A skirret is an archaic form of
chalk line
A chalk line or chalk box is a tool for marking long, straight lines on relatively flat surfaces, much farther than is practical by hand or with a straightedge. They may be used to lay out straight lines between two points, or vertical lines by u ...
. It is a wooden tool shaped like the letter "T", historically used to ensure the
foundation of a building was straight by laying down string as a marker. Today it is obsolete and little known, save for its use in some
Freemasonry
Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...
ceremonies.
Shaped like the letter "T" — with two horizontal pieces of wood at the top and about halfway down the vertical stake. The horizontal two cross-pieces are connected by a
dowel
A dowel is a cylindrical rod, usually made of wood, plastic, or metal. In its original manufactured form, a dowel is called a ''dowel rod''. Dowel rods are often cut into short lengths called dowel pins. Dowels are commonly used as structural ...
at each end, around which a long length of string is wound.
To use, the
craftsman unwound the string from its
spindle and utilised it to lay out the dimensions of the structure being built, acting on a centre pin from which a line was drawn out to mark the ground. In certain instances, with the spindle as the centre, the skirret could also have been used for drawing a
circle
A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is const ...
.
References
Surveying instruments
Orientation (geometry)
Carpentry tools
Freemasonry
{{Freemasonry-stubIn some Grand Lodges' adopted forms of the Ritual, which vary from one Grand Lodge to another, the Skirret is one of the 'Working Tools' presented to a Master Mason. This is not one of the universally recognized 'Working Tools', used in the Ritual of all Grand Lodges.