This piece should be of the same diameter at both ends. It is not necessary to caliper it, but judge its size carefully by examining it with your

Fig. 28. Half-inch Left-hand Semi-bead.

eye only. A more accurate judgment may be made if the piece is removed from the lathe, and held up to the light. Of course, you should try to judge correctly while the piece is in the lathe, and with patient effort you will be able to do so well that you will seldom have to remove a piece from the lathe for examination.

Before attempting to mark the spaces for the curves, smooth the entire surface with the skew

Fig. 29. Using the Skew Chisel.

chisel. As the piece in this exercise is the same size throughout, and the spaces are but one-half inch, the curves should all be alike, i. e., they should each be the shape of a quarter circle.

Now that you have turned both right-hand and left-hand curves, you should be able to turn these without holding the chisel close to your body. Stand in such a position as will allow of turning either right-hand or left-hand curves without changing the position of your body. Fig. 29 shows very clearly how such a position is taken.

It frequently happens in turning the curves that the square end of the adjoining bead is roughened. This end should be cut smooth before the piece is considered finished. To do this, hold the skew chisel as in cutting at the sides of the coves (Fig. 39), turning the handle to the right or to the left as required to give the proper angle to the end, but do not tip or roll the tool out of the vertical position. If the skew chisel, when used in such a place, is revolved so that it cuts at a place on the edge above the point, it is almost certain to catch.

After you have done your best to work each curve properly and they are not satisfactory, use the skew chisel, as shown in Fig. 16 or 17, and flatten each curve a little, so that you will have a flat space on which to lay the end of the chisel in re-cutting the curves. Be very careful to keep each part of correct size. Although size is not the most important part of the exercise, yet you should begin at once to work as nearly to size as you can.