One of the first requisites to help you on your road to success is that your work should be firmly fixed. This can be done by fixing the wood to be carved to a deal board, and fastening this with iron cramps to an ordinary table. A piece of paper must be glued on both sides, and placed between the wood to be carved and the deal; so that the two pieces of wood can be safely separated, when desired, by a table-knife being inserted in the joints, and gently pressed forward till the pieces are forced asunder. But for heavy work, it is better, if possible, to have a strong, firm table with a small hole bored through the top about four inches from the front centre. The wood to be carved is fastened to the table by means of the carver's screw (No. 2), thus: bore a hole with a gimlet in the back of the wood, and turn the point of the carver's screw into the gimlet-hole until it has a firm grip, but not sufficiently far to interfere with the carving which is to be executed. Next, pass the thick end of the screw through the hole in the table from above, and screw on the nut underneath until the whole is quite firm. The great advantages possessed by this mode of fastening the work are, that, it being all underneath the table, nothing projects to trouble the carver, and that, by merely loosening the nut, the work can easily be turned to any position, and be again made fast by the nut being tightly rescrewed.

For the tools required, their names and uses, see illustration. The difference between gouges and chisels consists in the former having rounded or curved edges of various sweeps, whilst the latter have quite straight edges. Nos. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, represent the impressions made by gouges with differently shaped edges. No. 8 is an entering-chisel; No. 9, a corner-chisel; and No. 10, the impression made by a carving-chisel. The riffler (No. 11) is simply a file with curved points, and is used for smoothing nooks and corners where glass-paper cannot be used, and also for giving smooth surfaces to small details of work. It often tends to give carving the appearance of having been modelled. A bench-vice, for the purpose of holding the wood while it is being prepared for carving, a cutter (No. 12), for grounding work, and a liner (No. 1), are also necessary. I do not know the technical name of this last-mentioned instrument, and so have named it liner, as it is employed to cut straight lines in the borders of carvings. The horizontal bar, A, to which the tiny steel point, C, is attached, is passed through the piece of wood, B, till it projects as far as is required. It is then screwed in firmly; and the wood, B, will act as a gauge in keeping the line to be cut perfectly straight. The steel point, C, which cuts the line, can be hammered in or out of the bar, according to the depth which you desire your line to be. At D, the other end of the horizontal bar, there is a round hole for the insertion of a pencil. The steel point having been removed, the pencil is used for drawing straight lines, B again acting as a gauge. A lump of modelling-wax, a glue-pot, a small mallet, glass-paper, a stiff brush, a screwdriver, compasses, and a few small files and gimlets, complete our list. Work with as few different sorts of tools as possible, but have several variations in size of each tool.

Fig. 127.- Tools.

1. Liner. 2. Carver's screw. 3. Entering-gouge, for hollowing out undulations in leaves, etc. 4. Parting-tool, for veining leaves and outline-work. 5. Bent parting-tool. 6. Maccaroni-tool, for removing wood on each side of a stalk, or vein of a leaf. 7 Double-bent fluting-gouge, for removing wood from the hollows of leaves, etc., where a straight gouge cannot be used. 8 Entering-chisel, for levelling ground-work in confined spaces. 9. Comer-chisel. 10. Carving-chisel, for levelling ground-work and cutting round the design. 11. Riffler. 12. Cutter.

All your tools must be ground, or sharpened, to a fine edge. These are somewhat difficult processes; and some practice is required in order to accomplish them satisfactorily. You can either buy them ready"set,"or you can get a wood-carver or cabinet-maker to set them for you, and I should strongly advise you to watch the process, if you have the opportunity. As the points or blades of the tools differ in shapes, some naturally require a different mode of treat ment from others. The finest grindstones, and therefore the best fitted for edge-tools, are called"Bilston,"from the name of the place where they are quarried. When grinding the tools, care must be taken to keep the stone wet by sprinkling it with water, else the tools will suffer from the heat generated by the grinding process. The gouges are ground on their convex side at an angle of twenty-three degrees, and are turned slightly but continually the whole time, so as to keep them even; those which have the most curved edges requiring the most turning. The corner-chisel (No. 9) is ground on both sides; No. 10 is ground on its lower side; No. 7 is ground exactly equally on its three outer sides.

The tools, when ground, must next be"set,"or sharpened on oil-stones. Arkansas or Bilston is used for the more delicate instruments; Turkey, for the others. It will be necessary not only to have a flat side, but also a round edge, to your stone, in order to fit the edges of the gouges. The tools are set in the following manner: hold your tool in your left hand, and the stone, previously wetted with sweet oil, in your right. Rub the gouges on their convex sides with the flat part of the stone, on their concave sides with the round edge of the stone. No 9 must be rubbed on both sides; No. 10, on the lower side only, with the flat side of the stone : No. 7 must be rubbed on its three outer sides with the Arkansas.

The third and last process to which the tools must be subjected is"strapping"them. Provide yourself with a piece of thick, soft buff-leather glued to a strip of wood; moisten it well with sweet oil, and make a sort of paste on its surface with fine emery and putty powder, and draw your tools over it. The tools will but seldom require sharpening or setting, if they are kept in a proper state, and occasionally drawn over the leather strap. In intervals of use, and, indeed, at all times when not actually employed in cutting, the tools should be placed in racks in a shallow box, or else in a leather or flannel case fitted with loops, so that they cannot tumble out, or knock each other. The stones also must be kept in a covered box, and be well wiped before they are put away.