The equipment of the workshops
a) The equipment found in the workshop consists of a bench on which the craftsmen lays out his tools, the furnace to melt the metal, the {chytis}, a metal vessel in which the molten silver is transformed into rectangular plaques, and the kazani ('boiler'), for melting the pitch, that is, the mixture of pitch, colophony and tile used to support the object during the process of design and embossing. After it has been melted, the pitch is set in a special, mostly wooden, portable frame that forms its base and prevents the surrounding surfaces from becoming dirty.
The silversmith's bench also has saws, used to finish the objects and cut the metal.
The vessels and jewellery were polished with the masgalas , a polished steel spitsouni , which has been replaced in modern times by an electric polishing wheel with iron brushes at each end.
Other indispensable items in the workshop are the extrusion machine and the blow torches. The extrusion machine was hand-operated and used to convert the rods of steel into wire, used in the filigree technique.
The blow torches, essential for welding or melting local areas of metal, used containers full of petrol which were connected to a device resembling a camping-gas burner and ended in a pipe on the top, from which the flame issued.
The entire system of containers and pipes is also known for short as a burner. Burners have a flame regulator for use by the craftsmen. The burner, or at least the pipe that provided the craftsmen with a flame, were connected with a container full of petrol, which in turn communicated with a foot-operated bellows. The operation of the bellows {next}.
Workshops making trays also needed a piece of flat marble on which the tray was straightened.
The finished tray was heated slightly and then hammered on the smooth surface with a wooden hammer to straighten out any twists or bends it had acquired during the working of it.
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