Wood as a material for turret-clock dials has been universally used, but for domestic clocks the wooden dial seems to have been limited to clocks made in the Black Forest, other European peasant communities and North America, up to the early 19th century. The Black Forest dials were mostly made of fir, which tends to split after a time. The dials were made by cutting boards to shape and glueing a second layer to the first in the shape of a circle, to form the figured part of the dial. The whole was then turned on a primitive lathe so that the figure portion formed a slightly convex shape, its surface gently merging with the base of the dial. The pores of the wood were filled with size and lime-water and the figures and decoration painted on, after which the whole was given one or more coats of varnish. Dials were packed in paper and were not fixed to movements until the whole consignment of movements, dials, chains, bells, etc. Had reached its destination. The dials were made and painted by different craftsmen and fitted to movements by many makers in the same area.