ing the model up in the same
position with any of the drawings, ascertain whether you are progressing
properly; and if you get the correct form of your boat in these four
positions, you will be almost certain to make a good boat. If, on the
other hand, you go to work without drawings, the probability is that
your boat will be lopsided, which will prevent it from floating evenly;
or crooked, which will tend to check its speed in sailing, besides being
clumsy and not "ship-shape," as the sailors have it.

Figure 1 will keep you right in regard to relative length and depth;
Figure 2 in regard to shape of stern and bulge of the sides; Figure 3
secures correct form of the bow; and Figure 4 enables you to proportion
the breadth to the length.

The next thing to be done is to procure a block of fir-wood, with as few
knots in it as possible, and straight in the grain. The size is a
matter of choice--any size from a foot to eighteen inches will do very
well for a model boat. Before beginning to carve this, it should be
planed quite smooth and even on all sides, and the ends cut perfectly
square, to permit of the requisite pencil-drawings being made on it.

The tools required are a small tenon-saw, a chisel, two or three gouges
of different sizes, a spoke-shave, and a file with one side flat and the
other round. A rough rasp-file and a pair of compasses will also be
found useful. All of these ought to be exceedingly sharp. The gouges
and the spoke-shave will be found the most useful of these implements.

Begin by drawing a straight line with pencil down the exact centre of
what will be the deck; continue it down the part that will be the stern;
then carry it along the bottom of the block, where the keel will be, and
up the front part, or bow. If this line has been correctly drawn, the
end of it will exactly meet the place where you began to draw it. On
the correctness of this line much will depend; therefore it is necessary
to be careful and precise in finding out the centre of each surface of
the block with the compasses. Next, draw a line on each side of this
centre line (as in the accompanying diagram), which will give the
thickness of the keel and stern-post. Then on the upper surface of the
block draw the form of the boat to correspond with the bird's-eye view
(Figure 4, on page 82) already referred to. Then draw _one-half_ of the
stern on a piece of thin card-board, and when satisfied that it is
correct cut it