The following work, which is the result of much anxious study and labour, is designed to meet a long-felt want. It is intended chiefly for the use of apprentices, improvers, and others in the trade whose knowledge of board-work is deficient. The Author trusts that the efforts he has thus made to disseminate sound and useful information will be appreciated by those for whom the book is intended. The greater portion of the matter has been already published in The Hairdressers’ Chronicle, but for the purposes of this work it has been carefully collated, revised, and additions made, so that the subject might be presented to the trade in a complete form. Nothing of importance to learners has been omitted, and the Author has dwelt, with repeated emphasis, upon items which might be considered by some, as minor details; but every skilled workman knows how necessary it is for pupils to be well grounded in the rudiments of their art.

It may be taken for granted that he who habitually pays attention to small matters in connection with his business, will be the one most depended upon by his employer. But the advantage to be derived from such a course of action does not end here, for should he embark in trade, the careful and painstaking man is more likely to meet with a lasting success. “Anything worth doing, is worth doing well,” cannot be too deeply impressed upon the mind, and those who studiously regard the maxim will take a pride in all they undertake. Undue haste in production must needs make careless workmen, and, perhaps, excessively keen competition lies at the bottom of all. The Author has reason to know that a fair percentage of the public does not object to giving a reasonable price for a good article, and it is worth while to cultivate such a class of customers. The tradesman, however, must first acquire ability in his special walk in life; no effort should be spared to secure the confidence of his patrons by upright dealing: thus it is that reputations are made and sustained. The public experiences no difficulty in procuring cheap articles; those which are good in quality and reasonable in price may not be so easily obtainable. All through this work, the Author has strenuously urged the reader to produce superior work as a tradesman, and to practise fair dealing as a man, and if these principles be acted upon, the student, for whose benefit this treatise is designed, cannot fail to profit by this endeavour to serve him.

When the present phases of business, and the keenness of competition are borne in mind, the importance of every person acquiring knowledge in his craft will at once be appreciated. In no sense more forcibly than this does the truth of the adage apply, that “Knowledge is power.”