"With the advent of metal tools in the and later in the the arts of wood-working became more precise and more specialized. ...By 2800 B.C. it could be said that a complete mastery over wood had been achieved in the most advanced civilizations. ... had been invented in Egypt where wood was scarce and plywood with six alternate layers of different varieties of wood was made. The plies were usually fastened together by wooden pegs. Twelve centuries later, in the Eighteenth Dynasty, veneering was practised and inlaying with ivory and ebony and overlaying with gold, silver and copper had been perfected. Nails were usually wood pegs but for delicate work minute metal nails were used. The for smoothing... was one of the principal tools of the carpenter, with a blade up to 18 in. wide, for the wood plane was not invented until Roman times. The increasing skill... is particularly evident in the wooden carts and s that have been discovered."