The Grit-advocate., 1905-04-21
GOLD LEAF BEATING
One of the Worlds Oldest and IeAst
Mod.rni1ed HandicrAfts.

The art of the gold-beater is one OF
the oldest handlcrafts in the world. and
among those which have changed least.
Much of the decoration OF SOlomon's
Temple is believed 10 have been COW
cred with gold-Ieaf. hammered 10 the
requisite thinness 10y hand. us it is to-
day.
The gold-beatcr receives his material
not in the form of III" siEtypenny-
weight ingOt in which ii is east. but
in the form of ribbon about an inch
wide and twenty-four feet long.
This ribbon is first cut into 200
which is Il pile of square pieces of a
peculiar paper, part animal and part
| vegetable in composition. the prepara-
ton of which is Il secret. The best
clutches are made in London. \ square
| of gold is placed between each two
leaves. and the whole mass is ready
for the first beating.
This is done with an iron hammer,
weighing from twelve TO seventeen
pounds, while the cutch rests upon
granite block. which is supported by
Il neaNE WOOuen posi-.
Under the heavy. measured blows OF
| the hammer the sheets of gold begin
10 stretch or expand until, in half or
three-1uarters of an hour. they have
| reached the edges of the cutch. They
are then removed. and with a thin
strip of bamboo are cut into quarters,
so that the 300 pieces become 500.
81 sol, ion
of 500 pieces of skin, four inches
square, made from the intestincs OF
| cattle. As in the cutch, each piece
of gold is placed between two leaves
of skin. and bands of parchment or
vcllum are slipped over the whole pile
to keep it together.
Another beating. this time with n
hammer weighing from eight to ten
pounds. now follows. This takes about
an hour, during which the sheets OF
gold are all the time expanding.
The last stage is the mold" which,
like the cutch and the shoIer. is COM
posed of alternate leaves Of gold and
skin: but the mold is about five inches
square, and made up of %old-hca'er's
skin. The preparation Of this is
jealously guarded secret.
The skin, like that in the shOlcr, is
made from the intcstines of the on. 1t
is translucent. and not unlike rawhide
in color. Although it will stand con-
tinuOus beating without breaking. it
will tear like sheet of thin paper. The
making of single mold requires the
intestincs of 800 bulockS. Between
each two bcatingS the skin is rubbed
with baked and pulvcriZed gypsum.
\ mold contains 100 sheets. After
the second beating the workman takes
from the shoder single !eaf Of gold
a Il time. handling it with bamboo
pincers, and when necessary smoothing
it with a rabbits foot. With the strip
of bamboo lie cuts each sheet into
quarters so that the original 200 have
now become 5000. One shoder. there
fore. contains more than enough gold
to fill three molds.
The final beating. in the mold, is
done with 4 scven-pomd hammer, and
requires from three to four hours. by
this time the gold leaf should have cX-
panded again to the edge Of the skins,
and should be Of the requisite thin
ness, which is determined by holding
it up to the light. II it transmits green
rays it is done, and will measure
about one two-hnndrcd-and-cig cighty-thou
sandths OF an inch in thickness.
The hammers used in beating gold
are slightly convex on the face. The
art of the workman consists in so strik-
ing that the gold will always be ;hin-
nest in the centre. He must pound
with cvcnness all over the square, in
order that the sheets Of gold may cX-
pand without losing their form; but
at the same time he must keep tho
thickest part near the edges, so that
when the sheets are finally trimmed to
size, the thicker portions may fall i'll
the waste. to be recast. No machinery
has ever been devised which will do
this successfully.
The tools of the craft are interesting
and peculiar. The rabbits foot is eX-
ceedinsly soft and just oily enough to
prevent the gold from sticking, and the
bamboo riioss and cutting slips are the
only things with which it is possible to
do this delicate work. Tie gold does
not adhere to the tibcrs of the reed as
it does to steel.
The golG-bcater performs all his work
standing. The use Of the heavy ham,
merS in such continuous pounding
would. one would think. impose an al
most intolerable strain upon the hands
and arms. The men say however. tnat
1,nt,. r1,n nj "a
where sit catches them" is in the bend
of the knee.
The lack of strain upon the arms is
accounted for by the fact that the ham,
mcr rebounds. 1t is an astonishing
but by no means 4 rare thing to see
gold len tor chlumn lunlS Mliln the