# Pouncing (not cat related) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 28, 2017, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pouncing-not-cat-related/785458 "2017-04-28T22:18:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2017, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pouncing-not-cat-related/785458/1 "2017-04-28T22:18:52Z")
For some reason I thought of this old term. How many of you would know what I mean if I said I was going to use a pounce wheel and pounce bag? Dennis ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2017, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pouncing-not-cat-related/785458/2 "2017-04-28T23:13:02Z")
Yep. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2017, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pouncing-not-cat-related/785458/3 "2017-04-28T23:29:10Z")
Nope. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2017, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pouncing-not-cat-related/785458/4 "2017-04-29T00:22:52Z")
I actually still use my pounce wheels and bags. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2017, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pouncing-not-cat-related/785458/5 "2017-04-29T00:55:58Z")
I know I’ve read about them, probably in a thread here. But I have no clue; not even a hint of one. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2017, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pouncing-not-cat-related/785458/6 "2017-04-29T01:15:58Z")
No frickin idea. ---
**Author:** ![steatopygia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steatopygia/32/3132_2.png) [@steatopygia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steatopygia)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2017, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pouncing-not-cat-related/785458/7 "2017-04-29T01:20:10Z")
It’s not another form of “ponce” is it? ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2017, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pouncing-not-cat-related/785458/8 "2017-04-29T04:05:46Z")
The pounce wheel is a hand held tool with a sharp serrated round wheel. You run it over a paper pattern and make closely spaced punctures through it. Then you position the pattern where you want to mark the work. The bag is a cloth bag with chalk or charcoal dust in it. You “pounce” the bag up and down over the punctures and the outline of your design is marked on the work surface. Used for temporarily marking a design to be painted, for instance. There are lots of different ones for sale. > **[Sign Making | BLICK Art Materials](https://www.dickblick.com/categories/crafts/sign-making/)** > > Blick carries a wide selection of sign making supplies. Shop banners, wood surfaces, lettering stencils, display boards, sign holders, and more online. [http://www.fullchisel.com/blog/?p=1850](http://www.fullchisel.com/blog/?p=1850) Dennis ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2017, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pouncing-not-cat-related/785458/9 "2017-04-29T04:20:15Z")
Yep, I used to have and use them but I don’t sew garments any more. Also there have long been more convenient alternatives. ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2017, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pouncing-not-cat-related/785458/10 "2017-05-02T00:31:09Z")
Yep-- Renaissance art historian. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2017, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pouncing-not-cat-related/785458/11 "2017-05-02T02:13:49Z")
I usually think of robots being at pounce, although admittedly, that’s most likely derived from cats. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2017, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pouncing-not-cat-related/785458/12 "2017-05-02T02:38:07Z")
I know it from quilting and from art history. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2017, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pouncing-not-cat-related/785458/13 "2017-05-02T03:57:04Z")
I don’t do any sewing beyond minor mending, but I know the terms. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2017, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pouncing-not-cat-related/785458/14 "2017-05-02T04:37:47Z")
The kind of art work I do requires me to do a great deal of planning on the computer first. Usually, once I work out the details on the computer, I can then recreate the design on the canvas. But sometimes, if the design is very complex, I need to print it out and use pounce to transfer the design to the working surface. There’s also a type of pounce that used to be used in mechanical and architectural drafting. It contained tiny eraser particles that removed light pencil markings and dirt from ink drawings. I may still have one somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2017, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pouncing-not-cat-related/785458/15 "2017-05-02T06:24:32Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > There’s also a type of pounce that used to be used in mechanical and architectural drafting. It contained tiny eraser particles that removed light pencil markings and dirt from ink drawings. I may still have one somewhere. So you are saying the crumbs were in a bag but still worked? That’s interesting. We were taught to generate some eraser crumbs using a soft white eraser then move them gently around the paper using the eraser as a scrubber. It was hard to keep the crumbs under the eraser. I still have an eraser shield in my drawer, one of those thin stainless steels ones. I always keep several types of erasers around - at least pink with a beveled edge and white. Pity the people that only learned on AutoCad!! I was showing my son how to divide the space between two lines into equal parts of any number by rotating the ruler at an angle. I do submitals to the city for his construction company and draft everything by hand. And don’t get me started on the attributes of horse hair vs squirrel tail brushes. Dennis ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2017, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pouncing-not-cat-related/785458/16 "2017-05-02T07:49:37Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > So you are saying the crumbs were in a bag but still worked? The bag left a very find dusting on the surface; hence the need for a drafting brush. I still use the drafting brush that I bought for my Freshman Architecture class in 1963… though today it’s mainly to get cat hair off my art work. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2017, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pouncing-not-cat-related/785458/17 "2017-05-02T10:41:09Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > though today it’s mainly to get cat hair off my art work. See? This thread IS cat related. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2017, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pouncing-not-cat-related/785458/18 "2017-05-02T10:46:49Z")
I had no clue at all. ---
**Author:** ![quiltguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e47774/32.png) [@quiltguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quiltguy)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2017, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pouncing-not-cat-related/785458/19 "2017-05-02T18:33:39Z")
I recognize the terms because of my hobby. The bag worked well for designs other than straight lines, for those a chalk pencil or a piece of tailor’s chalk would’ve been used. I believe the pounce bag can also be used to describe a small, chalk-filled bag that women would use, BITD, to whiten smudged or yellowed white dress shoes. My husband’s mother used one in her youth, but she called it a chalk bag. At a flea market years ago I found one, still filled and in its protective bag(so whatever you carried it in didn’t get mushroom-clouded with chalk) The name on it was “Bunny Bag,” I’m assuming from the color of the chalk. ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2017, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pouncing-not-cat-related/785458/20 "2017-05-02T18:35:07Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > The pounce wheel is a hand held tool with a sharp serrated round wheel. You run it over a paper pattern and make closely spaced punctures through it. Then you position the pattern where you want to mark the work. The bag is a cloth bag with chalk or charcoal dust in it. You “pounce” the bag up and down over the punctures and the outline of your design is marked on the work surface. Used for temporarily marking a design to be painted, for instance. There are lots of different ones for sale. > > [Sign Making | BLICK Art Materials](http://www.dickblick.com/products/grifhold-aluminum-pounce-wheels/) > > [http://www.fullchisel.com/blog/?p=1850](http://www.fullchisel.com/blog/?p=1850) > > Dennis Huh. Cool. Those items were common around the house - and got a lot of use - when I was a kid. Never knew the names of them. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pouncing-not-cat-related/785458.md?page=2)