'GOLD.BBATING, the art. of ' hammering gold' ipto leaves. of :extreme thinness 'for the purposes of . Ornamental gilding. For this pun.
' • pose pure gold is alloyed with small quantities of other metals according to the color re quired. Ten colors are recognized: red, pale red, deep-red, orange, lemon, deep-pale, pale, deep-party, party, besides fine gold.
In the deeper colors cop preponderates in the alloy, varying from dwt. to 4 dwt per ounce, and no silver. The pale ones contain silver varying from a few grains. to 1 dwt. per ounce. The middle ones contain from to a little over 1 dwt. of alloy, of which 3i is silver and A copper. Ordinary gold-leaf con tains about 21 grains of alloy per ounce and is thus nearly 23-carat fine. The operations are conducted as follows: The metal is melted and cast into ingots, which are rolled out into thin ribands between polished steel rolls. Each ounce of gold is rolled to a length of about 10 feet, the riband being 154 inches wide and 0.0015 to .001 inch thick. This is cut up into pieces, each weighing about 6 grains, so that 2 ounces — that is, a "beating" — yields 160 to 170 such pieces. These are packed between intervening sheets of vellum, some 3 inches square, the surfaces of which have been rubbed over with fine plaster of Paris — brime — to Prevent the gold from sticicing. A number of blank pieces of vellum are placed at the top and bottom of the pile and the packet is bound with straps of the same material. The catch thus formed is beaten with a hammer weighing from 17 pounds upward, or by a power ham mer, till the gold has been extended to the size of the parchment sheets. The packet is then unbound, the gold squares each divided into four by a steel knife and the pieces packeted between sheets of gold-beaters skin (q.v.) about 4Y, inches square. A number of blank skins are placed at both to and bottom.
The 600 to 700 pieces are all put into the same packet and comprise what is called the shoder. The shoder is secured by slipping the pile into a parchment band and again into a similar one at right angles, and is beaten with a round-faced hammer weighing from 9 to 12 pounds, until the gold has extended across the skins. When the gold has filled the shoder each leaf is divided into four pieces with a strip of bamboo sharpened on the long edge. The 2,500 to 2,800 pieces thus obtained are packed in three packets between fine gold beaters' skin, 5 inches square. Each of these packets constitutes a A large number of blank skins are placed at either side. The packet is secured as before and each mold is beaten with the "finishing) or gold hammer, weighing from 7 to 10 pounds, till the metal extends to the edges of the skins, and in some places flows over. When the beating is finished the mold is opened. Each leaf is then lifted deftly by long wooden tweezers, placed, with a sudden downward movement, on a leather pad dusted with brime, and from the central part leaves 3X inches square are cut by means 'of two sharpened bamboo strips fastenedparallel to each other. The leaves are placed by the tweezers in books of soft paper rubbed over with red ochre, red bole and brime to prevent the gold from sticking. If the leaf does not lie flat, a sudden puff of breath, well directed in the centre, lays it flat. Each book contains 25 leaves. Fine gold is more difficult to deal with than that containing a little alloy, owing to its liability to stick when the leaves touch. It, however, beats etlmlly well. The leaf begins to transmit light when saes of an inch thick. Ordinarily gold-leaf varies from nine to aiw of an tads thick.