Setting the Bearing

I stepped onto the edge of the leather desk blotter to inspect an open brass pocket compass. Inside its glass face, the slender blued-steel needle drifted in clear dampening fluid, oscillating gently against the numbered dial. I placed both hands against the knurled outer rim, steadying the brass housing against the desk grain. As my weight anchored the casing, the needle completed two slow swings before locking firmly onto the North index. I laid a slender wooden golf tee parallel to the needle's axis, establishing an accurate directional baseline across my desk grid. Field orientation is confirmed.