TREATMENT.
The first thing that occurs to the workman when he possesses or sees a handsome piece of wood, is: What shall I make with it? Many kinds of wood show well in large works, but in smaller wares, such as sleeve buttons, and napkin rings, they look like common wood; it is, therefore, labor lost to spend time in working out a nice job to show the veining and marking of the wood, because such veining is not brought out fully. The first care is to select sound wood. It is one of the most vexatious things in the world to have a nice job nearly done, and find a large worm hole extending right through the center of it, interfering with the tool and destroying the beauty of the piece. In such a case, the only resort is to plug it up, but no matter how skillfully this is done, the plug is certain to show, and always mars the appearance. Some kinds of foreign woods are almost always worm eaten. Snake wood, for instance, is very liable to that fault, and too much care cannot be taken in examining it. Ebony is not so liable to it, and native woods are peculiarly free from it.