These consist of various forms of implements shaped somewhat like tongs and are used for the purpose of drawing nails from timber. They are made of iron and faced with steel in the jaws. The faces are made large and nearly flat so as to afford great power of leverage.
These are made in a great variety of forms and sizes, the most useful of which are those with parallel movement in the jaws. The ordinary vise consists of a pair of steel faced jaws one of which is capable of being moved by a screw or by a lever, while the other is fixed rigidly. The improved forms are pro vided with swivel-bases and swivel-jaw attach ments, which enable them to grip the work in any position that may be required for con venience in working. These appliances are usu ally attached to a work-bench and arc used for holding or gripping pieces of work which re quire to be held firmly, but which have not suffi cient weight in themselves to remain stationary or immovable under the operation of the tools. The vise-jaws are usually steel-faced. In fit ting them to a vise they are first screwed to the wrought-iron backing and serrated while untempered; they are then removed and hard ened and subsequently screwed hack into place on the backing. In the smaller forms the steel jaws are usually welded to the, backing. In the form commonly known as the "taper" vise, a loose jaw-piece rounded on the back and capa ble of movement in a corresponding hollow seat ing is attached to the fixed jaw. It affords a slewing movement by which the vise may be adapted to different angles for holding various forms of tapered work. The vise-claws or vise clamps are simply angle strips of lead, brass or copper, which are placed against the jaws in order to prevent the bruising of delicate pieces of work by the serrations on the hard-steel faces.
These comprise several forms of appliances for holding together pieces of work in position for nailing and screwing or for tightening up the joints in glued work in order to allow sufficient time for the glue to An ordinary form consists of a long iron bar and two brackets which slide thereon. One of the backets is capable of being moved freely to any point on the bar while the other is actu ated and its amount of travel limited by a screw which is attached to the end of the bar and operated by a lever handle. The bar is pro vided with a series of holes along its length for receiving the iron bolts by which the freely sliding bracket may be held stationary at any desired point. Some of the other useful forms
are the adjustable "screw-clamp° and the 'cor ner-clamp," the latter being a very useful device for securely gripping two sides of a picture frame while they are being nailed or glued together.
The rasping tools comprise the various forms of saws, files and rasps.
The Saws are an important class of tools employed for cutting and dividing substances. In general, the saw may be defined as a tool having a serrated blade and furnished with a handle or frame by means of which it is op erated either by hand as in the case of the hand saws or by belting as in the case of the power driven saws. The saw-blade or saw-plate is usually made of the best tempered steel and the form, length and pitch of the teeth are designed and made to suit the class or character of the work performed and the nature of the ma terial worked. The various terms used for de scribing the principal parts of a saw may be briefly defined as follows: "space," the dis tance between the points of two adjoining teeth. "Pitch" or "rake," the inclination or angle of the face of a tooth. This varies from 65 de grees to 70 degrees for cutting soft woods and from 80 degrees to 85 degrees for cutting hard woods. The corresponding "relief-angle" or the angles formed by the base and top of the tooth varies from 45 degrees to 50 degrees for soft woods and from 65 degrees to 70 degrees for hard woods. "Gullet" or "throat," the depth of the tooth from the point to the root. "Gauge," the thickness of the saw-blade, usually deter mined by the wire-gauge. "Set," the amount of lateral inclination given to the teeth to one side or the other of the plane of the blade for effect ing a clearance of the sawdust. "Points," the number of teeth points to an inch, taken as a unit,in estimating the coarseness or fineness of a saw. The teeth of cross-cut saws arc usually formed to cut both ways. Saw teeth are desig nated by various names such as "peg" teeth, *M" teeth, "half-moon" teeth, "gullet" teeth, etc., according to their peculiar form. The various kinds of saws commonly used by wood workers are the "hand-saws," the "back-saws," the "frame-saws" and the "pad-saws" The "pit," "deal," "frame," "band" and "circular" saws are mostly used in connection with the production of lumber and sawmill-work. See SAWS AND SAWING in this Encyclopedia.