The Painters' & grainers' handbook : a complete illustrated guide to painting, graining, distempering, sign-writing, gilding, and glass embossing ... (1873)
Callingham, James · London : Brodie & Middleton : Simpkin, Marshall · leaf 74
l answer the purpose admirablyif properly made ; and even when the natural nail isgood, the gutta-percha will serve to save it frominjury. Good figuring may also be done by usingthe blank end of a narrow steel comb with a ragfolded over its edge. We have also used a piece ofgutta-percha to take out… … THUMB-PIECE, OR VEINING-HORX. Many grainers use a piece of thin horn, in shape some-thing like a spatula, about three or four inches long andthree quarters of an inch wide, with rounded ends andquite flexible. With this tool the figure is cut or scoopedout—we know of no other word which so aptly…
