Scribers

A straight scriber is made by sharpening and hardening one end of a piece of steel wire, and bending the other end to a form of a loop, that the tool may be hung up. To produce a twisted mid-portion in a scriber, for the convenience of preventing it slipping from the fingers while in use, a piece of square steel is selected, and the mid-part twisted while red hot. This is effected by holding one end in a vice, and gripping the other end with a tongs and twisting to the shape desired. A small scriber may be made by heating in a gas-flame near a vice, reducing the point nearly to its size previous to hardening ; after which, it is tempered to a light-brown colour.

Dotting Punches

Steel about a quarter of an inch thick is suitable for a dotting punch, and a piece of convenient length to hold is selected, and one end is ground to nearly the finished size of the intended point; it is next hardened and tempered to a light-brown colour, after which it is sharpened to the proper angle, and a proper length for the punch is cut off with a file; the filed extremity is then curved with a grindstone, and the tool becomes fit for use with a hammer about a quarter of a pound in weight.

Coners

A coner is intended to resist a severe hammering, and should be made of the best steel. A coner to be held in one hand is about half an inch thick at the mid-part, and for large work it is often necessary to make the coner an inch thick. To produce a six-sided shape in the middle, for holding the tool, it is forged of a round or square piece of convenient length, and cut off at the conclusion of forging. If the punch is to be lathe-turned, a holder may be provided; and if the punch is to be only filed, a holder will facilitate the operation. In such cases the handle is forged square, to be firmly gripped in the vice. For a small punch only half an inch thick, the conical portion is easily formed by filing, grinding, or turning; but a large punch may require the cone to be reduced while forging ; in this case it is necessary to commence the drawing down with fullers to avoid too much hammering at the extremity of the cone, which often spoils the end by forming cracks and hollows.

Coners for use in wire or wood handles are short and thick, to sustain a sledge-hammering; and all coners, small and large, should be hardened only at the conical end, which prevents the punch breaking while in use, and thereby doing mischief to those around; and after being hardened, the tempering is continued until a dark brown appears. The hardening and tempering of coners, dotters, and scribers is effected by cooling only that length of the end which is to be hard, and allowing the heat which still remains in the adjoining part to temper the hard part to its proper colour. Every coner is improved by curving the extremity that receives the blows, and this should be done several times after the tool has been in use, in order to prevent the end burring over and causing pieces to break off and be scattered around during hammering.

Centre Gouges

A small gouge chisel for cutting small channels and small centre recesses requires a cutting end only about an eighth of an inch thick ; a small gouge of this sort is easily made by grinding and hardening one end of a piece of round wire about a quarter of an inch thick. Centre gouges for gun-metal and iron are tempered to a dark brown, and gouges for steel require the angle of the cutting part to be rather greater than that for iron, but the tool is hardened and tempered to about the same colour.

Fiddling Drills

A fiddling drill that is to be made of square steel and rotated by means of a drill-bow is about a foot in length, the spindle which fits the hole in the drill-pulley and the drill itself being of only one piece of steel. Such a piece is thinned at one end by a partial reducing on an anvil-beak, and afterwards reduced and smoothed with filing. When the end for drilling is shaped to the form of Fig. 472, and also hardened, it is tempered to a dark brown, the tempering being done with the heat in that portion of the drill which adjoins the part made hard at the first cooling. The other end of the tool is next ground to form the pivot-cone, and this is also hardened, but not tempered. Being thus shaped and hardened, the final operations are sharpening the cutting end and polishing the pivot end to prevent it wearing the breast-plate or other recessed plate that may be used to push the drill into the work.

Another mode of producing fiddling drills consists in making the drill distinct from the remainder of the tool named the holder. By this plan the drill is only about three inches long, and made of round steel wire, the end that fits the holder being made into a half-cylindrical form. A drill end of this shape is denoted by Fig. 473, and one in its holder is shown by Fig. 474. To make such a spindle a piece of steel is selected which is as thick as the boss, this being the thickest part of the tool. The smaller portion adjoining the boss is formed by reducing on an anvil until near the finished dimensions, allowing a sufficient quantity for lathe-turning. The boss needs no forging, unless it were too large in diameter, because its shaping is effected while cold. After forging, the work is centred and smoothly turned to its finished dimensions ; after this it is supported in a small coned plate, and the hole for the drill's end is made and slightly tapered with broaching; when thus far advanced, the gap in the boss is made with an edge of a file, being careful to make the depth of the gap about equal to half the diameter of the boss. The end of the drill is next fitted to its place, and the pivot end of the spindle shaped and hardened. Drill-holders of this character are economical, because several drills may be made to fit one holder. No screw is required in the boss, and when a drill is to be taken out it is pushed from its place by gently driving a small wedge between the extremity of the drill and the side of the gap nearest to it. In the Fig. 474, the place for the wedge is shown by W.