Transcriber's Notes: Italic text is marked _thus_; bold text is
shown =thus=. Apparent typographical errors have been corrected and
hyphenation standardised. Unusual punctuation and original spelling
have been retained. Fig. numbers do not follow in strict numerical
order.
[Illustration: Front Cover.]
THE BOY CRAFTSMAN
HANDICRAFT BOOKS BY A. NEELY HALL
_8vo. Cloth. Illustrated with hundreds of photographs and working
drawings by the author and Norman P. Hall_
THE BOY CRAFTSMAN HANDICRAFT FOR HANDY BOYS (_Revised Edition_)
THE HANDY BOY (_Revised Edition_)
HOME-MADE TOYS FOR GIRLS AND BOYS
HANDICRAFT FOR HANDY GIRLS
CARPENTRY AND MECHANICS FOR BOYS
HOME-MADE GAMES AND GAME EQUIPMENT (_Revised Edition_)
OUTDOOR BOY CRAFTSMEN
BIG BOOK OF BOYS' HOBBIES
LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD COMPANY BOSTON NEW YORK
[Illustration: A BOY'S WORKSHOP.]
THE BOY CRAFTSMAN
Practical and Profitable Ideas for a Boy's Leisure Hours
BY A. Neely Hall
With more than four hundred illustrations by the author and Norman P.
Hall
[Illustration: Page Decoration.]
BOSTON
LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO.
COPYRIGHT, 1905, BY LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD COMPANY.
Published, August, 1905.
_All rights reserved._
THE BOY CRAFTSMAN.
Norwood Press
J. S. Cushing & Co.--Berwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
Work hard--Play hard.
--THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
NOTE TO THE READER
The boy of to-day is ever on the lookout for new ideas which can be
adopted for his work and recreation, schemes which are practical and
which are thoroughly up-to-date. They must be helpful in suggesting ways
of earning money, as well as entertaining, for what boy of the present
day does not feel the need of such suggestions to aid him in raising the
funds necessary to carry on his work?
In none of the books published on boy's handicraft has the question
entered into consideration as to how he is to obtain the means with
which to buy such materials and apparatus as the work requires. A boy
should not expect to draw upon his father's purse for everything his
fancy desires. It is important that he learn to earn his spending money,
for in doing so he becomes independent and more careful as to how he
invests it. Having had the experience of working, the average boy learns
to so appreciate the value of hard-earned money that it is pretty
certain he will spend it only for something with which he can earn more
or which will prove useful to him in his work and play.
"The Boy Craftsman" has been undertaken with a view of helping boys with
their problems of earning money, as well as furnishing recreative and
entertaining work, and to this end the first portion has been devoted to
suggestions for the carrying on of a number of small business
enterprises, and the second and third parts to outdoor and indoor
pastimes for all seasons of the year.
In "Profitable Pastimes" a boy will find work that will make easy the
matter of earning money with which to buy such materials as he needs to
carry out the suggestions offered in the book, while the practical
knowledge acquired and the handiness developed in pursuing the several
lines of work is certain to be helpful to him in later years.
The tools and apparatus used are such as a boy of average ability can
procure with a little hustling, and can be purchased singly, or two or
three at a time, as his money permits. The materials at hand can be used
in thousands of different ways, and in preparing the chapters this has
been taken into consideration, these odds and ends being utilized
whenever it has been possible to do so.
Carpenter work is something with which every boy must familiarize
himself to a certain extent in order to do anything in the line of
construction, so the fitting up of a workshop and the proper handling of
tools have been described in the first two chapters, in view of making
it a simple matter to perform the work embodied in the rest of the book.
Technical terms and phrases have been eliminated from the text as far as
possible, and where it has been deemed necessary to include them, to
describe certain operations for which a boy should know the proper terms
or expressions, they have generally been explained in the first chapter
in which they occur. To simplify the matter of referring to the
definitions of these, they have been arranged alphabetically in Chapter
XXIX.
Some of the material contained in this book was originally written by
the author in the form of magazine articles for _The American Boy_ and
_The Boys' World_, and thanks are due the publishers, The Sprague
Publishing Company and The David C. Cook Publishing Company, for
permission to reprint it. This material has been revised and enlarged
upon, and is presented with new and additional illustrations.
The author is always glad to hear from his young readers, and to be of
assistance to them in answering any questions they wish to ask regarding
their work.
A. N. H.
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS,
May 31, 1905.
CONTENTS
[Illustration: Boy 'Fixing' Clock with a Hammer.]
PART I
_PROFITABLE PASTIMES_
CHAPTER I
PAGE
A BOY'S WORKSHOP 3
Value of a Knowledge of Carpenter Work--Location of Shop--A Solid
Work-bench--The Vise--Bench-stops--Carpenter's Horses--A
Bench-hook--A Mitre-box--A Sand-paper Block--A Strop--A Plumb--
Purchasing Tools--Tool-cabinets--Racks for Tools--A Carpenter's
Carrying-box--A Nail-box--Receptacles for Supplies--Workshop
Clothes--Care of Oily Rags and Waste.