard of any Letter-Cutters that had the knack of doing it; but that they only Filed it as straight down as they could, and left the Letter-Kerner, after the Letter was Cast, to Kern away the Sholdering. Yet I use a very quick way of doing it; which is only by Resting the Back of a Graver at first, to make way; and afterwards a Sculptor, upon the Shank of the Punch, at the end of the Swash, one while; and another while on the Shank, at the Head, that the Swash may be Sculped down from end to end: and Sculping so, Sculp away great Flakes of the Steel at once, till I have Cut it down deep enough, and to a Right Angle.
Then he Hardens and Tempers the Punch; as was shewed, Numb. 3. Vol. I. Fol. 57, 58.