The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-05-02


 Accuracy, Delicacy of Touch, Patience and Expert Ilandiworlk-Sometim Single Piece Win Require Months | Work.
 (From the New York Times.)
 Cut glass is still the product of ex- pert handiwork with comparatively rude and simple machinery. The beautiful, lustrous, prismatic pieces come from muddy troughs and dusty bins, having passed through many hands in the process of shaping, rough ing, smoothing and polishing, and, as the process is more costly than that of pressing glass, well-cut pieces must continue to be high-priced.
 Although the cutting of glass has limitations, it is possible to give each new piece distinctive shape or de- sign, and design within the limita | tions can be applied to a single piece for any special purpose. The differ ence between the careful, laborious cutting of single piece and the press ing of hundreds of pieces from a single die makes the difference in value.
 Very little is known about cutglass here. The lack of literature on the subject may account for the lack of knowledge.
 Only one part of the process of mak- ing and cutting glass is kept secret, and that is the mixing of the ingredi- ents for the production of the crude ar ticle. Any encyclopedia gives the list of principal ingredients, but each man. ufacturer strives to complete a compo sition that shall be superior to any other in briliancy and other qualities. The crude article is blown, not pressed, and shaped by hand. After it has been annealed it is sent to the cutting room.
 It may be a salad bowl, a punch bowl, a decanter, water bowl, a lamp globe a vinaigrette, a bonbon dish, or one of the hundreds of articles that are useful or ornamental. It may have special design, or it may have a design that has been applied to many pieces because it is attractive or popular. Whatever the design may be, it is sub ject to the limitations of the art of cut ting. All the designs for cutting can not be applied.
 If, for instance, salad bowl nine inches in diameter is to be cut, the head cutter or foreman, with calipers and dividers, measures and divides the outer surface into sections and marks the dividing lines with red lead or whiting Within each section he marks the principal lines of the design to be followed. In each section the similar lines of design must be of one length, depth and width, otherwise the completed work would be irregular. The piece goes then to the roughing machine, where a steel disk revolves at the rate of about one hundred and twenty revolutions 8 minute under a flow of sand and water from hoppers.
 The disks vary in thickness and di- ameter, according to the breadth and length of the lines to be cut. The piece is pressed against the edge of the disk, and the glass is cut away by the fric tion of the sand carried by the disk, the angle of the edge of the disk being gen. orally obtuse unless deep and narrow lines are to be cut. If the piece is pressed too hard it may be cracked by the heat generated by the friction. if it be held unsteadily the cuts will be jag ged and if it slips in the workmans | The disks are sharpened frequently by pairing off the edges in lathe.
 It might be supposed that a piece could be held in a lathe that would act automatically in cutting the lines, but experience has proved that piece must be held by hands, so that the pressure against the edge of disk may be regulated according to the varying conditions and requirements. All pieces, large and small, are guided by hand, but the very large piece, being heavy, are held in saddles suspended from the ceiling.
 Trained hands and eyes are required in cutting long lines on the rounded surface of large punch bowl, and the expertness displayed in guiding a large and valuable piece must be seen to he appreciated. Sometimes putty is daubed thickly on the rim of large piece and allowed to harden so that the workman can hold the piece steadily.
 When the piece leaves the roughing machine, the cut surfaces are like that of piece of ground glass, and it hard ly seems to be possible that they can be smoothed and polished as brilliantly as the untouched places, but stones, brushes, powders and patience work wonders The rough cuts are smoothed by wheels of hard, fine grained stone that are imported for that purpose. The wheels varying in thickness and size, and the cutting edges are kept smooth and true by the use of pieces of flint.
 One of the things a workman must do +o l,;c +a 1,fe o1e- in order. The extreme edge of good wheel is as sharp and as true as that of a steel tool. In smoothing the rough cuts, a workman presses the piece against the edgeof the stone wheel, fol- lowing all the lines and rubbing down the surfaces until there is only a faint indication of ground glass. The same care must be exercised in smoothing as in roughing. If the piece be pressed too hard, sparks will fly, and the piece may be ruined. After the deep cuts have been smoothed. the shallow lines must be cut by the use of stone wheels.
 The workman subdivides the spaces between the rough cuts, and on them cuts smaller lines. Converging lines are pointed and brought together, stars, rosettes and graceful lines ap- pear, crOss-hatching fills the small spaces, and all rough edges disappear If the rim be fluted or scalloped, all ir- ! rog,lo ,eifiac ara norrecte5 For coctIu