Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-11-28

rocks" The amber workers of this coun-
try are all German or Austrian 1t taxes
from ten to twenty years of experience 10
become an expert workman, and the wages
commanded are from SIS to $40 per week
The first operation with the cakes IS TO
cut the amber into pieces the re OF the
mouthpiece desired. One man, it may be
remarked, does all the work of shaping the
amber into the finished mouthpiece- The
only operation not done by this man is the
polishing. He first roughly shapes the
small piece into a saddle bit or flush BIT or
whatever shaped BIT, as the mouthpiece is
called by the trade, is desired. He does
this by wearing it down against fraiser,
or wheel covered with sandpaper. After he
has shaped up the outside he puts the bit
into wooden chuch and fixes a steel drill
and tracer to his rapidly revolving machine.
This tool puts the hole into the BIT, and
also puts the thread for the screw onto 1t.
He then puts in the screw. Another opera
ton has been performed on the stem of the
pipe in the meantime, and 1t has thre ID
matching the one in the screw. The bit
and bowl are then put together. If the
bowl is a bulldog and TIE corner of the
bit does not exactly coincide with the edge
of the stem of the bowl. the end of the
stem is carefully sandpapered until the bit
can be turned and the joint made barely
perceptible
Polishing the Pipe.
If a bit is desired for q pipe with bent
stem, another operation is gone through
WITH the - uuiUUeE VI tHc VI iiC
placed in a pan of sperm oil. which is heat
ed to certain temperature. After they
have been in the OIL bath long enough they
become soft. They are taken out in this
condition and bent over small gas fame.
The pipe bowl and bit now joined to-
gether the pipes of first quality are pol
ished. Unless there is an order for a dark
pipe, the best ones are left in their natural
color and only polished. The polishing OF
the amber BIT takes three operations with
different buffers and the result is the shin
ing mouthpiece. If a dark pipe is de sired
the walnut stain is applied. The bit ac-
companies the bowl through the staining
and polishing operations desert bed In the
foregoing.
In case the pipes are to be gold trimmed
these fittings are not made in the factory
but are bought ready made and applied to
the pipe. One of the operations is omitted
in this case. That is the one where the
end of the stem is sandpapered in order
to make a JOINT of smooth appearance.
There is no necessity for this smoothness
when the joint is to be covered by fer
rule and the operation is omitted. The
pipes are then given to boys. who run
through the bit chicken feather in order
to remove the amber dust which may have
collected there IN the drilling. The amber
is then wrapped In double strips of cotton
batting and the whole in tissue paper A
half dozen pipes are placed in box for
shipping. If there Is to be a trademark
placed on the bowl. it is stamped in gold
lettering
Other woods used in making pipes OF
the cheaper grades are apple. hazel button
and maple. The latter IS used in only tho
cheapest pipes. Coca-bola is used IN France
and Germany. but not in this country.
While hard, 1t splits easily.
Almost all the workmen are Germans or
Austrians. The machinery Is imported.
Many hundred boys and young men have
been tried by the local factory. but only
four or five give promise Of becoming thor
ough pipemakers. The prime requisite.
after skill. is patience and this American
boys do not seem to have.