If the wood splinters and is difficult to cut, let the student stop and try another direction, as the tool must cut the grain with a clean, sharp cut. However, experience will soon teach this. The chief cut in chip carving is a triangular one, and care must always be taken to get the edges sharp and clear.

It is better not to fix the work, as it has to be moved continually. It can be steadied sufficiently by the left wrist and fingers whilst cutting.

Now, as to the actual carving. The chisel should be held upright and used with equal pressure along the line, and care always should be taken to insert the tool into the corner of the former cut before making a fresh one. For the side lines the chisel is held slightly sideways to the wood. The cutting should be done from right to left.

The veiner should be held with the handle sloping towards the worker, fairly low. The tool itself is guided with the thumb and first finger of the left hand. It is run along the line, and the cut it makes is a short semicircular groove.

It is as well to practise using the different tools, making zigzags, circles, straight lines, etc., before starting on the actual work. The tool must be held firmly, yet allowed to work quite freely.

For curved lines the knife will be found best, and then the cutting should be done from left to right.

A circular box lid

Two carved butter-pats that may be easily made by the beginner