Endeavor to procure some small outhouse, in which you may erect what is
called a carpenter’s or joiner’s bench. These may very often be bought
second-hand, or if not, can easily be procured at a reasonable rate.
I am very particular in recommending a bench, as without it you will
find many obstacles to your work. You must also provide yourself with
a set of tools,--gimlets, hammers, planes, saws, gouges, files, nails,
screws, and such articles of use.
The bench is composed of a platform or top, supported by four stout
legs; supplied with a bench hook; this ought to be fitted in tight, so
as to move up and down with a hammer only. The use of it is to keep any
wood steady you may have to plane; the bench screw is used for keeping
any wood firm and steady you may have to saw, which is to be put in
the grip and screwed tight. Sometimes the edges of wood require to be
planed, and then the wood is put in the grip or cheeks of the bench and
held tight while you plane it. Make holes in the side of the bench, for
the insertion of a movable pin to support the end of the board you
have to plane or saw, which is not in the screw. The height of your
bench should be about 2 feet 8 inches. The common length is from 10 to
12 feet, and the breadth about 3 feet 6 inches.
The jack plane is the first to be used. It is about 17 inches in
length, and is used to take the rough parts from a piece of wood. It
should be held steadily by fixing the right hand at the handle, and the
left over the top and side, and pushed forward on the wood, when the
knife will take off a shaving which runs through the hole, and falls on
the side. In using the plane the endeavor should be to take off a clean
shaving, which is done by using the instrument uniformly and steadily
over every surface to be planed.
There is another kind of plane, called the trying plane, having a
double top or handle. It is used to regulate and smooth to a higher
degree, the surface of the wood that had previously been smoothed from
the rough by the jack plane. Its length is about 22 inches, and it is
broader than the jack plane. There is another plane called the _long_
plane, which is used for facing a piece of stuff, which it does with
the greatest exactness; its length is about 2 feet 4 inches. There is
also the joiner’s plane, which is the longest of all the planes, being
30 inches long. But the most handy of the planes to the boy carpenter
is the smoothing plane. It is the last plane used in joining, and gives
the utmost degree of smoothness to the surface of a piece of finished
work; it is about 7 inches in length, the sides of the stock are
curved, and resemble in figure a coffin; it is used in a similar way to
the other.