paul womack thought correctly when he posted:
> It's also in Salaman, I think.
Salaman has it as
Passer (Parsa; Parcey; Parcer) - See Drill, Passer; [ or Truss Hoop 
under Cooper (3) Hooping Tools.]

No listing under Parser

Drill, Passer (Parcey, Parsa, Parcer; Breast-plate-and Parsee) Fig 280
An early name for a Gimlet or Bow Drill, but now more often applied to a 
remarkable and special bit which is normally driven by a fiddle bow and 
kept in contact with the work by means of a breast-plate. (See Drill, Bow)
The Passer bit is a double (bifurcated) drill made of two thin pieces of 
steel rod, welded together at the head and sharpened at the other to 
form flat cutters.  The tool is an early form of hand-operated Router, 
doing similar work to that of the modern Machine Router.
The process is as follows.  A steel template is pierced with the shape 
of the hole or recess required and is held against the material to be 
worked.  The bifurcated drill is made to rotate within the shaped hole 
in the template.  As it does this, the springy legs of the Passer follow 
the inside outline of the template, in which they are confined, and by 
their eccentric movement cut, or rather rout out, the required shape.  
The depth of the hole is regulated by the shoulders, which are cut net 
the tip of the drill legs, bearing in the inside edge of the template.
One of its chief uses it to pierce or recess ornamental shapes (often 
squares, shield or oval) in the handles of pen and pocket knives in the 
Sheffield cutlery trade; hence the legend that the Sheffield Cutler can 
drill a square hole.  It is also used for recessing high-quality 
hardwood instrument cases and boxes to take brass mounts, and for 
routing the recesses to take the brass washers and 'diamonds' in 
carpenter's rosewood Squares.

[the Truss Hoop Passer is a different beast, no relation other than the 
name]

pg 188 of my paperback revised version.

Interestingly, there is a drawknife shaped like the one discussed last 
week, figure 269 on page 182, where the handles are way outboard, and 
the curve (1 3/4-2" per text) is centered.  Called a Drawing Knife, 
Handle Maker's

-- 
Kirk Eppler in HMB, CA, almost to the bottom of the 1st tool chest.
Pharmaceutical and Packaging Engineering
eppler.kirk@g...

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