CHAPTER XV 
MOULDINGS 
Folded edges—Wired edges—The drawswage—Making the dies—The drawbench—Swaged mouldings—Turned mouldings—Bending strip metal—Running plaster mouldings for casting. 

Perhaps the simplest form of moulding is that produced at the edge of a piece of sheet metal by folding it upon itself, or over a wire. The turned-down piece thus forms a little border or moulding, Fig. 223. The tool used for this folding of the edge is known as a " turning-over tool," Fig. 222. It just a flat piece of steel or iron measuring perhaps 5 inches by 2 inches by i\ inch. An old plane iron can be turned into a very good one. Soften it in the fire. Leave the end nearly sharp, bevel one long edge to rather less than J inch thick, and file all the sharp edges off it and off the other long edge, which should be left, however, to the full, •& inch, thickness. The top of the iron, where the hammer used to strike it, should be rounded for use on curves, and all its sharp edges smoothed off. If a moulding like Fig. 223 is required, put the tool in the vice with its thin end upwards. About half an inch of the tool must project above the jaws of the vice. If more, the tool will vibrate more than you wish. Mark a line on the metal parallel to its edge, either by ruling it with a straight-edge, or, if you are sure of the truth of the edge of the metal, by setting a pair of dividers to the correct span and running it along the edge. One leg of the dividers sliding along on the bench against the edge of the metal, the other resting on and marking its surface, see Fig. 18, page 49. Of course, curves may be drawn in the same way. Hold the metal so that the scratched line comes over the turning-over tool and tap the edge down with a mallet, or with a hammer which has no sharp edges to its face. Remember that whenever metal is bent with a hammer, the face of the tool should have rounded edges, otherwise it will mark the metal badly. The edge of the metal should be tapped over the tool until it is bent to about right angles to its original position. Then lay the work on the bench with the bent edge of the metal sticking up. Carefully and evenly tap the edge down on to the sheet, making sure as you do so that an equal amount is turned over all along, and that the folded edge makes a true line, not a waved one. To do this neatly requires a good deal of care, though the work itself is very simple. 

If it should be necessary to hide the actual edge of the metal you may fold the edge in on the side which will not show on the completed article. When the edge has been tapped down evenly, place the work with the folded piece downwards on a flat stake. Take the hammer and a piece of boxwood shaped like a square-ended repousse tool, its sharp corners having been removed, and tap down to the stake that part of the metal which is a little further from the folded edge than the turned-in part extends to, Figs.224.225. Thedoublethicknessatthe edgewillbecome a moulding, raised a little above the surface. If a large moulding is required the metal may be folded over a wire, which may itself be of almost any section. To cover a wire properly it is very important that the correct amount of metal should be allowed for the purpose. Too much is worse than too little, for the superfluous amount crumples up untidily, and is very difficult to remove. First see that the edge of the metal is true. Then make a pencil mark parallel to it three times the diameter of the wire distant. Thus, for a quarter inch wire mark the line f inch from the edge. Put the turning-over tool in the vice with its rounded edge upwards, and turn down the edge of the metal from the mark. Tap the metal well over the tool, so as to form as much as possible ofthe hollow to receive the wire. But give it as few blows as will do the work, for much hammering would stretch the edge of the metal, and you do not wish that. Now rest the metal on a flat stake, the bench, or a smooth cake of lead, and hold the wire into the holloAV with pliers while you tap the edge of the metal right round it. Cut the wire only when it is nearly all covered in, for the exact length can then be easily decided,—not an easy matter otherwise, on a curve. See that you leave no sharp edges when you cut the wire, or they may work their way through the metal later on. The wired edge may be brought forward in the same way as the folded one, Fig. 226. Or the work may be held face downwards on a stake with the wire and folded edge of the metal on top, the wire over hanging the edge of the stake as shown in Fig. 227. The wired edge is then hammered down to the position shown in the next drawing. This is an excellent way of bringing a wired edge sharply forward. The edge of the stake must of course be quite smooth and true. 

Mouldings of almost any section may be produced by means of the drawswage, Fig. 233. This tool consists of a strong rectangular frame with movable dies, which are pressed together by a screw. A groove of the exact section of the required moulding is filed in the adjacent edges of the dies. Then a strip of metal is repeatedly drawn through it, till, the dies having been gradually pressed closer together by the screw, the strip of metal is forced to take the required shape. The frame and dies should be quite rigid, therefore the former should be made from metal not less than |-inch wide. It will be seen from the illustration that on the two long sides of the frame the metal projects inwards in a V-shaped ridge, A. This ridge is, however, cut away at the left-hand end of the drawing, so that the dies, into which it fits, may be removed. Each die has a V-shaped groove at either end corresponding to the pro jecting ridges on the frame. The whole arrangement is very similar to the stock and dies by which screws are cut. Indeed a very useful drawswage can be made from an old screw stock, especially if it be of large size. 


Suppose you wish to make a length of moulding like Fig. 230. Remove the dies by withdrawing the screw and lifting them out of the frame at the gap. On the upper face of C file a groove to the exact section of the moulding required. The shape of the groove may be tested while you are filing it by hammering a piece of lead or other soft piece of metal into it. The lead will take the exact shape of the groove. Modelling wax may be used instead. Alternately file and test the shape of the groove in this way, till you are satis fied with its form. You must now widen it out towards each side of the die that the groove may taper, as the holes in a drawplate are tapered. In a drawplate, however, the tapering is towards one side only, but in the die it is in both directions from the centre. But you must leave the centre of the die untouched. Take great care to prevent any scratch or other roughness being left on the die near the centre, for every mark will be reproduced in the moulding. Nor should any sharp edges or corners be left at the ex tremities of the groove, for they would cut or tear the mould ing instead of quietly pressing it into shape. Take the die B and round off its lower edge on both sides. If B and C are now put together and held to the light the groove should look exactly the right section in the middle, but be wider towards the front and back edges of the dies. They may now be hardened and tempered, but this is not necessary unless a good length of the moulding has to be drawn. Put the dies in the swage. Take a length of wire or strip metal of the nearest to the required section that may be available. It is sometimes possible to save the swage a little work by first flattening the wire or roughly hammering the strip to shape. Anneal it, grease or oil it, and put it between dies B and C. Tighten the screw till they grip the wire. Then on the drawbench pull it through the swage to within half an inch of the end. Screw the dies a little closer, and pull back again in the reverse direction. Repeat the process again and again; annealing occasionally, greasingfrequently, and screwing the dies closer every time. The wire will gradually assume the desired shape. 

Mouldings 229 and 230 are solid, and are flat at the back. But frequently a moulding is required, the back of which follows the contour of the front. Less metal is used in this way. Such mouldings are made from strips of sheet metal, instead of wire. The dies are so made that part of C pro jects into and partly fills the groove in D. If the metal for the moulding is thin, the dies must be made to match each other accurately, and careful attention given to any projecting ridges, which might be likely to cut through the strip. 

Small mouldings, up to 1/8 inch, can be drawn by hand, the drawswage being held in the vice. But for larger work some mechanical help must be had. The drawbench, Fig. 233a, is the most generally convenient tool. It is a low bench 5 or 6 feet long. At one end is fixed a roller with strong handles to turn it, at the other a pair of cleats to hold the drawplate or swage. A strap is fastened to the roller and ends in an iron ring, triangular in shape. This slips over the hooked handles of the drawtongs. The extremity of the wire which is to form the moulding is gripped in the drawtongs, and the swage put into position against the cleats. The ring on the strap is now hooked on to the tongs and the strap tightened by pulling the large handles. Very considerable force is required to turn the handles when a wide moulding is being drawn. Geared drawbenches are made, and the strap is sometimes replaced by an endless chain. 

When only a short length of moulding is required a groove of the required section may be filed in a piece of steel and the strip or wire hammered into it a little at a time, Fig. 234. The tool should be wide enough to take an inch or more of the moulding a,t once. No sharp corners should be left at the extremities of the groove. The metal should not be hammered right home at once, but gradually worked down with the hammer along its whole length, no part being finished till the moulding is nearly complete all along. It may be necessary to anneal it first. If the moulding is not a solid one, it is necessary to lay a strip of lead above the strip of metal which you are to use and hammer them both together into the groove. The lead will press the other metal right into the hollow. A narrow collet hammer of convenient shape may be sometimes used to drive the metal into the groove in the swage, Fig. 235, the lead strip is hammered into the hollow back of the moulding to complete it. 

The following is a very convenient method, by means of which any moulding may be produced. Take a length of strip metal of convenient size, bend it round into a ring, and hard solder the ends together. Fix the ring on a chuck ha the lathe, and turn it to the shape of the moulding re quired. Then if necessary cut the ring at the join and straighten out the strip. 

You will have, of course, no difficulty in bending into a ring a strip of metal measuring, say, 3/8 by 1/8 inch if you bend it in the direction of its smaller measurement. But if you wish to make a flat ring of it, 1/8 inch in thickness, you may have some difficulty in getting the metal to bend in that direction. You can, however, do the work in the follow ing manner. Take a piece of hard wood measuring, say, 3 by 4 by 1 inch and put it end up in the vice. The vice should grip it in the direction in which it measures 3 inches, and 1 inch of the wood should project above the jaws of the vice. Make two saw cuts A inch deep, leaving the exact width of your strip of metal between them. With a chisel remove the wood between the saw cuts, and round off the vertical corners of the notch, Fig. 236. Anneal the strip of metal and put one end of it, flat side up, into the notch. By using the other end of the strip as a lever you can bend the metal to the curve required. Do not cut the ring from the remainder of the strip until you have got it to the exact curve, for the long strip makes a convenient handle and lever. The ring may try to " buckle " in the process, but a few taps with a mallet on a stake will soon flatten it again. Strip copper up to 1 inch by 1/4 inch in thickness may be bent in this way by hand. It goes easier if red hot. The notch in this case must be fined with sheet metal, or, better still, made in a stout piece of metal instead. 

Mouldings are often built up from a number of strips, or concentric rings of different sections, soldered one above the other. See Chapter XXVII. 

The simplest way of making a complicated moulding, to go round a difficult shape, such as that shown in Fig. 237, is to run it in plaster and then cast it in the metal. First make two brass templates, one to the exact shape of the ground plan, E, the other to that of the moulding, F. Soft solder the first template on to another piece of sheet metal, G, which measures two inches larger all round. Solder also a few loops of wire on top to hold the plaster in place. You don't want it to slide off. Fasten the second template to a small wedge of wood in such a manner that when the latter lies flat on the bench, the template stands up on its edge. Mixalittleplaster,asdescribedonpage19,andput some of it on the wire loops and all over the plan. Hold the second template flat on the sheet of metal, G, and rest it against the edge ofthe metal plan, E. You can nowslide the template F along the edge of E; it will scrape off any plaster which has come too far. Add plaster wherever required. Slide F again and again round E, washing the former whenever it gets clogged with plaster. Very soon the plaster on E will get firm, and the template will cut it cleanly. Take great care to hold the wedge of wood to which the template F is fastened, quite flat on G all the while. To fill up small gaps in the plaster mix a teaspoonful at a time, To mix a small amount of plaster like this, take a bare spoonful of the dry plaster and put it, spoon and all, into a basin of water. When the bubbles have ceased to rise from the plaster in the spoon take it out and beat it up into an even paste. Apply it with a brush, and when setting run the template by again. Keep template F wet when finishing. When the moulding is free from gaps, it is ready for moulding and casting in its final material. 

Mouldings may be produced in sheet metal by modelling it on pitch with repousse tools. The work may be done from either back or front of the metal. To do this on a large bowl it is usual to work with the side of the bow bedded in pitch. The bowl is moved round as each section is completed. 

Large simple mouldings may be worked with hammer alone on suitably shaped stakes or swages.