The Virginia Gazette

The largest copper utensil, ever seen in this kingdom, or perhaps in Europe, is now fabricating at a coppersmith's in Tooley-street. It is fifty-six feet long, six feet four inches wide, and six feet ten inches deep, and will contain near 400 barrels. It is made in consequence of a new invention of hardening and toughening wood in certain cheap and wholesome liquors, which make it extremely durable. By this art, it seems, wood can be tempered, in some respects, like metals, as it can be rendered soft and hard alternately: Common coppers hoops have been thus made to bend and twist resembling cordage. The timber of a second rate ship at Woolwich has actually been surprisingly hardened, and the plank rendered flexible as well as durable; elm water pipes have been converted into a kind of petrified state, the durability of which is supposed may attain to 100 years: Wheels of coaches, carts, harness, &c. have been altered to a hard, tough, and elastic nature, which several brewers of this city have experienced: Whole brewers butts and pipe staves receive such a firmness, as to last several years longer than usual, besides being made perfectly sweet; and oak timber, the growth of our colonies, which is naturally too soft and porous, acquires by this process, such a compact, tough state, as nearly to rival English oak in ship building, which, at present, is become a national concern on account of scarcity. We hope soon to lay before the public a more succinct account of this interesting discovery, with new and well attested facts of its utility.