bodkin
A sharp tool, like an awl, formerly used for pressing down individual type characters (e.g. letters) from a column or page in making corrections.
bodkin: the typesetter's precision needle for fixing type
A bodkin is a slender, pointed steel tool used in letterpress printing to manipulate individual type characters during correction and makeup. The tool tapers to a sharp point, typically 4 to 6 inches long, and was held like a pen or stylus. Its primary function was to nudge type pieces sideways within the forme, or to lift characters out of their positions without damaging surrounding type or the surrounding space material (leads and slugs).
The bodkin proved essential because type correction required precision work in confined spaces. When a printer needed to remove a single misspelled letter from a locked-up column, forcing it out with clumsy fingers risked throwing adjacent characters out of alignment or bending them. The bodkin's fine point allowed the compositor to apply downward and lateral pressure on just one type piece, separating it cleanly from its neighbors so it could be extracted and replaced. The same tool could press down type that had risen slightly above the face (a common problem in wear or settlement) without marring the character's printing surface.
The tool's name derives from bodkin, an older term for a pointed dagger or dirk. Typesetters and printers borrowed this everyday vocabulary, much as they repurposed other small implements. The bodkin sat on the compositor's bench or in a case alongside other correction tools: tweezers for handling tiny pieces, the line gauge for measuring line depth, and the mallet and shooting stick for securing the forme in the chase.
Variants existed, though the straight taper was standard. Some shops preferred a slightly flattened or burnished point to reduce risk of leaving impressions on the type face itself. The bodkin was entirely hand-operated; it required skill and a steady touch, as a slip could bend a character or puncture your own finger. It was never a specialty tool unique to one foundry or region, nearly every printing shop of consequence held several bodkins as basic working equipment.
The bodkin's role diminished sharply after offset lithography and later digital typesetting displaced letterpress for commercial and newspaper work in the mid-twentieth century. Hobby and fine-art letterpress practitioners still use bodkins for hand makeup and correction, though modern digital proofing and pre-press verification have reduced the need for in-forme fixes. The tool remains a recognizable emblem of traditional printing craftsmanship.