The older boy, after a search through his treasure chest, selected a
knife with a blade about two and a half inches long.
Incidentally, the smaller boy caught a glimpse of the inside of that
chest and it made his eyes bulge--but that is another story.
[Illustration: Fig. 1. The whittling knife]
"This knife," explained Ralph, "is one I used for over a year in school
and it's the most perfectly shaped tool for whittling that I have
ever seen. Of course knives come in hundreds of shapes for different
purposes, and later on, when you have become skilled in using this one,
we will try some others, but our first motto must be 'one thing at a
time.' A knife with either blade or handle too long or too short is
awkward, but this one seems to fit my hand, and undoubtedly will fit
yours. Try it."
Harry took it and went through the motions of whittling an imaginary
stick.
"Now," said Ralph, "we will go out to the wood pile and see what we can
find. White pine makes the best wood to start on, because it is usually
straight grained, soft, and free from sap; but it is getting scarce and
expensive, so we must be economical, as it is a very easy matter to
waste lots of lumber."
After some searching, they found part of a pine board, about a foot
long and an inch thick. Ralph chopped out a piece with a hatchet and
deftly split it to about an inch and a half wide. His skill was a
revelation to Harry, who saw that even a hatchet could be used with
precision.
"Now," said Ralph, "I want you to cut this piece of rough pine to a
smooth, straight piece, just an inch square."
"Oh, that's easy," replied Harry eagerly. "Just watch me."
"Take care," said Ralph. "I said an inch square; anything less than an
inch will be wrong. Just imagine that this is a problem in arithmetic
and you are trying to find the answer. If you succeed in making it just
an inch square the answer will be correct; anything larger or smaller
than the exact size will be wrong. In the first place, hold your knife
so that it makes a slant or oblique angle with the wood, like this
(Fig. 2)," he said, taking the wood in his left hand and the knife in
his right. "That gives what we call a paring action, and is much easier
(Fig. 3) than the stiff way you were holding it, at right angles with
the stick."
[Illustration: Fig. 2. Correct way to hold the knife]
[Illustration: Fig. 3. Incorrect method of holding knife]
[Illustration: Photograph by Helen W. Cooke. The Boy and His Jack Knife]
"Now remember that the trouble with beginners is that they usually take
off too much material. Make light, easy cuts and try to get one side of
the wood perfectly straight first."
[Illustration: Fig. 4. Testing with the try square]
This was a harder job than Harry had expected, but after much testing
and sighting (Fig. 4) Ralph said it would do for the first attempt.
"Now," he said, "you may consider this first side the foundation of
your house. Make a pencil mark on it near one of the edges, what the
woodworker would call his witness mark. It means that this side or face
is finished and the edge nearest the pencil mark is to be trued up
next."
This proved even a harder job than the first, because after whittling
and testing until he had the second side straight and true, Ralph
tested it with a square and found that the second edge was not
at right angles with the first, or working face. It was finally
straightened, however, to stand the try square test fairly well.
An inch was next marked off at each end on face number one, and a sharp
pencil line drawn from end to end. Harry then whittled this third side
down to the line, and tested again with the try square. It seemed
easier to do now, and the thickness was obtained in the same way. It
looked as if they never would get that piece of pine exactly square,
and even when Ralph said it would do, they measured it with a rule and
found it an eighth of an inch too small each way.
Harry was disgusted. "The answer is wrong after all," he exclaimed,
"but I'll learn to do that if it takes me a month."
"That's the right sporting spirit," said Ralph. "Keep at it till you
get it. It's the hardest thing you will ever have to do with a knife,
and it's unfortunate that you have to tackle it the first thing; but
it's like learning to play the piano, you must learn the notes and
scales and how to use your fingers before you can play a real piece.
Every time you try this, you are gaining skill and the control of your
hands. After a while you will be able to do it easily and think nothing
of it."
Several days later Harry brought in a piece that he had been working on
and Ralph tested it carefully with rule and try square. He gave Harry a
pat on the back. "Good for you, boy; you are coming along splendidly,"
he said. "How many of these have you tried?"
"Twenty," said Harry meekly.
[Illustration: Fig. 5. The notched trophy stick]
"Well, now, I'll show you how the Indians used to record their
exploits. We'll put a notch on this stick for every one you've tried
to make, and you can keep it as a souvenir of your first attempts at
whittling." So with great care they measured off six two-inch spaces
on each edge, carefully drew notches with a pencil and rule, and as
carefully cut each notch to the line. (Fig. 5.)
Harry was delighted with the result.
They then hunted up a small screw eye, found the exact centre of the
end of the stick by drawing two diagonals, fastened the screw eye in
the centre and tied to it a piece of red, white and blue ribbon. A
quarter-inch bevel was made around each end as a finishing touch.
This piece of white pine, with its twenty notches, hangs to-day in
Harry's room, and every once in awhile he counts the notches to make
sure they are all there, and recalls the trial that each one represents.
Harry was so much pleased with his notched trophy stick that he wanted
to begin something else at once, and he was immediately started on a
key rack.
"Too many homes," said Ralph, sagely, "have no definite place to keep
keys. Those that have no tags are always a nuisance. Every key or bunch
of keys should have a tag attached and should be hung on a certain hook
where it can be found without searching. Now we'll make a sketch of a
key rack before doing anything else, to find out just how large a piece
of stick we shall need."
The drawing they produced is shown in Fig. 6 and called for a piece of
wood seven inches long, an inch wide, and half an inch thick. As the
key rack was to be a permanent household article, they decided on gum
wood as more suitable than pine, it being easy to work and having a
satisfactory appearance.
[Illustration: Fig. 6. The various steps in making a key rack]
The different stages in the process of cutting out are shown in Fig.
6. At _a_ is shown the stock squared up with the knife to the extreme
outside dimensions. The ends were then whittled down to the form
shown at _b_ and the blank piece was ready for notching. The notches
were carefully drawn with a sharp hard pencil and cut as shown at _c_.
The ends were bevelled by whittling to the lines, and the inner edges
of the notches in the centre were whittled back to the middle of each
edge. Then the knife work was finished.
Three brass screw hooks were placed in the centre of the large blank
spaces, and two small screw eyes fastened into the upper edge for
hanging the key rack on the wall.
Each stage of the work had been worked out so carefully that the boys
hardly realized what a satisfactory result they were getting. When it
was finally hung in the boys' room, of course some keys must be put on
it, and as they had no tags, the making of some followed as a matter
of course. A search through their small stock of woods disclosed a few
little pieces of holly, the remains of fret saw work, about an eighth
of an inch thick. This proved to be ideal material, and half a dozen
key tags were made of the size and shape shown in Fig. 7. The holes
were made with a brad awl, the tags fastened to the rings by small
pieces of wire, and the names of the keys printed on the different
tags with black drawing ink.
[Illustration: Fig. 7. The key tag]
The boys, from this time on, seemed possessed with a mania for making
articles to be used about the house. One thing to be manufactured
without delay was a winder for their fishing lines.
The form they finally decided on is shown in Fig. 8. Ralph insisted on
the design being carefully drawn on a piece of thin wood, a quarter of
an inch thick. Harry found whittling to curved lines somewhat harder
than notching, but he produced a fairly satisfactory result. Ralph was
a very exacting teacher, always having in mind his own training in
school. He showed Harry how to cut out the curves at the ends without
cutting his thumb (Fig. 9.) and gave him much advice about whittling
away from himself, whenever possible.
[Illustration: Fig. 8. Fish line winder]
When the knife work was finished, Ralph explained that where curved
edges were cut it was allowable to smooth with a piece of fine
sand-paper, although as a rule it was to be avoided.
[Illustration: Fig. 9. Cutting concave curves]
Harry wanted to know why, and Ralph explained that, generally speaking,
sand-paper was the hallmark of a poor workman, one who could not do
good work with his tools. Sand-paper leaves a scratched surface, for
the grit becomes embedded in the wood to a certain extent, and it will
immediately ruin the cutting edge of a sharp tool in case one has to be
used after the sand-papering. "So," he summed up, "keep your sand-paper
and knife as far apart as possible."
About this time the ladies of the household thought that a winder for
worsted would come in very handy, and the boys evolved a new form,
shown in Fig. 10. This was made only an eighth of an inch thick, and
proved so easy of construction that each of the boys made two and
"allowed" that "they ought to satisfy the sewing department for some
time to come."
[Illustration: Fig. 10. The worsted winder]
"Do you know," exclaimed Harry one day, "we could make lots of things
for Christmas and birthday presents!"
"Why, certainly," said Ralph, "and people appreciate things that you
have made yourself much more than things you buy. Anybody can go to the
store and buy ready-made presents, but those you make yourself mean
more."
"In what way?" said Harry.
"Why, they represent much more of your time and labour, and thought;
and, by the way, if we are going to make many Christmas presents, we
must start right away, because we only have a few weeks and you know
how little time we have outside of school hours after getting our
lessons."
The result of this talk was that the little building in the yard which
they called their "shop" became a perfect beehive of industry for
several weeks. With what money they had saved they purchased a supply
of lumber and a few tools the use of which Ralph said he would explain
later. He suggested that Harry begin by making some calendar backs,
as suitable New Year's presents, because they were easy; and the more
complicated articles could be made after Harry had developed a little
more skill with the knife.
[Illustration: Fig. 11. First calendar back]
The drawing he made is shown in Fig. 11. This called for a small
calendar about two inches long, an inch and three quarters high, and a
space this size was drawn on the centre of the calendar back, while the
calendar was glued to the wood.
[Illustration: Fig. 12. Second calendar back]
After two or three of these had been made, Harry decided that they were
too small to suit him, and a new design somewhat larger was worked out
on paper. It was a little more difficult to follow, because the outline
had two reversed curves, but the boys were too busy and interested to
be daunted by a trifle like that. (Fig. 12.)
Ralph suggested simple picture frames, and this brought the new problem
of cutting out an opening for the picture.
The first design they tried is shown in Fig. 13. Ralph had to show
Harry how to make the ellipse with compasses by first constructing two
squares or rectangles touching, and with both diagonal lines in each
square. By taking for a centre the point where the squares touch, as
_a_ and _b_, and using the length of a diagonal line as a radius, two
arcs were drawn at _x_ and _y_. The ellipse was finished by taking _c_
as a centre, and the distance _c d_ as a radius, to draw arc _z_, and
the other end was finished in the same way.
[Illustration: Fig. 13. Picture frame with elliptical opening]
Ralph explained that this was not a perfect ellipse, but would answer
for a small picture frame. The drawing was easy compared to the
question of how to cut out the wood to this curved line.
[Illustration: Fig. 14. Using the coping saw]
One of the new tools was brought out, and Harry was introduced to the
mysteries of the coping saw. (Fig. 14). A thin saw blade was produced
and fastened in one end of the frame, the other end being left free.
A hole was made inside of the ellipse with a brad awl, the free end
of the blade passed through the opening and fastened in the frame of
the saw. Resting the picture frame on the edge of a bench, the ellipse
was sawed out roughly about 1/16 of an inch inside of the drawing.
This remaining sixteenth of an inch was then whittled to the line with
a knife and finished with sand-paper. Harry found some difficulty in
getting this elliptical opening smooth enough to suit him, so they
tried designing for half an hour, and produced a new form (Fig. 15).
[Illustration: Fig. 15. Picture frame in straight lines]
This was easier, as there were no curved lines, and it could be sawed
close to the outside as well as the inside lines, to save time in
whittling. While Harry was finishing this frame, Ralph was busy on a
new design and finally passed over the drawing shown in Fig. 16.
"Do you know there is as much fun in getting up new designs as there is
in making them in wood?" said Ralph.
"Yes, but you have to know how to draw," replied the younger boy.
"Can't you teach me?"
"Yes. I first make a rough sketch of my idea, and then a careful
drawing of its actual size, with the drawing instruments."
[Illustration: Fig. 16. Third picture frame]
"That's the part that I want to learn: how to use the instruments."
A lesson in mechanical drawing followed, and as it is a very important
subject to young woodworkers, it will be given in full in the next
chapter.