Howard M Chapin

How to Enamel Howard M Chapin

Enamel is generally bought in the form of hard chunks more or less flat and varying from the size of an acorn to that of a large dinner plate. When it is made it is poured into a mold where it hardens in the form of a disk or slab generally a foot or more in diameter, and later gets broken into smaller pieces during transportation. These chunks of enamel may be readily broken up by a hammer, and if they are first wrapped in a piece of cloth the small particles will not fly about and get into one's eye, and no enamel will be lost. When the enamel has been broken up so that none of the pieces are larger than a pea, it should be washed in clean water to free it from any dirt that it naturally contained or that it received from the cloth in which it was wrapped during the hammering process. Cleanliness cannot be too much emphasized, for the slightest particle of dirt mixed in with the enamel may often completely spoil a piece of work. Enamel if heated quite hot and then plunged into cold water will become so brittle that it can be broken up by the hands, but when treated in this manner is said to be harder to grind.