The Handyman's Book of Tools, Materials, and Processes Employed in Woodworking. Paul N. Hasluck

at this day tools altogether different in form from those amongst civilised people. Such tools may be, and probably are, derived from ancestors of geological antiquity. In the Pacific Islands, in North America, Australia, Africa, and elsewhere, there are races who know not the use of metals, and whose implements correspond exactly with those found mixed with the fossil remains of extinct animals. Herodotus mentions that flint knives were used in Egypt in embalming, and such knives are found in the tombs, and were employed long after bronze and other metals were general. There is thus a connection between the tools used in prehistoric times and those of savage races. The handicraft contrivances and skill of the untutored are not to be despised, and much is owing to uneducated men of clear thought, cunning resource, singular ingenuity, and much handicraft skill. It is well known that even in our own times the earliest germs of many most important inventions and discoveries have their origin in the suggestions of hard-working but illiterate artisans.

      TOOLS USED IN ANCIENT EGYPT.

      To pass from the earliest suggestions of bronze implements to the first unquestionable period of metal tools, the forms and modes of using which are so clearly shown pictorially, Egyptian history must be considered. The paintings and sculptures of ancient Egypt and Herculaneum show very clearly the tools which were then in use, and an amazing amount of information has thus been preserved. The subject cannot be gone into here, but it may be said that the tools and contrivances used in the building of the early pyramids are not known. The erection of these early pyramids is placed about 2120 B.C., that is, about a century before Abraham arrived in Egypt, and (1902 + 2120) 4,022 years ago. There are no hieroglyphics on these, and they do not carry their history as the tombs do. In a tomb at Thebes have been found a case of tools and a tool basket, belonging to a cabinet maker, these now being in the British Museum; the tools, etc., are: Bass of palm fibres, neatly plaited, with cover; bell-shaped wooden mallets or hammers, such as are used by masons at the present day; bronze nails; a skin pouch for holding small tools and nails; a horn for oil for sharpening tools, such as now is used in a country wheelwright’s shop; drill bow, drill spindle, and drill cap; chisels; hatchet heads; adzes, knives, and chisels with wooden handles. On one bronze hatchet, and one bronze adze, and one bronze saw is the name Thothmes III. of eighteenth dynasty, 1453 B.C. These therefore were in use (1902 + 1450) 3,352 years ago. And on other blades of axes is the name of Ata, an officer in the time of the sixth dynasty. In addition to these, the Egyptian cabinet maker had in his bass rasps, a plummet, and a hone. Sufficient has now been said, it is thought, to convince the reader of the antiquity of many commonly used tools.

      CLASSIFICATION OF TOOLS.

      Tools may be classed according to their functions and modes of action, as follows: (1) Geometrical tools for laying off and testing work: such tools are rules, straight-edges, gauges, etc. (2) Tools for holding and supporting work: such tools are benches, vices, stools, etc. (3) Paring or shaving tools, such as chisels, spokeshaves, planes, etc. (4) Saws. (5) Percussion or impelling tools, such as hammers, mallets, screwdrivers and (combined with cutting) hatchets, axes, adzes, etc. (6) Boring tools, such as gimlets, brace-bits, etc. (7) Abrading and scraping tools, such as rasps, scrapers, glasspaper, and implements such as whetstones, etc., for sharpening edged tools. These tools and their functions will be described in much the same order as the above.

      GEOMETRICAL TOOLS.

      TOOLS FOR MARKING AND SCRIBING.

      THE simplest of these is the lead pencil, which is of a flat oval section sharpened to a chisel edge; if sharpened to a point, the pencil wears away quickly and is capable of marking a fine, solid line for only a few minutes together. There is a greater body of lead in the chisel edge, which therefore lasts some time before requiring to be resharpened. Steel scribing and marking tools are illustrated by Figs. 1 to 3. The chisel end marking awl (Fig. 1) and the striking knife (Fig. 2) are used for all purposes of scribing and marking smooth work, where an indented line answers the purpose better than a black line, the scratch providing a good starting point for edge tools. It is advisable to use a pencil for rough surfaces. A home-made striking knife (Fig. 3) commonly used in workshops is ground down from an old table knife.

      Fig. 1.—Chisel-end Marking Awl.

      STRAIGHT-EDGE.

      A straight-edge 15 ft. long, 6 in. wide, and 1 1/4 in thick is large enough for all practical purposes of the joiner, mason, bricklayer, engineer, millwright, etc. The best material is pine, it being the least affected (permanently) by change of temperature or weather. The pine board must be cut from a straight-grown tree, as a board from a crooked trunk will not keep parallel and straight for any length of time, owing to the grain crossing and recrossing its (thickness) edge. Straight-edges are made from all parts of boards cut from whole logs, but they cannot be relied upon to keep perfectly straight and true for any length of time. A strip that has been made without regard to the position it had in the whole tree will have to be trued up occasionally, and it therefore can never be relied upon unless tested each time it is required to be used, which is a great annoyance.

      Fig. 2.—Striking Knife and Marking Awl.

      TESTING STRAIGHT-EDGE.

To test the truth of a straight-edge having the above measurements, get a clean board 1 ft. longer and about 7 in. or 8 in. wide. Lay the straight strip at about the centre of the board, and with a sharp pencil draw a line on the board along the trued edge of the strip, keeping the side close to the board, and making the line as fine as possible. Now turn the strip over, placing the edge on the other side of the line, and if the trued edge is perfectly straight the line also will appear so. If the line is wavy, the edge must be planed until only one line is made when marked and tested from each side; mark a fresh line for each test, otherwise there will be confusion and inaccuracy. One edge now being perfectly true, proceed with the other edge. Set a sharp gauge to the required width, and mark the second edge lightly on each side of the rule, working the gauge from the true edge; then the wood is planed off to the gauge marks, and the second edge tested as to its being true with the first one, using the pencil line, as before. A still more delicate test than the gauge line for parallelism is by the use of a pair of callipers. The points of the callipers are drawn along the edges, and if they are perfectly parallel there will be no easy or hard places, the presence of which might possibly not be detected by the pencil line. If the edges will stand both these tests, the strip is perfectly straight and parallel.

      Fig. 3.—Home-made Striking Knife.

      Fig. 4.—Whitworth method of Testing Straight-edges.

      WHITWORTH METHOD OF TESTING STRAIGHT-EDGES.

      Sir J. Whitworth’s famous method of trueing engineers’ straight-edges should interest the woodworker. Three straightedges are prepared singly, and each is brought to a moderate state of accuracy; two of them, A and B (Fig. 4), are compared with each other by placing them edge