if not properly held is apt to break off too much of the body of block, and it is best to break off in as small pieces as possible thus lessening the danger of spoiling the work. This simple method will enable the worker to secure any ornamental rock faced effect he may wish, with each one entirely different; for block work this method is excellent as it permits the rapid finishing of the work and when they are laid in the wall the effect is all that can be desired. The surface of the broken concrete can be greatly improved by coating with neat cement and water; the cement alone is mixed with water to the consistency of cream and is then applied to the surface with a brush, filling all the pores in the concrete and giving the blocks a more satisfactory and durable finish. CHAPTER XI ORNAMENTAL WORK FROM SIMPLE PATTERNS WITH sand molds the concrete worker has at his command a wide range of objects available as patterns, the most simple of every-day objects when properly used will aid in making a mold that will produce excellent ornamental effects, and by combining a number of these molds together the design you wish to perfect can be accomplished in so easy a manner that it would not be deemed possible until you have made a trial of it. The illustration at (a), Fig. 9, shows the manner of making the pattern collapsible, so that it may be withdrawn from the sand mold horizontally, thus permitting a greater amount of ornamentation to be placed upon a circular or square form and yet allow it to be removed from the mold without injury to the impression of the pattern in the sand. This method is use ful in many classes of work where it is not possible or convenient to use the flask divided into quarters, and will draw with greater ease than from a flask so divided. The form is made of boards, enough smaller than the completed pattern to permit of the design to be fastened to the sides of same; two sides are cut long enough to lap over the other side boards, to which are fastened cleats at each end; these cleats are fastened securely to the two inside boards and attached, when making mold, to the outside boards with screws; this permits these screws to be removed, when ready to draw the pattern, and the two inside boards to be drawn toward center of pattern and taken out, thus freeing the two longer side boards in the same manner, without injury to the sand mold. At (b) is shown a panel which illustrates the possibility of a simple piece of rope as a pattern; the rope is nailed to a cover board or molding board in the design you wish to reproduce, and then well covered with shellac so to make a smooth surface but not to ob literate the texture and strands of the rope; the flask is now placed and in the bottom of same dry sand is sifted until the rope is about onehalf covered, as this would be all you would wish to appear on the panel, the sand mixture is placed upon this, completing the mold. The design of pedestal shown at (c) Fig. 9, is made from a pattern that is simply a log or block of wood, with the bark upon same; the bark is smoothed as much as possible and all divisions or cracks between the pieces of bark made as deep as you wish, so to make the detail more perfect; the log is now cut into halves and the outside surface treated to a coating of shellac or varnish, so to give a smooth molding surface. One-half of pattern is now placed upon the molding board and the flask placed around same and the sand mold made in the usual manner; the second section of flask and also of pattern is placed and the parting made between sections of flask; the balance of mold is completed in the usual manner which allows for pouring the concrete from one end. |