To produce a good balance staff requires more skill than to produce any other turned portion of a watch, and your success will depend not alone on your knowledge of its proper shape and measurements, nor the tools at your command, but rather upon your skill with the graver and your success in hardening and tempering. There are many points worthy of consideration in the making of a balance staff that are too often neglected. I have seen staffs that were models as regards execution and finish, that were nearly worthless from a practical standpoint, simply because the maker had devoted all his time and energy to the execution of a beautiful piece of lathe work, and had given no thought or study to the form and size of the pivots. On the other hand, one often sees staffs whose pivots are faultless in shape, but the execution and finish so bungling as to offset all the good qualities as regards shape. To have good tools and the right ideas is one thing, and to use these tools properly and make a practical demonstration of your theory is another.

I shall endeavor to take up every point in connection with the balance staff, from the steel to the jewels, and their relation to the pivots, and I believe this will then convey to the reader all the necessary points, not only as regards staffs, but pivots also, whether applied to a balance or a pinion staff.

It may be argued, and we often do hear material dealers advance the theory, that to-day, with our interchangeable parts and the cheapness of all material, it is a waste of time to make a balance staff. To the reader who takes this view of the situation I simply want to say, kindly follow me to the end of this paragraph, and if you are still of the same opinion, then you are wasting your time in following me farther. For a material dealer to advance this theory I can find some excuse; he is an interested party, and the selling of material is his bread and butter; but the other fellow, well I never could understand him and possibly never shall. When we seriously consider the various styles and series in "old model" and "new model," of only one of the leading manufacturers of watches in this country, to say nothing of the legion of small and large concerns who are manufacturing or have manufactured in the past, and then think of carrying these staffs in stock, all ready for use, we then begin to realize how utterly absurd the idea is, to say nothing of how expensive! On the other hand, if you reside in a large city and propose to rely on the stock of your material dealer, you will find yourself in an embarrasing situation very often, for as likely as not the movement requiring a new staff was made by a company that went out of business back in the '80s, or it is a new movement, the material for which has not yet been placed on the market. This state of affairs leads to makeshifts, and they in turn lead to botch work. The watchmaker who does not possess the experience or necessary qualifications to make a new balance staff and make it in a neat and workmanlike manner, is never certain of having exactly what is needed, and cannot hope to long retain the confidence of his customers. In fact, he is not a watchmaker at all, but simply an apprentice or student, even though he be working for a salary or be his own master. There are undoubtedly many worthy members of the trade, who are not familiar with the making of a balance staff, who will take exceptions to this statement; but it is nevertheless true. They may be good workmen as far as they go; they may be painstaking; but they cannot be classed as watchmakers.

This article is intended for the benefit of that large class whose opportunities for obtaining instruction are limited, and who are ready and willing to learn, and for that still larger class of practical workmen who can make a new staff in a creditable manner, but who are always glad to read others people's ideas on any subject connected with the trade and who are not yet too old to learn new tricks should they find any such.

Good tools, in good condition, are the most essential requisites in making a new staff. I would not advise any particular make of lathe, as the most expensive lathe in the world will not produce a true staff if the workman cannot center his work accurately and does not know how to handle his graver, while on the other hand fine work can be done on the simplest and cheapest lathe by a workman possessing the requisite skill. I will take it for granted that you use an American-made lathe of some kind, or a foreign-made lathe manufactured on American lines. It is advisable, though not absolutely necessary, to have three gravers similar to those illustrated in Fig. 1, A being used for turning the staff down in the rough; B for the conical pivots and square shoulders and C for the under-cutting. The other tools and attachments needed will be described as I come to them in use.

The balance staff should be made of the best steel, tempered to such a degree as to give the longest service and yet not so hard as to endanger the breakage of the pivots. Select a piece of Stubb's steel wire, say No. 46, or a little larger than the largest part of the finished staff is to be, and center it in a split chuck of your lathe. Be careful in selecting your chuck that you pick one that fits the wire fairly close. The chuck holds the work truest that comes the nearest to fitting it. If you try to use a chuck that is too large or too small for the work, you will only ruin the chuck for truth. Turn the wire to the form of a rough staff, as shown in Fig. 2, leaving on a small part of the original wire, as shown at A. After the wire is roughed out to this general form, remove from the chuck and get ready to harden and temper it. The hardening and tempering may be effected in various ways, and I am scarcely prepared to say which method is the best, as there are several which give about the same general results. One method of hardening is to smear the blank with common yellow soap, heat it to a cherry red, and drop endwise into linseed oil. Petroleum is preferred by some to linseed oil, but, to tell the truth, I can see no difference in the action of linseed, petroleum or olive oil. Be sure and have enough oil to thoroughly cool the blank, and a deep vessel, such as a large-mouthed vial, is preferable to a saucer. The blank will now be found too hard to work easily with the graver, and we must therefore draw the temper down to that of fine spring steel. Before doing this the blank should be brightened, in order that we may see to just what color we are drawing it. The main object in using the soap in hardening is that it may form a scale upon the blank, and if the heating is effected gradually the soap will melt and form a practically air-tight case around the blank. This scale, if the hardening is carefully and properly done, will generally chip and fall off when the blank is plunged in the oil, particularly if the oil is cool, and if it does not fall off of its own accord, it can easily be removed by rolling the blank upon the bench. If it does not come out clean, or if soap is not used, it may be brightened by again inserting in the lathe and bringing it in contact with a piece of fine emery paper or cloth.

I draw the temper in the following manner: Place some fine brass filings in a boiling-out cup or bluing pan and lay the blank upon these filings, holding the pan over the flame of an alcohol lamp until the blank assumes a dark purple color, which it will reach when the heat gets to about 500° F. This I consider the right hardness for a balance staff, as it is not too hard to work well under the graver nor too soft for the pivots. At this degree of hardness steel will assume an exquisite polish if properly treated. Another method of tempering is to place the staff on a piece of sheet iron or copper (say 1 inch wide by 4 long), having previously bent it into a small angle, for the reception of the staff, as shown in Fig. 3. This piece of metal, when nicely fitted into a file handle, will answer all the purposes of the bluing pan and presents quite a neat appearance. Having placed the blank in the angle, lay on it a piece of yellow wax about the size of a bean, and heat it over your lamp until the wax takes fire and burns. Blow out the flame and allow the staff to cool, and it will be found to be of about the right hardness.

We have now arrived at an important station in staff making, a junction, we may term it, where many lines branch off from the main road. At this particular spot is where authorities differ. I have no hesitation in saying that at this particular point the split chuck should be removed from the lathe head and carefully placed in the chuck box and the cement chuck put in its place. I believe that all of the remaining work upon a staff should be executed while it is held in a cement chuck. On the other hand I have seen good workmen who turned and finished all the lower part of a staff while in a split chuck, cut it off and turned and finished the upper part in a cement chuck. All I have got to say is that they had more confidence in the truth of their chucks than I have in mine. I have even read of watchmakers who made the entire staff in a split chuck, but I must confess I am somewhat curious to examine a staff made in that way, and must have the privilege of examining it before I will admit that a true staff can be so made.

We will suppose that the workman has a moderately true chuck, and that he prefers to turn and finish all the lower portions in this way. Of course the directions for using a cement chuck on the upper part of a staff are equally applicable to the lower. Before going further I think it advisable to consider the requirements of a pivot, but will reserve this for another chapter.