You will by degrees get to know the piece
of wood you are working upon, and cut in such a way that your tool runs
_with_ the grain and not _against_ it; that is to say, you will cut as
much as possible on the up-hill direction of the fiber. This can not
always be done in deep hollows, but then you will have had some practise
before you attempt these.

Now take chisel No. 11, and with it stab into the grooved outline,
pressing the tool down perpendicularly to what you think feels like the
depth of the ground. The mallet need not be used for this, as the wood
is soft enough to allow of the tools being pressed by the hand alone,
but remember that the force must be proportioned to the depth desired,
and to the direction of the grain; much less pressure is wanted to drive
a tool into the wood when its edge is parallel with the grain than when
it lies in a cross direction; small tools penetrate more easily than
large ones, as a matter of course, but one must think of these things or
accidents happen.

When you have been all round the design in this way with such gouges as
may be needed for the slow and quick curves, get the wood out nearly
down to the ground, leaving a little for finishing. Do this with any
tool that fits the spaces best; the larger the better. Cut across the
grain as much as possible, not along it. The flat gouge, No. 1, will be
found useful for this purpose in the larger spaces, and the grounders
for the narrow passages. This leaves the ground in a rough state, which
must be finished later on.

Now take gouges Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and chisels Nos. 10, 11, 12, and
with them cut down the outline as accurately as possible to the depth of
the ground, and, if you are lucky, just a hair's breadth deeper. In
doing this make the sides slope a little outward toward the bottom. If
the gouges do not entirely adapt themselves to the contours of your
lines, do not trouble, but leave that bit to be done afterward with a
sweep of the tool, either a flat gouge, or the corner-chisel used like a
knife.

Now we have all the outline cut down to the depth of the background, and
may proceed to clear out the wood hanging about between the design and
the ground all round it. We shall do this with the "grounders," using
the largest one when possible, and only taking to the smallest when
absolutely necessary on account of space. This done, we shall now
proceed to finish the hollow sides of the panel and make the miters.
Again