WOOD-WORKING FOR
BEGINNERS
A Manual for Amateurs
BY
CHARLES G. WHEELER, B.S.
"Know what thou canst work at and work at it like a Hercules."
CARLYLE.
WITH OVER 700 ILLUSTRATIONS
G.P. Putnam's Sons
New York and London
The Knickerbocker Press
1900
COPYRIGHT, 1899
BY
CHARLES G. WHEELER
The Knickerbocker Press, New York
TO THE
YOUTHFUL FOUNDERS
OF
"TOTLET TOWN"
WITHOUT WHOSE INSPIRATION THIS BOOK WOULD NOT
HAVE BEEN UNDERTAKEN
PREFACE
The aim of this book is to suggest to amateurs of all ages many things
which they can profitably make of wood, and to start them in the way to
work successfully. It is hoped that, in the case of boys, it may show
them pleasant and useful ways to work off some of their surplus energy,
and at the same time contribute toward their harmonious all-round
development.
It is not an attempt to teach the arts of architecture, carpentry,
cabinet-making, or boat-building. Although not intended primarily to
impart skill in the use of tools (something which can only be acquired
from experience and observation and cannot be taught by any book), still
no one can go through the processes indicated without gaining at least
some slight degree of manual skill as well as a fund of practical
information and experience.
Many books which give directions for mechanical work (particularly those
addressed to boys) have several serious faults, and can be grouped in
three classes. Some seem to be written by practical workmen, who,
however well fitted to do the work themselves, lack the pedagogical
training or the psychological insight necessary to lay out such work
with due regard to the mental and physical capacity, experience, and
development of youth, or to the amateur's lack of experience in the
rudiments of the subject. Others are written by teachers or amateurs who
lack the trained mechanic's practical and varied knowledge and
experience in serious work. Others (and this last class is, perhaps, the
worst of the three) seem to be made by compilers who have apparently
been satisfied to sweep together, without requisite knowledge or
sufficient moral purpose, whatever they may have found that would be
interesting or attractive, without due regard to its real value. All
these writers are constantly falling into errors and making omissions
harmful alike to the moral and the manual progress of the readers.[1]
Effort has been made in the preparation of this book to avoid these
evils, to keep in line with the advanced educational ideas of the time,
and to look at the subject from the standpoints of the _teacher_, the
_mechanic_, the _boy_, and the _amateur workman_. The treatment is
neither general nor superficial, but _elementary_, and no claim is made
that it will carry anyone very far in the various subjects; but it aims
to be thorough and specific as far as it goes and to teach nothing which
will have to be unlearned.
Great care (based upon an extended experience with boys and amateurs)
has been taken to include only what can be profitably done by an
intelligent boy of from ten to eighteen or by the average untrained
worker of more mature years. It is hoped that from the variety of
subjects treated he may find much of the information for which he may
seek--if not in the exact form desired, perhaps in some typical form or
something sufficiently similar to suggest to him what he needs to know.
It is hoped and confidently believed that a work so comprehensive in
scope and giving such a variety of designs, with detailed and practical
directions for their execution, will be not merely novel, but may serve
as a _vade-mecum_ and ready-reference book for the amateur of
constructive tastes.
CHARLES G. WHEELER.
BOSTON, June, 1899.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] These criticisms are meant to apply to the class of manuals,
compendiums, and so-called "Boys' Books" and "Amateurs' Books," in the
_popular_ sense of the word, and not to the many admirable works on
sloyd, manual training, and the various special branches of
wood-working.
CONTENTS
_PART I--A WORKSHOP FOR AMATEURS_
CHAPTER PAGE
I--INTRODUCTORY 1
II--TOOLS 9
III--WOOD 29
IV--WORKING DRAWINGS, LAYING OUT THE WORK,
AND ESTIMATING 49
V--THE WORKSHOP 56
_PART II--ARTICLES TO BE MADE IN THE WORKSHOP_
VI--INTRODUCTORY 103
VII--A FEW TOYS 106
VIII--HOUSES FOR ANIMALS 126
IX--IMPLEMENTS FOR OUTDOOR SPORTS AND ATHLETICS 41
X--FURNITURE 175
XI--A FEW MISCELLANEOUS OPERATIONS 218
_PART III--HOUSE-BUILDING FOR BEGINNERS_
XII--SOME ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES 238
XIII--SIMPLE SUMMER COTTAGES 271
XIV--A FEW SIMPLE STRUCTURES 291
_PART IV--BOAT-BUILDING FOR BEGINNERS_
XV--A FEW SIMPLE BOATS 298
_PART V--TOOLS AND OPERATIONS_
XVI--THE COMMON HAND-TOOLS, AND SOME EVERY-DAY
OPERATIONS, ALPHABETICALLY ARRANGED FOR
READY REFERENCE 344
APPENDIX--MATTERS RELATING TO WOOD, SUGGESTIONS
ABOUT WORKING DRAWINGS, ETC. 507
INDEX 539
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
It has seemed best to address parts of this book particularly to boys,
because the majority of beginners are boys, because boys need more
suggestions than men, and because a man can easily pick what he needs
from a talk to boys (and perhaps be interested also), while it is
usually unprofitable to expect a boy to take hold of a technical subject
in the right spirit if it is treated in a style much in advance of his
degree of maturity. It is hoped, however, that the older reader also
will find enough of those fundamental principles of successful work
(many of which do not readily occur to the untrained amateur except as
the result of much costly experience) to be a material help to him.
"It is not strength, but art obtains the prize,
And to be swift is less than to be wise;
'Tis more by art, than force of numerous strokes."
HOMER, _Iliad_.
WOOD-WORKING FOR BEGINNERS
PART I
_A WORKSHOP FOR AMATEURS_
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY
When one has made up his mind to make something, he usually wants to
begin work at once; so, as I wish you to read this chapter, I will make
it quite short. There is a great deal in getting started right, and
there are some things to bear in mind if you wish to do good work, as of
course you do.
One thing is not to be in too much of a hurry to begin the actual sawing
and pounding. The old Latin phrase, "_Festina lente_" (make haste
slowly), is a capital motto for the beginner. Do not wait until your
enthusiasm has oozed away, of course, but do stop long enough to think
how you are going to make a thing before you begin to saw.
The workman who thinks first and acts afterwards is the one who usually
turns out good work, while the one who begins to work without any
reflection (as boys, and even men, have been known to do) is apt to
spend much of his time in undoing his work, and usually does not get
through till after the one who laid it out properly in the first
place.[2]
If Homer, in the quotation at the head of this chapter, had been writing
about the way boys' work is sometimes done, he might, perhaps, have
reversed the positions of some of the words and made "swiftness" and
"numerous strokes" the subjects of his emphasis. He has expressed well
enough, however, the way that your work should be done, and it is one
aim of this book to give you useful hints to that end.
Do not spend your time in working out a lot of set exercises, like
joints and odd pieces that do not belong to anything in particular,
merely for practice. You will be much more apt to put the right spirit
into your work when you make complete and useful articles, and you will
get the same practice and experience in the end. There is no need,
however, to go through a deal of toilsome experience just to learn a
number of simple little things that you might just as well be told in
the first place. Begin the process of learning by experience after you
have learned what you can from the experience of others. Begin, so far
as you can, where others have left off.
Before you begin work it may be interesting to look for a moment at the
way boys did their work from fifty to one hundred years ago. Have you
read the books by Elijah Kellogg? The reason for speaking of these
old-fashioned books is because of the picture they give of the time, not
so very long ago, when boys and their elders made all sorts of things
which they buy to-day, and also because of the good idea they give of
how boys got along generally when they had to shift more for themselves
than they do nowadays.
The majority of the boys of that time, not merely on Casco Bay, where
Mr. Kellogg places the scenes of his stories, but in hundreds of other
places, had to make many things themselves or go without. Of course
there was a smaller number in the cities and larger towns who had no
good opportunity to make things and were obliged to buy what they could
afford (out of what we should call a quite limited variety), or to get
the carpenter or other mechanic to make what they needed. But the
majority of the boys of that time made things well and had a good time
making them. The life they led made them capital "all-round" boys. They
could turn their hands, and their heads too, to almost any kind of work,
and do it pretty well.
Boys did a good deal of whittling then. This habit, as you doubtless
know, still clung to them after they grew up, and opening a jack-knife
and beginning to whittle was a common diversion whenever the men rested,
whether at the country-store or in the barn or dooryard or at their own
firesides. You can see the same habit to-day in some places. The boys
whittled splint-brooms of birch in Colonial days in almost every
household.[3] Among some of the minor articles made by boys and young
men were axe-helves and handles of all sorts, wooden rakes, wooden
troughs for bread and for pigs, trays, trenchers, flails, rounds for
ladders, bobbins, reels, cheese-boxes, butter-spats or -paddles, wooden
traps, and dozens of other articles, not to speak of their handiwork in
other materials than wood.
For that matter much of the same life can be found to-day in the remoter
regions, and I have known young men brought up to this kind of life, who
(within my recollection) have, as a matter of course, done all the farm
work of good-sized cultivated farms with live stock, cut and hauled wood
from their wood-lots, done a good deal of sea-fishing and salting down
and drying of fish, tended and mended their fish-nets, weirs, and
lobster-traps, and sailed or rowed twenty-five miles to market with
their produce and back again with their supplies. They also built their
sheds, barns, and houses, and part of their furniture, their dories, big
scows, and capital sailboats; made their own oars and rigged their
boats; made many of their farm tools and implements; built their waggons
and "ironed" them, their ox-sleds and small sleds, and shod them; made
some of their tools; did their own blacksmithing, mason-work,
brick-laying, and painting; made their own shoes, and did I do not know
how many other odd jobs--all with but a limited supply of common
hand-tools. This work did not interfere with their going to school
through the winter months until they were twenty-one years old, and they
still found time for the usual recreations of the period.
Now a young man must have been pretty well developed after going through
all that, even if he did not know much about Greek or calculus or was
lacking in superficial polish. And it is only the truth to say that
quite a number used to tackle the higher branches of study too, with
success made all the more assured by their development in other ways,
and many, in addition to all this, paid their way through college by
teaching or other work. How did they do so much? Partly, I suppose,
because their life was so much simpler and less complex than ours. They
did not have so many wants and there were not so many interests to
distract their minds. Partly because when they wanted something they
knew they must make it or go without. They did not draw so much as we do
now, but they did a great deal of observing. They examined things like
what they were to make and asked questions, and, knowing that where they
had so much to do they could not afford to keep trying things again and
again, they learned from their relatives and neighbours what was
considered the best way to do their work, and having thought it out
carefully they went at it with great energy.
To-day we have only to go to a large factory to see a man standing
before some machine and doing some simple piece of work, requiring but
little thought--the same thing over and over again, hour after hour, day
after day, year after year, until he seems to become almost a part of
the machine itself, and is not fitted for doing much else. That is the
other extreme. Of course we get things cheaper (even if they do not last
so long) because of the factory; but how about the workman? Which of
these two types is the better-developed man? First you want to be
well-developed all-round boys, so that you will not become machines or
badly one-sided men. After that--each to his special bent, of course.
Now because we no longer cut down trees ourselves, haul them to the mill
to be sawed, or rive or saw or hew them ourselves, leave the wood to
season, and then laboriously work it up into whatever we have to
make--because we no longer do that, but go instead to a lumber-yard and
a mill and have a large part of the work done for us--it is a good thing
for us to pause a moment before we begin our work to take in the fact
that _all_ the advantage is not with us now, and to think what a capital
gymnasium that former life was for strengthening a boy's muscle and
mind, not to speak of his morals.
You could not go back to those days now if you wished to, of course
(except, perhaps, when you go to some of the remoter regions in
vacation), and you are doubtless better off for all the advantages you
have now and for all our time-saving contrivances, but the advantage
depends partly on _how you use_ the time saved from their laborious
tasks, does it not? You can, however, get inspiration from the example
of those older boys and from some of their methods, and can put their
self-reliant, manly zeal, grit, and perseverance into your work, and
have a capital time making the things and more sport and satisfaction
afterwards for having made them.
This book does not try to show you a royal road or a short cut to
proficiency in architecture, carpentry, cabinet-making, boat-building,
toy-making, or any other art or science. It does not aim to cram you
with facts, but merely to start you in the right way. It is for those of
you who want to take off your coats, roll up your sleeves, and really
make things, rather than sit down in the house and be amused and perhaps
deluded by reading enthusiastic accounts of all the wonders you can
easily do--or which somebody thinks you would like to be told that you
can do. It is for those of you who do not wish to have your ardour
dampened by finding that things will not come out as the book said they
would, or that the very things you do not know and cannot be expected to
know are left out.
It does not aim to stir up your enthusiasm at first and then perhaps
leave you in the lurch at the most important points. I take it for
granted that if you have any mechanical bent or interest in making
things, as most boys have, and are any kind of a real live boy, you have
the enthusiasm to start with without stirring up. In fact, I have even
known boys, and possibly you may have, who, strange as it may seem, have
had so much enthusiasm to make something or other that they have
actually had to be held back lest they should spoil all the lumber
within reach in the effort to get started!
What you want is to be told how to go to work in the right way--how to
make things successfully and like a workman--is it not? Then, if you
mean business, as I feel sure you do, and really want to make things,
read the whole book through carefully, even if it is not bristling with
interesting yarns and paragraphs of no practical application to your
work. You will not find everything in it, but you cannot help learning
something, and I hope you will find that it attends strictly to the
business in hand and will give you a start in the right
direction,--which is half the battle.
"Man is a Tool-using Animal.... He can use Tools, can devise Tools;
with these the granite mountain melts into light dust before him;
he kneads glowing iron as if it were soft paste; seas are his
smooth highway, winds and fire his unwearying steeds. Nowhere do
you find him without Tools; without Tools he is nothing--with Tools
he is all."--CARLYLE, _Sartor Resartus_.
FOOTNOTES:
[2] An old gentleman whose help, on account of his accurate
workmanship, I once frequently obtained when "rushed," was an extreme
example of this systematic way of doing work. I would give him perhaps
three hours' work, which he would agree to have done at the end of that
time. Looking in after an hour or so I would find the work apparently
untouched, which was a little provoking, of course, as the average
workman would have had it perhaps one third done. But instead, this old
gentleman would be apparently only "puttering around," touching up his
saws, fixing his planes, whetting his chisels, looking over the wood,
and not getting ahead a bit. Going off in disgust (until I got
acquainted with his ways, I mean), I would return at the end of the
three hours, to find that the work had been ready some time and done to
perfection. While he was at first apparently accomplishing nothing he
was really getting everything in perfect shape to do the work and laying
out in his mind every detail of the whole process, so that when he began
the actual work it almost did itself, and he forged right ahead of the
average workman, who would either have been behind time or slighted the
work in order to get it done, and in most cases have made some mistake
to be corrected in some part of the process. I never knew that man to
make a mistake. Why? Not because his ability was extraordinary, but
because he concentrated his mind on the work and thought it out clear
through before he began. Now I know the average boy too well to expect
him to have the patience to do just as this workman did. It would be
unreasonable. But it is the true way to do good work, so try to think it
all out as far as you can and to get ready before you begin. The work
will go ever so much more quickly and easily.
[3] "It has been said that the snow-shoe and canoe as made by the
Indians could never be improved. To these might be added the split birch
broom, or splinter broom, also the invention of the Indians, but made in
every country household in New England in Colonial days. The branch of a
large birch tree was cut eight feet long. An inch-wide band of the bark
was left about eighteen inches from one end, and the shorter and lower
end was cut in fine pliable slivers up to the restraining bark band. A
row of slivers was cut from the upper end downward, turned down over the
band, and tied firmly down. Then the remainder of the stick was smoothed
into a handle. These brooms were pliable, cleanly, and enduring, and as
broom-corn was not grown here until the latter part of the past century,
they were, in fact, the only brooms of those days. They were made by
boys on New England farms for six cents apiece, and bought by the
country storekeepers in large numbers for the cities' use."--_The
Chautauquan._
CHAPTER II
TOOLS
You can do a great deal with very few tools. The bearing of this
observation lies in "the application on it," as Jack Bunsby would say.
Look at the complicated and ingenious curiosities whittled with a
jack-knife by sailors, prisoners, and other people who have time to kill
in that way! Have you ever seen the Chinese artisans turning out their
wonderful work with only a few of the most primitive tools? But of
course we cannot spend time so lavishly on our work as they do, even if
we had their machine-like patience and deftness acquired through so many
generations.
We cannot hold work with our feet and draw saws towards us or do turning
out on the lawn with a few sticks and a bit of rope for a lathe; carve a
set of wonderful open-work hollow spheres, each within the other, out of
one solid ball of ivory; and the rest of the queer things the Orientals
do: but it is merely a matter of national individuality--the training of
hundreds of generations. We could learn to do such things after a long
time doubtless, but with no such wonderful adaptability as the Japanese,
for instance, are showing, in learning our ways in one generation.
Examine some of the exquisite work which the Orientals sell so cheaply
and think whether you know anyone with skill enough to do it if he had a
whole hardware-shop full of tools, and then see with what few simple and
rude tools (like those shown in the following illustrations, or the
simple drill, Fig. 1, still in use) the work has been done. Mr.
Holtzapffel describes the primitive apparatus in use among the natives
of India as follows[4]:
[Illustration FIG. 1.]
"When any portion of household furniture has to be turned, the
wood-turner is sent for; he comes with all his outfit and
establishes himself for the occasion at the very door of his
employer. He commences by digging two holes in the ground at a
distance suitable to the length of the work, and in these he fixes
two short wooden posts, securing them as strongly as he can by
ramming the earth and driving in wedges and stones around them. The
centres, scarcely more than round nails or spikes, are driven
through the posts at about eight inches from the ground, and a
wooden rod, for the support of the tools, is either nailed to the
posts or tied to them by a piece of coir or cocoanut rope. The bar,
if long, is additionally supported, as represented, by being tied
to one or two vertical sticks driven into the ground. During most
of his mechanical operations the Indian workman is seated on the
ground, hence the small elevation of the axes of his lathe. The boy
who gives motion to the work sits or kneels on the other side of
it, holding the ends of the cord wrapped around it in his hands,
pulling them alternately; the cutting being restricted to one half
of the motion, that of the work towards the tool. The turning tools
of the Indian are almost confined to the chisel and gouge, and
their handles are long enough to suit his distant position, while
he guides their cutting edges by his toes. He grasps the bar or
tool-rest with the smaller toes and places the tool between the
large toe and its neighbour, generally out of contact with the bar.
The Indian and all other turners using the Eastern method attain a
high degree of prehensile power with the toes, and when seated at
their work not only always use them to guide the tool, but will
select indifferently the hand or the foot, whichever may happen to
be the nearer, to pick up or replace any small tool or other
object. The limited supply of tools the Indian uses for working in
wood is also remarkable; they are of the most simple kind and
hardly exceed those represented in Fig. 2; the most essential in
constructing and setting up his lathe being the small,
single-handed adze, the bassoolah. With this he shapes his
posts and digs the holes; it serves on all occasions as a hammer
and also as an anvil when the edge is for a time fixed in a block
of wood. The outer side of the cutting edge is perfectly flat, and
with it the workman will square or face a beam or board with almost
as much precision as if it had been planed; in using the
bassoolah for this latter purpose the work is generally
placed in the forked stem of a tree, driven into the ground as
shown in the illustration."
[Illustration FIG. 2.]
If we are inclined to feel proud of the kind of wood-work turned out by
the average wood-worker of this country or England with his great
variety of tools and appliances and facilities, we might compare his
work with that done by the Orientals without our appliances. Read what
Professor Morse tells us of the Japanese carpenter[5]:
"His trade, as well as other trades, has been perpetuated through
generations of families. The little children have been brought
up amidst the odour of fragrant shavings,--have with childish
hands performed the duties of an adjustable vise or clamp; and
with the same tools which when children they have handed to
their fathers, they have in later days earned their daily rice.
When I see one of our carpenters' ponderous tool-chests, made
of polished woods, inlaid with brass decorations, and filled to
repletion with several hundred dollars' worth of highly polished
and elaborate machine-made implements, and contemplate the work
often done with them,--with everything binding that should go
loose, and everything rattling that should be tight, and much work
that has to be done twice over, with an indication everywhere of
a poverty of ideas,--and then recall the Japanese carpenter with
his ridiculously light and flimsy tool-box containing a meagre
assortment of rude and primitive tools,--considering the carpentry
of the two people, I am forced to the conviction that civilisation
and modern appliances count as nothing unless accompanied with a
moiety of brains and some little taste and wit.... After having
seen the good and serviceable carpentry, the perfect joints
and complex mortises, done by good Japanese workmen, one is
astonished to find that they do their work without the aid of
certain appliances considered indispensable by similar craftsmen
in our country. They have no bench, no vise, no spirit-level,
and no bit-stock; and as for labour-saving machinery, they have
absolutely nothing. With many places which could be utilised for
water-power, the old country sawmill has not occurred to them.
Their tools appear to be roughly made and of primitive design,
though evidently of the best-tempered steel. The only substitute
for the carpenter's bench is a plank on the floor, or on two
horses; a square, firm, upright post is the nearest approach to
a bench and vise, for to this beam a block of wood to be sawed
into pieces is firmly held (Fig. 3). A big wooden wedge is bound
firmly to the post with a stout rope, and this driven down with
vigorous blows till it pinches the block which is to be cut into
the desired proportions.
[Illustration FIG.3.--A JAPANESE CARPENTER'S VISE. From Morse's
_Japanese Homes_.]
[Illustration FIG. 4.--CARPENTERS' TOOLS IN COMMON USE. From Morse's
_Japanese Homes_.]
"In using many of the tools, the Japanese carpenter handles them
quite differently from our workman; for instance, he draws the
plane towards him instead of pushing it from him. The planes are
very rude-looking implements. Their bodies, instead of being
thick blocks of wood, are quite wide and thin (Fig. 4, D, E), and
the blades are inclined at a greater angle than the blade in our
plane. In some planes, however, the blade stands vertical; this
is used in lieu of the steel scrapers in giving wood a smooth
finish, and might be used with advantage by our carpenters as a
substitute for the piece of glass or thin plate of steel with
which they usually scrape the surface of the wood. A huge plane
is often seen, five or six feet long. This plane, however, is
fixed in an inclined position, upside down; that is, with the
blade uppermost. The board, or piece to be planed, is moved back
and forth upon it. Draw-shaves are in common use. The saws are of
various kinds, with teeth much longer than those of our saws, and
cut in different ways.... Some saws have teeth on the back as well
as on the front, one edge being used as a cross-cut saw (Fig. 4,
B, C). The hand-saw, instead of having the curious loop-shaped
handle made to accommodate only one hand, as with us, has a
simple straight cylindrical handle as long as the saw itself, and
sometimes longer. Our carpenters engage one hand in holding the
stick to be sawed while driving the saw with the other hand; the
Japanese carpenter, on the contrary, holds the piece with his
foot, and stooping over, with his two hands drives the saw by
quick and rapid cuts through the wood. This style of working and
doing many other things could never be adopted in this country
without an importation of Japanese backs.... The adze is provided
with a rough handle bending considerably at the lower end, not
unlike a hockey-stick (Fig. 4, A).... For drilling holes a very
long-handled awl is used. The carpenter seizing the handle at the
end, between the palms of his hands, and moving his hands rapidly
back and forth, pushing down at the same time, the awl is made
rapidly to rotate back and forth; as his hands gradually slip
down on the handle he quickly seizes it at the upper end again,
continuing the motion as before. One is astonished to see how
rapidly holes are drilled in this simple yet effective way. For
large holes, augers similar to ours are used."
When you are obliged to work some day with few and insufficient tools
(as most workmen are at times), you will quickly realise how much you
can do with very few in case of necessity, and will more fully
appreciate the skill of those Eastern people who do so much with so
little. We do not need so many hand-tools for wood-work as our
grandfathers and our great-grandfathers, although we make a greater
variety of things, because machinery now does so much of the work for
us. Wood-workers of fifty years ago had, for instance, dozens of planes
for cutting all sorts of grooves, mouldings, and the like, which are now
worked by machine at the nearest mill.
=Suggestions about Buying.=--Do not start in by buying a chest of tools,
certainly not one of the small cheap sets. They are not necessarily
poor, but are very apt to be. Get a few tools at a time as you need
them. In that way you will get all you need in the most satisfactory
way.
Besides the fact that you _can_ do good work with few tools there are
various reasons which make it _better_ to begin with but few. You will
probably take better care of a few than of many. If you have thirty
chisels on the rack before you and you make a nick in the end of the one
you are using, there is a strong chance that instead of stopping to
sharpen it you will lay it aside and take one of the remaining
twenty-nine that will answer your purpose, and before you realise it
have a whole rack full of dull tools. If you have but few chisels, you
will be _compelled_ to sharpen them, and so get into the habit of taking
proper care of them--not to speak of the time which is often wasted in
putting away one tool and selecting another unnecessarily.
The longer you work the more you will get to _rely_ on a small number of
tools only, however many you may have at hand for occasional use. After
you have worked for some time you will be very likely to have your
favourite tools, and find that certain tools do better work in your
hands than certain others which perhaps someone else would use for the
purpose, and you will naturally favour the use of those particular
implements, which is another less important reason for not starting in
with too great a variety. I do not mean that you will imagine you can do
better with one tool than another, but that you really can do so. That
is where individuality comes in--the "personal equation."
Watch a skilful carver at a piece of ordinary work. See how few tools he
spreads before him, and how much he does with the one in his hand before
he lays it down for another. You would think it would take twenty-five
tools, perhaps, to cut such a design, but the carver may have only about
half a dozen before him. He gets right into the _spirit_ of what he is
doing, and somehow or other he does ever so many things with the tool in
his hand in less time and carries out his idea better than if he kept
breaking off to select others.
This shows that confidence in the use of a tool goes a long way toward
the execution of good work, which is one reason for learning to use a
few tools well and making them serve for all the uses to which they can
advantageously be put. In short, if you have but few tools at first you
get the most you can out of each tool and in the way best for yourself.
Now I do not mean by all this that it is not a good thing to have a
large kit of tools, or that you should not have the proper tools for the
various operations, and use them. I mean that you should get your tools
gradually as you find that you need them to do your work as it should be
done, and not get a lot in advance of needing them just because they
seem to be fine things to have, or because some carpenter has them in
his chest.
Do not place too much reliance on the lists of tools which you find in
books and magazines--the "tools necessary for beginners," "a list of
tools for boys," etc. Such lists are necessarily arbitrary. To make a
short list that would be thoroughly satisfactory for such varied work as
a boy or amateur may turn his hand to is about as impracticable as the
attempts you sometimes see to name the twenty-five greatest or best men
or the one hundred best books. When you can find half a dozen
independent lists which agree it will be time enough to begin to pin
your faith to them. The most experienced or learned people cannot agree
exactly in such matters. It depends somewhat, for one thing, on what
kind of work you begin with, and, of course, somewhat upon yourself
also.
Now while, as we have seen, most wonderful work can be done with the
most primitive tools, the fact remains that you are neither Chinese nor
Japanese, but Americans and English, and you cannot work to the best
advantage without certain tools. "Well, what are they? Why don't you
give us a list to begin with? That's what we are looking for." Simply
because a quite varied experience has taught me to think it better to
give you suggestions to help you make the selection for yourselves.
Just as the great majority of boys would agree upon _Robinson Crusoe_,
for instance, as belonging in the front rank of boys' books, but would
make very different selections of second-rate or third-rate books, so
there are a few "universal" tools, upon the importance of which all
agree, such as the saw, hammer, hatchet or axe, and a few others; but
beyond these few you can have as many "lists" as you can find people to
make them, up to the point of including all you are likely to want. So
let your list make itself as you go along, according to your own needs.
It is safe to say, however, that if your work is to be at all varied,
such as is given in this book, for instance, you cannot get along to
good advantage for any length of time without a _rule_, a _try-square_,
a _straight-edge_, a _knife_, two or three _chisels_, a _hatchet_, a
_gouge_, a _smoothing-plane_, a _spoke-shave_, a _panel-saw_, a _hammer_
and _nail-set_, a _bit-brace_ and three or four _bits_ (_twist-drills_
are good for the smaller sizes), a _countersink_, a few _bradawls_ and
_gimlets_, a _screw-driver_, a _rasp_ and _half-round file_ for wood, a
_three-cornered file_ for metal, an _oil-stone_, a _glue-pot_. An
excellent and cheap combination tool for such work as you will do can be
bought almost anywhere under the name of "_odd jobs_." Of course you
will need nails, screws, sandpaper, glue, oil, and such supplies, which
you can buy as you need them. A section (18 inches or 20 inches high)
from the trunk of a tree is very useful for a chopping-block, or any big
junk of timber can be used.
You will, however, quickly feel the need of a few more tools to do your
work to better advantage, and according to the kind of work you are
doing you will add some of the following: a _fore-plane_, a
_splitting-saw_, a _mallet_, a _back-saw_, _compasses_, one or more
_firmer chisels_, one or more _framing-chisels_, a _block-plane_,
_pincers_, a _gauge_ or two, one or more _gouges_, a _steel square_, a
_draw-knife_, a large _screw-driver_, a _scraper_, a few _hand-screws_
(or _iron clamps_), a few more _bits_, _gimlets_, _bradawls_, or
_drills_, _cutting-pliers_ or _nippers_, a _bevel_, a _jointer_ (plane),
a _wrench_. An iron _mitre-box_ is useful but rather expensive, and you
can get along with the wooden one described further on. A _grindstone_
is, of course, essential when you get to the point of sharpening your
tools yourself, but you can have your tools ground or get the use of a
stone without having to buy one for a long time.
The following list makes a fair outfit for nearly and sometimes all the
work the average amateur is likely to do, excepting the bench appliances
and such contrivances as you will make yourselves and the occasional
addition of a bit or chisel or gouge or file, etc., of some other size
or shape when needed. This is not a list to start with, of course,
unless you can afford it, for you can get along for a good while with
only a part, nor is it a complete list, but merely one with which a
great amount of useful work can be done to good advantage. You can
always add to it for special purposes.
For further remarks about these tools and others and their uses, see
Part V., where they will be found alphabetically arranged.
1 two-foot rule.
1 try-square (metal-bound).
1 pair of wing compasses.
1 marking-gauge.
1 mortise-gauge.
1 steel square (carpenter's framing-square).
1 bevel.
1 "odd jobs."
1 chalk-line and chalk.
1 knife.
5 firmer chisels (1/8", 1/4", 1/2", 7/8", 1-1/4").
2 framing-or mortising-chisels (1", 1-1/2").
3 gouges (1/4", 1/2", 1").
1 iron spoke-shave (adjustable).
1 draw-knife.
1 hatchet.
1 block-plane.
1 smoothing-plane.
1 long fore-plane (or a jointer).
1 jack-plane.
1 rabbet-plane (3/4" or 7/8" square).
1 cutting-off saw (panel-saw, 24").
1 splitting-saw (26").
1 back-saw (12").
1 turning-saw (14").
1 compass and keyhole saw (combined).
1 bit-brace.
3 auger-bits (1/2", 3/4", 1").
3 twist-drills (1/8", 3/16", 1/4").
A few bradawls and gimlets.
1 screw-driver for bit-brace.
1 countersink.
1 hammer and 2 nail-sets.
2 screw-drivers (different sizes).
Files of several kinds (flat,
three-cornered, and round
for metal, and half-round
and round for wood).
1 large half-round rasp.
1 cabinet scraper and burnisher.
1 mallet.
1 pair cutting-pliers.
1 pair of pincers.
1 wrench.
1 oil-stone and oiler.
2 or 3 oil-stone slips (different
shapes).
1 glue-pot.
2 or more iron clamps.
2 or more wooden hand-screws.
2 or more cabinet clamps (2' to
4').
An adjustable iron mitre-box will be a valuable addition to this
list, and a grindstone is of use even when you get most of your
grinding done.
A few carver's tools are also convenient at times if you can afford
them, as a skew-chisel (1/2"), a parting-tool (1/4"), and a small
veining-tool.
General supplies, such as nails, screws, glue, etc., specified in
Part V., will of course be required.
* * * * *
There are still more tools than those given above, as you doubtless
know, but by the time you have become workman enough to need more you
will know what you need. Ploughs, matching-planes, and all such
implements are omitted, because it is better and usually as cheap to get
such work as they do done by machine at a mill. I also assume that all
your heavy sawing and planing will be done at some mill. It is not worth
while for the amateur to undertake the sawing and planing of large
pieces, the hewing and splitting of the rougher branches of wood-work,
for such work can be done almost anywhere by machine at very slight
expense, and stock can be bought already got out and planed for but a
trifle more than the cost of the wood alone.[6]
Be sure to get good tools. There is a saying that a good workman is
known by his tools, and another that a poor workman is always
complaining of his tools, that is, excusing his own incompetence by
throwing the blame upon his tools. There is also another saying to the
effect that a good workman can work with poor tools; but it is simply
because he is a skilled and ingenious workman that he can if necessary
often do good work _in spite_ of inferior tools, and of course he could
do the same work more easily and quickly, if not better, with good ones.
So do not think that because you sometimes see a skilled workman making
shift with poor tools that you are justified in beginning in that way,
for a beginner should use only good tools and in good condition or he
may never become a good workman at all, so make your tools and their
care a matter of pride. If your tools are of good quality, and proper
care is taken of them, they will last a lifetime and longer; so good
tools prove the cheapest in the end.[7]
There are some cases, however, in which it is as well not to buy the
most expensive tools at first, as a cheap rule will do as well as an
expensive one, considering how likely you are to break or lose it, and a
cheap gauge will answer quite well for a good while; but this does not
affect the truth of the general statement that you should get only the
best tools. There are also quite a number of tools, appliances, and
makeshifts which you can make for yourselves, some of which will be
described. I advise you not to pick up tools at second-hand shops,
auctions, or junk shops, except with the assistance of some competent
workman.
=Care of Tools.=--Keep your tools in good order. You cannot do nice,
fine, clean work with a dull tool. A sharp tool will make a clean cut,
but a dull edge will tear or crush the fibres and not leave a clean-cut
surface. You can work so much more easily and quickly as well as
satisfactorily with sharp tools that the time it takes to keep them in
order is much less than you lose in working with dull ones, not to speak
of the waste of strength and temper.
I assume that you will not attempt to sharpen your tools yourselves
until you have had considerable experience in using them; for sharpening
tools (particularly saws and planes) is very hard for boys and amateurs,
and not easy to learn from a book. So, until then, be sure to have them
sharpened whenever they become dull. The expense is but slight, and it
is much better to have fewer tools kept sharp than to spend the money
for more tools and have them dull. When you get to the point of
sharpening your tools, one lesson from a practical workman or even a
little time spent in watching the operations (which you can do easily)
will help you more than reading many pages from any book. So I advise
you to get instruction in sharpening from some practical workman,--not
at first, but after you have got quite handy with the tools. You can
easily do this at little or no expense. For further points, see
_Sharpening_, in Part V.
It is a good plan to soak tool handles, mallets, and wooden planes, when
new, for a week or so in raw linseed oil and then rub them with a soft
rag every day or two for a while. If you use wooden planes give them a
good soaking. They will absorb much oil and work more freely and
smoothly. You can save tool handles from being split by pounding, by
sawing the ends off square and fastening on two round disks of
sole-leather in the way adopted by shoe-makers. If there is any tendency
to dampness in your shop the steel and iron parts of the tools should be
greased with a little fat,--tallow, lard, wax, vaseline,--or some
anti-rust preparation.
=Use of Tools.=--It is very important to get started right in using
tools. If your first idea of what the tool is for and how it should be
used is correct you will get along nicely afterwards, but if you start
with a wrong impression you will have to unlearn, which is always hard,
and start afresh.
If you can go to a good wood-working school you will of course learn
much, and if you know a good-natured carpenter or cabinet-maker or any
wood-worker of the _old-fashioned_ kind, cultivate his acquaintance. If
he is willing to let you watch his work and to answer your questions you
can add much to your knowledge of the uses of the different tools. In
fact, so far as instruction goes that is about all the teaching the
average apprentice gets. He learns by observing and by practice. Do not
be afraid or ashamed to ask questions. Very few men will refuse to
answer an amateur's questions unless they are unreasonably frequent.
There will be problems enough to exercise all the ingenuity you have
after you have learned what you can from others.
But the day for the all-round workman seems to be rapidly passing away
and the tendency nowadays is for each workman, instead of spending years
in learning the various branches and details of his trade, to be expert
in only one very limited branch--or, as sometimes happens, a general
botch in all the branches; so unless you find a real mechanic for a
friend (such as an old or middle-aged village carpenter, or
cabinet-maker, or wheelwright, or boat-builder, or carver), be a little
guarded about believing all he tells or shows you; and beware of relying
implicitly on the teachings of the man who "knows it all" and whom a
season's work at nailing up studding and boarding has turned into a
full-fledged "carpenter."
If you can learn to use your tools with either hand you will often find
it a decided advantage, as in getting out crooked work, or particularly
in carving, where you have such an endless variety of cuts to be made in
almost every possible direction, but "that is another story." A bad
habit and one to guard against is that of carrying with you the tool you
may be using whenever you leave your work temporarily, instead of laying
it down where you are working. Edge-tools are dangerous things to carry
around in the hand and there is also much chance of their being mislaid.
For directions for using the different tools see Part V.
=Edge-Tools.=--Bear in mind that all cutting tools work more or less on
the principle of the wedge. So far as the mere cutting is concerned a
keen edge is all that is required and your knife or other cutting tool
might be as thin as a sheet of paper. But of course such a tool would
break, so it must be made thicker for strength and wedge-shaped so that
it may be pushed through the wood as easily as possible.
You know that you can safely use a very thin knife to cut butter because
the butter yields so easily that there is not much strain on the blade,
but that when you cut wood the blade must be thicker to stand the strain
of being pushed through. Soft wood cuts more easily than hard, because
it is more easily pushed aside or compressed by the wedge-shaped tool,
and it does not matter how keen the edge may be if the resistance of the
wood is so great that you cannot force the thicker part of the tool
through it.
You will understand from all this that the more acute the angle of the
cutting edge the more easily it will do its work, provided always that
the angle is obtuse or blunt enough to give the proper strength to the
end of the tool; and also that as the end of the tool encounters more
resistance in hard than soft wood, the angle should be more obtuse or
blunter for the former than for the latter. Theoretically, therefore,
the angle of the cutting edge, to obtain the greatest possible
advantage, would need to be changed with every piece of wood and every
kind of cut, but practically all that can be done is to have a longer
bevel on the tools for soft wood than for hard. Experience and
observation will teach these angles. See _Sharpening_ in Part V.
When you cut off a stout stick, as the branch of a tree, you do not try
to force your knife straight across with one cut. You cut a small notch
and then widen and deepen it by cutting first on one side and then on
the other (Fig. 5). The wood yields easily to the wedge on the side
towards the notch, so that the edge can easily cut deeper, and thus the
notch is gradually cut through the stick. The same principle is seen in
cutting down a tree with an axe. You have only to look at the structure
of a piece of wood when magnified, as roughly indicated in Fig. 6, to
see why it is easier to cut with the grain than across it.
[Illustration FIG. 5.]
[Illustration FIG. 6.]
[Illustration FIG. 7.]
You can often cut better with a _draw-stroke_, _i.e._, not merely
pushing the tool straight ahead, but drawing it across sideways at the
same time (Fig. 7). You can press the sharp edge of a knife or razor
against your hand without cutting, but draw the edge across and you will
be cut at once. Even a blade of grass will cut if you draw the edge
quickly through your hand, as you doubtless know.
If you try to push a saw down into a piece of wood, as you push a knife
down through a lump of butter, or as in chopping with a hatchet, that
is, without pushing and pulling the saw back and forth, it will not
enter the wood to any extent, but when you begin to work it back and
forth it cuts (or tears) its way into the wood at once. You know how
much better you can cut a slice of fresh bread when you saw the knife
back and forth than when you merely push it straight down through the
loaf. You may have noticed (and you may not) how much better your knife
will cut, and that the cut will be cleaner, in doing some kinds of
whittling, when you _draw it through the wood from handle to point_
(Fig. 7), instead of pushing it straight through in the common way, and
you will discover, if you try cutting various substances, that as a
general rule the softer the material the greater the advantage in the
draw-stroke.
Now put the sharpest edge-tool you can find under a powerful microscope,
and you will see that the edge, instead of being so very smooth, is
really quite ragged,--a sort of saw-like edge. Then look at the
structure of a piece of wood as roughly indicated in Fig. 6, and you
will understand at once just what we do when we cut wood with an
edge-tool. You see the microscopically small sticks or tubes or bundles
of woody fibre of which the big stick is composed, and you also see the
microscopically fine saw to cut them. Now if the edge of the tool is
fine you can often do the work satisfactorily by simply pushing the tool
straight through the wood, but do you not see that if you can draw or
slide the tool either back or forth the edge, being saw-like, will do
its work better?
This stroke cannot be used of course in chopping with the axe or
hatchet, splitting kindling-wood, or splitting a stick _with_ the grain
with a knife or chisel. In these operations the main principle is that
of the wedge, pure and simple, driven through by force, the keen edge
merely starting the cut, after which the wedge does the rest of the work
by bearing so hard against the wood at the sides of the cut that it
forces it to split _in advance_ of the cutting edge, as in riving a log
by the use first of an axe, then of an iron wedge, and finally a large
wooden wedge (Fig. 8).
[Illustration FIG. 8.]
Practical directions and suggestions about the different _Tools and
their Uses_ and the various _Operations_ will be found alphabetically
arranged in Part V.
FOOTNOTES:
[4] Quoted, by kind permission, from _Turning and Mechanical
Manipulation_.
[5] Quoted, by kind permission, from the valuable and entertaining work
on _Japanese Homes and their Surroundings_ (copyright. 1885), by Edward
S. Morse.
[6] If you are so situated, as possibly a few of you may be, that you
cannot get the benefit of modern methods, but must do all the rough
work that your grandfathers did, you will require a few additional
tools, but these you can readily select from the descriptions given
farther on.
[7] There are many reliable makers of tools. Among them the following
can be named, and their tools can be obtained almost anywhere:
Saws--Henry Disston. Chisels and gouges--Moulson Bros.; Buck Bros.
Planes--Stanley; Moulson Bros. (plane-irons); Wm. Butcher (do.); Buck
Bros. (do.) Files--P. S. Stubs. Rules and squares, levels, gauges,
spoke-shaves, etc.--Stanley Rule & Level Co. Braces--Barber.
Bits--Jennings. Knives (sloid)--Taylor. Carving tools--Addis; Buck;
Taylor.
CHAPTER III
WOOD
Before you can make anything successfully, you must have not merely
wood, but the _right kind_ of wood for the purpose. There are, also,
"choice cuts" in lumber, as the butcher says of meat, and judicious
selection of the stock often makes all the difference between a good job
and a poor one; so let us examine a log and follow it through the
sawmill.
You have, of course, seen the rings, or circular lines, on the ends of
pieces of wood (Fig. 9). These are called the _annual rings_,[8] and
each ring marks a new layer of wood added to the tree, for, as perhaps
you may have learned, the trees we use for wood-working grow by adding
new layers of wood on the outside. Examine the ends of pieces of wood of
various kinds. In some pieces these rings will be very plain. In others
they will be quite indistinct.
[Illustration FIG. 9.]
Notice that the wood nearest the bark, known as the _sapwood_, usually
looks different from the inner wood, which is called the _heart_ (Fig.
9).
In some trees you will see rays, or lines, radiating from the centre,
and known as the _medullary rays_ (Figs. 9 and 10), because they spring
from the pith (Latin _medulla_). Sometimes these lines are too fine to
be noticed.
You will see from Fig. 10 that the layers of wood are also shown in the
lines of what we call the "grain" on the surface of a piece of wood cut
lengthways, and that the lines of the grain are continuations of the
annual rings. You will also notice at the ends of timber, after the
seasoning has begun, cracks radiating from the centre, showing the
natural lines of cleavage or separation.
[Illustration FIG. 10.]
[Illustration FIG. 11.]
The way the log is sawed is important, though you might naturally think
that the only thing is to saw it any way that will give pieces of the
required size and shape.
Why is green wood heavier and softer than dry wood, and the sapwood of
green timber softer than the heart? Because of the sap or water
contained. The amount of water is sometimes even as much as fifty per
cent. of the weight of the wood, but the quantity depends upon the kind
of tree, the season, etc. Now the more water the green log contains, the
more it will shrink. It begins to dry and shrink as soon as the tree has
been cut down. The sapwood shrinks more than the heart because it
contains more water, and faster because, being on the outside, it is
more exposed. The log shrinks most in the line of the annual rings, that
is, _around_ the tree. It shrinks much less in the line of the medullary
rays, that is, _across_ the tree. Shrinkage lengthways is too slight to
be considered[9] (Fig. 11).
The result of all this unequal shrinking is that the log tends to split,
or crack open, at the circumference (Fig. 12), the cracks running in
toward the centre, in the line of the medullary rays. If the log is
halved or quartered, so that the inner parts are exposed, the drying
goes on more uniformly throughout, the cracking is not so bad, and the
parts of the log will shrink somewhat as shown in Figs. 13 and 14.
[Illustration FIG. 12.]
[Illustration FIG. 13.]
The beams, joists, planks, or boards cut from a log have the same
tendency to shrink unevenly that is found in the log itself. This causes
them to be irregular in shape and to curl or warp more or less,
according to the part of the log from which they are taken. A piece cut
from the centre of a log will thus hold its shape better than if cut
from one side (Fig. 15).
[Illustration FIG. 14.]
[Illustration FIG. 15.]
[Illustration FIG. 16.]
When a log is sawed into boards or planks (Fig. 16) the middle board
shrinks but little in width and in thickness at the centre, but becomes
thinner towards the edges. It does not curl, because it is cut through
the centre of the log and has no more tendency to curl one way than the
other. The outside board shrinks least in thickness and most in width,
and all, except the middle one, shrink differently on one side from the
other. They become convex toward the pith, or heart, and concave toward
the outside. Different kinds of wood shrink and warp to different
degrees. You can learn something about these matters by examining the
stock in any lumber-yard.
Now to come to the practical application of our brief study of the log
and the sawing process: if you merely wish to get the most that you can
from a log in the form of boards or plank, have the pieces sliced off in
the simple way just shown (Fig. 17). This is the usual way of sawing
for ordinary purposes. Boarding for the outside of a house, for
instance, cut in this way answers every purpose. By this process the
central boards will be good and the outer ones inferior,[10] as just
shown (Fig. 16), but for common work all can generally be used.
[Illustration FIG. 17.]
[Illustration FIG. 18.]
[Illustration FIG. 19.]
If you wish the highly figured grain[11] often seen in oak, ash,
chestnut, etc., you can get it by sawing the log as just shown in Fig.
17. The figure of the grain will be most marked in the outer boards
(Fig. 18), because the annual rings are cut more obliquely in them than
in the boards at or near the centre. These boards (Fig. 17) will tend to
change their shape, as just shown (Fig. 19), but if they are to be
firmly fastened in some way, or confined (as in a panel), handsome grain
effects can be obtained.
[Illustration FIG. 20.]
[Illustration FIG. 21.]
[Illustration FIG. 22.]
If you wish the beautiful figure formed when the medullary rays show on
the surface of the board, as in "quartered" oak, the log should be cut
in the direction of the radii, that is, along the lines of the medullary
rays (Fig. 20). The more exactly the side of a board is cut on the
radial line the more richly the figure of the medullary rays will be
shown, as in Fig. 21. This method of sawing is more expensive than the
first way, of course, as it requires more labour and wastes more of the
wood. The wide board shown in Fig. 21 and either of those in Fig. 22 are
examples.
If you wish boards that will shrink the least in width and remain as
true as possible, then the log should be sawed on the radial lines as
just shown, so that all the boards will be from the middle of the log.
Wood shrinks but little in the direction of the radii, as just shown,
and middle boards will be alike on both sides as regards heart- and
sapwood, etc., and, therefore, have the least tendency to change of
shape. The middle board by the method of Fig. 17 will be a good board in
these respects.
[Illustration FIG. 23.]
[Illustration FIG. 24.]
[Illustration FIG. 25.]
Various methods of radial sawing, or in which part of the boards are so
cut, are shown in Figs. 20 and 26, Figs. 23, 24, 25, and 26 showing the
log quartered and various ways of sawing into boards. Thus we see that
the middle boards, those passing through or near the centre, are the
best for most purposes.
[Illustration FIG. 26.]
[Illustration FIG. 27.]
Split or rift stock is stronger than sawed. If you wish a piece
especially tough and durable, as for an axe handle or a stout pin, it
should be split out rather than sawed, unless the wood is very
straight-grained, because the splitting is sure to be in the line of the
fibres, thus avoiding "cross-grain," which cannot well be entirely
prevented in sawing. If the grain is straight, there may be no practical
difference in the result between sawing and splitting, as in the
so-called rift flooring, which is really sawed, but with crooked-grained
pieces the difference is marked in such cases as the block shown in Fig.
27, from which four pins can be sawed, while but one can be split out.
That one will be straight-grained, however, and stronger than the sawed
ones, which will be cross-grained.
Try your best to get well-seasoned wood for your nice work. If it is not
dry before you use it, it must of course dry afterwards, which is likely
to cause cracks, warping, opened joints, and often the entire ruin of
the article you have made. You will have to trust the dealer, or some
friend, until you have had enough experience to judge for yourself, for
it is no easy matter for an amateur to decide, except in case of very
green stock, which is of course wet and soggy.
There are two ways of drying wood in common use. One is the
old-fashioned way (commonly known as _seasoning_, _weather-drying_, or
_air-drying_) in which the wood is gradually seasoned by the natural
process of exposure to the air (but protected from the weather), that
is, letting it dry of itself.
* * * * *
Do not believe the statements so common in books that it "takes lumber"
some definite time, as one year or two years, "to season." It all
depends on the kind of wood, its shape and size, the condition of the
atmosphere, and various circumstances. For some rough work (a pig-pen,
for instance) there is no advantage in seasoning at all, because the
stock can just as well dry after the work is done as before. For many
kinds of common work one or two years is sufficient for some kinds and
sizes of wood; for a nicer grade of work two or three years is none too
much, while for very nice indoor work four years or more is not too long
for the stock to season. There is very little danger of its being kept
too long. It never will get perfectly dry (see Appendix). Whether it is
dry _enough_ or not depends on what you want it for.
* * * * *
To save time and money the artificial way (known as _kiln-drying_) of
shutting it up in a room and drying it quickly by steam or other heat
is now used, and, so far as drying the wood is concerned, this process
can do the work well and much more quickly than the old way--sometimes
too quickly. It is no exaggeration to say that in factories where cheap
furniture and other common articles are made nowadays, a standing tree
is felled on Monday, the log rolled into one end of the factory, and
before Saturday night the finished articles made from it, all varnished
and complete, are sent out from the other end of the shop--and some
articles are turned out even quicker.
In the natural process of air-drying the moisture gradually and slowly
works out to the surface and evaporates, until the wood is _seasoned_,
though never absolutely dry, and the stock is firmer, more elastic, and
less affected by heat and cold, moisture and dryness, than if
kiln-dried. The latter process tends to dry the outside and ends of the
lumber too fast for the inside. It certainly lessens the elasticity of
the wood and weakens it. Making it so unnaturally dry (as if baked), as
is often done, only makes it more susceptible to the atmosphere when
taken from the kiln, and, unless it is at once protected from the air in
some way, it will reabsorb moisture until it gets into a more natural
condition; but that will not fully restore the loss of elasticity (see
Appendix). The deterioration in the quality of the wood can be plainly
seen by any wood-worker, and is often a subject of remark in regard to
oak.
The kiln-drying "takes the life out of the wood," as workmen express it,
but just why this is so is not easy to explain, for the structure and
properties of wood are very complex. I have seen too many illustrations
in my own experience and that of others to have any doubt of the fact,
however, and lumber left for years to season naturally, "stands," as the
expression is, better than if kiln-dried--a fact which is, I think,
generally conceded by wood-workers who have had experience with both
kinds.
The gain by kiln-drying, in time and money, is, therefore, more or less
offset by impairment of the quality of the wood, so if you can find
stock that you know has been seasoning for years by the natural process,
buy it by all means for your nice work, even if you have to pay more,
regardless of what the dealers in kiln-dried stock or the makers of
articles for sale may tell you about the advantages of kiln-dried wood.
On the other hand, if a dealer brags of his new patent "chain-lightning"
dryer that will make green wood "dry as a bone" in two or three days, go
elsewhere to buy your stock, for wood dried in a few days is not the
kind to use for good work. You will probably have to use kiln-dried
stock for most, or, perhaps, all of your work, but get it from a
slow-drying kiln and keep it for further seasoning as long as you can.
Even if wood has been well seasoned, it is best, before putting it into
nice work, to cut it up and dress it approximately to shape and leave it
in a dry place for some time for a final seasoning, particularly in the
case of thick stock. Do this with kiln-dried stock fresh from the
dry-house. Let it have a little time to get into harmony with the
atmosphere. Whenever wood has been exposed to damp air, as in a wet shed
or cellar, let it stand in the warm shop a while before using it for
nice work.
The stock is arranged for seasoning so as to allow the air to circulate
around and between the pieces. A common way is simply to arrange them in
piles, each piece being separated from those above and below by strips
or sticks laid across (Fig. 28). These sticks should be placed directly
over one another, and so that the lumber will lie straight, else the
weight of the pile, which should tend to make the pieces dry straight,
will have the opposite effect and make them permanently crooked. There
are other ways of arranging wood for drying, but this method is common
and illustrates the most important principles. Stock is sometimes
stacked upright, and small pieces are occasionally hung up for such nice
work as billiard cues and bows.
[Illustration FIG. 28.]
Seasoned wood is lighter in weight than green, dryer to the touch,
usually has a different odour, cuts differently when you whittle it (and
the piece you whittle off breaks differently), and it shows a difference
when you saw it. It is impossible to define these differences and you
will have to learn them by actual work. It is not always easy even for
an experienced person to tell with certainty about some pieces until he
has "worked" them, so much do the characteristics of different pieces
vary. One test is to rap the boards sharply with a hammer. A green board
and a dry one of the same kind will "rap" differently,--that is, will
have a different vibration and give out a different sound. Of course
this cannot be described, but you can judge quite well in this way. It
is one of the many things you can learn only by experience. You can
ascertain much about the character and condition of lumber by sawing or
planing or whittling a piece. This is a good test for dryness,
toughness, and elasticity (which you can tell about by breaking the
shavings).
Weather-dried timber is usually somewhat darkened from exposure, but
kiln-drying lightens the colour of some woods.
Stock with a bright lustrous appearance and of dark hue is generally
superior to that of a lighter colour and duller appearance, but such
characteristics depend much upon the kind of wood. Green wood is tougher
than seasoned wood, but the latter is more elastic. To subject seasoned
wood to moisture and heat brings it back, to a certain extent, to its
original condition, and renders it for the time being tougher, hence the
process of bending wood by the application of steam or hot water (see
_Bending_ in Part V.).
Reject "wany" lumber, or that of which the edges or corners have not
been squared (Fig. 18), and also boards and planks which have not been
sawed to a uniform thickness. It is not uncommon for a board to be
considerably thinner than it should be in some part of its length, due
to irregularity in sawing.
For plain work avoid "cross-grained" stock, as well as that having knots
(which are sometimes "tight" and sometimes "loose"), as it is harder to
work and to smooth, is not as strong, and does not hold its shape as
well, as a rule. Sometimes it is desirable, however, on account of the
beautiful figure of the grain shown in many crooked-grained pieces, as
in mahogany for furniture (see Appendix). Bear in mind that when
especial strength is required rift stock is best.
Reject wood which smells musty, or has rusty-looking spots, which are
signs of decay, or of the attack of fungi, which may spread and under
favourable conditions attack other pieces which are sound (see
Appendix).
[Illustration FIG. 29.]
[Illustration FIG. 30.]
Reject crooked stock. The worst form is _winding_ or twisting. Of course
no one would take such an extreme case as Fig. 29, unless for some very
rough work, but even a _very slight_ winding may make much trouble in
your nice work. So look particularly for this defect, which you can
often detect at once by the eye, but if your eye is not well trained use
winding-sticks (see Part V.). _Warped_ or curled stock, with the surface
rounded or hollowed (Fig. 19), is also bad, but you will need no
instructions to detect this defect by the eye or any straight stick.
When boards are rounding on one side and hollowing on the other, it is
due either to the way the log was sawed, as we have seen, or to one side
having been more exposed and so having dried faster and shrunk faster
than the other, causing that side to be concave, while the other became
convex. Stock is sometimes crooked lengthways,--either a simple bending
in a curve or at an angle, or wavy (Fig. 30), or both,--often due to
careless "sticking" (Fig. 28) while the wood was green. Sighting
lengthways will of course show these defects.
Reject stock badly checked at the ends, or cracked. There is apt to be
more or less of this in most lumber. In seasoning, the pieces dry faster
on the outside than in the middle, which causes checks or cracks,
usually worse at the ends of the pieces, where the drying takes place
most rapidly. The ends of valuable boards and planks are sometimes
painted or cleated, which in a measure prevents this result.
Occasionally, when the cleat is removed a crack will suddenly extend
and even split the board.
Do not take a cracked or partly split board, thinking that you can use
the sound end from the point where the crack _appears_ to stop. Possibly
you can, but oftentimes and in some kinds of wood it is impossible to
tell before the stock is cut where the cracks end. In mahogany, for
example, they sometimes are found to extend, or develop, several feet
beyond where they appear to stop. Sometimes you can buy wood with such
defects at a discount. Unless you are _sure_, however, that there is
enough sound, clear wood outside of the cracks or knots, and unless the
discount is pretty large, it will usually be better to buy clear, sound
stock for nice work, as the waste is very apt to offset the saving, not
to speak of the extra time and labour it takes to work up such material.
(See _Shakes_ in Appendix.)
Reject sapwood as far as possible, because it is usually inferior to the
heartwood.
* * * * *
In the case of elm and young ash the sapwood is, however, superior to
the heart. The heartwood is usually harder and more durable than the
sapwood, heavier, of better texture, and commonly of better colour.
"The sapwood is, as a rule, darker in the whitewood class than the
heartwood, whether seasoned or unseasoned, but is paler in colour in
most hardwood trees which have had time to season. In some of the white,
or softer woods, when fresh cut, the difference is scarcely perceptible;
but exposure to the air quickly gives to the outer layers a greenish
tinge, due to a species of mould fungi which attack them."--LASLETT and
WARD. (See also Appendix.)
* * * * *
When buying, do not take boards just as they happen to come from the
pile. Select them yourself. Most good-natured dealers will let you do
this if you do not expect them to unstack a whole pile just for one or
two boards. It is better to do this for nice work even if a slight
charge should be made for the privilege. When you come to pick out
boards you will see the application of what has been said about the ways
of cutting the log, and you can tell by the annual rings at the ends of
the boards, by the sapwood (when visible), the grain, etc., from what
part of the log the pieces were sawed.
Use good, clear stock for everything but rough work. Of course in rough
or temporary work you can save expense by using wood from packing-cases,
boxes, old fence-rails, or anything that will serve the purpose, but as
a rule avoid trying to make nice, new things of wood taken from old work
or boxes. The quality of the wood used for boxes nowadays is apt to be
poor and hard to work. The wood taken from old cabinet-work is, however,
often better than you are likely to buy, but you need to be very
cautious about working over old material, for the dirt which has been
ground into it is apt to dull your tools, and, moreover, the presence of
concealed nails, etc. (which it is sometimes almost impossible to
detect), will often injure your tools so much as to more than offset
what you save in expense.
Do not buy thick stock with the idea of sawing it into thinner pieces
(unless necessary). Of course it can be sawed into thinner or smaller
pieces, but you cannot always be sure that these will be as true as the
original stock. Suddenly exposing the middle of a piece of wood to the
air in this way sometimes plays queer pranks with the shape of the
pieces (see Appendix). If you want to use boards for good work buy those
which have seasoned as boards, instead of splitting up thicker lumber;
and always try to treat both sides of a board alike so far as you can.
Bear this in mind: If you take an inch board to the mill to be planed
down to three eighths of an inch, for instance, have it planed equally,
as nearly as may be, from both sides. Ignorant hands often simply smooth
off, or "surface," one side, and then plane the board down on the other
side, when it will sometimes warp badly at once and be useless, perhaps,
for the purpose intended.
If you carefully pile and "stick" the stock you have bought (Fig. 28),
it will tend to keep the pieces straight and true. Never lay good boards
down flat directly upon one another unless they are _thoroughly_
seasoned. It is the best of all ways, however, to _keep_ a pile of
thoroughly seasoned stock, but not the way to season it. The top board
will warp. Never lay a single board of nice stock flat on its side. Keep
short pieces of nice stock standing on end where they will be equally
exposed on both sides to heat and cold, moisture and dryness.
The best way to learn about any kind of wood is from the wood itself. It
is a capital idea to make a collection of specimens of as many kinds as
you can.[12] You will be surprised to see how varied, interesting, and
handsome a collection you can make at little or no expense. (See
Appendix.)
The kinds of wood which you are likely to use are commonly known as
either _hard_ or _soft_, the former class from trees with broad leaves,
as the oak, the latter from the coniferous or needle-leaved trees, as
the white pine. This distinction between hard and soft wood you may find
somewhat puzzling at first, for the common whitewood of the hardwood
class you will find softer and easier to work than hard pine of the
softwood class, but the distinction is based on botanical reasons. The
hard woods are usually more durable as well as stronger than the soft.
For various woods see Appendix.
* * * * *
_Timber._--The word timber is applied in a general way to the log and to
the material itself, and to the standing trees. It is also applied more
specifically to the larger squared pieces, or "dimension" stock, such as
sills, beams, etc.
_Lumber._--As the term is used in the United States, lumber consists,
according to Webster, of "timber sawed or split for use, as beams,
joists, boards, planks, staves, hoops, and the like."
* * * * *
Lumber may be either _undressed_ or _dressed_, that is, rough (as it
comes from the saw) or planed. It is usually sawed in regular
thicknesses, and for stock which is in steady demand, such as joists,
floor timbers, etc., in regular widths, as 2" x 4", 4" x 6", etc. It is
commonly sold in lengths varying from 10 feet to 20 feet. Twelve feet is
a common length for boards. Planing (by machine) rough or undressed
boards on both sides will usually reduce the thickness of an inch board
to about seven eighths of an inch. Other thicknesses will of course be
reduced correspondingly. Bear this in mind. The terms 1" board, 2"
plank, etc., apply, as a rule, to the stock in the rough state as it
comes from the saw. When you buy planed or dressed lumber it will be
thinner--that is, the "inch board" that you wish to get for a shelf will
not be one inch thick (unless you get it unplaned), but seven eighths of
an inch.
* * * * *
You must make allowance for this when you figure on _dressed_ lumber. If
for example the board must be one inch thick when planed, you will have
to get a thin plank and have it planed down, or pull over the pile
until you find a board which happens to be sawed as thick as one inch
and one eighth. You can sometimes find boards planed one inch thick, but
as a rule you will find the thickness seven eighths of an inch. A
similar statement will apply to the various thicknesses of planks also.
The sawing is often very irregular, however, and frequently some boards
or planks will run thick enough in sawing to give the required thickness
when planed, so it is well to look for such when you need pieces a
little thicker than planed stock usually runs.
[Illustration FIG. 31.]
* * * * *
For such work as you are likely to do you will chiefly need boards,
planks, and joists. Other forms will be referred to farther on.
* * * * *
_Boards._--These are one inch thick or less.
_Matched-boards_, or "sheathing," have a groove on one edge and a
corresponding tongue on the other (Fig. 31.) Any number of boards can
thus be joined to make a wide surface. The edges of these boards were
formerly tongued and grooved by hand with "matching-planes," but now
this is done by machine, usually with some form of bead or moulding at
one edge (and sometimes in the middle) to render the joint less
noticeable.
_Planks._--These are _thick_ boards,--more than one inch in thickness.
Both planks and boards can be of any width or length, the distinction
being merely in thickness.
_Joists._--These are the same as narrow planks, but of some fixed width,
as 2" by 3", which is the same as a 3" strip sawed from the edge of a 2"
plank.
* * * * *
[Illustration FIG. 32.]
[Illustration FIG. 33.]
Most of the lumber you will require is sold by the square foot, at so
much an M (1000 feet), or so much a foot. The square foot has an area of
144 square inches and is one inch thick, or contains 144 cubic inches,
regardless of the shape or size of the piece. That is, Figs. 32, 33, and
34 each equal one square foot by board measure.
[Illustration FIG. 34.]
* * * * *
Thus a board 12' long, 12" wide, and 1" thick, contains 12 feet,
board measure. A board 12' long, 6" wide, and 1" thick, contains 6
feet. A plank 12' long, 12" wide, and 2" thick, contains 24 feet. A
plank 12' long, 6" wide, and 2" thick, contains 12 feet, or the
same as the board first mentioned. You can bear in mind that in
case of boards 12' long the contents in feet is indicated by the
width in inches, as you will see from the examples just given. A
board 12' long and 7" wide contains 7 square feet. So all you have
to do to measure 12' stock is to find the width in inches. If the
board tapers in width, measure at the middle. The same is true of
planks, only the width in inches must be multiplied by the
thickness of the plank. A plank 12' long, 7" wide, and 3" thick,
contains 21 square feet. Of course this principle can be quickly
applied to pieces whose length is any convenient multiple or
fraction of twelve. Thus a board 18' long, 8" wide, and 1" thick,
contains 1-1/2 times as many square feet as one 12' long, or 12
feet. A plank 9' long, 6" wide, and 2" thick, contains 3/4 as many
square feet as if 12' long, or 9 square feet.
* * * * *
Boards less than one inch thick are usually sold by the square foot of
surface, regardless of thickness--the price varying according to the
thickness, except in cases where an inch board is planed down, when, of
course, inch thickness is charged for. There is no distinction made in
_measuring_ between a rough board 1" thick and a planed board 7/8" as,
of course, they represent the same amount of lumber. The cost by the
foot of the planed board is greater because of the expense of planing.
In cities, and sometimes in the larger towns, you can find thin boards
(1/2", 3/8", 3/16", 1/8" thick) already planed, and even scraped, for
nice work.
* * * * *
Some of the rarer and less commonly used woods are often sold by the
pound, as ebony, leopard wood, tulip wood, etc. Pieces turned out in
quantities for special uses, as strips, mouldings, etc., are often sold
by the "running foot," meaning simply the length, the price varying
according to the amount of lumber and labour required. Certain regular
sizes and shapes of lumber are sold by the hundred or by the piece.
Shingles, clapboards, laths, and the like, are sold in bunches or
bundles.
* * * * *
For other matters relating to wood, see Appendix.
FOOTNOTES:
[8] So called because in the common trees of temperate climes one layer
is added each year.
[9] Although the shrinkage lengthways is not usually noticeable as
affecting the length of a board, it shows slightly by its effect in
causing the pieces to spring, or become bowed lengthwise, as you will
see in many boards which have been left free to spring while seasoning.
[10] In addition to the curling, the outer boards will be poorer
because they contain a greater proportion of sapwood, which is usually
inferior to the heartwood.
[11] By this is not meant the figure or flashes shown by the medullary
rays, or "silver grain," seen in _quartered_ oak and some other woods,
but the figure of the grain without the medullary rays, as seen in
_plain_ oak, etc.
[12] The forests of North America, exclusive of Mexico, are now
believed, according to Sargent, to contain four hundred and twenty-two
species of plants, besides numerous varieties, which can fairly be
considered trees.
CHAPTER IV
WORKING DRAWINGS, LAYING OUT THE WORK, AND ESTIMATING
=Working Drawings.=--A simple drawing will often give you a better idea
of an object than you can get from any description in words, for drawing
is not only a very ancient form of language but one readily understood
by people of all countries and all times. It is one of the chief tools
of a workman in these days, so of course the quicker you become familiar
with it the better, for the day for "rule-of-thumb" work and feeling
one's way along step by step is fast giving way to the guidance of the
working drawing, which shows one not only exactly what is to be made but
exactly how to make it.
When you wish to make some particular thing, you should begin by making
rough sketches to express your idea, and from them an accurate working
drawing in which every detail and measurement is clearly given. Make all
your working drawings carefully to scale (see Appendix), and whenever
you can, make them _full size_. Do not guess at the height, width, and
length, but measure, and measure very carefully. Never mind if it takes
time. Learn first to do it right, and practice will soon teach you to do
it more quickly.
The time to make changes in your plans is when you are making the
drawings--particularly the rough preparatory sketches. Making the
drawings will, if you make them complete and accurate, show you what you
know and what you do not know about the subject. _The working drawing
should be complete and final._
Begin the making of sketches and detailed drawings with the first
article you make, no matter how simple it may be. You can go about the
work with confidence, which goes a long way toward success, when you
know that you have thought it out to the end and have it all done on
paper. For practical suggestions about working drawings, see Appendix.
=Laying out the Work.=--Try to get the measurements and lines exact, and
do not be satisfied with coming within an eighth of an inch. You cannot
do good work unless it is laid out right, and cutting exactly to a line
will do no good if the line is in the wrong place. It makes no
difference how accurately you saw off a board if you have marked it half
an inch too short, nor how nicely you make the two parts of a joint if
you have laid them out so that they can not fit together. The work is
spoiled in either case.
Go over all your measurements a second time. It is a good plan to check
them by measuring back in the opposite direction, just as you prove your
addition of a column of figures downward by adding again upward. Nothing
is easier than to make mistakes in measuring. No amount of experience
will prevent the chance of it. It takes but little time to measure
twice, much less time than to correct mistakes--as you will discover
when you cut off a mahogany board five inches too short and have to go
half a mile to the mill and pay a dollar or two for a new piece.
In getting out stock for nice work it is best to make plenty of
allowance for the pranks which expansion and contraction may play with
the pieces (see Appendix). How to arrange the various parts of your work
with regard to this swelling and shrinking, warping and winding, is a
matter of practical importance, for a piece of wood can no more keep
still than an active boy can, and, although its movements do not cause
so widespread havoc as the motions of some boys, you will have to keep a
careful eye on its actions if you wish to turn out good work.
This applies not merely to the way green wood shrinks, as we have
already seen, but particularly to the way _seasoned_ wood acts. Many
people think it is only green wood that causes trouble with wood-work,
but there is much difficulty with dry wood--that is, what we _call_ dry
wood. It never is really absolutely dry, except when it is baked, and
kept baked (see Appendix). The moment you take it out of the kiln or
oven, it begins to take up some of the moisture from the air, as we
have seen, and swells. If the air becomes more damp, the wood sucks in
more moisture and swells more. If the air becomes dryer, it sucks some
moisture from the wood, and the wood becomes dryer and shrinks. It is
thus continually swelling and shrinking, except in situations where the
amount of moisture in the air does not change, or when the wood is
completely water-logged.
"What does such a little thing as that swelling and shrinking amount to?
Use more nails or screws or glue and hold it so tight it cannot move."
Well, it amounts to a good deal sometimes when you cannot open the
drawer where your ball is, or a door or a window, without breaking
something.
* * * * *
In the days of high-backed church pews with tall doors to every pew,
each pew door would swell in damp weather, of course, and in continued
dampness the doors of a certain church fitted quite snugly. There was
usually no special trouble, however, for, many of the doors being open,
the pew frames would give way a little so that the closed doors would
open with a slight pull; but if all the doors were shut the whole line
would be so tightly pressed together that it would take the utmost
strength of a man to start a door. Some boys one day catching on to this
idea (though they were not studying wood-work), got into the church one
Sunday morning before service and by using their combined strength
succeeded in closing every door. They then climbed over the top into
their own pew, where they awaited developments, as one after another
sedate churchgoer, after a protracted struggle, finally burst open his
pew door with a ripping squeak or a bang. You will understand that those
boys always remembered the expanding power of wood. I feel sure that I
am not putting any boys up to improper mischief in telling this story,
because pews are not so often made in that way now, and there is slight
danger of their having any chance to try it.
* * * * *
Did you ever see stone-workers split big rocks by drilling a row of
holes and driving dry wedges into them and then wetting the wedges, when
the stone will split?[13] Do you think nails or screws or glue will stop
a force which will do that? You cannot prevent the swelling and the
shrinking any more than you can repress a boy's animal spirits. You may
be able to crush the wood, but so long as it remains a sound, natural
board it must swell and shrink.
What shall you do then? Why just the same as with the boy; give it a
reasonable amount of play, and a proper amount of guidance, and there
will be no trouble. You must put your work together so as to allow for
the expansion and contraction which you cannot prevent. You will find
abundant examples, in almost every house, of work which has split or
come apart or warped because proper allowance was not made for this
swelling and shrinking. So try to avoid these errors so common even
among workmen who should know better.
[Illustration Fig. 35.]
For instance, if you were to put cleats on one side of a drawing-board
three feet wide, and were to firmly glue the cleats for their whole
length (Fig. 35),--you sometimes see such things done,--you would
probably not have to wait many weeks before you would hear a report
like a toy pistol, and the cleats would be loosened for at least part of
their length, because of the expansion or contraction of the board.
Similar cases are continually occurring. In such cases the cleats should
be screwed, the screws having play enough in their holes to allow for
the changes in the board (see Appendix).
You must also make plenty of allowance for planing down edges and
surfaces and for the wood wasted by sawing. No rule can be set for these
allowances. If you do not leave enough spare wood, the pieces will
finally come out too small. If you leave too much you will increase the
amount of planing or shaping to be done, but of the two extremes it is
better to err on the side of allowing too much.
A rod (any straight stick), say six feet long, and another ten or twelve
feet long, with feet and inches marked, are very handy to have when
laying out work roughly, or for measuring outdoor work approximately.
Lay out your work from only one edge or one surface of a piece of lumber
unless you are _sure_ the edges or surfaces are exactly parallel. Having
selected the best edge for a "working edge" and the best surface for the
"face," mark them with an X or other mark to avoid mistakes (Fig. 36).
This is quite important in laying out a number of pieces, as before the
stock is accurately worked into shape you cannot usually rely on the
edges being parallel. One mark like a V as shown in Fig. 36 will
indicate both the working edge and the face.
[Illustration FIG. 36.]
=Estimating.=--You must, of course, learn to make your estimates
yourself, often a very important preliminary. Prices vary, and you
cannot always rely on other people's estimates for your own work. It is
a matter of simple arithmetic and of making correct allowance for waste
and incidentals.
You can always get the prices easily. Figure the amount of wood
required, the number of square feet (see page 47) of each kind, or
running feet, as the case may be, and multiply by the price a foot; but
after this comes the allowance for waste, etc., which cannot usually be
figured exactly, but must be estimated.
* * * * *
For instance, if you wish to make a double-runner, with a seat ten feet
long, the board from which to make it will very likely be twelve feet
long, in which case you must, of course, buy the whole board. Perhaps
you can use the two feet left over somewhere else on the sled, perhaps
part may be checked or injured.
There is almost always some defective wood (worthless, except for fuel);
some pieces are too short or small to be of use; and very often some
quite good-sized pieces are left over, which, so far as the particular
job is concerned, are waste,--that is, you must buy them in order to get
enough. Such pieces can be used on other work, and are not really wasted
in the end.
Just how much to add to the number of feet to cover waste varies, of
course, with every job. Some people add a fixed per cent. to their
measurements or calculations, which, although not exactly correct for
any one job, strikes an average for a good many. It would not be easy to
state any such per cent. for the varied work you will do, but the main
thing to bear in mind is that you must make a liberal allowance. Just so
with the other materials. Remember to allow for waste and for unforeseen
extras. Even with experienced people things are very apt to cost more
than the estimate.
Make a neat schedule to take to the lumber-yard or mill, specifying the
kinds and dimensions of the stock required.
FOOTNOTES:
[13] The peculiarity of the wood is that the water is not simply drawn
in to fill up what we call the pores, as in chalk or any ordinary porous
inorganic substance, but enters into the very fibre of the body, forcing
apart the minute solid particles with an extraordinary force which does
not seem to be fully understood.
CHAPTER V
THE WORKSHOP
If you have a place where you can build a workshop you will find one
described in Part III. If not, try to find a well-lighted shop, both on
account of your eyes and your work; one that is dry, or your tools will
rust and your work be injured; and one that can be heated, for there
will be no time you will wish to use it more than on cold, stormy days.
As a rule, an outbuilding is better than a basement or attic, other
things being equal, because a basement is liable to be damp and dark,
and an attic is bad about carrying materials and finished work up- and
down-stairs. Noise in the top story of a house is usually more
disturbing to the occupants than noise in the basement; but all these
conditions vary in different places.
Have a lock on the door of your workshop, partly to keep small children
from getting cut if they should come in without leave, and partly to
prevent your work being interfered with in your absence and the
edge-tools used for various domestic purposes by your feminine
relatives, who might, in their innocence, mistake your best gouge for a
tack-puller or the quarter-inch chisel for a screw-driver.
Of course you will have overalls and jumper or a work-man's apron made
of denim, ticking, or some strong cloth. If you use an apron, have a
pocket in it. A small slip of a pocket on the outside seam of your
overalls above the right knee is also useful for holding a rule. When
you have a long job of dirty work before you, a good way is to change
your clothes for any "old duds" that you may have. This saves your
clothes, and in warm weather is more comfortable and healthful than to
wear overalls.
[Illustration FIG. 37.]
Your shop can be all fitted up for you by a carpenter, but it will be
better, and better fun, to do it yourself. After the workshop itself is
ready the first important thing is the work-bench.
=The Work-Bench.=--A very simple one (Fig. 37) will answer your purpose
for a long time. When you become a pretty good workman and feel the need
of something better (for a first-class bench with the best attachments
is really a great help toward doing good work), you will still find this
first simple affair very useful in some part of your shop.[14] There is
no need of a bench being made of stock of exactly the dimensions given,
so if you have a pile of boards and joists to draw from without buying,
you can, of course, substitute other-sized pieces, provided you use
stock heavy enough to make a firm bench. Heavier legs and top (front
board) would be better, and in fact _there is little danger of making a
bench too solid_.
* * * * *
Before beginning to work read carefully _Marking_, _Square_, _Rule_,
_Saw_, in Part V., and look up any other references.
The design is for a small bench, 5' 10" long, 2' wide, and 2' 6" high. A
larger one can be made on the same principle.[15]
You will require for stock:
1 piece of 3" X 4" joist 10' long.
1 board, 7/8" thick, planed, 12" wide, 12' long.
1 " " " " 10" " 12' "
1 " " " " 10" " 6' "
1 plank, 1-1/2" or 2" thick, planed, 5" or 6" wide, 2' 9" long.
1 strip, 1/2" to 7/8" thick, 3" or 4" wide, 15" long.
Pine is good, and almost any cheap wood can be used. Hemlock is not very
suitable, unless for the legs. Spruce is cheaper than pine or whitewood,
and can be used for economy, but is prone to warp and twist and should
be thoroughly nailed.
First make the legs and fasten them together. To do this, take the joist
and lay it on two boxes or old chairs (Fig. 38), which you can use
temporarily for horses, until you make a pair. See whether either end is
cut off squarely. If neither is, mark a line by the square a short
distance (perhaps half an inch, according to the condition of the end of
the joist) from one end, on one side of the joist. Carry this line
around the joist by applying the square to each side successively, and
saw off the waste end with the cross-cutting saw. Having one end square,
measure from that end 2' 5" and mark a line around the joist as before.
Saw this piece off, and using it as a measure (but not as a square),
mark and saw off three more pieces. These are for the legs.
[Illustration FIG. 38.]
[Illustration FIG. 39.]
Next, from the short 10" board, mark and cut off two pieces 1' 10-1/4"
long in the same manner (Fig. 39), seeing first that the end from which
you begin to measure is square. You do not need to mark the under side
of the boards, but only the top and the edges. Now square a line 1" from
each end of each of these short boards, and start three nails on each of
the lines by driving them nearly through the board (Fig. 40). (See
_Nailing_.) Next, place the end of one of these boards on the narrow
side of one of the legs, and, holding it firmly in position, nail it
securely to the leg. You must take pains to keep the leg and the
cross-piece "square." Nail only one nail first and then adjust, testing
with the try-square before driving the other nails (Fig. 41). Then nail
the other end to another leg, and repeat the process with the other
board and the remaining legs. This will give two frames like Fig. 42.
[Illustration FIG. 40.]
[Illustration FIG. 41.]
[Illustration FIG. 42.]
[Illustration FIG. 43.]
[Illustration FIG. 44.]
[Illustration FIG. 45.]
Next, fasten the sides to the legs. Take the 10" board and mark and
saw off two pieces 5' 10" long in the same way as before (Fig. 43). At
distances of 7" and 12" from each end of each board, mark lines across
the side with the square and start nails between these lines (Fig. 44).
Then, fitting these lines at the outside edges of the legs, nail the
sides securely to the legs, as shown in Fig. 45. But drive only one
nail through into each leg at first, until you are sure that the frame
is coming together square and true throughout. Test the angles with the
square. Stand the frame on as level a surface as you can find and sight
across the top endways and crossways to see if either corner sticks up
or down. If the top is not true, twist the frame enough to make it so,
which you can easily do if you have but one nail in each corner. When
the top is true and the legs at right angles, drive in the rest of the
nails (Fig. 45). Be sure to test the top for winding, as just said (see
Part V.), rather than to trust to the way the legs stand on the floor.
Floors are often uneven, and the legs may not be cut exactly the same
length. Make the top true and the legs can easily be made to fit the
floor afterwards. The piece of 10" board left over you can fit to slip
in between the sides, as in Fig. 45. If you nail through the sides and
top into this piece, it will stiffen the bench. In making a long bench
after this pattern, it is well to insert a few pieces of plank or joist
between the sides in this manner.
[Illustration FIG. 46.]
[Illustration FIG. 47.]
[Illustration FIG. 48.]
Next, put on the top. Cut two lengths of 5' 10" from the 12" board. Lay
them in position, square lines across as guides for the nails (as
before), and nail them down to the legs and cross-boards. Also drive
carefully a few nails at the edge down into the sides of the bench. Sink
all the nail-heads well below the surface (as much as 1/8") with the
nail-set (see _Nail-Set_).
* * * * *
A better bench can be made by using a plank (say a 2" plank, planed) for
the front of the top (Figs. 46, 47, 48). This bench with plank front is
much better than the common carpenter's bench just described, and the
difference in expense is but slight. It is easier to do good work on, as
it is stiffer, steadier, and much better to pound on.
* * * * *
Of course a thicker plank can be used if available. Hard wood is best.
Maple is excellent for a bench-top. Take particular care to select a
good sound plank, from the centre of the tree if you can (see Chapter
III.), as straight and free from winding as possible, and have it planed
so as to be straight and true. This can easily be done at any properly
equipped planing-mill.
To make this bench with a plank in front, you can proceed exactly as
with the bench just described, except that the front legs should be as
much shorter than those at the back as the plank you have is thicker
than the 7/8" board used for the top of the bench just described. That
is, if your plank is 1-7/8" thick the front legs should be 1" shorter
than the back ones. Pieces must be cut out of the cross-boards in order
that the top may be even (Fig. 46).
The simplest way, however, is to make the bench just like the preceding
one until you come to the top. Then, after putting on the front plank,
raise the back top-board to be flush with the plank, instead of lowering
the plank to be flush with the board. You can do this by putting small
pieces of board of the required thickness under the back part of the top
(Fig. 47).
Some workmen prefer having the back board of the bench top lower than
the front by an inch or so, with a strip fastened on the back, and
sometimes at each end, so as to be level with the top of the front
plank, thus forming a sort of tray (Fig. 48) where tools, nails, small
bits of work, etc., can remain when in use, keeping the front plank
clear for the actual operations. The work, if large, can be rested on
the back strip as well as the front part, both being on a level.
The bench can be all filled up underneath with shelves, drawers,
cupboards, compartments, or in any way that you wish, but at first, and
for a simple bench like this, it is as well to have only one shelf, as
shown in the frontispiece. You can easily put this shelf in after the
bench is put together. You can tell better whether you want drawers and
compartments after you have worked for some time and wish to make a more
complete bench.
* * * * *
A nice bench should, of course, be built independently of the
shop,--that is, be complete in itself, so that it can be readily moved.
But a common bench can sometimes be best built against the wall, using
the side of the building to support the back. Sometimes one or both of
the ends of the bench can be advantageously carried to the walls of the
room, thus requiring legs only in the middle or at one end. But such
arrangements are not to be advised if you are likely to wish to move the
bench before you have used it enough to pay for making it.
[Illustration FIG. 49.]
* * * * *
Figure 49 is merely suggestive. The process of construction is the same
as already shown, except that you omit some of the legs and the back
side-board, a saving sufficient to allow you to use a plank for the
front of the top. As the floor is likely to be uneven, you can first saw
the posts a little too long, stand them in line, stretch a cord or a
chalk-line (see _Chalk-Line_) along the line of the front edge of the
bench at the proper height for the tops of the posts, cut the posts off
where this line crosses them, nail on one end of the cross-boards at
right angles, and then fasten the other end to the wall-studding,
sighting and testing to have the top straight and true, as in the case
of the bench already described. If instead of vertical studding the
joists of the wall run horizontally (as is often the case), you can
easily nail cleats on the wall if there is no horizontal timber at the
right height to nail to.
* * * * *
[Illustration FIG. 50.]
=Bench-Vise.=--The kinds shown in Figs. 50, 56, 57, though not as good
as some more improved forms, are in common use by carpenters, and will
answer your purpose very well for ordinary work--until you get to the
point of building a first-class bench.
* * * * *
At a distance of about 14" from the end of the bench and in the middle
of the side board mark the point _a_ (Fig. 45). Bore a hole at this
point (see _Boring_) if you have a bit a trifle larger than the screw of
the vise. If not, using this point as a centre, describe a circle (see
_Compasses_) with a diameter a trifle greater than that of the vise
screw, and remove the wood within the circle (see _Boring_ and
_Paring_.) Now take the piece of 1-1/2" or 2" plank which is to make the
movable jaw of the vise, and mark a line lengthways along the centre of
each side (Fig. 51). At a distance of about 8" from one end mark a point
upon this centre line and make a hole for the vise screw as before. The
nut for the screw must now be fastened in position on the inner side of
the bench, the vise screw passed through the movable jaw and the side
board, and the handle plate fastened upon the face of the jaw.
[Illustration FIG. 51.]
[Illustration FIG. 52.]
You can now open and close the vise by the screw, but the movable jaw
needs to be made steady and the end projects above the top of the bench.
Screw the vise tight together and slide the movable jaw around until it
is in the position shown in Fig. 52, when the centre line on the back
side of the jaw will cross the edge of the leg a few inches from the
floor, according to the width of the jaw and the degree of slant given
it. When the jaw is in this position, mark from the back side the lines
indicated in Fig. 52, and saw off the projecting ends of the jaw by
these lines, which will give the shape shown in Figs. 37 and 50.
Next take the small strip, and marking points upon its side as shown in
Fig. 53, bore holes with a 3/8" or 1/2" bit. Screw the end of the strip
to the edge of the movable jaw (being careful to get it at right angles
with the vertical edge of the jaw), as shown in Figs. 50 and 53 (see
_Screws_). Just above and below where this strip crosses the post of the
bench nail small blocks (a trifle thicker than the strip) so that it
will pass easily between them. Cover these with a longer piece, making a
slot, as shown in Fig. 53, through which the strip can slide freely. If
the two blocks are no thicker than the strip, you can put pieces of
paste-board between them and the post to make the slot wide enough to
let the strip slide through freely. Fit a pin or piece of dowel to the
holes in the strip. The use of these holes and the pin is to keep the
face of the jaw approximately parallel to the side of the bench.
Contrivances for this purpose can be bought. After the jaw is all
fitted, bevel or round the edge on the face side at the top (see
_Bevelling_), and you can also bevel or round all the front edges if you
wish. The vise is now in working order.[16]
[Illustration FIG. 53.]
[Illustration FIG. 54. RIGHT.]
[Illustration FIG. 55. WRONG.]
[Illustration FIG. 56.]
The important point with this vise (and in fact with any vise) is to
have the inside surface of the jaw parallel with the surface of the side
of the bench, so that the wood will be pressed equally at all points,
else it will slip just when you wish it to be securely held. Be sure
that the vise is not open more at the top than at the bottom (see Figs.
54 and 55).
[Illustration FIG. 57.]
[Illustration FIG. 58.]
[Illustration FIG. 59.]
The holes bored in the side of the bench are to support the end of a
long board (Fig. 50).
If you cannot afford to buy a vise, or have to work where there is none,
there are a number of makeshifts with which you can get along quite
well, though not as rapidly or conveniently.
Carpenters often nail a piece on the side of the bench (Fig. 60), which
holds boards for planing fairly well, for common work, but tends to
bruise the ends of the boards a little against the cleat, and requires a
knife, or something, driven in at the other end of the boards to hold
them with any degree of security. Another cheap substitute is shown in
Fig. 61. This holds boards of regular sizes quite well. Thin pieces can
be held tighter by wedging, as shown.
[Illustration FIG. 60.]
[Illustration FIG. 61.]
[Illustration FIG. 62.]
[Illustration FIG. 63.]
Another simple contrivance, and more of a vise, is easily made by boring
a couple of holes in a board, say 6" wide and 12" long, and screwing it
loosely to the side of the bench (Fig. 62), making the holes in the
board larger than the diameter of the screws so that it will be free to
play. By inserting the piece to be held in the end and double wedging
the opposite end (Fig. 63) the piece will be held fairly well (see
_Wedges_). For thin boards, blocks can be inserted to make the jaw
parallel with the side of the bench. An upright vise made on this
principle is often used to hold saws for filing.
If you can find an old wooden hand-screw, you can use one jaw (sawing
off the ends if necessary) for the nut to go inside of the bench,
leaving the other for the movable jaw, using one screw to tighten or
loosen the vise and the other to keep the jaw parallel with the side of
the bench. You will require no description to contrive something of
this sort. Vises on somewhat this principle can be bought, attachable
and detachable at will.
[Illustration FIG. 64.]
[Illustration FIG. 65.]
The jaw in Fig. 64 can be hinged upon the strip at the bottom and the
latter fastened to the side of the bench. The jaw can then be tightened
or loosened by the screw. This gives a square grip only when the jaw is
vertical (Fig. 65). You can put in blocks, however. The longer the jaw
the less objectionable the slanting grip becomes, of course.
Always try to devise some such expedients, which you can think up for
yourself, when you are without the regular appliances, for even a poor
vise is better than to hold pieces in the hand or to push them against
chairs or tables or the wall.
* * * * *
For nice work by far the _best vise of moderate cost_ is that shown in
Fig. 143, which has been in use for a long time by wood-workers of the
better class.
* * * * *
There are a number of excellent iron vises (some with jaws of wood, and
also with an "instantaneous grip"). Some of them are admirable, but
quite costly compared with the common screw.
You can work quite well with a good-sized common iron vise by fitting
wooden blocks or leather or rubber to the inside of the jaws, to save
marring your wood-work, though a regular vise for wood is much to be
preferred.
* * * * *
Bear in mind when doing work that requires to be held at unusual angles,
or in fashioning odd-shaped pieces, that you can usually get the angle
or position required by a combination of hand-screws or clamps with the
bench-vise as suggested in Figs. 66 and 67.
[Illustration FIG. 66.]
[Illustration FIG. 67.]
[Illustration FIG. 68.]
[Illustration FIG. 69.]
[Illustration FIG. 70.]
=Bench-Stop.=--You must have something on the forward end of the
bench-top to push your work against for planing and other operations. A
simple and good way is to use one or two stout screws (Fig. 68). These
can be screwed in so as to project about a quarter of an inch, which
will answer for the greater part of your work, and the height can be
changed when necessary with the screw-driver. The heads of the screws
will be sharp enough to hold the work, and a stop of this kind will
answer your purpose very well for common work. The wooden stop (Fig. 69)
has the advantage of not making any nicks in the end of the wood, which
is important in nice work, such as furniture, but for common work screws
are just as good, except that, as they are left permanently sticking
from the bench, you may dull your tools against them or scar your work.
This applies to a common bench. Of course for a really nice bench with a
tail-screw the regular stops should be used (Fig. 143).
* * * * *
Carpenters sometimes nail a small piece of board, with a V-shaped notch
at one end, to the top of the bench to hold boards or joist for planing
on the edge (Fig. 70). Simply nailing a strip across the end of the
bench (Fig. 71), and setting the nails well in, will do to push boards
against for planing for common work.
[Illustration FIG. 71.]
[Illustration FIG. 72.]
[Illustration FIG. 73.]
Iron contrivances (which can be raised or lowered) can be bought for a
small sum and are convenient for common work, especially for thin
pieces. Sink them deeply enough in the bench-top so that when lowered
nothing will project to injure the tools or the work.
The old-fashioned bench-stop shown in Fig. 69 consists merely of a
square stick of hard wood, one or two inches square, fitted quite
tightly to a hole in the top of the bench, so that it will slide up or
down by a blow from the mallet or hammer. This stop will not damage the
work or the tools. To make the mortise for this bench-stop, see
_Mortising_. Take care to keep within the lines, so as not to make the
hole too big. You can easily make it larger if too small.
The stop should fit tightly and should be set with a very slight slant
toward the work (Fig. 72),--that is, the mortise should be cut slightly
slanting. The stop should be of hard wood, such as maple. If the top of
the bench is only of board thickness, screw cleats of hard wood on the
under side to give more bearing surface (Fig. 73), or the continued
pushing against the stop will be liable to get the hole out of shape so
that the stop will slant the wrong way, when the work will be apt to
slip or, in case of a thin board, jump over the stop (Fig. 74). If the
stop wears loose in the hole, a saw kerf is sometimes made lengthways in
one side and a bent piece of springy wire inserted, or a flat spring
fastened on the side (Fig. 75). A loose stop can easily be wedged
(preferably from underneath), and it is sometimes made loose on
purpose, the wedging tightening the stop and at the same time giving the
required slant (Fig. 72). An iron plate with teeth can be screwed on top
of a wooden stop (Fig. 76), or a screw can be inserted (Fig. 77).
[Illustration FIG. 74.]
[Illustration FIG. 75.]
[Illustration FIG. 76.]
[Illustration FIG. 77.]
Two strips, like Fig. 78, can be nailed or screwed on the top of the
bench so as to separate V-fashion (Fig. 79). Two wedges, like Fig. 80,
can then be made of such a taper that when fitted between the strips
their inner faces will be parallel. By tapping in the wedges on each
side of the work to be held (Fig. 79), it will be securely fastened
without injury. If the inside edges of the strips and the outside edges
of the wedges are slightly bevelled, which you can do with a plane or a
knife, the wedges cannot jump out of place. The best way to fit this
contrivance is to make the wedges first, place them in position on the
bench with the square sides inside (facing each other), and then fasten
the fixed strips outside of them. Pushing the work tends to tighten this
vise. This is much better for permanent use than the notched board shown
in Fig. 70. If you have a good vise you will not often have occasion to
use such contrivances, but they are sometimes useful as makeshifts.
[Illustration FIG. 78.]
[Illustration FIG. 79.]
* * * * *
The top of a good bench should be as true and as smooth as possible (see
_Plane_ and _Scraper_). Rub it with linseed oil, wipe it off with a rag,
and after a few days give it a couple of coats of shellac (see
_Finishing_).
[Illustration FIG. 80.]
You should place your bench so that when you stand at it you will face
the light and not have it come from behind you. If it can come from the
forward end of the bench and also from behind the bench, as shown in the
frontispiece, it will be best, for a cross-light is often very useful,
not merely that you may have light enough, but also that when testing
your work with the try-square, straight-edge, and the like, any
inaccuracy may be detected by the light passing through the crack
between the testing tool and the work, and also when sighting by the eye
alone. Fasten the bench firmly to the floor (and wall if you can) with
screws, cleats, or L irons.[17]
Avoid chopping on the bench top or whittling it or boring holes or
marring it by saw-cuts or chisel-marks. Do not use paint, varnish, or
glue at the bench if you can help it. If necessary to do so, clean the
bench-top carefully when you get through. Lumps of hardened glue will
hinder you and deface your work.
[Illustration FIG. 81.]
=Filing-Bench.=--You cannot do much of such varied wood-work as you will
undertake without having to do a good deal of metal work. It is a poor
plan to do such work at the vise you use for your wood-work, or even at
the same bench. It scars and defaces the wooden vise and the bench, and
the particles of metal are bad for your wood-work and for the tools. It
is much better to have another bench--if nothing more than a wide shelf
or a box--for such work (Fig. 81). You will find suggestions in the
illustrations.
An _iron_ vise is the proper thing for holding metal. There are many
different kinds at various prices, but one of the simple patterns will
probably answer every purpose. If you have room for only one bench this
vise can be put at the back part of one end.
[Illustration FIG. 82.]
[Illustration FIG. 83.]
[Illustration FIG. 84.]
A small vise can be made of a hand-screw, the hand-screw itself being
held in any desired position in the large bench-vise, but metal jaws are
better for working on metal. You can make a rough sort of vise for
metal-work with a piece of stout board or plank (Fig. 82). Find a couple
of pieces of iron with screw holes, as you can probably do in a pile of
waste iron junk, and screw them on the board and the bench to form metal
jaws. The vise can be tightened or loosened by means of a big screw or
bolt; or the board can be loosely fastened in the middle and tightened
by wedging below (Fig. 83). A screw with a handle to turn it by and a
nut for the thread is better, of course. Another form, such as you will
find in use by leather-workers, can be easily made (Fig. 84), and works
with the foot, the connection between the jaw and the treadle being made
by a strap or rope. You can make a vise in some of these ways that will
answer quite well for most of the metal-work you will have to do for
some time, although such contrivances are less reliable and less
convenient than a regular iron vise.
An _anvil_ is often useful and is sometimes combined with a vise. It
should have a flat steel surface and also a tapering rounded (conical)
point. An old flat-iron does quite well. You can easily find some way to
keep it in position on the filing-bench. You should have some sort of
anvil, even if nothing better than a junk of old iron (which you can of
course find somewhere), for you will be continually wanting to
straighten nails, bend wire, and pound pieces of metal. Try to find a
flat plate of thick sheet iron--1/4" thick if you can--to fasten on the
top of the filing-bench (Fig. 81). It is very handy for many anvil
uses, straightening metal and nails, and for much pounding.
=Finishing-Bench.=--Have also a finishing-bench (Fig. 91) if
possible,--if nothing more than a shelf or box,--to keep the regular
work-bench neat and clean for its proper uses, for even a skilful
workman can hardly avoid making a mess when it comes to using paint and
varnish.
* * * * *
Now, while there are many of you who can afford either singly or by two
or three clubbing together to fix up a shop in first-rate style, there
are also many who cannot afford even so cheap a bench as that just
described. What can you do in such a case? Only one thing--patch up a
bench out of whatever old stuff you can find. Patched-up makeshifts are
not to be recommended, except in case of necessity, but when it comes to
the pinch, and a matter of having a bench made of whatever old materials
you can find or having no bench at all, by all means make one of boxes
and anything that can be worked in. For of course the boats, skis,
squirrel-houses, and so on, _must_ be made!
But, whatever you patch up, make it solid and strong. Do not try to work
at a rickety, shackly apology for a bench that shakes and jumps and
sidles all over the room every time you saw or pound or plane. You can
probably get all you need in the way of boxes, packing-cases, and such
material, at very little or no expense. The illustrations (Figs. 85 and
86) are merely suggestions, for you must use your own ingenuity,
according to the materials you can find. Most experienced workmen have
often been obliged to work at much worse benches than these, frequently
with no bench at all.
[Illustration FIG. 85.]
[Illustration FIG. 86.]
* * * * *
Those of the boxes which you do not use whole you should take apart
carefully (see _Withdrawing Nails_). This will add to your supply of
nails. Use nails freely in fastening the boxes and boards together and
to the wall or floor wherever allowable. A few screws will add much
strength.
The bench shown in Fig. 86 calls for one good board for the front of the
top.
* * * * *
Some of you live in the crowded parts of the city, in flats or small
houses where there is no possible chance for a shop of any kind.
Whatever wood-work you can do must be carried on in the kitchen, or some
other living-room, where even a small bench may be out of the question.
Still you would like to make such small work--model boats, for
instance--as can be carried on in such limited quarters. If you are
forced to use the kitchen table for a bench, try, for the first thing,
to brace or block or screw it to make it steady, for unsteadiness is the
greatest hindrance to doing good work at such a bench.
[Illustration FIG. 87.]
[Illustration FIG. 88.]
* * * * *
You can fit a good board to the table-top with cleats, and a stop to
hold the work (Fig. 87). If you can now get a common iron vise, you can
get along quite well for small work, and the board and attachments can
be quickly taken off and put away when the table is needed for domestic
purposes. You can easily contrive some way to attach wooden pieces or
leather or rubber to the inside of the jaws of the vise, to save marring
your wood-work. A fairly good bench can often be made from an old table
(as a kitchen table) by screwing a plank on top and a board on the front
side, and bracing the legs (Fig. 88). The plank should be screwed on
from underneath.
If you can get hold of an old bureau or chest of drawers you can arrange
a serviceable and compact little "parlour shop" for small work. If you
cannot fasten permanent attachments to the bureau, you can fit a
removable board (Fig. 87), and you will be equipped for such work as can
be suitably done under such circumstances--and that includes quite a
long list of small things. The drawers can be fitted with compartments
and trays, according to what you have to keep in them and your own
ingenuity, but make the arrangement _simple_. Figs. 89 and 90 are merely
suggestions.
[Illustration FIG. 89.]
[Illustration FIG. 90.]
* * * * *
The best way to arrange your tools and supplies depends somewhat upon
the circumstances, but the main point is to have the _most convenient_
place for each thing and always to _keep_ it in that place when not in
use. The first part of this proposition is almost as important as the
last. It is nearly as bad as being disorderly to keep the glue-pot in
one corner of the shop, the glue in another corner, the glue-brush in
the third corner, and the water in the fourth,--which is no exaggeration
of the way some very orderly people stow away things, and is about equal
to the arrangement of the person, of whom you may have heard, who always
kept everything in its place and that place the floor! The workshop
interior shown in the frontispiece and in Figs. 91 and 92, and the
various other illustrations, furnish suggestions which may help you in
the arrangement of your shop.
[Illustration FIG. 91.]
Have everything where you can lay your hand on it in the least possible
time, the tools used the most the nearest to you, tools that go
together, as bit-brace and bits, kept near together. Have all the common
tools right within reach, and not put away in chests and out-of-the-way
drawers, just because you have seen somebody pack away his tools in a
highly polished chest, inlaid with forty kinds of wood, and containing
ninety-three separate compartments and trays and seven secret drawers,
the whole cornered and strapped and decorated with shining nickel plate!
Do not be dazzled by that sort of thing, which is not an evidence of
true system and orderliness, but merely shows poor taste and a great
lack of appreciation of the value and importance of time. Time may not
be exactly money in your case, but it may be even more valuable, and
can be spent much better than in running around after tools and
supplies, and making ingenious tool-chests. To be practical, five
minutes a day saved by having things convenient and in place means about
_twenty-five hours_ in a year--which means a boat, a sled, or a lot of
Christmas presents. So study out the best arrangement for your
particular shop and then keep things in order. When working keep only
the tools in actual use lying around on the bench. As soon as you are
done with a tool for the operations actually in hand, put it back in
place, and so avoid the confused litter seen in so many shops.
[Illustration FIG. 92.]
Hang _saws_ against the wall on pegs, or nails, or at the end of the
bench. Hang all tools which you put on the wall well above the bench, to
be out of the way.
Lay _planes_ on their sides or ends, for obvious reasons, or arrange a
little block to raise one end of the plane slightly from the surface of
the bench or shelf. The last way is usually more convenient than to lay
the plane on its side or end. Keep planes either at the back of the
bench or against the wall, or on a shelf under the front of the bench.
Such tools as _squares_, _bit-braces_, and the like are usually most
accessible on the wall, in some such arrangement as shown in the
frontispiece. A convenient way to arrange such tools as _chisels_,
_gouges_, and the like, is to keep them in racks either against the wall
or fastened to the back edge of the bench, according to circumstances.
Keep each tool in a particular place in the rack and you will soon learn
to reach for it instinctively without any waste of time.
[Illustration FIG. 93.]
_Bits_ can be kept in a drawer or box, care being taken to arrange them
in racks or between partitions, or they can be stuck on end in the racks
at the back of the bench. A good way is to stick each bit point
downwards in a hole bored by itself. Various forms of _tool-racks_,
which you can easily arrange for yourself, are suggested in Fig. 93.
[Illustration FIG. 94.]
* * * * *
Fig. 94 shows a rack to fit on the back of the bench, an excellent way,
in common use with movable benches. Get a board, say 3" or 4" wide and
the length of the bench, a strip from 1/4" to 1/2" thick, perhaps 1"
wide, and the length of the bench, and a strip 1/2" thick, perhaps 1"
wide, and perhaps two thirds of the length of the bench. Saw from this
last strip a number of blocks from 1" to 2" long. Arrange these along
the top edge of the board, according to the kinds and sizes of the
tools, as shown in Fig. 95. Then lay the long strip on them (Fig. 96)
and nail it through each block with wire nails long enough to reach
perhaps two thirds through the large strip. You can put this rack
together by first nailing at each end. Then all the intermediate blocks
can easily be fitted in place and nailed one at a time. The whole can
then be screwed to the back of the bench so that the tools will be at
the back (Fig. 94). You can make part of this rack solid and bore small
holes of various sizes for bits, gimlets, nail-sets, and such tools,
which would drop through the larger spaces. Good metal tool-racks and
holders can be bought, but the home-made ones answer every purpose.
[Illustration FIG. 95.]
[Illustration FIG. 96.]
[Illustration FIG. 97.]
[Illustration FIG. 98.]
* * * * *
The large _steel square_ can be hung very well with nails or small
blocks of wood bevelled toward the wall (Fig. 97). For the _try-square_
nail a rectangular block against the wall (Fig. 98). A smaller block
nailed in front will hold another smaller square. Slanting saw-kerfs in
another block will hold _scrapers_ (Fig. 99). Always keep your
_oil-stones_ in shallow boxes for protection from dirt. You can easily
make one, or cut a depression in a block to fit the stone, with another
for a cover. Fasten one end of your _strop_ to a strip of thin board
(Fig. 100) with a hole by which to hang it. You can then use the strop
lying flat on the board or loose in your hand for curved edges.
[Illustration FIG. 99.]
[Illustration FIG. 100.]
Do not keep _nails_ and _screws_ after the usual domestic fashion,--all
sizes, shapes, and kinds mixed up promiscuously with a lot of metal
rubbish and carpet tacks in some old box or pail. You will waste twice
as much time trying to find what you want as it takes to keep them in
separate boxes, or trays with divisions. A good way is to use either
small open boxes or flat open boxes with divisions, so that they can be
reached as conveniently as possible. Tin boxes or canisters or pails (of
various sizes), such as cocoa, coffee, lard, and such substances come
in, are good. Put labels on them and arrange them neatly in some
accessible place, as on a shelf over or at the end of your bench, or in
a cupboard or a drawer.
Keep scrap boxes for old pieces of metal (iron, brass, etc., in separate
boxes), so that you will know just where to look for what you want. Keep
a brush for cleaning off the bench and the work, a broom for the floor,
and a box for shavings, sawdust, and chips.
Any workman is liable to cut or pound his fingers, so have a small box
in a handy place with some neatly rolled bandages of cloth, some
surgeon's plaster, and a bottle of witch-hazel (_hamamelis_) or some
other preparation for cuts or bruises. In case of a bruise, or if you
pound your nail, put your finger at once in as hot water as you can
bear. Do not, as is often done, put glue on a cut, because of danger of
infection, for the glue is made, as you know, from animal refuse and is
not always in a pure state.
Do not leave oily rags lying around in your shop to get wadded into a
pile in some corner and catch fire by spontaneous combustion. Either put
them in the stove at once, or, if you want to keep a few, put them in a
stone jar or covered tin box. Matches should always be kept in a
covered metal box in a wood-working shop.
Lay in a supply of strips, waste junks, and odd pieces of wood, which
you can usually get at any shop at little or no expense. They will be
very useful until you accumulate a stock from your own work.
=Chopping-Block.=--A good solid chopping-block is a great convenience,
so watch for a chance to get a section of a tree, which you can often do
when one is felled.
=Straight-Edge.=--You should have at least one; two are very useful--one
two or three feet long and another five or six feet long. Making them is
simply a matter of skill in planing. When you can plane well enough make
some yourself of well seasoned, straight-grained white pine or mahogany,
or other wood which holds its shape well. Until you can do it
_accurately_, however, get some good workman to make one, for a
straight-edge that cannot be relied on is really worse than none at all.
(See _Straight-edge._)
=Bench-Hook.=--The bench-hook (Fig. 101) is very useful to hold work
firmly for sawing, planing, etc., and also saves some marring of the
bench-top. Before beginning work read carefully _Marking_, _Rule_,
_Square_, _Saw_, and _Plane_, in Part V., and look up any other
references.
[Illustration FIG. 101.]
[Illustration FIG. 102.]
[Illustration FIG. 103.]
Take a board, say 15" long x 6" wide, of some good wood like white pine,
making both ends square. The surface should be planed true (see _Truing
Surfaces_). With the square mark the line _a b_ (Fig. 102) accurately,
say 2" (or the width of any blocks you may already have for the end
cleats) from each end, but on opposite sides. The cleats _c_ (Fig. 101)
must be true and the edges square. Bore the holes in the cleats with a
bit a little _larger_ than the screws (see _Boring_). Hold the cleats
exactly in place at the cross-line _a b_ and start holes in the board
with a gimlet or bit a little _smaller_ than the screws. Countersink the
holes (see _Countersink_). Use screws long enough to get a good hold on
the board but not long enough to go through it. If board and cleat are
each 7/8" thick, 1-1/2" screws will be suitable. Screw _one_ of the
middle screws in each cleat firmly to a bearing (see _Screws_), keeping
the cleat as nearly on the line as possible. Adjust each cleat exactly
in place, in case it has slipped, hold it firmly, and drive the
remaining screws. Before screwing on one of the cleats mark a line
around it in the middle with the square, as shown in Fig. 103, marking
first across the edge _o_ (against which the work is to be pressed),
from that line squaring across the top, and then across the outer edge.
After this cleat is screwed on, carefully saw it in two exactly on the
line. By letting the saw run in the kerf thus made, you can cut pieces
off square. Sometimes one cleat is made shorter, so that you can saw
clear through a piece without damage to the bench (Fig. 104). See
_Mitre-board_, page 92. Two bench-hooks are useful for long work.
[Illustration FIG. 104.]
* * * * *
=Horses or Trestles.=--These are to lay stock on for marking and
sawing, to put large work together on, and are convenient for various
uses (Fig. 105).
[Illustration FIG. 105.]
* * * * *
Before beginning work read carefully _Marking_, _Rule_, _Square_, and
_Saw_, in Part V., and look up any other references.
The proper height for your horses, as for the bench, depends somewhat on
your own height, and may be anywhere from 18" to 2' 3". Experiment with
boxes to find the most convenient height. If too low, you will have to
stoop over too much. If too high, it will be awkward to rest your knee
on a board, to saw, and to fit work together.
[Illustration FIG. 106.]
If you have a piece of fairly good joist, from 1-1/2" × 3" to 3" × 6",
you can use it for the tops of your horses. Saw off two pieces from 2'
to 3' long. Mark the best sides for the top. Mark each end like Fig. 106
(showing top and bottom) with the pencil, measuring carefully so that
the bevel or slant will be the same for both legs (see _Bevel_). Holding
the work in the vise, with saw alone or saw and chisel remove the pieces
marked, so that the end will have the shape shown in Fig. 107. If you
use the chisel, look out for the direction of the grain at each corner
and cut well outside of the line, until you find which way to push the
tool in each case (see _Paring_, etc.). Trim these cuts as accurately to
the lines as you can. Get out eight pieces for legs, of such a length
that the horses will be of the height decided on. First make them all of
a width, then saw one piece off the right length and mark the others by
it--not each new piece by the one last marked. Nail or screw these legs
in place with 2" nails or 1-3/4" screws, keeping the inner edges of the
tops of the legs even with the tops of the horses (Fig. 108). See
_Nailing_ and _Screws_, and look out for splitting. Get out the
cross-braces of board and saw the ends at a bevel to correspond with the
slant intended for the legs. See that the ends of these cross-braces are
cut at the same bevel. Use the bevel if you have one. If not, first
square each end with the square and pencil, and then measure carefully
equal distances on one edge before drawing the slanting lines (Fig.
109). Nail or screw these on (Fig. 110), adjusting the legs to the
bevels just cut. Saw or plane off the projecting ends of the legs on
top. If you plane, do so both ways to avoid splintering (see _Plane_).
[Illustration FIG. 107.]
[Illustration FIG. 108.]
[Illustration FIG. 109.]
[Illustration FIG. 110.]
[Illustration FIG. 111.]
Now stand the horses on their legs (Fig. 111). If they _should_ happen
to stand firmly and evenly, see first if it is not due to unevenness of
the floor. If the floor is true, and they stand steadily in different
positions, you can throw up your caps, for you will have beaten the
average workman. To make them stand evenly, see _Scribing_,
_Winding-sticks_, etc., in Part V. Make the tops of the horses as smooth
as you can. Scrape them and _keep_ them scraped (see _Scraper_), for you
will be continually dropping glue or varnish on them, to harden and
deface your nice, smooth work. Wipe them off as carefully as the
bench-top. These easily made horses will answer your purpose for a long
time.[18]
[Illustration FIG. 112.]
[Illustration FIG. 113.]
[Illustration FIG. 114.]
[Illustration FIG. 115.]
* * * * *
=Mitre-Box.=--Great care is necessary to make an accurate wooden
mitre-box (Fig. 116), although the process is simple. Do not make it of
spruce or any wood liable to warp or twist. Pine or mahogany is good.
Use stock from a middle board if you can (see Chapter III.). A mitre-box
can be of any desired size.
* * * * *
Before beginning work read carefully _Marking_, _Rule_, _Square_, _Saw_,
and _Plane_, and look up any other references.
A good size is from 1' to 2' long and from 3" to 6" square (inside),
according to the work for which it is to be used, and of stock 7/8"
thick. The pieces must be prepared with care, so that the edges shall be
square and the surfaces true, particularly on the inside, for when the
box is put together the sides must be parallel and square throughout
with the bottom, on the _inside_. Test each piece with the square. Use
care in screwing the sides to the bottom to keep them exactly in place
(see _Screws_). Nails can be used, but screws are better. Lay out the
lines for the sawing from the _inside_, with the steel square if you
have one, or with the end of the tongue of the try-square. Mark the line
_a_ on the inside of the side _x_ (Fig. 117), squaring from the bottom.
Mark the point _b_ at a distance from _a_ just equal to the distance
between the sides. Square a line at this point from the bottom, on the
inside as before. Carry this line across to the side _y_, squaring from
the inner surface of the side _x_, and mark the point _c_ on the inner
side of the side _y_. Also from the point _c_ draw a vertical line on
the inside of _y_ corresponding to the line _a_. Carefully mark the line
_g h_, which will give the mitre. The lines should be laid out from the
inside, because it is against the inside surfaces that the pieces to be
cut in the mitre-box will bear.
[Illustration FIG. 116.]
[Illustration FIG. 117.]
[Illustration FIG. 118.]
Another way is to square a line _m n_ (Fig. 118) across the top side of
the bottom piece, before putting together, and to lay off from one end
of this line a point _o_ on the edge, at a distance equal to the width
of the bottom, thus fixing the points _m_, _n_, and _o_. Next fasten on
the sides, square upright lines on the inside of one side from the point
_m_ and on the inside of the other side from the point _o_. The diagonal
line _pq_ (Fig. 119) will represent the mitre.
[Illustration FIG. 119.]
[Illustration FIG. 120.]
The cuts for the saw to run in should be made with a back-saw or a
panel-saw. In a similar manner square on the inside two upright lines
opposite each other, draw a line across the tops of the sides to meet
these lines (squaring from the inside as before), and make a saw-cut, as
shown by the middle line in Fig. 116. This will be very useful to saw
strips squarely across. You can put buttons on the outside near the
lower edge to catch against the front edge of the bench-top if you wish,
or use the mitre-box on the bench-hooks when necessary to hold it
firmly.
[Illustration FIG. 121.]
A very useful _mitre-board_ for sawing strips, mouldings, and the like,
can be made with two short boards, one wider than the other, being sure
that the surfaces and edges are true and square (Fig. 120). This can be
of any size. A good size is from 1' to 2' long, 6" wide (in all), and of
stock 7/8" thick, but it is better to make the narrow piece thicker,
perhaps 1-1/4" or 1-3/4". Mark the lines first on the bottom of the
narrow piece, then on the edges, and lastly on the top, as with the
mitre-box just shown, to ensure the lines being at the correct angles
with the surfaces against which the wood to be sawed will rest. An
excellent plan is to make saw-kerfs for mitres in the cleat of a
bench-hook (Fig. 121), in the way just shown.
[Illustration FIG. 122.]
[Illustration FIG. 123.]
* * * * *
=Shooting-Board.=--This is useful for squaring edges and small surfaces
and ends with the plane, and for jointing edges, the plane being pushed
forward on its side (see _Shooting-board_, in Part V.). It can be of any
wood which holds its shape well. Clear white pine or mahogany is good.
If carelessly made it will be of but little use. The stock must be
planed free from winding. Several forms are shown in Figs. 122, 123, and
124.
* * * * *
Before beginning work read carefully _Marking_, _Rule_, _Square_, _Saw_,
_Plane_, in Part V., and look up any other references. The construction
is plain (Fig. 122). Approximate dimensions are given, Fig. 122 being
made of 7/8" stock, Fig. 123 of 1/2" and 1/4" stock, and Fig. 124 of
7/8" stock. Screw the pieces together from the under side (see
_Screws_). See that the stop or cleat _a_ is put on at right angles to
the edge _b_. Mark the lines for this accurately with knife or chisel. A
groove is sometimes cut for this stop, but this is a refinement that is
not at all necessary if you do your work well. This board must have a
rabbet or groove cut out of the upper piece, as shown, to give room for
shavings. In Fig. 123 the top board overlaps the ends of the cleats a
trifle, which (with the spaces between the cleats) allows the escape of
the shavings. Arrange some way to hold the board firmly on the bench.
Care is necessary in using the shooting-board not to plane slices from
your left hand. Guides, to attach to the plane to ensure square edges,
can be bought and used instead of the shooting-board. Some of them are
serviceable, particularly those adjustable at various angles.
[Illustration FIG. 124.]
[Illustration FIG. 125.]
A _mitre shooting-board_ (Fig. 125) is also useful. It requires to be
made with even more care than the board just given, but on the same
principle. The angular stop or stops must be fitted to make the angles
exactly 45°. A sawed mitre holds glue better than a planed mitre, but
sawed mitres often require trimming with the plane to get a perfect fit.
=Form for Rounding Sticks.=--You will be continually wanting to make
sticks eight-sided or round. A form to hold the pieces for planing is a
great convenience.
* * * * *
Before beginning work read carefully _Marking_, _Gauge_, _Plane_, and
_Nailing_, in Part V., and look up any other references.
[Illustration FIG. 126.]
[Illustration FIG. 127.]
[Illustration FIG. 128.]
[Illustration FIG. 129.]
Take two strips and plane off (or even chisel or whittle) one corner of
each, first gauging lines equidistant from the corner for a guide. Then
nail the two strips together, with the bevels facing each other, to make
a trough as shown in Fig. 126. Put a screw in one end to push the work
against, push the form against the bench-stop or screw it in the vise,
put the piece to be "cornered" or rounded in the V-shaped trough, and it
will be firmly held with the angle upward. Two or three of these for
larger and smaller pieces will be very useful. They are quickly made of
waste strips. If you think 2' the right length for one of these forms,
for instance, make it a foot or so longer, and after it is made saw off
the extra length in one or two pieces, which will serve as an extension
for holding a long stick (Fig. 127). If your bench has wooden
bench-stops you can make some stops with notches in the top (Fig. 128)
for this purpose.
For making pieces tapering, as well as eight-sided or rounding, you have
only to modify this idea by planing off the corners in a tapering way
(Fig. 129). See _Rounding Sticks_.
=Level and Plumb.=--Before beginning work read carefully _Marking_,
_Rule_, _Square_, _Gauge_, _Saw_, and _Plane_, in Part V.
To make a plumb like Fig. 130, take a piece of straight wood from 3" to
5" wide and 4' or 5' long with the edges straight and parallel. Gauge a
line down the middle of the side, exactly parallel to the edges, and cut
the notch shown at the bottom. Make a saw-kerf at the upper end of the
line and another beside it in which to catch the end of the line, or
fasten the line around a nail. (See _Plumb_.)
[Illustration FIG. 130.]
[Illustration FIG. 131.]
To make the level shown in Fig. 131, it is essential that the bottom
board _c d_ be straight on the lower edge. The two braces _a c_ and _a
d_ should be of the same length. The strut _a b_ should be nailed across
at the middle of _c d_ and at right angles to it. The essential thing is
to have the line _a b_ exactly at right angles to _c d_, the object of
the braces _a c_ and _a d_ being to stiffen the board _c d_, and to keep
the lines _a b_ and _c d_ at right angles to each other. The plumb-line
is hung and used as in the case just given, the board _c d_ being used
for horizontal work. (See _Level_.)
=Cabinets, etc., for Tools and Supplies.=--A tool-chest, though a very
convenient (and in fact necessary) thing for a workman who is moving
around from place to place or who needs a safe receptacle in which to
lock his tools in a factory, is not at all necessary in a private shop,
nor half as convenient as to have the tools where they can be more
readily reached. It is quite a piece of work to make a good one, and it
will be better to defer such a job until you feel the need.
An old case of drawers, or bureau, or cupboard, or some such receptacle,
if you can find one, will be useful in your shop. A bureau, in fact,
makes a good tool-cabinet or substitute for a tool-chest, but if you
keep tools in drawers make compartments, trays, or divisions, else the
edge-tools may be damaged, not to speak of the inevitable confusion.
You do not need a tool-cabinet for half a dozen tools, but when they
begin to accumulate it is a good thing to have and a good thing to make,
if there is occasion to keep your tools locked up or if you have limited
room. Otherwise it is just as well to keep the common tools as already
shown. A cabinet is fully as useful for miscellaneous articles like
brads, hinges, etc., as for tools.
* * * * *
Before beginning work read carefully _Marking_, _Rule_, _Square_, _Saw_,
_Plane_, _Nailing_, and _Screws_, and look up any other references.
[Illustration FIG. 132.]
Perhaps you can find a good box, wide and shallow, all made, or if deep
you can saw off part to make it shallow (Fig. 132). This will answer
perfectly for a shop. For the house you would of course make a cupboard
of new wood. The size must depend on circumstances. Get two boards for
doors that will just cover the open side of the box, unless the box
cover will do, which is unlikely. If the edges are not good you must
allow extra width for jointing. Lay these boards in position and mark
the lengths (on the side next the box) by the box itself, not with the
square, for the box may not be square. From the lines just made mark the
edges with the square, and, with the straight-edge, connect these edge
marks by lines on the face sides. Saw off by these lines. Mark the box
and each door in some way (Fig. 133), as "top," and "R" (for right) and
"L" (for left), or by marks, as X, O, #, etc., to prevent finally
putting them on wrong side out or wrong end up, as is very likely to
happen if you neglect to mark them.
[Illustration FIG. 133.]
[Illustration FIG. 134.]
[Illustration FIG. 135.]
[Illustration FIG. 136.]
Now for hinges. The best thing, on account of the weight to be hung on
the doors and the poor quality of the wood generally used for boxes,
will be iron strap-hinges made for work of this sort, screwed on the
outside (Fig. 134). Two will do for each door. Next to this come the
common iron hinges. If the sides of the box are thick and firm, three of
the common long and narrow kind (Fig. 135) will do for each door. If the
sides are thin and flimsy, nail or screw a strip inside of each edge and
use wider and shorter hinges (Fig. 136). To fit the hinges, see
_Hinges_. The doors being hung, take them off while fitting up the case.
Gauge a pencil line around the outer edge and each end of the inside
surface of each door, where it fits against the edge of the box, as a
limit beyond which racks or tools must not project or the door will not
shut (Fig. 137).
[Illustration FIG. 137.]
The fitting up of the cupboard must depend on its size and what and how
many tools or supplies are to be kept in it. Shelves you can simply make
of the right size and nail into place from the outside, using the rule
and square to get them in the right positions. The illustrations are
merely suggestions which you can alter or improve upon to suit your
particular case. Fig. 138 shows another form, and Fig. 139 a small
cabinet with one door, with suggestions for the arrangement of the
tools, but the matter of fitting up you must, of course, contrive for
yourselves, according to the circumstances. Do not attempt to put
full-width drawers into these wide, shallow cabinets, as is often done.
It takes an expert to fit drawers that are wide and short (from front to
back) and they are not always satisfactory even then. If you wish
drawers, either put in a row of narrow ones, or use the simple device
described below (Figs. 141 and 142), and shown in Fig. 139. (See
_Drawers_ in Part V.)
[Illustration FIG. 138.]
[Illustration FIG. 139.]
To fasten the doors you can hook one on the inside and put a button
(which you can whittle out) on the outside to hold the other. If you
wish to lock, hook one door inside and lock the other to it (see
_Locks_). A padlock with staples and iron strap is easier to put on. To
make a cupboard of boards instead of using a box, you simply make a box
yourself (see _Box-making_ in Part II.) and then proceed as above.
[Illustration FIG. 140.]
Fig. 140 shows a good form of cabinet. Make a tight box, perhaps 2' × 3'
× 6" to 9", the sides and ends of 7/8" stock, and the top and bottom
(_i.e._, the front and back of the cabinet) of 1/2" stock. Saw it open
carefully on the line _a b c_ about 2" or 3" from the top or face,
according to the thickness of the box, first marking the ends or the
sides so that you can finally put them together again in the same
positions. When nailing the box together omit all nails which could
interfere with the sawing. They can easily be put in afterwards. (See
_Box-making_, in Part II.) Carefully smooth the edges after the saw.
Reckless and hasty planing will spoil the joint. Fit two strap-hinges,
or three of the common kind. Fit up inside as you wish, and fasten with
hasp, padlock, or a lock working on the principle of a chest lock.
All these cabinets must be firmly fastened to the wall, for they will be
very heavy when filled. Do not trust to a couple of nails or screws, the
way amateurs so often put up shelves and cabinets in the house. A ledge
of some sort below is a great help (Fig. 140) to relieve the screws or
nails of the weight. If the back is not very strong, do not trust wholly
to it, but add cleats outside or inside. If in the house, stout
screw-eyes of heavy wire in the sides of the cabinet, through which you
can screw to the wall, are good (Fig. 140).
Good shelves can be made by arranging empty boxes one on top of another,
or by taking a wide, thin (flat) box and fitting shelves across it, like
a bookcase, and then fastening the whole to the wall.
A small drawer can be fixed under a shelf, anywhere in your shop, on the
principle often used in sewing-machine tables and the like, by taking a
small box of suitable shape, strengthening one corner if necessary (Fig.
141), and pivoting it with a screw at that corner (Fig. 142).
[Illustration FIG. 141.]
[Illustration FIG. 142.]
* * * * *
=First-class Bench.=--You can do all the work you will be equal to for a
long time on such a bench as has been shown, but some day you will want
a first-class bench, such as Fig. 143. Do not attempt anything of the
sort at first, however, though if you can afford it, such a bench is
good to begin with. A few details are given in the Appendix.
[Illustration FIG. 143.]
=Other Appliances.=--A number of other appliances and contrivances will
be found, under their respective headings, in Part V.
A FEW ESSENTIALS TO SUCCESSFUL WORK
_Do one thing at a time. Finish one job before you start two or
three others._
_First learn to work well, then ability to work quickly will come of
itself._
_Plan your work to the end before beginning to use your tools._
_Make drawings carefully to scale before beginning any but the
simplest work._
_Lay out the work carefully on the wood with sharp, accurate lines,
according to the drawings, measuring everything with exactness at
least twice._
_Cut the work accurately with sharp tools to the lines you have laid
out._
_Keep testing the accuracy of the work with the square,
straight-edge, rule, level, or plumb._
_Keep your tools sharp and in good order._
_Have the most convenient place for each tool and always keep it in
that place when not in use._
_Do your work thoroughly and strongly. Do not half make it. Do not
half fasten it together. The only time you will regret thorough work
is when you have to take it apart again._
FOOTNOTES:
[14] If you can afford to buy one ready made, you cannot do better than
to begin with such as are sold for sloyd or manual-training schools, but
do not get a very small one unless you are only going to do very small
work. Get one as large as you can afford. A second-hand bench can often
be bought for a small sum, but be sure that it is firm and steady.
[15] The reason for making this bench 5' 10" long, instead of cutting a
12' board into two lengths of 6' each, is that it is hard to get boards
sound and square at the ends, and so it is best to allow a few inches
for waste. Of course your bench can be of any desired length. Six or
eight feet is suitable for ordinary work, but there is no objection to
making it as much longer as your space and material will admit. The
height should bear a proper relation to the height of the workman. No
definite height can be given. Try moving a plane back and forth. If
your right elbow, when holding the plane, is slightly bent and your back
about straight, the height will be not far from right. Do a little
simple work at a table, trying different heights, and you can soon tell
what will be satisfactory. If the bench is too low, you cannot manage
your work well and your back will get tired from bending over, not to
speak of becoming round-shouldered. If the bench is too high, it will be
hard to manage your work, you cannot plane well, and your arms will be
tired from holding them up unnaturally high. A bench for heavy work like
carpentry is usually rather lower than one for cabinet- or
pattern-making, while a carver's bench is usually higher.
[16] This vise is fitted slanting, so that the slide at the bottom
comes on the outside of the leg and at the same time in the centre
line of the movable jaw in line with the screw. A common form has the
movable jaw upright, the sliding bar being mortised into it and sliding
through a mortise cut in the leg, as shown in Figs. 56 and 57. If you
wish to make this kind, study _Mortising_, in Part V., and lay out
and cut the mortise in the leg before nailing the cross-board to it
(Figs. 41 and 42). This is the most difficult part of the bench to make
nicely, and you can spend a good deal of pains upon it. If you have
not yet the proper tools to make this mortise you can mark it out and
have it cut for a very small sum at a wood-working mill or shop. When
nailing the cross-board upon the legs, bear in mind to put this leg in
the right place. Fig. 58 shows a simple arrangement with an additional
post, or two posts can be put together and one half the notching done
in each (Fig. 59).
[17] In case your bench is in the house and you wish to deaden the sound
and vibration from your work you can put rubber cushions under the legs.
[18] Fig. 112 shows a nicer pair of horses. Take two pieces of pine, or
any wood not likely to warp, 2" × 3" (or 4") × 2-1/2' or 3', mark with
rule, square, and gauge (see _Gauge_), and cut with saw and chisel the
shallow gains (Fig. 113) for the legs. Make them the same depth at the
top as at the bottom (Fig. 114), and clean them out as accurately to the
lines as you can. Get out eight legs, and regulate their length as
before. Saw the upper ends on a bevel (Fig. 114) corresponding to the
slant they are to have. Nail or screw them in place. You can glue the
joints for additional strength. Fit on cross-pieces and finish the work
as described above. If you ever need horses for very heavy work you can
make the legs of plank or joist with the tops cut like Fig. 115.
"The labor is small, the pastime is great."--GOETHE.
PART II