Navajo Silversmiths | Page 3

chisel, are so easily formed that the smith leaves them
behind when he moves his residence. Each mould is cut approximately
in the shape of the article which is to be wrought out of the ingot cast in
it, and it is greased with suet before the metal is poured in. In Figs. 2
and 3, Pl. XVIII, are represented pieces of sand-stone, graven for molds,
now in my possession. The figures are one-third the dimensions of the
subjects. In the middle cavity or mould shown in Fig. 2, Pl. XVIII, was
cast the ingot from which was wrought the arrow-shaped handle of the
powder-charger shown in Pl. XIX; in the lower cavity depicted in the
same figure was moulded the piece from which the bowl of this charger
was formed. The circular depression, delineated in the lower right
corner of Fig. 3, Pl. XVIII, gave form to the ingot from which the sides
of the canteen-shaped tobacco-case (Fig. 6) was made.
Tongs are often made by the Navajo silversmiths. One of these which I
saw had a U-shaped spring joint, and the ends were bent at right angles
downwards, so as more effectually to grasp the flat-sided crucible.
Often nippers or scissors are used as tongs.
Ordinary scissors, purchased from the whites, are used for cutting: their
metal after it is wrought into thin plates. The metal saw and metal
shears do not seem as yet to have been imported for their benefit. Some
of the more poorly provided smiths use their scissors also for tongs,
regardless or ignorant of consequences, and when the shears lose their
temper and become loose-jointed and blunt, the efforts of the Indian to
cut a rather thick plate of silver are curious to see. Often, then, one or
two bystanders are called to hold the plate in a horizontal position, and
perhaps another will be asked to hold the points of the scissors to keep
them from spreading. Scissors are sometimes used as dividers, by being
spread to the desired distance and held in position by being grasped in
the hand. By this means I have seen them attempt to find centers, but
not to describe circles. It is probable that had they trusted to the eye
they might have found their centers as well.
Their iron pliers, hammers, and files they purchase from the whites.
Pliers, both flat-pointed and round-pointed, are used as with us. Of files

they usually employ only small sizes, and the varieties they prefer are
the flat, triangular, and rat-tail. Files are used not only for their
legitimate purposes, as with us, but the shanks serve for punches and
the points for gravers, with which figures are engraved on silver.
The Indians usually make their own cold-chisels. These are not used
where the scissors and file can be conveniently and economically
employed. The re-entrant rectangles on the bracelet represented in Fig.
4, Pl. XIX, were cut with a cold-chisel and finished with a file.
Awls are used to mark figures on the silver. Often they cut out of paper
a pattern, which they lay on the silver, tracing the outline with an awl.
These tools are sometimes purchased and sometimes made by the
Indians. I have seen one made from a broken knife which had been
picked up around the fort. The blade had been ground down to a point.
Metallic hemispheres for beads and buttons are made in a concave
matrix by means of a round-pointed bolt which I will call a die. These
tools are always made by the Indians. On one bar of iron there may be
many matrices of different sizes, only one die fitting the smallest
concavity, is required to work the metal in all. In the picture of the
smithy (Pl. XVII, in the right lower corner beside the tin-plate), a piece
of an old horse-shoe may be seen in which a few matrices have been
worked, and, beside it, the die used in connection with the matrices.
[Illustration: PL. XVIII. CRUCIBLE, AND SANDSTONE MOLDS
FOR SHAPING SILVER OBJECTS.]
[Illustration: PL. XVII. WORKSHOP OF NAVAJO SILVERSMITH.]
A little instrument employed in levelling the edges of the metallic
hemispheres, is rude but effective. In one end of a cylinder of wood,
about three or four inches long, is cut a small roundish cavity of such a
size that it will hold the hemisphere tightly, but allow the uneven edges
to project. The hemisphere is placed in this, and then rubbed on a flat
piece of sandstone until the edges are worn level with the base of the
wooden cylinder. The uses of the basin and the wooden stake are
described further on.

Their method of preparing charcoal is much more expeditious than that
usually employed by our charcoal-burners, but more wasteful; wood,
however, need not