With the harder and more costly woods, the highest perfection of workmanship should always be aimed at, and this mainly consists of sharply defined curves and cleanly cut surfaces, bold and neatly cut mouldings, of which the contour or profile can be plainly seen. Glass-paper tends to obliterate angles, and, if necessary, it must be very carefully kept from attacking acute edges; but if these are damaged by its use, they must be renovated by a fresh touch of the tool. In this sharp, clear definition of outline lies all the difference between good and bad work. It may also be remarked here that although glass-paper is sometimes absolutely necessary to cut down fibres which cannot be cleanly cut by the tool, it will not hide bad cutting. If, for instance, the inside of a bowl, instead of presenting to the eye one uniform, curved surface, shows a series of flat rings when closely examined, the paper will not obliterate these, and they should be honestly looked for in a good light, and not shirked under the impression that polish or varnish will ultimately conceal them. Instead of doing so, it will render them painfully conspicuous; and with those who know what good work is, these common defects will at once condemn the workman. Moreover, he himself, being cognisant of such defects, will feel no pleasure in his own work. Therefore, although we are of course addressing learners who cannot be expected to become suddenly proficient in an art requiring the skill obtained by long practice, it has seemed better to point out such defects and errors as they are most likely to fall into in their early essays, that they may know what to strive after, and what to avoid, and, so far as possible, how to avoid. In this very matter of bowls and cup-shaped hollows, it will be found easier to work with a curved tool of a size proportioned to that which it is proposed to form; as a broad tool such as K or L, is more likely to produce a hollow free from flat bands and irregularities than a smaller tool with round end like that illustrated at D.

Turning the Plankway of the Grain. - This has to be frequently done both with soft and hard wood, as it often happens that it is not possible in any other way to get stuff wide enough for the intended purpose. There is no great difficulty in working this: even with soft wood the gouge and chisel are used flat upon the rest, light cuts being taken generally from the centre outwards; but for final cuts the tool must be keen. The part which it is most difficult to cut smoothly, is just where the fibres begin to crop out endwise. There will be two spots in a circular disc, where this will be the case, and sometimes they give a great deal of trouble, and need alternate cutting and papering to lay them down smoothly. The harder woods seldom present this difficulty. It would, of course, be a wasteful mode of work to turn such an article as a large bowl or tazza, with stem and stand, out of a piece large enough for the bowl itself, and the latter would be turned separately, perhaps out of a piece sawn plankway, and the stem out of a smaller piece; the stand also probably out of a third. This building-up of work is of constant occurrence, the several pieces being tenoned together, or cut with screws, which is the better plan where the workman is skilful enough to manage it.

The pins or tenons are turned at the ends of pedestals or stems, and the other pieces are drilled in the Lathe, to insure centrality and squareness to the surfaces. Glue or other cement is then used to unite them.

Cutting Screws in Wood by the Hand Chaser. - This somewhat difficult art is well worth all the trouble that it needs to acquire it. As soon as it is gained, it renders the work more independent of all costly apparatus used to render the process easy to such as cannot succeed with hand tools alone, and the screw can be made in a shorter time than it takes to set up even the simplest of such apparatus; but it would be a mistake to suppose the art in question easy of acquirement, and it needs constant practice to keep up the knack of using the chaser.

The directions given by most of our leading authorities are as follows: "Having turned smooth and true the cylinder upon which the screw is to be traced, round off the edge or arris so that it shall not catch into the teeth at starting, and check the traverse of the tool. The rest is placed very near the work, and must have its edge filed smooth and level if it is at all notched from other work. The tool is to be held by its handle in the right hand, and its blade between the first finger and thumb, so as to cushion it somewhat, and allow it barely to lie on the rest. Then the Lathe is to be set in easy motion, and after a trial or two, without actually touching the work, just to get the swing of it, a steady, decisive cut is to be attempted, traversing the tool without nervousness or hesitation." Exactly so; but, unless the workman is already an adept, the chances are sadly against his hitting off the thread; and, knowing this, he will be as uervous as a skater making his first essay on the ice. Yet there is no royal road to screw-cutting, and the above directions are as good as any. The best way is to cut threads outside chucks, and any odd bits of boxwood, on all occasions: go at it and keep at it, and the skill will not long be wanting.

The inside thread has also to be struck haphazard, only the movement of the tool is now straight forward into the hole. Many use for this purpose an arm rest, which is a long-handled, flat bar of iron, about ½ in. wide, tapering down to about ¼ in. at the extremity. The end is turned up ¼in., and the chaser rests on the end just behind this hook. The T of the rest is now retained in its usual position parallel to the Lathe bed, and the arm rest is held under the left armpit, with the blade of it across the rest. This places the shank and hook at right angles, or nearly so, across the face of the hollowed work, and the tool is laid on it, instead of having to turn round the T of the rest itself. The hands grasp the end of the arm rest as well as the tool, so that the two move as one. A great deal of inside work, besides screw-cutting, is done with this contrivance, as it prevents having to shift round the T of the rest. Inside screws are easier to cut with its aid, as it moves on the T as on a fulcrum, and gives to the tool an easy swing, as if it moved on a ball-and-socket joint. Each cut of the chaser, especially at the commencement, must be very light, and it must carry itself along by the thread first traced, and not be driven in the least until the thread is well and deeply cut.