January, 1910 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



II 



New Process for Damascening, Inlaying and Blending Metals 



By Amos Bradley Simpson 



>HE beautiful art of damascening, the origin 

 of which is buried in the depths of an- 

 tiquity, but which no doubt hails from the 

 East, has been subjected to repeated modi- 

 iications during the past few years in 

 order to render it more commercially ap- 

 plicable than it probably ever was even in 

 its halcyon Oriental days. The hand-wrought work so ex- 

 quisitely performed at the expenditure of considerable time 

 centuries ago, is far too costly for the present age, except to 

 the connoisseur. This process briefly consisted in chasing 

 the design upon a metallic foundation of the object to be 

 decorated and then filhng the incisions with fine wire or 

 strips of other metal, generally silver and gold, by means 

 of a special tool, the whole finally being smoothed and pol- 

 ished. In order to render the inlay 

 as immovable as possible, the recesses 

 were undercut, so that the decorative 

 metals were in reality dovetailed into 

 the main fabric. 



Such a delicate operation calls for 

 remarkable skill and patience com- 

 bined with a sensitive hand, and for 

 this reason cannot be executed by ma- 

 chinen,'. Yet at the same time there 

 prevails at the present day a wide- 

 spread demand for metal inlay work, 

 and various methods have been 

 evolved for the more rapid and 

 cheaper accomplishment of the work, 

 such as the ether, parcel, or close 

 plating, fusion, electrical, and lead 

 processes. Recently, however, atten- 

 tion has been centered in the new sys- 

 tem of inlaying and ornamenting 

 metallic surfaces that has been per- 

 fected by Mr. Sherard Cowper-Coles, 

 the well-known British electro-metal- 

 lurgist, which possesses great com- 

 mercial possibilities, owing to the ex- 

 quisite character of the work, com- 

 bined with the rapidity and cheap- 

 ness with which it can be carried out. 

 This process is based upon a dis- 

 covery made by the inventor some 

 five years ago during a series of ex- 

 periments upon which he was engaged in connection with 

 the annealing of iron. In the course of these investigations 

 he found that metals in a fine state of division, that is in 

 the form of powder, when raised to a certain temperature 

 which was actually several hundred degrees below their 

 melting point, in contact with a solid metal, volatilize or give 

 oft vapor, which condenses on the solid metal immersed 

 in the powdered metal. Recently the inventor in following 

 up the discovery has turned it to distinct advantage for 

 decorative work, the results of which are similar to damas- 

 cening, but with the additional and important advantage 

 that there is no possibility of the metals so blended together 

 subsequently becoming separated, as is often the case in 

 ordinary damascening. At the same time it also enables a 

 more extensive range of effects to be secured, as a large 

 number of metals can be blended together which previously 

 has been impossible, and alloys of many colors and tints 



1 — Prayer book cover in copper inlaid with zinc 



the thickness and depth to which the metals are to be inlaid 

 and onlaid can be controlled at the will of the operator. 



The process is exceedingly simple. The article to be 

 decorated is first covered with a stopping-off solution about 

 the consistency of cheese, and can thus be easily cut with a 

 knife. The design of the desired inlay is then executed upon 

 this composition by means of a specially designed tool hav- 

 ing a sharp edge. Those portions to be removed are then 

 lifted and cleared away, leaving the surface of the founda- 

 tion metal exposed. This operation completed, the article 

 is placed in an iron box containing the metal which is to be 

 used for the inlay in a powdered form. If, for instance, 

 the inlay metal is to be zinc, the box is accordingly charged 

 with zinc dust, a product obtained direct from the zinc- 

 smelting furnaces. The iron receptacle, together with the 

 objects to be ornamented and the 

 zinc dust, are inserted in a suitable 

 baking oven and heated to a tempera- 

 ture of about 500 degrees Fahr., 

 while the melting point of zinc is 686 

 degrees Fahr. The time and tem- 

 perature vary according to the thick- 

 ness and depth of the inlaying which 

 is required, and range from a few 

 minutes to several hours. A little ex- 

 perience, however, soon teaches the 

 operator the precise time and tem- 

 perature necessary for obtaining 

 given results with different metals. 



When the article has been suffi- 

 ciently baked, the box is permitted to 

 cool, opened, and the articles with- 

 drawn. Brushing with a stiff brush 

 serves to remove the superfluous dust 

 and also the stopping-off composition 

 which the process of baking has loos- 

 ened. The stopping-off and baking 

 processes can be repeated several 

 times when it is desired to inlay two 

 or more metals. 



The point may be raised that the 

 metal box containing the metal dust 

 will in a short time become thickly in- 

 crusted with metal, but such experi- 

 ence has proved not to be the case, 

 for the reason that the metal box is 

 hotter than the powdered metal. A useful type of furnace 

 or baking oven for general work, such as panels, trays, and 

 other flat articles, is that shown in the accompanying illus- 

 tration. It consists of an iron vessel eight feet in length by 

 four feet in breadth and one foot deep. The box is half 

 filled with the metal dust, and the objects to be treated are 

 well immersed in the powder, care being observed that they 

 are adequately covered over therewith. The box Is covered 

 with a lid, and over this an iron framework is placed car- 

 rying fire bricks and provided with a small central flue to 

 draw the heat from the burners up the sides of the box and 

 over the top, to secure even and regular heating over its 

 whole surface. Such a furnace can be constructed at a cost 

 of about $150 complete. 



The damascening produced by this method Is of a more 

 permanent character than the ordinary ancient hand- 

 wrought process. It is impossible for the inlay to become 



can be obtained in one operation of baking. Moreover, detached from its foundation, for the simple reason that 



