Harry began to draw, but found that he knew very little about saws, so
had to go out and look at one, measured it, and after awhile produced
the sketch shown in Fig. 41. Ralph criticised it rather severely,
suggesting the addition of a log and saw buck, and advised that the
arms of the men and saw be cut out of one piece. The drawing shows the
separated pieces, two bodies, four legs, a saw and arms in one piece,
two straight pieces for the saw buck, the log, and a little triangular
piece to go between log and saw buck. The object of this triangle is to
leave a space between the log and saw buck for the passage of the saw
back and forth, as shown in the sectional view.
The two pieces forming the buck were halved together, and the log,
triangle, and buck are fastened with glue and two brads.
[Illustration: Fig. 41. The sawyers]
After all the pieces had been cut out, the men were first put together
by fastening both legs to the body with one 3/8-inch brad.
The feet were next fastened to the straight piece, 10 inches long,
representing the ground, by one brad through each foot, the bodies
standing upright, and the feet two inches apart. The arms came next,
with one brad through each man's shoulder, and lastly, the saw buck,
with the log already fastened rigidly to it, was nailed on the back of
the ground piece with the log in front of the saw. To make this toy
stand up, two standards were fastened to the ends of the ground piece,
the same size as those attached to the fencers in Fig. 40.
It took Harry two hours to make this figure in wood, after he had the
drawing finished. In the meantime Ralph had worked out a scheme for
giving a boat a rolling motion.
"We'll be mechanical engineers by the time we finish this," he told
Harry. "This piece of mechanism calls for a crank, a shaft, two
bearings, and a cam, not to mention a ship, an ocean, and a few
miscellaneous articles too trivial to mention."
[Illustration: Fig. 42. Boat in storm]
The various parts of "the ship in a heavy sea" are shown in Fig. 42.
At _a_ is the cam, at _b_ the crank and handle, and at _c_ the shaft.
The boat was sketched free hand and cut out with the coping saw in one
piece by sawing exactly on the lines. The ocean was represented by
two pieces corresponding to the ground piece in the sawyers, and the
wavy outline was not made until everything had been cut out and the
combination was ready for assembling.
The most difficult part--the shaft--was made first, and entirely with
the knife: A piece of basswood was cut exactly a quarter of an inch
square, a section was marked in the centre of this 3/16 inch wide, and
notches were made on each corner. The two ends were then whittled to
an octagonal shape and rounded. The square section in the centre was
reduced to 1/8 inch wide and the rounded ends sand-papered smooth.
Next, the cam was cut out, and the square hole made. This was
accomplished, after spoiling one, by drilling a quarter of an inch hole
in the square and cutting the opening square with the point of the
knife.
The object of the square opening was to prevent the cam from slipping
when in operation. The cam was then placed over the round part of the
shaft and glued to the square section, over which it fitted snugly.
Next came the crank. This was made the same shape as the cam, but the
1/4 inch hole drilled in one end was left round, while the other was
cut square as in the cam. The shaft fitted into the round hole and was
glued in after the assembling. For the handle on the crank, a piece
1/4 inch square was fitted into the square hole, and the rest of it
whittled round and sand-papered.
Two cleats, 2 inch × 1/4 × 3/16 inch, were cut out with the saw and
everything was ready for assembling. The two sides of the ocean were
held together and the 1/4-inch hole at _d_ drilled through both pieces
at once.
The two notches at _e_ were cut after the assembling was finished.
After the holes were drilled, the wavy line was sawed, and the two ends
of the shaft inserted in the holes with the cam inside.
The two cleats were inserted in the ends of the ocean and fastened with
brads and glue.
Next, the boat was slipped in between the two sides, with the sloping
stern just touching the cam, and a 3/8-inch brad was driven through the
three thicknesses, sides and boat.
The crank was next slipped over the shaft and glued in position. The
crank handle was inserted into the square hole and fastened with glue,
and lastly a light rubber band was slipped over the notch on the stern
of the boat and the two corresponding notches on the bottom of the
ocean. This was to hold the boat against the cam, which gives the
motion.
To make this toy more realistic, the boys got out a box of water
colors, painted the body of the boat black, the ocean green, and left
the basswood sails their natural color--white.
[Illustration: Fig. 43. Turkey and executioner]
"There," said Ralph when it was finished, "the youngsters can raise a
storm at any time they like by simply turning the crank. This toy ought
to be very serviceable, as it can't very well get out of order and is
almost unbreakable."
The subject of moving toys is almost endless, being limited only by the
imagination of the designer. Thanksgiving suggested the turkey and the
axe, and in the toy these boys worked out the turkey evades the axe
every time.
The parts are shown in Fig. 43. The legs of the turkey are stuck
rigidly to the body by brads and a little glue, and they are fastened
to the ground piece by one brad, which acts as a pivot.
The axeman's body and right leg are in one piece, the left leg being
in two pieces. The arms adhere rigidly to the body, and the axe to the
hands, by means of brads. The operating strip is 1/4 inch wide and 9
inches long.
It is fastened between the legs of the turkey, and to the rigid leg of
the man, by one brad for pivot in each case.
The stump is nailed to the ground strip from the front.