other than that in which the compass point stands, is shown in Fig. 27, the pencil tube being swiveled at A, and B representing the compass leg.

The points of compasses should be forged out when they get thick from wearing short, and they should be tempered to a blue color. For marking small holes, compasses are too cumbersome for fine work, and spring dividers are preferable. A recent improvement in these tools consists in making the spring helical, as shown in Fig. 20, instead of making it broad, flat, and thin, as formerly.

Of gages for drawing marking lines at any regulated distance from the finished edge or edges of the work, there are several

Fig.28.

kinds. First we have that shown in Fig. 29, which is the kind ordinarily sold; others have, instead of the

set screw, a wedge running lengthwise, as shown in Fig. 30. A better gage, however, than either of these is that shown in Fig. 31, in which A represents the tightening wedge, standing at a right angle to the rod of the gage. The advantage of this design is that it requires only one hand to work it, inasmuch as the wedge may be loosened or tightened by striking it, as if it were a hammer, against

anything that may happen to lie on the bench. Thus the gage may be set and adjusted with one hand, while the other is holding the work, as is often necessary when marking small work. The marking point should be a piece of steel Fig.30.

wire fitted tightly in the stem, the protruding part being ground or filed to a wedge, with the two facets slightly rounding, and whose broad faces stand at a right augle to the stem of the gage; the point or edge only projecting sufficiently to produce a line clear enough to work by; other

Fig. 31.

wise it will not be suitable for accurate work. The mortise gage is similar to the above as regards the stem and sliding piece, but it is provided with two marking points, their distance apart being adjustable. Fig. 32 represents the gage referred to, the head screw working in brass nuts.

Fig 32.

On account of the narrowness of the base afforded by the sliding piece on the common gage, there is not sufficient

steadiness to gage to any great width, so that for widths above ten or eleven inches we must have recourse to the gage shown in Fig. 33. It is called the panel gage; its sliding piece may be seven inches long, and the stem two

Fig 33.

feet; the rabbeting at A forms a steadying base, the part of the rod about the marking point being raised to correspond with the distance from the rabbet to the stem nut. Next we have the cutting gage, shown in Fig. 34, in which a steel cutter takes the place of the marking point, being

wedged in position. It is employed to cut thin strips of wood; that is to say, of thicknesses up to about a quarter of an inch. The cutter point should be tempered to a dark straw color.

In Fig. G is shown a gage in which one side has a fixed

For marking off curves or large circles, we require a pair of beam compasses or trammels, as shown in Fig. 35. They are composed of two sliding sockets, made of either wood or metal, fitted, at a sliding fit, to a staff. They are made of various designs, to suit the taste of the maker, and are often made by the pattern maker himself during his term of probation. The style shown in Fig. 35 is one very easily made. A A represents a staff of any desired length, composed of common pine. B and C are the two sliding sockets or holders; the mortises in them are made to fit the

thickness of the staff, but they are longer than they are wide, to admit of the fastening wedge. They may be made of some hard wood, such as maple. The lower parts being turned and fitted with brass ferrules, a small hole is then drilled up the turned end of each, into which bradawls of large size are driven; they are then pointed on a grindstone. The wedges are made with a gib head on the small end, so as to prevent them from flying out when tapped back to loosen the sliding sockets from the staff, for

Fig.36.

adjustment. If maple be used for the sockets, then the wedges may be made of a dark colored wood, sandpapered and varnished two or three times, which will give them a neat appearance. Made as above described, the trammels will be light and almost everlasting; and as the materials are always at hand, the cost is a minimum.

In place of the wedge, a screw may be, and sometimes is used, in which case a packing piece of either wood or sheet brass should be inserted, as shown in Fig. 36, at A, which will protect the staff

from being indented by the end of the screw when the latter is tightened up.

Our next requirement is the straight edge, which, for small work, is better of steel than of wood. A straight edge is a piece of stuff whose edges are straight and parallel to each other, which is necessary because they are sometimes used in conjunction with the square. A pair of straight edges, termed winding strips, are indispensable; their use is shown in Fig. 37, in which A is a piece of work requiring to have its edge true; B B are the winding strips, placed on the work as shown, so that by casting the eye along the upper edge of one strip, and leveling the head so that the edge of one strip will be brought nearly horizontally level with the other, it will readily be perceived whether the two are level one with the other, and hence whether the face of the work is true. Winding strips are simply