Rod-making. 245 



stiff er by compression than brass, and it therefore makes 

 a better ferrule; but brass is much cheaper. It, however, 

 tarnishes and becomes dirty and repulsive in appearance 

 so quickly, that some preventive method of finishing its 

 surface is desirable. 



The following receipt I give in " rule-of-thumb " fash- 

 ion, as it was given to me. I habitually use it on my reels, 

 have used it on all kinds of brass work for years, and 

 confidently recommend it as excellent. No very extra 

 finish of the surface is required. 



Obtain from any druggist a wide-mouthed glass-stop- 

 pered bottle, such as chloral hydrate comes in. Have him 

 put a pound of commercial nitric acid in this; then take 

 it home, drop into it a ten-cent piece, put it in a warm 

 place with the stopper loose, and wait till the silver is 

 dissolved. This will take some days. Or, if you are 

 on friendly terms with the druggist, he can dissolve the 

 silver in a very few minutes by boiling it in a portion 

 of the acid ; but unless you are accustomed to chemical 

 manipulation do not attempt this yourself. After the sil- 

 ver is dissolved,add a piece of copper wire about the thick- 

 ness of an ordinary knitting-needle and about four inches 



artificer under treatment something more severe than the exigencies of 

 ordinary use. Either of these antagonistic qualities may readily be had 

 at the expense of the other ; the first by increasing the proportion of 

 copper, or adding lead ; the second by augmenting the quantity of nickle, 

 or adding a small percentage of iron. In the one case we have an alloy 

 which, though it works easily, cannot be given the required stiffness ; in 

 the other a compound excellent as far as rigidity is concerned, but un- 

 manageable by the workman. Sixty parts of copper and twenty parts 

 each of nickle and of zinc give an excellent color, and is probably the 

 golden or perhaps we should say in this case, the silver mean. Less 

 than eighteen per cent, of nickle no german-silver should contain that is 

 to be used for ferrules. Iron and lead should be excluded. 



