urately
centering your work, make a small cut in the center for the reception of
the drill and make this mark deep enough to take the entire cutting head
of the drill. Keep the drill firmly pressed into this center and kept wet
constantly with turpentine. Do not revolve the work all one way, but give
the lathe an alternating motion. At first give but a third or a half
revolution each way, until the drill begins to bite into the staff, when
you can then safely give it a full revolution each way. Care must be
exercised, however, not to give the work too rapid a motion, for if you
do the friction is apt to draw down the temper of your drill. Many
watchmakers find that their drills cut well for a certain distance and
then refuse to work altogether, and one of the chief reasons is that they
are in too great a hurry with their drilling.

If you find it absolutely necessary to reduce the hardness of your staff
before drilling, do so by drilling a hole in the end of a small piece of
copper wire that will just fit over the part to be softened, and apply
the heat to this copper wire, say one-fourth of an inch from the staff.
The heat will run down the copper wire and heat the staff just where you
wish to draw the temper. Be careful and do not draw the temper too much,
nor let it extend down the staff too far.

The plug for the new pivot should be carefully made, perfectly round,
with a very little taper, and should be draw-filed before being driven
in. Some workmen dip the plug in acid before driving in, as they declare
that the pivot is less liable to be loosened while turning, if so
treated. The acid simply rusts the pivot and the hole, but I cannot see
that this will hold it any more firmly in place while finishing. If the
taper is a gradual one and the pivot a good close fit, there will be
little danger of it loosening while dressing to shape. If too great a
taper is given to the plug, there is danger of splitting the end of the
staff, and this involves the making of an entire new staff.

The turning up of a new pivot does not differ in any way from the
instructions given for turning pivots on a new staff. With a little care
both in turning and finishing, a new pivot can be put in so nicely that
only the initiated can tell it, and then only with the aid of a strong
glass.

In pivoting cylinders there is some danger of breaking them. To avoid
this, select a piece of joint wire, the opening of which is slightly
larger than