i94 FOR WORKS IN HARD AND SOFT STONE
unlike the gouge, it does not require such continuous re-
sharpenings.
It is very difficult to distinguish on ancient statues whether
a given groove was made by a gouge or a ‘bull-nosed chisel’
because the surface of the groove is rarely fresh enough to
preserve the minute striations referred to above that make
the distinction possible. But the one thing that is quite
certain is that the ‘bull-nosed chisel’ was never a wood-
worker’s tool. It can only cut material that is without grain,
material that is frangible. As such it is far more likely to be
used by stonecarvers than an instrument whose structure
shows that it was designed for wood.
9. Abrasive tools of stone. This classification is here made in
order to distinguish stone abrasives from the file and rasp
of metal; for the principle of use and action is the same in
both cases.
Stone abrasives can be used for several separate processes.
They can be used to cut, to hollow, to smooth, to polish, and
to engrave. Every sculptor to-day employs abrasive in the
process of carving stone or marble. Sometimes he uses
blocks and pencils of emery-composition, sometimes hard
stones other than emery such as ‘snake stone’, which is used
for polishing. For work in softer stones than marble he
often used sandstones as abrasives, and for the final surfacing
he may even use sand-paper. But abrasives get him only as
far as the final smooth polish. The high shiny polish so
favoured by sculptors of the nineteenth century is obtained
by other means which do not here concern us.
Ancient sculptors in Greece seem to have acquired their
knowledge of the use of abrasives from two separate sources:
from the ancient traditions of the Stone Age, which were
most faithfully preserved in the islands, in Crete and on the
mainland through the medium of whatever Mycenaean
traditions of technique had survived; and secondly direct
from Egypt.