[TheForge] Re: dividers

[Mike Spencer]

German tradition actally has a specific word for the guy trainrd to
make this kind of thing: Zirkelschmied.  Literally compass-smith.

So far as I can tell (my German isn't real good, especially when there
are a lot of obsolete words) the Zirkelschmied's work varied depending
on the venue.  It might be limited to compasses, calipers, dividers
and other measuring and drawing instruments of might include saws,
chisels and carving tools or even forestry tools such as axes and froes.

I once found a nifty old engraving (wood cut?) of The Zirkelschmied on
the net but I can't fins it again now.  ....Oh, wait, here's a
differently cropped version of the same image:

http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Datei:Zirkelschmidt-1568.png&filetimestamp=20050701144604

Circa 1568.  The text in the other version of the pic says:

   I make every sort of tool
   Subtle compass and the like,
   All sorts of tongs (pliers) finely finished
   [Lathe-] Turning tools and [GdrbEisen ??][1] in many workshops,
   [Tools for] the cabinet maker and worker in brass [bronze/copper],
   For the candlemaker and the barber [2]
   Make as well numerous artistic pieces, 
   Finely engraved, smooth and subtle.



- Mike

[1] Not only is this in rather blurry 16th c. Fraktur typeface, they
    left out a lot of vowels.  I have no idea what a GdrbEisen is.

[2] Who was also the surgeon in the 16th c.  Ow!

-- 
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~. 
                                                           /V\ 
mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^