chisel-edge

I cannot doubt that the high laws which each man sees ever implicated in those processes with which he is conversant, the stern ethics which sparkle on his chisel-edge, which are measured out by his plumb and foot-rule, which stand as manifest in the footing of the shop-bill as in the history of a state, —do recommend to him his trade, and though seldom named, exalt his business to his imagination.

V. Essays. Compensation. 1841 1909

But before the words were fully uttered the sergeant had driven the chisel-edge of the iron bar into the horizontal crevice about on a level with his knees, with the result that the men cheered so loudly that they drowned the angry curse which escaped the Boer's lips.

The Kopje Garrison A Story of the Boer War George Manville Fenn 1870

I cannot doubt that the high laws which each man sees implicated in those processes with which he is conversant, the stern ethics which sparkle on his chisel-edge, which are measured out by his plumb and foot-rule, which stand as manifest in the footing of the shop-bill as in the history of a state, -- do recommend to him his trade, and though seldom named, exalt his business to his imagination.

Essays — First Series Ralph Waldo Emerson 1842

I cannot doubt that the high laws which each man sees implicated in those processes with which he is conversant, the stern ethics which sparkle on his chisel-edge, which are measured out by his plumb and foot-rule, which stand as manifest in the footing of the shop-bill as in the history of a state, -- do recommend to him his trade, and though seldom named, exalt his business to his imagination.

Essays: First Series (1841) 1841