ENGRAVING. 
sgain, for a similar reason to the preceding, 
after it is finished. 
There are several tools used in finishing 
of dyes, which are gravers, chissels, and 
flatters, and many little punches for making 
ornamental borders and mouldiugs to coins 
and medals; the latter are always in 
greater relief than the former, and con- 
sequently more difficult to execute in per- 
fection. 
Engraving on precious Stones is accom- 
plished with the diamond or emery. The 
diamond possesses the peculiar property of 
resisting every body in nature, and, though 
the hardest of all stones, it may be cut by a 
part of itself, and polished by its own parti- 
cles. In order to render this splendid sub- 
stance fit to perform the operations of the 
tool, two rough diamonds are cemented fast 
to the ends of the same number of sticks, 
and rubbed together till the form is obtain- 
ed for which they are intended ; the pow- 
der thus produced is preserved, and used 
for polishing them in a kind of mill furnish- 
ed with a wheel of iron ; the diamond is 
then secured in a brazen dish, and the dust 
mixed with olive oil applied, the wheel is 
set in motion, and the friction occasions the 
polished surface so necessary to give their 
lustre due effect. Other stones, as rubies, 
topazes, and sapphires, are cut into various 
angles on a wheel of copper, and the mate- 
rial for polishing those is tripoli diluted with 
water. 
A leaden wheel, covered with emery 
mixed with water, is preferred for the cut- 
ting of emeralds, amethysts, hyacinths, 
agates, granites, &c. &c. and they are 
polished on a pewter wheel with tripoli ; 
opal, lapis lazuli, &c. are polished on a 
wheel made of wood. 
Contrary to the method used by persons 
who turn metals, in which the substance to 
be wrought is fixed in the lathe, turned by 
it, and the tool held to the substance, the 
engraver of chrystal, lapis lazuli, &c. fixes 
his tools in the lathe and holds the precious 
stone to them, thus forming vases, or any 
other shape, by interposing diamond dust 
mixed with oil, or emery and water, be- 
tween the tool and the substance as often 
.as it is dispersed by the rotary motion of 
the former. 
The engraving of armorial bearings, sin- 
gle figures, devices, &c. on any of the above 
stones after they are polished, is performed 
through the means of a small iron wheel, 
the ends of the axis of which are received 
within two pieces of iron, in a perpendicu- 
lar position, that may be closed, or other- 
wise, as the operation requires ; the tools 
are fixed to one end of the axis and screw- 
ed firm, the stone to be engraved is then 
held to the tool, the wheel set in motion 
by the foot, and the figure gradually form- 
ed. The materials of which the tools are 
made is generally iron, and sometimes 
brass, they are flat, like chissels, gouges, 
ferules, and others have circular heads. 
After the work is finished the polishing is 
done with hair brushes, fixed on wheels, and 
tripoli. 
Engraving on Wood has been practised for 
several centuries, and originally with toler- 
able success, it languished for great part of 
the 18 th century, but revived towards the 
close, and is still practised in a manner 
which reflects credit on the ingenuity of the 
age. Bewick will long be remembered by 
his works in this style of engraving, and his 
imitators have been numerous and success- 
ful. As it is entirely different from engrav- 
ing on copper, the artist already acquainted 
with that mode would find himself at a loss 
how to proceed on wood, as the lines, in- 
stead of being cut into the substance, are 
raised like the letters of printing types, and 
printed in the same manner. 
The w ood used for this purpose is box, 
which is preferred for the hardness and 
closeness of its texture ; the surface must 
be planed smooth and the design drawn on 
it with a black-lead pencil, the graver is 
then used, the finer excavations from which 
are intended for white interstices between 
the black lines produced by leaving the 
box untouched, and the greatest lights are 
made by cutting away the wood entirely of 
the intended form, length, and breadth; 
but the deepest shades require no engrav- 
ing. Much of the beauty of this kind of 
engraving depends upon the printing, nor 
is it every artist who can excel in it, as ex- 
pedition and freedom are not to be attain- 
ed ; in short, the best wooden cuts are evi- 
dently the products rather of perseverance 
and ingenuity than easy confidence in 
ability, observable in every line of fine 
etchings. There are some who succeed to 
admiration in representing foliage and 
plants, but unfortunately a few months 
practice will enable a pupil to etch them on 
copper with greater truth: drapery and 
architecture may be well done in wood, 
but the faces and limbs of figures never 
look well. 
Such are the different descriptions of en- 
graving which do not require the aid of 
