After a tin vessel has been rounded upon a block or mandril by striking it with a wooden mallet, and the seams finished, all its exterior edges are strengthened by bending a thick iron wire into the proper form, applying it to what would otherwise be the raw edges of the metal, and dexterously folding them over it with a hammer. [Illustration: Two-handed Wrench. Soldering Pile. Pudding Stake. Punches. Hatchet Stake. Tongs.] A superior kind of tin ware, commonly known as block tin ware, is carefully finished by beating or planishing with a polished steel hammer upon a _metal stake_. The process of swaging is resorted to as a ready means of producing grooved or ridged borders, or other embossed ornaments. This process consists in striking the metal between two steel dies or swages, the faces of which bear the desired pattern, and are made counterparts of each other. Many ornamental articles are produced by embossing or stamping tin plate, in the same manner as other metallic sheets, with a fly-press or other machinery. Cheap coffin-plates are manufactured at Birmingham in this way; and these and similar articles are sometimes lacquered, painted, or japanned. Tin forms the principal ingredients in various kinds of pewter and other white-metal alloys, which are manufactured into domestic utensils by casting, stamping, and other processes. [Illustration: Chisels. Charcoal Stove. Polishing Anvil.] Britannia metal is a mixture of tin, antimony, copper, and brass, which is melted, cast into slabs, and rolled into sheets. The principal use of this metal is for candlesticks, teapots, coffee-biggins, and other vessels for containing liquids. The feet of candlesticks, the bodies of teapots, and other articles containing embossed work, are stamped between dies; while articles of a more globular shape are stamped in two or more pieces, and afterwards soldered together. The sheet metal has a ductility which enables it to be bent into various curved forms by pressure on a model or core: this process is called _spinning_. [Illustration: Funnel Stake. Punches. Horse. Punches. Bick Irons. Crease Iron.] Many small vessels, spoons, and other articles, are cast in an alloy somewhat harder than that which is rolled into sheets. Most of the tools employed by the Tinman are the _irons_, _stakes_, and _bickers_, on which the tin is hammered into proper shape, with _shears_ for cutting, the _punches_ for piercing holes, and the _soldering iron_ and _charcoal stove_ for making joints. [Illustration] THE FARRIER. [Illustration: FARRIER’S SHED.]