The different stages in the making of the tip cat are shown in [Fig. 27].
Fig. 28. Second tip cat
First came the squaring up, shown at a. Then the two ends were whittled down to wedges as shown at b, and these two ends reduced to square pyramids, as at c.
Lines a quarter of an inch from each edge were drawn on the four sides of the square part and continued out to the points of the pyramids, as at d. Cutting to this line changed the square to an octagon, and the square pyramids to octagonal ones.
The edges were again whittled off until there were no more to be seen; the cat was smoothed with sand-paper, and called finished.
Harry was delighted, but Ralph said: "That is not the best form for a tip cat, because it will roll. We will make a bat for it now, and after we have played with it awhile, we'll make a better one; just the same except that the centre part will be left square and only the ends rounded." ([Fig. 28], b.)
The bat they made is shown in [Fig. 29]. Its handle was cut out with the coping saw and whittled to the lines. Ralph explained that anything to be held should be rounded, or it would be hard on the hand, so all the edges were curved with the knife and finished with sand-paper.