Mechanick Exercises, or the Doctrine of Handy-Works

For many uses, workmen will refuse it because it is so poorly and unevenly worked in the bars that it costs them a great deal of labor to smooth it. However, it is good for all large works that require welding original: "welding"; the process of joining two pieces of metal by heating them until they are soft and then hammering them together., such as the bodies of anvils, sledgehammers, large bell-clappers, large pestles for mortars, and all thick, strong bars, etc. But it is particularly chosen by anchor-smiths because it withstands the heat better than other iron and is toughest when it is well worked.

There is some iron that comes from Holland (though in no great quantity), but it is made in Germany. This iron is called Dort Squares original: "Dort Squares"; named after Dordrecht (Dort), a major Dutch trading port through which German iron was exported. only because it comes to us from there, and it is worked into square bars three-quarters of an inch square. It is a bad, coarse iron and only fit for minor uses, such as window bars, brewers' bars, fire bars, etc.

There is another sort of iron used for making wire, which of all other types is the softest and toughest. But this type is not unique to any specific country; it is produced wherever any iron is made, even of the worst sort. For it is the first iron that runs from the stone original: "Stone"; the iron ore being smelted. when it is melting, and it is specifically preserved for the making of wire.

From what has been said, you can see that the softest and toughest iron is the best. Therefore, when you choose iron, choose that which bends the most times before it breaks—which is a sign of toughness. Also, check that it breaks cleanly within, is gray in color like broken lead, and is free from those glistening specks you see in broken antimony original: "Antimony"; a brittle, silvery-white semi-metal that has a crystalline, sparkling appearance when fractured., with no flaws or divisions in it. For these are signs that it is solid and well-worked at the mill.

Of Filing in general.

The several types of files that are in common use are the square, the flat, the three-square A triangular file., the half-round, the round, the thin file, etc. All these shapes you must have in several sizes and of several cuts original: "Cuts"; the pattern and coarseness of the teeth on the file's surface.. You must have them