Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1890-10-18
GOLD IBEtTING.


Shop in Cincinnati.
In basement o" Third street is the
ONLY gold heaters Sion in Cincinnati. It
has been there for II wears and every
day Of thos" / years the lang, aug Of
the heaters hammer has gone or. vet
few people know there is Il rurrc eta
tive of the "anc.ent and ho1orHIle'
trade in our city. Ancien il is i, Il I'd,
having been in existence among the
Greeks, Romans, and Ervltians.
Whether they u,ed the same processes
as those now used or no. is no; SHOWN,
but it is thought they were very much
like those of to-day The Gr,t + c. ri of
gold beating is that of G imam moril
named Thcophilus in the twelfth ccn-
fury.
The gold used in gold beating is rurc
gold alleged with copper and silver to
suit the color required. When the gold
is any lower than % carats fine it is al
)oyed with pure silver, as copper makes
1t too harsh to beat SiXt en- carat gold
has so much taken the color of silver
that it would be mistaken for that metal.
The gold is melted in cruc,bIcs Of Ger
man sand. 1t is then poured INTO ingots,
forged and rolled about as thin as writ
ing paper. This Is then cut into little
pieces about one inch square. weighing
about z! ounces. Each man get so worth
of these twice a week. These are placed
in what is known as a kutCh, which Is
simply package of French pal erabout
four inches square. This French paper
is a sort of imitation parchment and is
a.
is then too thick to put i'll books of SO
called skin. In this kutch, which is
fitted into an envelope of parchment,
the gold is beaten with a 16 pound ham,
mer until about four inches square. This
beating is done with peculiar motion.
The hammer comes down and is allowed
to rebound to about the height of the
beater's head He then seems to catch
it and throw a little higher, and allows
it to come down without any apparent
effort. The heater stands at his work
and moves the upper half of his body
with the hammer.
These four inch pieces of leaf are taken
out of this "kutch" and cut into quar-
tiers. This is done with what is known
as a wagon, Il little sled like arrange
ment with the runners made of split
reeds, sharpened with a knife They are
exceedingly sharp and cut with great
ease. Then those quarters are put i'll
"shoder," which is Il book of Skin, as
it is called. This skin is made of the in
testines of bulls and is very expensive.
Here it is again beaten until it is about
four inches square. 1t is then quartered
Ssh -,
"molds." Each mold contains 1000
| leaves.
To clear these leaves of skin of the
gold that adheres to them they are
| sprinkled with "brime, which is to be
burned and ground up and then brushed
with an English hare's foot. The Amer
! lean rabbits foot isn't fine haired
enough.
After the leaf is taken from the mold,
having received its third beating, it is
trimmed carefully until 80 inches square.
| These are then put in little books, %
| leaves to book. Twenty books of 20
| leaves each make pack, which sells for
| about 81 When the leaf is ready for
sale it is so thin that it takes 2S0, 600
| leaves, placed one on the other, to make
q solid inch.
TO learn the godbeae 5 trade requires
an pprenticeship of four years. 1t IS
| indeed more a science than a trade.
Machinery has been introduced in some
places to do the beating, but it can only
be used in the first and second processes,
as the third requires the skill and knowl-
edge of Just how hard to strike owing to
the different weights of the gold The
beating is done on "stones of Italian
marble set in the floor On account of
these stones the business can not be car
ried on in any but ground floor
The sweepngs are all kept and refined
for the gold dust that is in them. The
broken crucibles, too, are kept and the
gold gotten out of them. Every thing
must be kept perfectly dry, 50 as to pre-
vent the leaf from sticking. In hand
ling the leaf a pair of lockwood pincers
is employed The foil would stick so to
the fingers as to make it impossible to
handle them.
The foil is used principally for signs
and for gliding the edges and binding of
books. One of the largest users of foil
in this city is a playing card firm, who
use it for gliding the edges of their cards.
Dentists leaf is made Of pure gold and
is not made in this city at all.
To get the parchment needed the Gin
cinnati firm buys up old deeds, indent
ures, and the like. They have roll of
parchments down there that would make
on antiquarian's eyes sparkle. Most of
! them are English and of the eighteenth
century, although sometimes one of the
sixteenth is come across. -[Cincinnati
Times Star.