Gold beating is an age-old process that goes back to the era of ancient Egyptians. Wonder at how this precious metal is slowly beat down to a leaf like consistency in this archive footage from 1959.
(FILM ID:87.05) Ruislip Middlesex.
Gold is used for many artistic glorification. But see here the process of gold being beaten until it has the thickness it needs.
C/U shot of a golden muscular arm holding mallet hanging on a wall. M/S of a man in the middle of gold melting process. Mr Bert Green pours gold into a small cast. C/U of a cast. Mr Green turns the cast over and a gold bar is out. M/S of Mr Green's face as he works. C/U shot of the bar being taken away.
C/U shot of a thin gold ribbon passing through a roller. Voiceover tells the audience that, golden bar, after being rolled into ribbon, is cut in squares and then beaten by hammers. C/U shot of the ribbon being cut in squares.
M/S of three people working. C/U shot of girl's hands as she puts golden squares in some sheets. M/S of a man taking sheets, putting into protection cover and placing under the hammering machine. C/U shot of the gold being beaten. M/S of a girl cutting a leaf in four. C/U shot of thin golden leaf being cut in four.
Several shots of gold beating by using large hammering machines as well as beating by hand. Finished leaves are cut into squares and ready to use. M/S of a man restoring old picture frame with gold leaves. C/U shot of a brush pressing the gold on the frame. C/U shot of several books bound with gold leaves and two little gold figurines. C/U shot of the symbol of House of Windsor.
Note: People featured in film are Bert Green, Kathleen Smith, Fay Crawford, George Lewellyn, Beryl Clark, Ted Ricketts, Jean Edwards, Ted Hook, Joe Woodward, Sylvia Lewington and Jim Sussex.
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Power now put to its most artistic use, the beating and rolling of bars of gold,
each one worth a thousand pounds, into the sheerest gold leap.
At this factory in Ryslip, Middlesex, first stage is the casting of the gold bar.
Most of us would be perfectly happy with just a bar of the stuff,
but because of its brilliance of effect and remarkable durability,
gold is put to more practical uses. And that gold bar we saw, after being beaten by hammer,
is now rolled with increasing pressure into a ribbon 300 feet long
and 1,000th of an inch thick, and then cut into squares.
This is an industry that goes back to the earliest times. In fact, gold beating by the
Egyptians of 2,000 to 3,000 BC can still be seen untarnished and unbroken on mummy cases in the
British Museum. Craftsmanship is still the key factor and techniques haven't changed much,
except that today gold is beaten to one-tenth the consistency of ancient times,
believe it or not, to four millionths of an inch.
From original gold bar to the finished leaf takes seven stages, involving several quartering and
beating processes, so eventually laid side by side, the leaves from one bar would cover over
9,000 square feet. Every process requires skill of the highest order, but experts like the machine
hammer foreman can check thickness from sight alone. Notice, by the way, that the leaves are
protected by skins of vellum, specially made from the intestines of an ox, and the whole lot enclosed
in bands of parchment, making what is called a gitch. Work in every aspect of gold leaf is so
precise and delicate that a hare's foot is used for powdering or cleaning the protective skins,
which, because of their strength and resilience, are more valuable than the gold leaf they hold
for beating. They're even smelled from time to time to check their condition, which varies in
different manners. Strange as it seems, the traditional skill of hand beating is no slower
than the mechanized way, and considerably more precise. A man has to be apprenticed for several
years before he's considered expert, and 77-year-old Joe Woodward has been doing it for 63 years,
and using the same hammer. Finished leaf is cut into three-and-a-half-inch squares,
not by knife, because the gold in this stage would stick to steel,
but by sharpened bamboo. The leaf is now ready for use, outdoors on landmarks like the cross
on the Dome of St. Paul's and the gates of Buckingham Palace, and inside in such arts
as gilding picture frames. Altogether, a remarkable transformation. Gold leaf,
less than a wavelength of lighting thickness, a little-known but truly golden work of art.
