In order to insure the perpendicularity of the rebate of the box, an instrument is used called a turner's square, but it is easy to cut a rectangular notch in a bit of card or tin, and to test with this as shown in No. 6, Plate III. The long edge of the card is to be placed in contact with the top, and the short edge of the notch will test the accuracy of the inside, which it should exactly coincide with. The inside of the cover may be tested with a similar card. These little home-made contrivances are very useful, cost nothing, and can be made in a few minutes. A similar gauge is useful where a number of articles are to be of exactly the same size, either in length or thickness. Cut gauges cannot shift like calipers, which, again, are not practically very easy to use for accurate testing; but such a gauge as that shown, even of card, is of great use, and well worth making.

Suppose, for instance, you wish to make several tool-handles, all of one length and size, with mouldings like No. 1, Plate Y. We may make a gauge of its length by two nail-points in a bit of wood (C), and two others a little shorter, which are to mark the highest points of the moulding when the gauge is held against the wood as it revolves after it has been turned to a cylindrical form. Then it can be roughly shaped, and from time to time tested for size by gauge B. This is a far speedier plan than to measure the length by rule or compass and then to use calipers for size, which would have to be set separately to test the hollows and the convex curves.

Carrying on a little further our description of hollow work, we will take that simple article a needle-case or bodkin-case, in which the length very much exceeds the diameter. In this the gouge cannot be used as in larger work, and may advantageously be replaced by an ordinary shell bit or nose bit, such as carpenters use with a brace; or by the twisted or spiral drill used for metal. The latter, held in a tool-handle, answers splendidly, doing its work in a few seconds without undue strain. Drive the bit of wood, as before, into a cup chuck, not of metal but of wood, or wood driven in to plug the metal one and then hollowed out to the necessary size. Turn it with gouge and chisel as before; run the drill in deeply enough to bore the cover, following it up with a narrow chisel or slightly larger drill, and keeping the bore nicely parallel; then cut it off and set it aside for subsequent finish, and go on with the case itself, using the drill, and, if necessary, following it with chisel or with a narrow round-end tool, if in stock, or with a larger bit or drill; only it must be bored out smaller than the cover, to allow of the rabbet on which the latter fits, and which is made long to prevent the cover from dropping off so readily when the case is carried in the pocket. For work of this kind, sycamore will be found very useful if obtainable. Birch, poplar, beech, alder, and many other soft but not splintery woods can also be used; and of those ordinarily found in the country hornbeam is exceedingly useful. Acacia, again, is a nice and also handsome wood, but almost any stuff will do for simple work of this kind.

PLATE V - BORING-COLLARS : USE OF GAUGES.

If the article to be bored is over three or four inches long it will be found difficult to turn and bore it without further support. In such cases, what is known as a cone plate or boring-collar is used, or very frequently a temporary substitute made of wood. The cone plate properly so called consists of a short poppet from which projects a stout pin secured by a nut at the back. Upon this is fitted a circular metal plate, having near its circumference a ring of conical holes of gradually increasing size, the centre of any one of which is exactly level with the Lathe centres when such hole is at its highest point. The largest part of the cone stands towards the mandrel, and that hole is selected which will allow the end of the work to rest in the cone without passing through it. Thus supported, the extreme end of such work as a needle-case or deep spill-pot can be got at by a boring tool, and, being thus supported, there is no danger that the work will be thrown out of centre or forced out of its chuck. In such a cone plate the largest hole cannot be over 2in. diameter or thereabout, and is, in fact, seldom even so large. It is, therefore, hardly suitable for the general work of a wood-turner, and may be advantageously replaced by one of the home-made contrivances on Plate V. The first is merely a piece of plankwood cut with a tenon to fit between the bearers or bed of the Lathe, and fastened with a wedge or bolt - generally the former. The hole is preferably cut in the Lathe, which alone enables a nice cone to be formed, but it is often sawn out and bevelled by the chisel, followed by a cabinet rasp and file. Of course, it is only suited for one size of work; bat a woodturner will arrange his work accordingly, as he generally makes a large number of articles alike, turning them in sets - a dozen or two of one size, and then a dozen of another; so that with two or three such boring-collars he can get along very well. No. 2 D will sufficiently explain this simple arrangement. No. 3 represents another plan in which a mortice in an upright part of a specially made base carries horizontal plates of wood, with one, two, or more conical holes in it. A wooden thumbscrew or plain wedge secures the plate in position. The bottom part stands on the bed, and a plain bolt and nut will secure it. It is better made with a tenon piece screwed on underneath to fit between the bearers as before. A still more complete and stiffer arrangement is made by having a frame put together firmly with dovetails, in a groove in which the boards containing the conical holes slide. These are also for convenience sawn across, which renders it easier to adjust them to the work. This, shown at No. 4, is far better worth making, because it can often be fitted over a neck or smaller part of the work if not large enough in the bore to fit the larger diameter. It might, for instance, grasp the vase (No. 5, as shown at the narrow part, a, b), and it will hold it quite steadily for hollowing out.