No. 1a. Kindergarten Pointer.
(Requiring [Exercises] 1 and 2.)
Commence with a piece of Beech, rather more than 5 in. long, and not less than 3⁄4 in. thick. It is all the better, for this and other exercises, if it is split from a larger piece, and has no side either square or straight. With the knife, make one side level and smooth, to a width rather exceeding 3⁄8 in. When that is done perfectly, make another straight side at right angles to the first. Trim the ends; then mark with the pencil at each end a 3⁄8-in. square, with the two straight sides as bases. Then cut two additional straight sides in unison with those squares. This will produce a stem a shade more than 5 in. long and 3⁄8 in. square. Mark each end with a diagram thus
; then draw corresponding lines along each side. Then, letting one end remain the same size; reduce the other end to 1⁄8 in. square (as shown in centre of diagram) by tapering each side symmetrically throughout. This will result in the stem being 3⁄8 in. square at one end and 1⁄8 in. square at the other end. Then, guided by the diagram at the thicker end, take off the four corners symmetrically throughout, thus producing a tapered octagonal stem. Then, in like manner, take off the eight corners with great precision, so as to maintain uniform symmetry, and the result will be a tapered stem, approximately round throughout and pointed at one end.
The Long Cut having, thus far, been solely resorted to, measure from the point, and make a mark at 4 in.; then cut off at the mark, thus exercising the Cross Cut. Then, by judiciously applying sand-paper, the pointer may be made perfectly smooth and almost perfectly round, as it should be throughout.