A. C. Horth.

Inlaying is a craft that allows of no scamping, and should be attempted by no one who expects to get good results with little work. Its difficulties, however, are more apparent than actual, and are overcome without much trouble if the worker is content to start from the beginning. The expense for tools and materials is slight. The following tools will suffice at first: A strong bench, provided with a vise and holes for a holdfast, Fig. 1, a trying plane either of wood, Fig. 2, or iron; assorted firmer chisels, Fig. 3, 1 in., | in., 1/2 in., i in. and 1-8 in.; a router, Fig 4, tenon saw, gauge, Fig. 5, smoothing plane, shuting board, Fig. 6, bevel. Fig. 7, square rule, and mallet.

A first attempt may be made on a simple teapot stand, such as is illustrated herewith. Plane up the surface of a piece of J in. wood quite smooth and the edges square on the board, being very careful when planing across the end grain to cut off the far corner, to the line, as shown in Fig. 9. When this is ready, set the gauge to 1 in. and gauge a line from each side. Next, set to 1 1/2 in. and run a set of lines inside these lines, and then with the square and a penknife cut in these lines as well as a 1 1/2 in- square in the center.

Now take a chisel and pare out the waste wood from between these lines to a depth of 1-8 in., finishing with the router, the iron of which should project exactly 1-8 from the sole. This plane will clean up the bottom of the grooves, and ensure them all being at the same depth.

The wood to be inlaid should now be planed up to size on the shuting board. It should be slightly wider than the space it is to fit in, and of course a little :hicker. Having planed up the pieces, fit in the center, but do not drive it home. Next lit the border, very carefully making the joint at the corners, called a "mitre. " When the fitting is complete, run some thin glue into the grooves and on to the pieces and drive them in with the mallet. The work should be cleaned up with the smoothing plane when the glue is quite set, on no account before, and then the edges chamfered to complete the stand.

Fig. 8. Simple Pattern for First Attempt.

In cases where it is impossible to get the wood quite smooth, a scraper should be used. A piece of broken glass makes an excellent scraper, and, if carefully used, will clean up the whole surface. Finish it off with glass paper polishing.

To continue the work a stage further, an inlay of some simple ornament, such as the star shown in Fig. 10, may be used instead of the square in the center. It should be made of two contrasting woods, such as sycamore or holly and walnut or rosewood, and cut from a strip of wood in the way shown in Figs. 11 and 12. The latter method, although economical, is not always the most suitable, for the grain should always be studied.

Fig. 13 illustrates how a chequers pattern is produced. The operation is simple. When the size of the square is determined, the requisite number of pieces are planed up exactly true and an extra one is added. These pieces are then glued together, and when the glue is perfectly set strips are sawn off and placed together, after being planed up on the shuting board and moved along in alternate strips to get the chequered effect. They are then glued up on a piece of stiff paper. In making similar patterns to these, it is of the utmost importance that the planing be true, and each strip exactly the same width.

Bandings for inlaying borders are made by sawing narrow strips of the piece just described, as illustrated in Fig. 14. A more elaborate yet very simple piece of banding is shown in Fig. 15. To make it, first of all get out a series of strips and glue them up; next glue on each side, after cleaning off the glue and scraping over both surfaces with the saw edge, a thin piece of board, and put under pressure until dry. The banding is made of strips sawn off the end and planed up smooth.

Corner pieces are also easily made; two of simple patterns are shown at Figs. 16 and 17. The former, the more difficult of the two, is composed of a square piece of wood, with a piece of square section in each corner. Fig. 17 is much the easier; four strips for inlaying are sawn off the end the required thickness.

For those workers in inlay who wish for a piece of work to advance their skill and utilize some of the above pieces of work, the design for an inlaid chess-board is given to enable the worker to utilize his practice. The pattern, which consists of 1 1/4 inch square, should be made and then inlaid. A banding, made up in a similar manner to that shown at Fig. 25, should be let in as a border, with corners to match built up like Fig. 16. A half-round rim should be screwed on to give a finish to the work. The same idea might easily be carried out in the form of a table, which should afterwards be French polished.-"Arts and Crafts. "

Fig 18. Simple Inlaid Chess-Board.