or
must be compared to see if it will fit. At least twenty different directions of fracture can be mentally distinguished, and the slight curve and irregularities increase this to at least fifty varieties, so that each piece of brim only needs actual touching with about 2 per cent of the pieces of middle. When every possible fit of brim to middle pieces is made, then the bases can be similarly compared, having first fitted them by sorting the curvatures. A load of 500 pieces will take several hours of this sorting, at the end of which every possible fit will have been made. Not more than half-an-hour or one hour at a time can be usefully given to such sorting, as the eye and attention become too much fatigued to observe the fits. When finished, all the fragments belonging to one bowl are to be wrapped together, and a number given to the parcel; and the odd pieces can be thrown away unless worth having singly. The method for drawing the completed forms has been described in the chapter on drawing.
CHAPTER IX
PACKING
Blocks.
Before packing carved blocks it is generally best to saw off the backs, so as to lighten the quantity. A face should always be sawn from each end up to the middle, leaving it about twice as thick in the middle as at the ends, so as to bear the strain of travelling. If a block is so wide on the face that it is liable to be broken in transit, the best course is to saw it in pieces, cutting from the back through to ½ or 1 inch from the face, and then snapping it, so that the face can be rejoined perfectly. Limestone is sawn with a large rip saw or stonemason’s saw, using a hammer and chisel if any flinty portions are met with, and also using some hammer dressing. Soft Silsileh sandstone may be cut with pieces of tin plate, such as petroleum tins or biscuit tins; or else with a thin strip of wood set with wire nails to serve as teeth of a saw. The harder stones must be moved as found, for the cost of reducing the weight would be more than that of carrying it.
Fig. 50.—Box for flat slab of stone, lid of diagonal bars.
Long objects.