"Now," said Ralph, "I want you to cut this piece of rough pine to a smooth, straight piece, just an inch square."
"Oh, that's easy," replied Harry eagerly. "Just watch me."
"Take care," said Ralph. "I said an inch square; anything less than an inch will be wrong. Just imagine that this is a problem in arithmetic and you are trying to find the answer. If you succeed in making it just an inch square the answer will be correct; anything larger or smaller than the exact size will be wrong. In the first place, hold your knife so that it makes a slant or oblique angle with the wood, like this ([Fig. 2])," he said, taking the wood in his left hand and the knife in his right. "That gives what we call a paring action, and is much easier ([Fig. 3]) than the stiff way you were holding it, at right angles with the stick."
Fig. 2. Correct way to hold the knife
Fig. 3. Incorrect method of holding knife