French Country · Encyclopedia · Wrought-Iron Tools
Carpenter's square and compass
A walnut square and compass, tools of the compagnons who trained on their Tour de France. All trades repeated the saying: "When you look for a compagnon, you find him between the square and the compass."
French: équerre, compas de charpentier · Walnut
At a glance
- Material: walnut
- Users: carpenters and other trades
- Symbolism: compagnonnage
- Saying: the compagnon is found between square and compass
What they are
The square checks right angles and the compass sets out curves and transfers measurements. Made in walnut, the examples in the book are fine pieces of joinery in their own right.
Compagnonnage
The compagnons are members of French craft fellowships whose apprentices traveled from town to town to learn, a journey known as the Tour de France. The square and compass are among their emblems.
The book chose these tools for the beauty of their lines and for their symbolism, which every trade, not only carpenters, recognised.
Collecting and displaying them
Look for tight joints, worn edges and, sometimes, initials or marks of a fellowship. Large decorative versions were also made for display.
A square and compass hung together make a meaningful piece for a study or workshop.
Source: Les Trésors de France: vieux métiers et objets d'autrefois (Éditions Rustica, Détours en France collection, 1995), pp. 120–123, with general background on the object. The book was published in 1995, so workshops, people and figures are described as they were then. Regional names and dates are given as the book records them; a style or a region of origin does not by itself date an individual piece.