THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
5 
sized block of any common wood, so that it 
may be easily beld during the process of carv- 
ing. The carver generally has a few blocks of 
different sizes that he keeps for this purpose. 
They are planed smooth and true, but not oiled 
or varnished. To fasten 
the piece to one of these 
blocks or "working 
boards," as they are 
called, glue a piece of 
fine but stout white pa- 
per on each of the four 
corners of your blocks, 
and also a patch in the 
middle ; then cover 
these patches with glue 
and press them on your 
working-board ; and as 
«oon as the glue is dry 
you are ready to com- 
mence operations. 
Fix upon some sim- 
ple pattern, which 
should have rather an 
antique cast. We give 
two of these as exam- 
ples, Fig. 1 being complete, but greatly re- 
duced in size, while Fig. 2 is nearly full 
size for a small b^ok, but shows only one- 
.half of the pattern.' These patterns may be 
easily enlarged or reduceil b.y means of the pan- 
tagraph — an instrument which . every young 
to leave a fine line everywhere. Remove the 
pattern, screw the board down on the table 
with your clamps, as described in former arti- 
cles, and see that it is quite firm. Take the V, 
or parting-tool ; hold it in your right hand at a 
• • • • f 
Fig. 1. 
carver and scroll-sawyer should have. (In our 
next issue we will tell you how to make a much 
better one than you can buy.) Having selected 
your pattern and drawn it perfectly and neatly 
•on good stout paper, trace it over on some 
'tough tracing paper ; then pin it — or better, 
paste it — on the beveled edge of the block, so 
as to fix it firmly. Now take the tracing-point, 
•and go over the whole pattern carefully, so as 
Fig. 2. 
proper cutting-angle, put your left wrist on the 
wood to be operated on, pass your hand over 
the steel, the thumb underneath and the tips of 
the fingers resting on the work. This will give 
you perfect command of the tool, will prevent 
its slipping forward, enable you to guide it 
round the curves, and the thumb being under 
the tool , you can grasp it any moment with the 
whole hand. Take out no more wood than is 
just sufficient to mark the pattern well. Then 
take the star-punch, and hitting short, sharp 
strokes with the hammer, begin and punch 
down the wood as marked in the illustrations. 
While punching the wood, you must slightly 
turn the punch round after each stroke of the 
hammer, so as not to give the grounding a liney 
appearance ; and one more caution — if you see 
that the punch raises little chips of wood, try 
the other way of the grain. When the work 
is finished, take a common table-knife, pass it 
between the piece of work and the board, and 
the paper will split in half easily, and the 
work will become detached. Scrape off" the 
paper and glue, and the work is done. 
The effect of this diaper- carving is very good, 
the punching down of the wood throws the pat- 
tern up 'in relief, requires but little care, and is 
easily done. You should practice a little with 
