CHAPTER IV.
WOOD HAND TOOLS.
The hand tools in common use in woodworking shops may, for convenience, be divided into the following classes: 1, Cutting; 2, Boring; 3, Chopping; 4, Scraping; 5, Pounding; 6, Holding; 7, Measuring and Marking; 8, Sharpening; 9, Cleaning.
1.

CUTTING TOOLS.
The most primitive as well as the simplest of all tools for the dividing of wood into parts, is the wedge.

The wedge does not even cut the wood, but only crushes enough of it with its edge to allow its main body to split the wood apart.

As soon as the split has begun, the edge of the wedge serves no further purpose, but the sides bear against the split surfaces of the wood.

The split runs ahead of the wedge as it is driven along until the piece is divided.
It was by means of the wedge that primitive people obtained slabs of wood, and the great change from primitive to civilized methods in manipulating wood consists in the substitution of cutting for splitting, of edge tools for the wedge.