> paul womack wrote:

> (I will point out, to save others the trouble, that there are other
> VERY specific tapered reamers, including chair legs, ladder rungs,
> cask bung holes and violin pegs holes, but all of these are listed
> explictly, and are (thus) not mysterious)

I have wondered about these myself, as I have one or two. I just looked
through a number of catalogs (Swan, Buck Bros., Sargent, White) and they
all sell them, but none of them give any advice on their use, which was
probably so obvious it required no explanation!

The only thing I have used them for is as a violin peg reamer for a few
banjos I made. I have since bought a proper violin peg reamer and it
does a much better job:

http://galootcentral.com/index.php?option=com_copperminevis&Itemid=2&pl-
ace=displayimage&album=272&pos I did find this Strelinger catalog from
1897 (http://tinyurl.com/b24e27b) that says this about the newer design
of fluted tapered reamer (which is like the modern violin peg reamer
that I own):

"These Reamers are rapidly supplanting the older styles of square, half-
round and octagon reamers. They ream out and make true, smooth holes in
wood or any kind of metal."

So I did a little more googling to see if I could find any 19th c.
descriptions of their use and I found this one from 1881:

The reamer, or rymer as it is sometimes called, though the former is the
proper mode of spelling the word, is a steel tool set in a handle and
used for the purpose of enlarging a hole in a piece of metal; as, for
example, in a hinge whose screw-holes are not quite large enough to
admit the screws. It is made in different forms, but most commonly in
the shape of a long, stiletto-like, four-sided blade, thick at the haft,
and tapering to a fine point, which is useful for marking lines on wood,
leather, zinc, or any other material. A good reamer may be bought at
from 6d. to 1s. The tool just described is often called a scriber
because its point is useful for scribing (Latin scribo, I write) or
marking lines on wood, etc. A small rat-tail file may be used by the
amateur as a reamer. (Every man his own mechanic, 1881, by Francis
Chilton Young, p. 127)

I also saw passing references that seemed to imply that they can be used
to enlarge a hole in wood to make it easier to start or turn a screw.

But it seems to me that the intended use was "enlarging holes in sheet
materials" as Paul suggested in his original post. They don't do a good
job of making longer tapered holes in wood. I am very aware of this
every time I try to tune my banjo.

Brian
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