CHAPTER XXIX. THE STUDENTS USE THE SQUARE AND COMPASSES.
Mr. Brookbine stood on one of the timbers intended for the sills of the boat-house. In his hand he held a steel square and a pair of compasses.
"The pair of compasses I hold in my hand," he said, "are of the simplest construction. Those you have in the shop are fitted with a screw-stop so that you can fasten them in any required position. You will complain that it is hard to move the legs of these, but as they must stay in place without any screw, it is necessary that the joint be a tight fit."
"Legs?" said a student.
"You can call them shanks, if you prefer, or arms. There are a great many technical names to parts of apparatus which are not often used because they are not generally known," replied the instructor. "Since I came to Beech Hill I learned that an oar consists of the handle, the loom and the blade. Outside of the navy probably not one in ten ever heard of the loom of an oar, or would know what it meant. In carpentry the technical names used in one part of the country are not known in other parts. Legs is the proper technical name of the two parts of the compasses.
"You notice that the points are more blunt than those you use in the shop. In framing we use one of the legs as a marking-awl. The awl would do just as well, but it is sometimes convenient to have the compasses in your hand so that you can lay off a distance from the square with them. The points are tapered more rapidly so that they will make a mark which can readily be seen by the workman.
"The steel square is one of the most important tools used by the carpenter, and I could use up hours in telling you about it. The parts have technical names, though few make a strict use of them. The corner is called the heel, from which each of the four measures on it start. The long arm is the blade and the short one the tongue. The blade is just two feet long, or twenty-four inches."
"Mine is only twenty-three," suggested one of the boys, all of whom were examining their steel squares.
"Mine is only twenty-two in one place, and twenty-three in another," added another.