Woodcut, Wood-engraving, and Belief-prints from Metal-plates. 11 



handle is best shown in the illustration below (6g. 3). It is the same 

 tool that is used in line-engraving, and the way it is used is practically 

 the same in each process, the handle being held against the palm, 

 and the blade pushed before the hand, ploughing up the furrows (see 

 line-engraving, and the illustration from Faithorne, fig. 5). The wood- 



Fia. 3.— The Grayeu, or Burin ; with s(iiiare, and lozeng-e sections. 



engraver also uses a variety of graver which is more nearly triangular in 

 section, and sharpened at a more or less acute angle according to the 

 delicacy of the line required. This acutely sharpened graver is called 

 the tint-fool, as it is used in making delicate series of lines to produce a 

 tone or tint (fig. 4, and section a). A similar shape is also sharpened 



¥iQ. 4. — The Tint-tool, and section (a). Also section sliowing the form of the scorj^er (b), 

 and tlie threading tool (c). 



with a flat bottom, which is threaded more or less finely to produce a 

 series a parallel lines {the threading tool, fig. 4, section c). It may also 

 be sharpened like a gouge (fig. 4, and section b), and used for clearing 

 away broader spaces of the block (being in this form usually called the 

 scorper). And flat tools, or chisels, are also used for clearing away parts 

 of the wood outside the lines in relief on the outer parts of the block. 



In cutting with the knife, the wood used is always part of the plank 

 of a tree of fairly soft wood, e.g. pear, apple, sycamore, or beech. The 

 plank is a piece of a tree sawn with the grain, i.e. lengthwise, and planed 

 down. Early work with the graver on wood may also have been done 

 on the plank. In modern wood -engraving, box cut in a section across 

 the grain is the usual wood. It is of much harder texture than the other 

 woods mentioned, and fit for more delicate work. Boxwood cut in the 

 plank was occasionally used by Papillon (1698-1776), but cut across the 

 grain it did not come into use until the end of the XVIIIth century. The 

 thickness of wood blocks is about § inch, i.e. a size which will con- 

 veniently print in conjunction with type. Some earlier blocks are 

 considerably thicker, and the ordinary height of type would naturally not 

 have to be considered in woodcuts designed for separate printing. 

 Sections of box cannot, of course, be got so large as pieces of the plank of 



