"There is one tool you have not learned to use," said Ralph, one day,
"and I think that it is about time you tried it."
"What tool is that?" asked Harry.
[Illustration: Fig. 155. The gouge]
"The gouge ground or bevelled on the outside." (Fig. 155.)
"What is it used for?"
"For cutting concave curves, especially those below the surface.
Suppose you practise on a piece of white wood."
A piece of white wood was squared up, a foot long and 1-1/2 inches
square. The lines shown in the figure were laid out with the pencil.
The marking gauge is not suitable for this work, as it makes a sharp
cut in the surface just where the edge is to come, so that after the
gouge work is finished, it would show this edge split by the gauge
mark. (Fig. 156.)
The two grooves from end to end were first cut, removing a quarter
circle, the curve being drawn on the ends by a pair of compasses or
dividers. This gave excellent practice in freehand work, calling for
good control over the hands, and a constant watching of the grain to
prevent splitting.
[Illustration: Fig. 156. Practise cuts with the gouge]
The other two grooves or coves were next tried. Extra care had to be
exercised here to prevent taking off the ends.
To give the boy further practice, the simple pen tray shown in Fig. 157
was sketched out, and the stock squared up.
[Illustration: Fig. 157. An example of gouge work]
The gouge work in this exercise was entirely beneath the surface, and
to make the tool work true to the drawing, a depth gauge was made as
shown at _a_. This was simply a straight piece of waste wood with a
brad driven into it, carefully, until the head was the same distance
above the surface as the depth of the groove called for in the drawing.
By inverting the gauge and running the brad head along the bottom of
the groove, the depth could be gauged accurately. The wooden strip must
rest on the surface at both sides of the groove, and the brad head just
touches the bottom at the same time.
After the gouge work had been carried as far as possible, the groove
was finished by sand-papering, first with No. 1-1/2 and then with No. 0
sand-paper.
In laying out bevelled edges on a piece of this character, the same
objection to the marking gauge holds as for gouged grooves. Ralph
showed the boy a simple method of making a gauge for pencil lines to
overcome this difficulty. He cut out a piece of white pine shaped as
shown at _b_. The distance from the shoulder to the point of the V was
equal to the width of the desired bevel or chamfer. The stock must be
held in the vise, as both hands are required in the drawing of the
lines. To make the width of the bevel greater, simply cut the shoulder
further back with a knife, and to reduce the size, cut the V further in
toward the shoulder. This is a very convenient and inexpensive device,
quickly made.
A more pretentious project was tried next (Fig. 158, _a_), which
provides for a round ink bottle, and demands some nice chisel work.
In the first pen tray the bevels had been all planed. On this second
one, only three could be cut that way, as the one on the back had to be
chiselled. The successive steps in the construction were as follows: