Stone tool

“ You whack with a hammer stone against a bone or antler punch which is directed at the proper place on the blade-core. The blade-core has to be well supported or gripped while this is going on. To get a good flint blade tool takes a great deal of know-how.
Remember that a tradition in stone tools means no more than that some particular way of making the tools got started and lasted a long time. Men who made some tools in one tradition or set of habits would also make other tools for different purposes by means of another tradition or set of habits. ”

“ A civilized [144] person entirely inexperienced in the working of stone would be likely to produce a fairly satisfactory implement by the rubbing technique. If however he attempted to manufacture a chipped stone tool, even of simple type, he would probably fail repeatedly before learning to control the method well enough to turn out an implement without first ruining a dozen. In short, the manual dexterity required to produce the best forms of chipped stone tools is greater than that needed for ground ones. ”

“ The blades of table-knives are ground on wet stones, the grinding stone being suspended, for that purpose, in an iron trough filled with water to a [185] sufficient height to make the surface of the fluid just touch the face of the stone. The grinding stones, as well as the glazers and polishers, are turned by machinery worked by steam power. A flat stick is used by the grinder to keep the blade pressed to the surface of the stone. The ground blades are then glazed, which simply means that a higher degree of lustre and smoothness is given them by grinding on a tool termed a glazer. ”

“ The positions in which to hold cutting tools while grinding them are as follows: The bottom faces of lathe tools and the end faces of tools such as scrapers should be ground with the tool laid upon the grindstone rest as in Fig. 2064, the stone running in the direction of the arrow. The best position for thin work as blades is at f providing the stone runs true, for otherwise the tool edge will be liable to catch in the stone. ”

“ When a chisel or a plane-bit gets a nick in it it must be ground out on a grind stone; if you haven’t one get a carpenter to do it for you, and when you get it back hone it, that is, sharpen it on your oil stone as before.
Get a Washita slip stone for the touching up gouges and instead of rubbing the edge of the gouge on the stone you rub the stone on the gouge. Never try to grind a woodworking tool on an emery wheel.
About Sharpening Auger Bits. —An ordinary auger-bit seldom needs sharpening but when it does the cutter of it must be sharpened on the inside. ”

“ Tools to be ground to a sharp point should be ground at the back of the stone, that is to say, with the top of the stone running away from the operator, and the point should be slowly moved across the width of the stone to prevent wearing grooves in its surface.
To produce a finer edge than is possible with the grindstone, the oil-stone is brought into requisition, the shape of the oil-stone being varied to suit the shape of the tool. ”

“ Then begin rubbing the tool from end to end of the stone, taking care not to rock the right hand up and down, but to keep it as level as possible throughout the stroke, bearing heavily on the blade with the left hand, to keep it well in contact with the stone. Rocking produces a rounded edge which is fatal to keenness. ”

“ Like other things about the shop, there are many kinds of grindstones on the market. The old-fashioned stone with a wooden frame (Fig. 113) worked by hand or a treadle may be good—it depends on the stone—and the new one with a small stone, iron, or pressed steel frame is handy. The last stone is provided with a bicycle seat, and is worked by both feet, so that the hands are free to hold the tool. ”

“ Fig. 1776 represents a drill for stone work, whose edge is made curved to steady it. This tool is caused to cut by hammer blows, being slightly revolved upon its axis after each blow, hence the curved shape of its cutting edge causes it to sink a dish-shaped recess in the work which holds that end steady. The end of the tool is spread because the corners are subject to rapid wear, especially when used upon hard stone, and the sides of the drill would bend or jam in the walls of the hole in the absence of the clearance caused by the spread. To prevent undue abrasion water is used. ”

“ The grindstone for woodworking tools is best when rather fine and soft. The grinding surface should be straight and never concave. The stone should run as true as possible. It can be made true by using a piece of 1" gas pipe as a truing tool held against the stone when run dry. Power grindstones usually have truing devices attached to them, Fig. 221. A common form is a hardened steel screw, the thread of which, in working across the face of the grindstone, as they both revolve, shears off the face of the stone. ”

“ Fig. 2061 represents a grindstone truing device (for tool-grinding stones) in which a series of serrated disks are employed in place on a threaded roll. The disks are fed to the stone by the hand wheel and screw, and are traversed back and forth across the stone face by means of the lever handle shown.
The fast running grindstones used for heavy and coarse grinding are trued by a process known as hacking. The high spots of the stone are marked by holding a piece of coal to the stone while it revolves slowly, and a tool similar to an adze is used to cut or chop indentations in the stone. ”

“ Putting a groove on a Stone Hammer was really a very important step in human development, for it made of the tool an actual piece of personal property, which the owner would want to carry around with him as he moved from place to place and which, perhaps, would be handed down from father to son. ”

“ As the student must in any case learn how to sharpen his tools, it will be just as well to get them in that way rather than ready for use. As this process of sharpening tools is a very important one, it must be reserved for another place. Should tools be seriously blunted or broken they must be reground. This can be done by the carver, either on a grindstone or a piece of gritty York stone, care being taken to repeat the original bevel; or they may be sent to a tool [41] shop where they are in the habit of grinding carving tools. ”

“ Grindstones, Emery and Grinding Wheels.—A good workman is always reflected by his grinding apparatus. This is true whether it has reference to a grindstone, emery, corundum wheel, or a plain oil stone. Nothing is more destructive of good tools than a grooved, uneven, or wabbly stone. It is only little less than a crime for a workman to hold a tool on a revolving stone at one spot. ”

“ A stone to be moulded by machinery is fixed to a moving table placed under a shaped tool which is fixed in an immovable portion of the machine, and is so adjusted as to cut or chip off a small layer of stone. Each time the stone passes under the cutter it is automatically moved a trifle nearer, and thus it gradually reduces the stone until the required shape is attained. ”

“ Whetting Beveled Edge Tools. —The grindstone does not sharpen tools; that is the work of the oilstone. No tool, after it has been ground, is ready for use until it has been whetted.
54. Oilstones. —Oilstones in common use are of two kinds; those which are of very fine grained natural stone and those which are manufactured by pressing a powdered, metal cutting substance into rectangular forms. In selecting an oilstone it should be remembered that the finer the grain, the keener the edge it will produce but the longer time it takes to produce it. ”

“ The surface should always be wet when in use both to carry off the particles of stone and steel, and thus preserve the cutting quality of the stone, and to keep the tool cool, as otherwise, its temper would be drawn, which would show by its turning blue. ”

“ Many of the forms described by Sir William Wilde, [11] under the name of sling-stones, may also, I think, be more properly placed in some other category. The carefully polished lenticular disc of flint (Wilde, Fig. 9) seems better adapted for a cutting tool; and the flat oval stones, usually with "a slight indentation, such as might be effected by rubbing with a metal tool," were, as I have already observed, more probably used for obtaining fire, like those of the same class belonging to the early Iron Age of Denmark, [12] which they much resemble in character. ”

“ Though the bevel may be maintained better by imparting a short circular motion to the plane iron, or to any edge tool which is being sharpened, it seems an awkward and fussy method of work, and rarely is used by an expert workman. By long practice the mechanic finds that a stroke made nearly the entire length of the stone will impart an edge quicker, and after the knack has been acquired, the bevel will be preserved just as well. ”

“ We find on looking at the tool after a little rubbing that this time it presents a bright rim along the edge in contrast with the gray steel which has been in contact with the stone. This bright rim is part of the polished surface the whole bevel had before we began this second sharpening, which proves that the actual edge has not yet touched the stone. [56] We are tempted to lift the right hand ever so little, and so get rid of this bright rim (sometimes called the "candle") ; we shall thus get an edge quicker than if we have to rub away all the steel behind it. ”

“ The stone axe may be one for cutting stones, like the mill-bill of the present day, which is used for dressing mill-stones, and this being usually sharp at each end, might not inaptly be regarded as the equivalent of the ancient bipennis. An axe is still a bricklayer's tool, and is also occasionally used by stone-cutters. It seems, then, that the "stan" in these two Saxon words refers, not to the material of which the axes or bills were made, but to the stones on or among which they were used. ”

“ Unless a very sharp point is obtained, this tool is practically useless; the least speck of burr or dullness will stop its progress or tear up the wood. In sharpening it, the sides should be pressed firmly on the stone, watching it every now and then to see what effect is being produced. If a gap begins to appear on one side, as it often does, then rub the other side until it disappears, taking care to bear more heavily on the point of the tool than elsewhere. ”

“ The Stone Hand-hammer.—A special study has been published by Mr. J. D. Mc Guire, of Ellicott City, Md., of the stone hand-hammer, which he believes was probably the tool upon which races living in the stone age relied more than upon any other object to fashion other stone implements. There is no implement, he says, more common among the relics of the stone age, none the uses of which have been less discussed by archæologists, and none more deserving of thorough discussion. ”

“ Be sure you understand the process of sharpening tools before you undertake to use the oil-and grind-stones.
All tools are not sharpened alike, and you will need to know the different ways in order to get their cutting edges the right shape to serve their different purposes.
Grinding is the most difficult part of the work, and most boys have trouble with it. One fault lies in using the grind-stone too frequently, grinding the edge of a tool when it requires only a little rubbing upon the oil-stone to put it in shape, and thus wearing down the tool unnecessarily. ”

“ The small implements of the early Acheulean included a great variety of designs developing out of the far more primitive tools of Chellean and Pre-Chellean times, namely, the planing tool, the scraper, the borer, and the knife. Each of these types develops its own variety, often fashioned with great care, primitive blades, straight-edged cutting tools, with the back rounded or blunted for the grip of the fingers, scrapers with straight or curved edges, and perçoirs or borers. The scraping and planing tools, doubtless used for the dressing of hides, are now more carefully fashioned. ”

“ Forge the tools as before, and when quite cold grind to shape on a dry stone or dry emery wheel, an operation which may be done with the tool fixed in a rest and fed against the stone or emery wheel by a screw, no harm resulting from any heat developed at this stage. ”

“ Among modern artificers in wood, bone, ivory, or metal, scraping tools play a far more important part than would at first sight appear probable, looking at the abundance and perfection of our cutting tools and files. The latter, indeed, are merely compound forms of "scrapers."
Fig. 226a.—North of Ireland.
A less symmetrical hollow scraper from the Culbin Sands [78] has been engraved; as has been another which Dr. Joseph Anderson [79] used in the production of an arrow-shaft, and which he found to be a very efficient tool. ”

“ It is doubtless true that implements of stone continued in use long after those of bronze and iron had been invented, arising most probably from the dearness and scarcity of articles of metal; but when the art of smelting and working in iron and steel had sufficiently advanced, the use of stone, and afterwards of bronze tools and weapons, altogether ceased. ”

“ I have a fine unground specimen (6 inches) from Feltwell, Norfolk, and another (41/2 inches) from Chart Farm, Ightham, Kent, given to me by Mr. B. Harrison.
Unfortunately there are no indications by which to judge of the method of hafting such instruments. It appears probable, however, that the broader end may have been attached at the end of a handle, like those in Fig. 104, and that the tool was a sort of narrow adze or pick, adapted for working out cavities in wood, or it may be for grubbing in the ground. ”