The method of constructing a simple box has been given in the first
chapter, because so many other articles are made upon exactly similar
principles. The rules laid down comprise two or three essential points,
the neglect of which render the ordinary carpentry of boys so essentially
bad. Foremost of these is _the use of the square_. There is no tool of
more general use in the hands of workmen in wood and metal, and yet,
generally speaking, either none at all, or a very faulty one is added to
the collection of tools ordinarily supplied to boys. In the next place,
I have insisted upon _accuracy in measurement_. The carpenter’s rule is
not at all difficult for a young boy to understand; but even if he is not
in possession of such at his first attempts, he should always be induced
to work by measure of some kind. This causes him of necessity to exercise
his mind as well as his hands, and teaches him to consider well at
starting as to what he must allow for thickness of wood, the difference
between inside and outside measurement, and so forth; all this will
greatly conduce to his success, and consequently satisfaction in his
work, and will lessen the chances of his beginning a number of articles
and casting them aside unfinished—a propensity too common in all boys.
I shall now resume my directions in the first person, which I think
is the more easy method both for master and pupil. The next specimen
I propose, because it requires even more care than a box, but is at
the same time perfectly within a boy’s powers, is a birdcage. Of these
there are such a number of varieties that it is difficult to settle
upon the best kind to begin upon. I think, however, a wire cage will on
the whole be the easiest to construct, only you must take great care in
boring holes in the thin strips of wood, and, indeed, if you can get a
birdcage-maker’s awl besides the one you have, it will save both time
and trouble. It is not made round with a flat end, but is three-cornered
with a sharp point, so that it has three edges, and when it is carefully
used and twirled round and round by the fingers in making holes, it will
hardly ever split even very thin strips and pieces of wood. However, if
you cannot get one never mind, you must use the common bradawl according
to directions here given.
I shall suppose you now in possession of a carpenter’s rule, and that you
have carefully learned all I told you of the inches and eighths, so that
you may be able to measure and mark your work very truly. The front of
the cage is represented in Fig. 9, before the projecting roof-boards have
been put on.
[Illustration: Fig. 9.]
Here you see two upright strips at the corners, which shall be 8
inches long. These are 12 inches apart, _outside_ measure. They are ⅜
(three-eighths) of an inch square, and you must get them ready planed
from the carpenter. There will be four of them required, as they are at
the four corners of the cage; so that, as they are each 8 inches long,
you can get a strip 36 inches in length by three-eighths wide, and this
being 4 inches more than you need, will allow for waste. At the lower
part of the drawing, you see the edge of the bottom board, which projects
a little all round. As the _outside_ of the front pillars are 12 inches
apart, this board may be 13 inches long, which will allow a border of
½ an inch (half an inch), and it may be 8 inches wide. It need not be
_thicker_ than a quarter of an inch. A little above this board (say half
an inch) is another board from one pillar to another, which is to be 1¼
inches wide and three-eighths of an inch thick. As the pillars are also
three-eighths thick, and their outside edges 12 inches apart, you must
take 6/8 (six-eighths) of an inch from 12 inches to find the length of
this board.
If you look at the divisions upon your rule, you will see that
six-eighths of an inch amounts to exactly ¾ (three quarters), so that
your board must be 11 inches and _one_ quarter long. This will also be
the length of the board at the top where it falls between the pillars,
and this too must be three-eighths thick.
I shall now show you how to mark and cut this top piece into the shape
here sketched. Cut the board first of all into an oblong, and mind
that you mark it by your square, so that the _ends shall be square to
the sides_. Let it be 2½ inches wide. Here it is (Fig. 10). Measure a
length of 6 inches from either end to the middle at A, and make a mark
at that place. Draw a line, C B, one inch from the opposite side, the
whole length of the board, and mind you draw it correctly. You should
measure an inch at B, and at C, and then draw a line from one point to
the other along the edge of your rule. You must now draw two lines from
the spot you marked at A to the ends of this line (where you see the
dotted lines). In order to cut this piece, you must begin at A, not at
B or C, or else if the saw should stick you will be sure to split off a
strip right across the piece; but if it should stick when you are cutting
_from_ A, you will only split off a bit of one of the three-cornered
outside pieces, which would not signify at all.
[Illustration: Fig. 10.]
When you are sawing, be sure, as I told you before, not to cut into the
line you have marked, but saw just outside it, so that the lines will be
left upon the two sloping sides of the board. You may _cut as close to
it as you can_, but you must not destroy it, and then you can with your
knife neatly shave off the rough edges which the saw has made, until you
have pared the wood quite neatly all along the line. If you cut this line
out, you will no longer have any guide to work by. Cutting out guide
lines is a very common fault, not confined to small boys or big ones. You
will find it easy to pare this sloping side if you begin to work from
A downwards to B and C, but you cannot cut it in the other direction. A
carpenter would, of course, run his plane down the slope, and so will you
by and by; but planing is difficult, and it is better you should wait for
a time before you buy a plane; for, remember, those foolish little things
in boys’ tool-boxes are no use at all.
You had better now prepare the holes into which the wires are to be put
as you see in the drawing. You can use either iron wire or brass, but
the first is cheapest. These will have to be a quarter of an inch apart.
Both the top and bottom strips, you will remember, are 11¼ (eleven and a
quarter) inches long. Now, 11 inches will be 44 quarters, and one more
will be 45; but as the first hole must be a quarter of an inch from the
ends, you will find that 44 holes will be required. Look at your rule and
count this. You must mark all these by little dots with a pencil on one
piece, and then laying the other upon it, mark the rest exactly even with
the first. Do this with great care, or the wires will not stand upright
when the cage is finished. The space between the top and bottom pieces
will be 5¼ inches, so that if you allow the wires to enter a quarter
of an inch at the top and bottom, you will want 44 wires 5¾ inches in
length—you may say, 6 inches. You can have them all cut and straightened
for you, but if you have a pair of pliers with cutting edges, you can do
it yourself, and it is almost necessary you should get a pair, or borrow
them, if you intend to construct wire birdcages. You will want a few less
in each side of this cage, as it will not be there so wide as it is in
front. We shall presently see how many it will require.
You may put together the front of the cage at once and set it aside,
or proceed to cut out the rest of it. Generally speaking, it is the
best plan to cut out and prepare all the main parts of your work before
proceeding to fix them in their respective places; but the front of such
a cage as I am describing, being complete in itself, you may do as you
like about it. We will begin with the wires. Insert the ends one after
the other in a row in one of the pieces, laying it upon the bench, or
fixing it on its edge in a vice, but taking care not to bend them. When
one piece is thus stuck full of wires, lay it flat on its side, and put
the other piece in its place, and one by one insert into it the other
ends of the wires. A pair of pliers will help you greatly in doing this.
I daresay the two pieces of wood will not be very parallel, but will be
closer at one end than at the other. This does not matter, because you
will set it right in nailing on the upright strips or corner pillars.
This, therefore, is the next thing you must do; and you must have two
brads top and bottom, each an inch long, but as fine as you can get. Nail
to the top board first, and then place the other in position half an inch
from the bottom of the pillars. If you have no carpenter’s vice, you had
better work with the front of the cage laid down flat and near the right
hand edge of the bench or table, so that the pillar almost overlaps it.
In this position, you can bore the two holes and nail it together; but be
guarded as to splitting the pillars.
You ought now to have the front well and firmly put together and standing
square and true as in the sketch; only the bottom board, of which you see
the front edge, is not to be attended to at present.
[Illustration: Fig. 11.]
There is another way of going to work, namely, to put the whole framework
of the cage together and add the wires afterwards. In this case (the
holes having all been made beforehand as directed here) the wires are in
turn inserted at the top, and then being slightly bent are put in place
in the bottom piece—each wire being completely fixed before the next is
added. Either way may be tried, but in that given above the wires are
not bent at all, and therefore have not to be straightened. Adding them,
however, afterwards is the common practice among the cage-makers. Indeed,
it generally happens in large establishments that one set of workmen
make the woodwork, and another set add the wires—such division of labour
proving more advantageous.
[Illustration: Fig. 12.]
Attention is now to be given to the sides, of which Fig. 11 is a drawing.
Here you need not make any corner pillars. You have only to cut out the
top and bottom strips—the lower one, 1¾ inch wide, to match that in
front: the top, 1 inch wide, to match the straight part of the ends of
the upper front piece or gable, as you see in Fig. 12. You will also see
by this drawing that you must nail the side pieces _inside_ the corner
pillars, and _not upon_ them, so that the nails go in from the front of
the cage into the ends of the two side pieces which carry the wires. I
have shown by dots (Fig. 12) where the nail holes are, and they must be
carefully made, avoiding the places where the other two nails come, which
you hammered in when you fitted together the front. The side strips, A B
(Fig. 11), may be 8 inches long. Both sides of the cage are to be made
exactly alike. I have told you to make the lower side-rails 1¾ inch wide,
because they must come to the bottom of the pillars, for no half-inch
space is required at the sides between these rails and the bottom of the
cage. It is so left in the front, because a tray, or cleaning-board,
has to be slid in there. You had certainly better put together the side
pieces by means of the wires, as in Fig. 11, before you nail them in
their places.
You now require a piece of board for the back, and quarter-inch stuff
will do very well. Bought cages are made of much thinner wood, generally
mahogany, but at first it will be easier for you to use thicker boards.
If you round off the edges, they will not appear so thick. Very thin deal
will warp or bend after it is made up; and, indeed, it is quite possible
the back of this cage will do so. Get the wood, however, as dry as you
can, and the top boards, when nailed on, will probably prevent it.
To cut out this back board, you may lay down upon the piece from which
it is to be cut the whole front of the cage, and draw a pencil round it,
only, when you come to the bottom of the side pillars, you must draw a
line straight across from one to the other. Then cut _from_ the point at
the top, as you did before. Let the grain of the wood run up and down,
_not across_, the back. Nail the back thus cut to the side strips, as you
nailed on the front, and you will then only have the roof to put on, and
the bottom.
This roof may consist simply of a thin board, cut square and true, nailed
on to the two gables, and it will look much prettier if it is made to
project beyond the front. If you measure down the slope of the front or
back top-piece, you will find it 6 inches long, and a little more. Your
board should therefore be 7 or 8 inches wide, because, although the roof
pieces meet at the top, they should come down a little beyond the sides
of the cage. As the sides are 8 inches wide, cut the top 11 inches long,
which will allow it to project in front 3 inches.
If you look at the cage at the end of these directions, you will
understand this. You must slope, or _bevel_ off, the top edges of these
roof boards, to make them fit neatly together along the ridge; and as you
will paint the cage, you can glue on a narrow strip of paper, to make it
quite water-tight. The door of these cages is generally in the back. You
merely mark and cut out a square hole about 3 inches square. You then
fit a piece in, and hinge it either with wire, or (which is easier) by
sticking on a strip of calico down the edge of it, and fasten with a wire
hook. As the back is but a quarter of an inch thick, you will be able to
cut out the hole (before nailing on the back), with a sharp pocket-knife;
and again I say, don’t cut out the guide-lines—cut inside them, and then
neatly pare exactly up to them. Make the bottom 13 inches long, and 10
wide, which will allow it to project in front, and also half an inch on
each side.
[Illustration: Fig. 13.]
You have now to make the tray, to slide into the space left in the front
below the bottom front rail. This is to hold sifted sand, and is made
loose, because it requires to be taken out and cleaned every day (Fig.
13). It is merely a flat thin board (one-eighth of an inch will be quite
thick enough), with a strip nailed on, or glued on, in front, to fit the
space left for it, and other smaller strips glued on all round it, so as
to form a very shallow tray or drawer. The small strips can be glued
on flat _upon_ the top of the board, but to fasten on the front, you
must first glue on a similar strip to those round the sides, and just
such as you made the pillars of, but not quite so thick, and then glue,
or nail on with very small brads, the front piece, nailing or gluing it
to this strip. This will make it very firm, and will do well enough for
your first cage. A, Fig. 13, shows a part of the drawer, C is the front,
and D the strip it is glued to. The handle of this drawer or tray is
to be made of wire, unless you can find some little knob or other that
will do. If you succeed in making this cage, you will have learned a
good deal, because, although not really difficult, it requires care and
consideration; and if you are in a hurry, you will split the wood, or
make it crooked, or cut the pieces too short. It should be neatly painted
in oil-colour—_green_ is a favourite colour—but the top boards may be
red, and the wires should be left clean and bright, because the bird
often pecks at them. If you paint the _inside_ of the woodwork, it should
be white.
I have not here put any feeding-boxes, or seed-drawers, because glasses
are the best; but you will see two holes (Fig. 11), one inch across, in
the lower side pieces, for the bird to put its head through to get at the
seed and water. A bit of wire, forming half a hoop, supports the glasses
or trays. These ought to be cut with a centrebit—a tool you have not, and
the carpenter had better do it for you. Here is the cage complete (Fig.
14). You can do without making holes in the sides, if you put two wires
longer than the rest, and bend them, as you see at B in Fig. 13, before
putting them in place.
[Illustration: Fig. 14.]