since it served to demonstrate their intimate knowledge and CABINETMAKING mastery of wood as a medium for expert craftsmanship. Hence they kept chisels as sharp as surgeons' scalpels, a habit that today's craftsmen would do to emulate. A standard test for sharpness is to nick or bite into the thuml with the chisel. Professional woodworkers' tool kits usually contain a dazzling array of ch of various sizes and shapes. For the plain wood joinery contemplated in volume, however, the discussion will be narrowed to the three standard types, socketbutt, socketfirmer, and tangfirmer chisels. The socket chisels are genei used for heavy work under a mallet. Tang chisels are restricted to handpai since the handle would be subject to splitting under repeated mallet or sid< thehammer blows. Chisels of different widths are desirable, especially where narrow ends of mortises must be cleaned out into square corners. In general tangtype chisels are worked with both hands, with the bevel away from the w as shown in Figure 1.13. The framing and butt chisels, intended for rougher w are habitually held with one hand and driven by a mallet. It is therefore desir to compensate for the loss of control and consequent danger of undercutting facing the bevel toward the work, away from the waste being cut out. Tang CA Fig. i.13. Cutting double mortise with a Fig. 1.14. Mortise being bored out. chisel. All chisels should be hollowground; for working with hardwoods the bi should be not less than 300. This is particularly true of the tangfirmer chi< which are more efficient when ground to long levels, thus increasing their sheai capacity when rocked back and forth under hand pressure. The short bevels the socketbutt and socketfirmer chisels add to the wedging effect of the bl; and prevent the cut from opening up ahead of the cutting edge. In using chisels it is well to follow a regular procedure. The practice nowad is first to remove all possible waste by sawing or boring, before resorting to chi mg. Regardless of whether this results from our national impatience or our gei for streamlining production, the procedure is a boon to the beginner. In mat a mortise for a door lock, for example, the recommended practice is to bor series of overlapping holes to the proper depth within the scribed area, as I14 and square on the remaining waste with the firmer chiseL When i 18 . necessary or desirable to scoop out the entire mortise by use of the chisel only, the procedure is as shown in Figure 1.13. With dadoes, saw cuts can be made by clamping a straightedge along the lines of the intended cut, then sawing to the required depth horizontally. The waste is then chipped out as in Figure 1.15. The same procedure can be followed with the ledges of short rabbets that are Fig. lis. Dado saw cuts being chiseled. n0t t0° lon8 for Sawin§ (FiSure ™6). Longer rabbets must be chiseled out as in Figure 1.17. First, the vertical cuts are made with a butt chisel down to the gage lines.