212 ON THE WING. 



Laminated Steel. 



" I make my own laminated steel : the difference 

 in silver steel and common twist steel merely con- 

 sists in the variety of tortuous twisting the former 

 undergoes; while the latter is rolled out into rods of 

 6-i6ths broad, with the fibres running perfectly longi- 

 tudinal. The method of making or welding the 

 pieces into a bloom is in the following way : Having 

 collected a sufficiency of mild steel scraps, such as 

 cuttings of saws, waste from steel-pen making, old 

 coach springs, and the immense variety of pieces 

 arising from the various manufactures of tools, they are 

 cut into pieces of equal dimensions, polished in a re- 

 volving drum by their friction on each other, until quite 

 bright, and then placed for fusion on the bed of an 

 air furnace. The parts first fused are gathered on the 

 end of a similarly fabricated rod, in a welding state, 

 and these gather together, by their adhesion, the re- 

 mainder as they become sufficiently heated, until the 

 bloom is complete. The steel is then removed from 

 the furnace, and undergoes the effect of a three-ton 

 forge hammer and the tilt, until it forms a large square 

 bar ; it is then re-heated, and thence conveyed to the 

 rolling mill, where eventually it is reduced to the size 

 of rod required. I generally have the metal required 

 cut into short pieces of six inches long. A certain 

 number are bundled together and welded, and then 

 drawn down again in the rolling mill. This can be 

 repeated any number of times, — elongating the fibres 

 and multiplying their number to an indefinite extent 

 as may be required. 



