(C.) Ratchet screwdrivers are useful in many places where it is difficult to use two hands, and there are patent quick-action screwdrivers on the market which are suitable only for certain kinds of light work, as what is gained in speed is lost in power. The screwdriver bit is a short screwdriver blade, tanged to fit a bitbrace; it is essential in doing economical work, as screws may be driven much more rapidly than by hand, and it is also valuable on account of its greater leverage in driving heavy screws.
Fig. 71. Fig. 72.
Compasses. Calipers.
53. Compasses, or dividers (Fig. 71), are used to draw circles and curves, and for spacing and scribing, by which is meant the process of fitting a piece of wood to an uneven surface. Calipers (Fig. 72) are used to measure the outside of a round or oval object. Those shown are known as “outside” calipers; “inside” calipers, or those used for measuring the inside of a hole, have straight legs. These tools ordinarily are not considered a part of a carpenter’s kit, as they are generally used upon work requiring more exact measurements. Wood-workers’ tools are graded to sizes, generally nothing finer than 16ths of an inch; hence, the ordinary methods of measuring will usually give sufficiently accurate results.
Fig. 73. Fig. 74.
Pliers. Nippers.
54. Pliers.—(A.) These are indispensable little tools (Fig. 73), and every workman should own a pair. Those combining several tools are most useful; cheap tools of this sort are usually worthless.
(B.) Nippers (Fig. 74) are made to cut wire, but not to pull nails. Being tempered for cutting, those of good quality are hard and brittle, lacking the toughness necessary to pull nails, for which work a cheap pair of nippers may be purchased.
55. The scraper is one of the most useful tools in the kit of the carpenter who works upon hard wood. This tool may be purchased, or made of a very hard saw; it must be of hard, tough steel, or the edge will not last. A scraper should be about 3” × 5”, which is a convenient size for grasping with the hand. Many workmen make handles for their scrapers (Fig. 75, A and B), but cabinet makers, and others who use them continually, generally prefer to use them without handles. If a large surface is to be scraped, it is well to have a handle of a leather palm (Fig. 75, C). This is a piece of leather of suitable size and shape to protect the hand from the heat generated by the action of the scraper in cutting; the thumb is passed through the hole, and the broad part of the palm hangs between the scraper and the thick of the hand. For scraping floors, a scraper plane (Fig. 75, D) will be found valuable, though if much of this work is to be done, it will be the best economy to purchase one of the forms of floor-scraping machines.
