236 



NATURE 8 TEACHINGS. 



shavings being taken off as easily as if they were deal, and 

 curling in just the same manner. 



THERE is an instrument very familiar to carpenters, called 

 the Spokeshave, on account of its use in trimming the spokes 

 of wheels. Different as it may be in appearance, it is identical 

 in principle with the plane, having an .edge guarded by a piece 

 of wood, so that the blade cannot cut too deeply into the object 

 on which it is employed. The chief distinction, indeed, is, that 

 the workman, instead of pushing the blade from him, draws it 

 to him. 



When shaving was more in fashion than it is in these more 



HOOP- SHAVER BEE. 



PLANE. 



SPOKESHAVE. 



sensible days, there were many inventions to lessen the trouble, 

 not to say the perils, of shaving. To use the razor in a hurry 

 was anything but an agreeable occupation, especially if the 

 weather were frosty, and the fingers so chilled that they hardly 

 knew whether or not they had the razor between them. 



In order to render this very unpleasant task less disagreeable, 

 some ingenious individual invented the Guard Razor. The 

 principal part of the invention consisted in a plate of metal 

 sufficiently thin not to add materially to the weight of the 

 razor, and sufficiently strong to resist a moderate amount of 

 pressure. This was fixed along the blade of the razor in such 

 a way that it just allowed the edge to show itself, and, in fact, 



