A gimlet is a small hand tool for boring holes, chiefly in wood, without splitting it, built as a short screw-tipped, semi-cylindrical shaft with a cross handle at one end. Turning the handle drives the screw tip into the wood, and the tool's spiral sides carry the waste wood it pares away back out through the entry hole as it cuts, drawing the gimlet deeper into the hole as it turns without needing continued hand pressure once the tip has taken hold, unlike a bradawl, which must be pushed the whole time it is used. A gimlet is by definition a small tool; a similar but larger boring tool is called an auger instead.
Facts
Introduced When (Circa)Documented by 1859 (Gwilt's Architecture); name traced through Anglo-French wimble 1 OriginA gimlet was defined in Joseph Gwilt's Architecture (1859); the name comes from Old French guinbelet, later guibelet, probably a diminutive of the Anglo-French wimble, itself from the Middle Low German wiemel. 1 Connections
Used In
Gimlet (Tool) is used in Woodworking.
Sources
1. Gimlet (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationLead section, Gwilt 1859 sentence
A gimlet is a hand tool for drilling small holes, mainly in wood, without splitting. It was defined in Joseph Gwilt's Architecture (1859)
Lead section, Gwilt 1859 sentence (origin detail)
A gimlet is a hand tool for drilling small holes, mainly in wood, without splitting. It was defined in Joseph Gwilt's Architecture (1859)
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