goldbeaters hammer

A hammer with two somewhat rounded faces, used in beating the pack of alternate gold ribbon and vellum or gold leaf and skin. As the work progre es smaller hammers are used. The forging-hammer is used in reducing the ingot of gold to one-sixth of an inch thickne . The anvil is a steel block 4x3 inches on the face. The hammer for the first course of beating is short handled, and weighs fifteen or sixteen pounds. The hammer for the next beating weighs ten pounds. goldbeater's-skin, s. The prepared peritoneal membrane of the cæcum of the ox. It is used to separate the leaves of gold while under the hammer; thus it is reduced to extreme thinne , and in this state is used as an application to cuts and wounds. "Bind it about with a narrow slip of goldbeater's-skin, which moisten with your tongue, and it will stick to gold-pen, s. A pen with a gold nib pointed with gether."-Mortimer: Husbandry. rhodium or iridium.