The St. Louis Republic., 1901-09-01

he produces ZOO leaves ont OF IA penny
weights. he is allowed extra pay for the
leaves made from the other pennyweights.
Skilled workmen have spread out one
grain of gold to seventy-five square inches.
Some idea of how thin this is may be gath
cred from the fact that leaf of gold so
spread out Is 1,2O0 times thinner than ordi-
| nary printing paper.
Take enough leaves Of gold to make
tiny pile one inch high. and place alongside
an equal number of leaves of paper. and
| the latter would reach halfway to the roof
| of the Union Trust building.
BY alloying gold with copper and silver,
gold leaf can be made into twelve different
shades of color. known commercially as
| red, pale red. extra deep. deep orange.
lemon, deep pale. pale. pale blue, deep
party and fine gold.
In manufacturing gold leaf. the first pro-
cess is to melt the pure gold in crucibe
| thust into furnace at great heat The
molten mass is then poured into small
| ingot and is then passed between steel roll
ers until It forms ribbon IL inches wide.
| and ten feet long tn the ounce.
This Is measured in equal spaces and Is
cut into pieces OF six grains each These
pieces are placed between the leaves Of
I
| leaves Of very tough paper. made in
France. The "cutch'' is beaten twenty min
utes with a seventeen-pound hammer. at
| the end of which time each leaf Of gold
has been spread to the full size of the
'.cutch."
Then each sheet Of gold is removed sin
gly. cut into four parts, and placed in what
| is known as the "shoder." This contains
100 leaves of goldbeater's skin. but not Of
the best qual!ty-that is. they are skins
which have been worn OFT or nearly so in
the finishing process The shoder Is beaten
for two hours with nine-pound hammer;
the gold spreads out again, and again each
leaf is removed and cut into four equal
parts
Now comes the fine work of the gold
,eater. The leaves are transferred to
mold" for the final beating. The mold Is
five and three-quarter inches thick. ana
contains 800 leaves of the finest goldbeaters'
skin. After this final beating the gold Is
one hundred and fifty thousandth part OF an
inch thick. and Is 30 thin It permits the
transmission Of rays of light
After the final beating each leaf Of gold
IN taken out separately and the ragged edges
cut of with rattan slips in parallel grooves.
which tool is known as Wagon" At this
stage gold is malleable when cold. II there
II a corner missing or hole to be filled q
small piece is placed to fill the vacancy and
II thoroughly amalgamated
Tho square leaves thus cut by the Wagon
are placed n small books. the leaves OF
which are .u~Ded with red ochre TO prevent
tho gold from sticking. This work has to
be done most carefully. There can be no
fans, nor drafts Of air-another work.
man must not even walk too quickly past
the operator. as the slightest stir Of air
will watt the leaf OF gold from the work
bench. The edge clippings and spoiled leaves
70 back into the melting pot for the next
beating.
Minute particles Of gold float through tho
shop and settle In dust on the floor stick to
waste paper. etc. Enough OF this settles to
make It worth while to save the sweepings.
When there Is a sufficient accumulation the
dust Of the shop. scrap paper, every sort OF
trash and debris Is burned in large cruci-
bic. the residue carefully washed. and the
result Is profitable enough to pay for the
labor. Sometimes a crucible of gold will
burst or be upset in the furnace In that
case the cinders and ashes are placed in a
mortar and ground to rowdcr. This II
washed by hand and practically all the gold
10 recovered In minute particles.
The art requires a five-year apprenticeship
to learn. The young apprentice is very
clumsy, and in learning to beat he Is not
allowed to work on gold leaf. He just ham,.
mers away at an empty 'cutch." his work In
that line producing no results except ex-
perience. He il not considered initiated
until he has smashed his thumb or a finger
or two. which almost invariably happens
sooner or later.
Great skill is required in beating-a blow
delivered otherwise than with the direct face
Of the hammer would split fifty leaves Of
gold. Attempts to beat gold by machinery
have failed for this reason. The gold does
not spread equally in all directions. A heavy
blow In one part Of the mold must be sue
ceeded by a. light one in another. The
mold must be kept turning by the lett