Every single gouge of the complete set (it should contain at least 20 pieces) forms the quarter of a circle. The gouges are chosen according to the design, so that the tools placed thereon cover the outlined design exactly, and the tool numbers are noted on the designs so that they may be quickly and surely picked up when required for use.
The tyro is apt to select sizes too large and to print the curve sloping instead of perpendicular; this must be guarded against.
Double gouges are not easily used in the same way, as the joining cannot be concealed; they may be used for making first outlines, which must be finished with single curves.

Faulty places must be done over and over again until the whole is perfect and brilliant and all the gold adhering.
Fillets are nothing more than long narrow dies of either simple or ornamental lines. It is the practice of the old school to widen the impression of narrow fillets by continuous rocking of the hand to right and left, as they are fond of doing .when lettering with a type holder. This practice is fundamentally wrong. Work finished in this way will never show the quiet and uniform brilliance in the gold to be seen in work where the movement was only in the direction of the dies and fillets.

Besides tooling the front sides, the inside edges or squares are generally ornamented in extra work. A simple but very effective decoration for the edge consists of a line close to the edge of the board and also one close to the end paper and a connecting line at the corner; such an edge is previously polished with a burnisher. To do this the leather is slightly damped, the tool moderately heated-not hissing and then polished with long even strokes.

With the help of rolls and dies, even richer decoration may be produced, and really artistic ornament designed and executed on the inside as well as on the outside cover. Such work, however, does not come within the limits of this treatise. We must be satisfied with giving a few illustrations of the less elaborate designs. Rolls are very often used in finishing the edges, so as to fill up at once the whole width of the space, and about this we must say a few words. Rolls with a pattern have, as is known, no notch, and therefore may be used for a run on of any length without a break. For smaller margins and cheap work the rolls are frequently run over each other. This saves time but it does not produce a nice effect, as the design is blurred at the point of crossing.

It is better to lay the gold leaf on one side and to remove it exactly at the corner and then tool; the side next to it is now treated in exactly the same way giving special attention to the removal of the leaf at the corner. The design is thus made to join together at the corners without crossing, because the roll will only leave its impression as far as the gold goes. For extra work, however, a die suiting the roll in width and design should be chosen, and leaving as much of the corners as the die will cover free from gold, the remainder of the surface is covered with the leaf and tooled. With a little skill, the roll can be taken up exactly where the gold leaf ceases. The edge is then cleaned with the gold rag and fresh gold laid on for the corner die and then tooled. By this method the design at the corner is correctly finished.

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