Digging
Digging requires a Shovel. Activate shovel ---> Right-click a tile (any but rock) and select Dig. This will lower the ground and put 1x of the tile compound in your inventory. The ground is lowered at the closest corner to where you are standing, rather than where you click.
So if you want to lower a tile stand in the corner of the tile activate your shovel, right click>Dig this will lower the corner you are standing on. To lower the whole tile, you must stand in each of the four corners in turn and dig. This is the same for raising a tile, just drop dirt instead of dig.
When you think you have a tile nearly flat you can find out if it is perfectly flat by right clicking>flatten. If the timer that tells you how long time there is left to perform the task starts at 0:09 seconds then it is flat. If it doesn't start at this time right click again and select stop. Then you should dig where u need to flatten the tile.
A better way to check the flatness of an edge of the tile is to press 'c' key, then look at one tile and if the line is straight, then you are sure it is flat.
Digging for rock
If you want to dig for a rock tile you must be aware that you probably have to dig a lot of dirt. To start you must dig a reasonable distance above water, keep digging in one corner till you "hit rock" or you do not have enough skill to dig deeper. Once you hit rock in one corner you must then dig until you hit rock in the other corners of the tile. When you hit rock in all four corners the rock tile will be uncovered.
Flattening Guide
To make a patch of ground perfectly flat is an art, and requires patience. Below is a guide on how to flatten one tile.
When flattening you should not use the "flatten" option, this is only used to check if the tile is flat.
If when flattening a tile it takes 9 seconds, then the tile is completely flat, if it is anything else then you should stop the action straight away so you do not ruin tiles around the one you are trying to flatten.
You should always dig down the tile until it looks flat, you need to check the tile from all angles (North, East, South, West) this will ensure that you have no slopes on the tile. You can check for slopes by looking at the tile outline, the outline should be completely flat when you are looking directly at a compass position (N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW); this is a well known technique of getting a tile completely flat.
If you are having trouble flattening a tile, then flatten 1 tile using the "flatten" option, then dig down or drop dirt on tiles to match the outline of that tile.
Flattening Guide by: --Listylister 16:09, 13 June 2006 (CDT)
EXTRA TIP!
You can use the flattening action, if the corners (maximum 2) that need to be corrected are above flat level and it takes no more than 14 seconds.
If only one corner is 2 steps from being flat, you can use the flattening action here too (19 seconds). --Helge 16:46, 13 June 2006 (CDT)
Flattening timers
To see how many digs you have left on one corner(only if the other 3 corners of the tile are at the same level) subtract 9 from the total time, then divide it by 5 (No cocky remarks on 9 - 9 = 0, 0/5 = Math error please :P)
For example if the timer reads 29:
29 - 9 = 20, 20/5 = 4
You'll have 4 digs left
Small digging guide
For those that had trouble with any of the above guides, here is a small picture that may clarify it.
This is the result of dropping a small amount of dirt on the corner of a tile.
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