Mike Jackson:
Rick Sacks:Back before we had those bulky carpenter's snap lines, most sign painters carried around a small chunk of chalk and a spool of fine "rope" or even thread. For gilding, the fine line leaves less excess chalk residue. For most doors, the line only had to be about three foot long, and many sign painters had one cut and rolled up in their sign kit. Darla and I purchased Steven Parrish's kit(s) from his estate a long time ago, and sure enough, he had a couple of colors of chalk and a roll of kite string in the boxes. You can also use the small chalkboard chalk sticks or the sidewalk chalk sticks in the same way.
Mike Jackson to Rick Sacks:I learned the method of holding the thread in two hands drawn taught wrapped around my little fingers and snapping with the left thumb and index finger. Mike, did you do that with the right hand? We also often used a string stretched across a yardstick making a bow. Charcoal the string and snap it. Also, the bow could be bent to differing arcs and used to scribe arcs on small signs and trucks and patterns.
Hi Rick,
Yep, I always did the "snap" with my right hand. It seems like I held the string pressed against the surface with my middle finger, but any of the remaining three would work fine. I never had to make a bow. Some old timers had a little nail at one end, which was bent to the shape of a U for snapping a longer panel
Denver Chapter of the Letterheads