THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 379 



to slide along as it enters, the stroke is called a sliding, or a 

 drawing stroke. The stroke of an axe is a crushing stroke. A 

 chisel in mortising, an auger in boring, and a plane in planing, 

 have a crushing stroke. A sickle, a grass scythe and cradle 

 scythe, have a drawing stroke. (See SHARPENING GRASS 

 SCYTHES, 551.) A shaving knife, a pocket knife, a razor, and 

 many other instruments, are used with either a crushing stroke or 

 a drawing stroke. When an edge tool is used with a crushing 

 stroke, no matter what the substance to be cut may be, the cutting 

 edge should be whetted on a whetstone that will produce as fine 

 an edge as possible. An edge tool that has a coarse edge re 

 quires the exercise of much more force in working it than if it 

 had a very fine edge. A first-rate chisel will not work at all 

 well in mortising dry, soft timber, when the edge is coarse. But 

 give the same chisel a fine edge and it will shave like a razor. 

 It is impossible to make a good plane-iron work well in planing 

 when it has a coarse edge ; but give it a fine edge and one can 

 shove it in very hard wood with ease. For cutting wood with 

 any instrument, having either a drawing or crushing stroke, and 

 for cutting any kind of metal, either with a drill, or turning it 

 with any kind of chisel, or for planing it, the cutting edge should 

 be whet on an oil-stone having very fine grit. The cutters of 

 mowers and reapers usually operate with a crushing stroke ; and 

 they require a very fine edge in order to have them work with 

 the least amount of force. Edge tools that are used with a draw 

 ing stroke for cutting such substances as cornstalks, operate much 

 more effectively with a coarse edge than if it were very fine. A 

 very fine edge on a sickle would require the exercise of double 

 the strength that a coarse edge requires. But any edge tool for 

 cutting wood having the serrature of the edge as coarse as the 

 edge of a sickle, would require more than twice the amount of 

 power to work it that would be necessary if the edge were very 

 fine. 



544. Straw-cutters, and some kinds of shingle machines, the 

 knives of which are attached to a gate, are made to cut with 

 a sliding stroke by having the gate work diagonally instead of 



