THE CRAFTS 
WOOD CARVING AND PYROGRAPHY. LEATHER AND METAL. BASKETRY, ETC. 
Under the inanaganciit of Miss Emily Peacock, Room 2j. 22 East i6ih St., Nerv York. All inquiries in regard to the various 
Crafts are to be sent to the above address, but will be ansivered i>i the magazine under this head. 
All queslions tnv.st he received be/nre the lOlh day of month preceding issue and will be ansioered under ''Ansivers to Inquiries" onl;/. Please do not send stamped 
envelope for reply. The editors will answer questions only in these columns. 
After the plate has been forged out to the required 
thickness draw a centre Hne on one side, lay the brass 
pattern on this line and scribe around it with a steel point. 
With a heavy piercing saw saw along just outside the 
line, except the bowl, where about one eighth inch mar- 
gin should be left. File the edges, taking special care 
with the handle which may be smoothed with emery cloth 
after filing. 
The next step is to shape the bowl. Take a piece 
of hard wood, hickory is best, (oak or ash'will do) about 
three inches square and five or six inches long, fix it firm- 
ly in the vice and with a gouge hollow out a place as near 
the shape of the intended bowl (as shown by your wax 
model) as possible. Hold the silver blank over this block 
(See Illus. No. i.) and with a medium sized raising ham- 
mer, shape the bowl, annealing as , often as necessary. 
If the bowl curves up at the point, as it probably will 
if it is longer than it is broad, lay it on the bench, hollow 
side down and strike lightly on the edges with a rawhide 
or wood mallet, to bring it back to shape. Keep on work- 
ing with the hammer till the bowl has acquired the proper 
form and until when laid up side down on the anvil the 
edges touch all around. With a smooth file make the 
edges true, make them rather thin and rounded, not too 
sharp and remove the file marks with emery cloth. 
Now the bowl has to be planished to take out the 
'bumps" made in shaping it. Select a raising hammer 
with a face somewhat smaller than the curve of the bowl 
and fix it firmly in the vice. (See Illus. No. 2.) Hold 
the spoon by the handle, with the bowl on the hammer 
and with a small planishing hammer carefully go over the 
outside of the bowl till all the little hollows are taken out, 
and the inside is almost perfectly smooth. These ham- 
mer marks should overlap each other. 
Bend the handle to the required curve with the 
THE MAKING OF A SILVER SPOON 
Harry S. IVkitbeck. 
In the making of a spoon the design is of course the 
first consideration. Above all things have the spoon 
practical. It should be graceful in line, easy to handle 
and made of silver thick enough to be lasting, for this 
spoon if well made will not be worn out for years to come, 
so let us leave for future generations something worthy 
to look upon and use. 
It is well to model the design in wax or plastilene 
as this gives us a definite shape to work for, not only in 
outline, but in the curves of the bowl and handle as well. 
After the design has been finished to your own satis- 
faction, make a simple outline drawing on paper exact- 
ly as the outline is to be and transfer this outline to a 
piece of thin sheet brass (about 20 gauge) making the 
centre line of the design coincide with a line drawn on 
the brass. Saw out this brass pattern and file the edges 
very true and smooth. 
Now we will begin to work with the silver. If the 
spoon is to be the size of an ordinary dessert spoon use 
silver about 13 gauge (English Standard). If larger or 
smaller use thicker or thinner silver. If the handle is 
to be very wide of course the metal need not be so thick, 
perhaps one gauge thinner. Buy a piece of rolled ster- 
ling silver the length and width of the pattern. Anneal 
the silver by heating it to a dull red and plunging it in 
cold water. With a heavy hammer beat out the ends 
of the plate on an anvil, leaving it thick in the middle 
where the handle is narrow. The bowl end may be 
about 17 gauge, the handle as thick or thin as you desire 
to make it. If there is to be any carving on the handle 
it should be left quite thick. Anneal the silver from 
time to time, for if hammered on too much at one time the 
metal becomes brittle and will crack. Use a pair of cal- 
lipers to make sure the plate is as thin in the centre as 
it is at the edges. 
