The scauper, the tool of greatest width, is used for clearing away the wood round the engraving. It is desirable that the belly part [pg 23] of this tool should be sufficiently rounded: a point too square will not cut through the wood easily. An extra tool with a square point, about the size of the largest tint-tool, may be found useful for taking out corners.
Fig. 5
A good selection for the beginner starting with five tools only would be two spit-sticks (1 & 3, Fig. 3), two tint tools (4 & 6, Fig. 2), and one scauper.
It must be clearly borne in mind that the style or character of the work is greatly influenced by the shape of the point used. The craftsman will be able, after a little time, to select the shape of tool which best suits his work. Once a tool is made up, and found to be good, to alter it is not desirable. To convert it to its old form is not easy. Rather keep an old one to experiment with, if needful, and never chance the spoiling of a proved tool.
For those who find a difficulty in buying tools and who wish perhaps to have them [pg 24] made locally, a good plan is to buy one good tool, and have others made to this model by the blacksmith, carpenter or other handy man. Old files can be successfully turned into quite good engraving tools. The point to remember is that the belly or point part of the tool be evenly shaped on both sides. If this is not attended to, the tool will always have a tendency to cut too much in one direction, or spring out of the wood.
Fig. 6
A gouge, to be used as a chisel, that is, with a mallet, is used to carve away all wood round the engraving, so as to leave only the engraving in relief. This is always necessary when the printing is done direct from the wood block. It is not necessary when taking hand-proofs. A flat tool or small chisel is useful for lowering edges which fade into white, for preparing small plugs and for trimming straight edges.
