These cutters or saws, with the exception of the smaller one, may be used to the best advantage in connection with a saw table, like that shown in Fig. 8.  This is a plane iron table having a longitudinal groove in its face to receive the guiding rib of the carriage, shown in Fig. 9, and a transverse groove running half way across, to receive a slitting gauge, as shown in Fig. 8.  The table is supported by a standard or shank, which fits into the tool-rest socket.  The saw mandrel is supported between the centers of the lathe, and the saw projects more or less through a slot formed in the table.  The gauge serves to guide the work to be slotted, and other kinds of work may be placed on or against the carriage, shown in Fig. 9.

It is a very simple matter to arrange guiding pieces for cutting at any angle, and the saw table may be used for either metal or wood.  The saws for wood differ from those used for metal; the latter are filed straight, the former diagonally or fleaming.  Among the many uses to which metal saws may be applied we mention the slitting of sheet metals, splitting wires and rods, slotting and grooving, nicking screws, etc.  Fig. 10 shows a holder for receiving screws to be nicked.  It is used in connection with the saw table, and is moved over the saw against the gauge.

To facilitate the removal of the screws the holder may be split longitudinally and hinged together.  Another method of nicking screws is illustrated by Fig. 11.  A simple lever, fulcrumed on a bar held by the tool post, is drilled and tapped in the end to receive the screw.  After adjusting the tool all that is required is to insert the screw and press down the handle so as to bring the screw head into contact with the saw.

Where a lathe is provided with an engine rest, the cutter shown in Fig. 6, mounted on the mandrel shown in Fig. 5, is very useful; it is used by clamping the work to the slide rest and moving it under the cutter by working the slide rest screw.

To make a cutter of this kind is more difficult than to make a saw, and to do it readily a milling machine would be required.  It may be done, however, on a plain foot lathe, by employing a V-shaped cutter and using a holder (Fig. 7) having an angular groove for receiving the cylinder on which the cutting edges are formed.  The blank can be spaced with sufficient accuracy, by means of a fine pair of dividers, and after the first groove is cut there will be no difficulty in getting the rest sufficiently accurate, as a nib inserted in the side of the guide enters the first groove and all of the others in succession and regulates the spacing.

One of the best applications of this tool is shown in the small engraving.  In this case a table similar to the saw table before described is supported in a vertical position, and arranged at right angles with the cutter mandrel.  The mandrel is of the same diameter as the cutter, and serves as a guide to the pattern which carries the work to be operated upon.  The principal use of this contrivance is to shape the edges of curved or irregular metal work.  The casting to be finished is fastened—­by cement if small, and by clamps if large—­to a pattern having exactly the shape required in the finished work.