FOR wood-turning, which is probably what a novice will, and certainly ought to, commence with, the gouge and chisel are the special tools, and are almost the only ones to be met with in the workshop of an ordinary turner. "With these alone may be turned solid work of all kinds, besides a good deal of hollow ware, as it is called. It is true that, for turning hard wood, many others are used, but, for the present, at any rate, we may with advantage pass them by. The gouge is the roughing-down tool, and the chisel is used to level all ridges and give a finish to the surface. After this, a bundle of shavings held against it while it rapidly revolves, is all that should be necessary to polish it; but, for a time, at any rate, fine glass-paper will very likely be found necessary. The finish produced, however, by a sharp chisel, efficiently used, beats all that can be obtained by any amount of papering. The tool, in fact, leaves a high polish.

We will begin by turning a tool handle, which will suffice very well to teach the way of setting to work. Put the prong or fork chuck on the mandrel - or, if preferred, the cross chuck or that last described may be substituted; after a little practice, one or the other will have preference. The fork or prong is not a very sure one to hold, and sometimes the work will slip round, which it cannot do upon the cross or blade chuck.

Now cut a piece of beech or ash, or other suitable wood - elm will do, but the first-named are better - or a bit of acacia will serve, which is of a yellowish-brown tint, and is a capital turning wood. Saw off a bar about 6in. or 7in. long, and l½in. in diameter or thereabouts, cutting it off as squarely at the ends as you can; chop off the corners if it is square, so as, in a rough way, to round it slightly. Make a little hole in each end as centrally as possible, just to give a slight entrance to the Lathe centre and the central point of the prong chuck, or make saw cuts if the cross chuck is used. Then loosen the back poppet, and slide it forward until there is just room enough for the wood to be mounted. Screw up the nut so as to hold the poppet securely, and then, turning the hand wheel, secure the work in its place, taking care that the cutting edges of the fork chuck, if it is used, get a good hold by sinking into the wood. If this is very hard, it may be better to make a cut with a saw across the end, to receive the chuck edges; but it will not be necessary to do so with beech, ash, or elm, nor, of course, with deal, lime, sycamore, willow, and other such soft woods. These, however, are not very useful for tool handles. Indeed, of all woods for general turning, beech is most desirable.

Now start the Lathe, causing the work to revolve towards you, and see if the wood runs fairly true, which it is sure to do if the holes in the ends were central. Put just one drop of oil on the point of the back centre. The next thing to do is to place the rest as near as it will go without touching the wood, securing it by the hand nut below the bed, and also setting the tee so high as to stand a little lower than the centre of the work. This is also to be secured by its side screw. The gouge is now to be used thus: grasp the handle firmly with the right hand, palm upwards, and lay it on the rest with its hollow side up, and the whole tool not horizontal but inclined somewhat by lowering it3 handle. The blade is to be grasped by the left hand with knuckles upwards, and very near the rest, upon which it can thus be held down tightly, while at the same time it is shifted along the rest as the work proceeds. And here will the tyro's first difficulty be met with.

The wood as it revolves will strike the gouge, and cause it to jump about on the rest, and, when trying to prevent this, he will forget the treadle, and the Lathe will stop or run backwards. But it is a case of "Never say die!" Keep cool. Do not push the gouge too forward, and presently you will get the knack requisite, and the cutting will proceed, not very well at first, but fairly. The best way is not by any means to run the gouge along the rest, as will be done after a little practice, but to hold it so as to cut a little bit at a time, beginning at the end next to the back centre, and so cutting by successive steps till the whole piece is fairly rounded. Then, using the side more than the point of the tool, it will not be difficult still further to level the surface, and, indeed, so nearly to finish it that the chisel, which is far more difficult to use, may be dispensed with, and the work finished by glass-paper.

This is, however, not to be dreamed of after mastering the use of the chisel, but only permitted for one or two introductory essays. And for the first lesson, though I have suggested a tool handle, I would not recommend one requiring a curved shape. It would be better at first to make it like A on Plate IV. - i.e., only a long, straight taper down to the ferrule. This, indeed, is a good form to adopt for files and many hand tools, though seldom used for such as belong specially to the wood-turner. There is, however, great difference of opinion as to the best form, and also as to the length of the handle. Chisels and gouges usually have much longer ones than those used for metal and hard wood or ivory. The ferrule is generally sawn off a piece of brass tube of the requisite size, or from an old gun-barrel, or any 1 it of thin tube. At some shops they can be bought cut ready for use, but in most towns and villages suitable stuff may be found; and here let me observe that the young turner should be constantly on the look-out for odds and ends of wood, metal, ivory, or bone, of which a well-selected assortment will often supply an unexpected demand. A hack saw, consisting of a steel frame with a thin saw stretched across it by a tightening screw, is used to saw metal. Often an old scythe-blade, roughly notched into teeth, is used, and even preferred; but the real metal saw is the neatest and best. The ferrule being ready, the end of the tool-handle is reduced to fit it. If the hack centre is withdrawn a little, the ferrule can be tried on as the work proceeds, for the wood will run true again when the centre is screwed up as it was before. Ferrules should go on tightly, or they drop off when the wood becomes more thoroughly dry. A little glue or cement of any kind assists to hold them, but it is not absolutely needed. In rounding off the opposite end, the gouge is to be laid on its left side, with the hollow part away from the surface which is being cut. This is the rule: Work down hill when making a moulding or rounding off a surface, and keep the hollow of the tool away from the surface that is being cut (see the Numbers on Plate III.). In turning a ball, for instance, the gouge will lie on its back, when in the diametrical line, and as the cut is carried towards the right hand, it will lie more and more on its right side, the hollow part towards the right hand. Then, starting again down hill the other way, the tool will lie gradually over on its left side; used thus, the tool will leave a clean cut, but otherwise the edge will soon catch in and bite out a chip, or break itself. It is easy enough to cut the piece off with a gouge or chisel (see No. 2, Plate III.) by working a notch, cutting down hill each way till the piece is so far severed as to break off with a touch; after which a penknife and glass-paper will finish it off.