The teeth of a rip-saw are like so many little chisels set in a row; they pare the wood away. The teeth of a crosscut-saw are like knife points, they score two lines, and the wood breaks off between them. Large sawing should be done on a saw-horse so that the worker is over his work. If it is necessary to hold work in the vise to rip it, hold it slanting, so that the handle of the saw leads the line, as it naturally does when the work is on a saw-horse.
The back-saw, tho a crosscut-saw, may be used in any direction of the grain.
Any saw should be in motion when it touches the wood it is to cut. To guide it to the right place, a workman lets his thumb touch the saw just above the teeth, the hand resting firmly on the wood. A little notch, cut in the edge right to the line where the saw is to cut, will help a beginner to start accurately. Saws are rapid tools, and it pays to go slowly enough with them to do accurate work. Plan the work so as to make as few cuts as possible.
Turning-saws are best used so that the cutting is done on the pull stroke, keeping the two hands near together. When one handle is turned, the other must be turned equally.
Generally being in a hurry to get work done, boys are apt to take big shavings with a plane. This results in rough work. Fine shavings are better. If the plane is allowed to rest level on the work, it will find the high places without continual adjusting. The first two inches of a stroke are the hardest to plane; to plane these, press harder on the forward end of the plane. Start the plane level. Usually it is best to keep the plane straight, or nearly so, in the direction of the push.
The block-plane is properly used to plane the end of wood. (See [page 12] on [Holding Work.]) On other small surfaces, however, it is often more convenient than a large plane.
Auger-bits are numbered by the number of sixteenths in the diameter of the hole they bore, e. g. No. 4 bores a 4/16" hole. Gimlet-bits are numbered by thirty-seconds.