NOW that you’ve got some very good tools, it is time you knew how to
take care of them as well as to use them.
The best tools will grow rusty and dull, and shabby, also, even if
they don’t hide away out of sight just when you most want to use them,
unless you have a proper place to put them and _always remember to put
them in that place when you have done using them_.
I suppose you think you must have a tool chest for this; now a tool
chest is a very good thing if you want to carry your tools on a
journey, i. e. if you are a city boy and want to take your kit up into
the country and have the tools safe from jarring under the hands of the
baggage-smashers; but I’ve found that a tool chest isn’t as handy to
have in the work shop as a tool cabinet; so I’m going to tell you how
to make a good tool cabinet with less expense of money, material and
labor than a tool chest would require.
But you must be more exact and careful in measuring and cutting than
you had to be in making the sawhorse and bench. In getting your
materials, try to have the boards fully one foot wide and three fourths
of an inch thick. It is easier to make estimates on these dimensions,
and foot boards are usually the easier to obtain; so all the measures
for the cabinet are made with reference to these dimensions. If you
happen to have boards that are wider or narrower, you must do a little
figuring on your own account and make the proper allowance.
For a tool cabinet three feet three inches long and two feet wide,
which will hold all the tools on the list given in the first paper and
leave room for several more that you will be likely to own by and by,
you must have one six-foot board fully twelve inches wide and three
fourths of an inch thick; one seven-foot board, twelve inches wide,
one half inch thick; one nine-foot board, twelve inches wide, one half
inch thick; also a number of three fourths inch screws which you are
supposed to have in stock; one pair brass (or iron) hinges for three
fourths inch board, and a hook for fastening, unless you prefer a lock.
Take three fourths inch board (the one six feet long), plane both
edges; then by aid of chalk line and splitting-saw, cut off a strip two
and one half inches wide, running the whole length of the board.[A]
[A] I do not explain again how to use a chalk line and a splitting-saw,
for you ought to thoroughly understand that if you have read the other
papers and made the sawhorse and workbench yourself.
The board that remains should be nine and one half inches wide. Smooth
the edge with plane enough to remove the roughness left by the saw;
then cut off another strip two and one half inches wide like the first.
Smooth the edge of the remaining seven-inch board; then divide this
seven-inch board into two even strips which will be six feet long and
about three and one half inches wide, perhaps a trifle less, from the
loss in planing.
All these strips will have one edge that has been planed and one left
rough by the saw. If you lay them together you will find that you
have two pairs of strips; one pair two and one half inches wide, and
one pair three and one half inches wide. _Each pair_ must be alike
in width, otherwise the cabinet will be uneven and lobsided; so
before going any farther lay the strips together and plane down any
inequalities.
Now take one of the three and one half inch strips with try square
and block plane. Square one end; measure three feet three inches from
squared end and allow one eighth inch for waste in cutting.[B] Cut off
square with cross-cut saw. Square end of piece cut and also of piece
remaining. Measure twenty-two and one fourth inches and cut and plane
as before. Do the same with the other three and one half inch strip.
You have now two sides and top and bottom of main part of cabinet, and
some small bits left for which we shall find a use, i. e. you have two
pieces three feet three inches long and three and one half inches wide,
for sides, and two pieces twenty-two and one fourth inches long and
three and one half inches wide for top and bottom.
[B] Where accuracy is required always allow one eighth inch for waste
in sawing; draw line and saw _on_ the line and plane off any thickness
over and above the measure required.
Now take the two and one half inch strips; cut three feet three inches
off each, also twenty-two and one fourth inches as with the others.
Each set of pieces must be alike in length and width; you have two
pieces three feet three inches long and two and one half inches wide,
and two pieces twenty-two and one fourth inches long, two and one
half inches wide; these are for sides, and top and bottom of door of
cabinet. Lay these four pieces aside while we get ready for the back of
the cabinet and front part of door.
From the seven-foot board (after planing and squaring one end) cut off
three feet three inches; plane square the ends and cut off another
piece three feet three inches.[C]
[C] Always remember to square and plane edges _before_ measuring from
them.
From the nine-foot board in the same way cut two similar pieces three
feet three inches; smooth edges, planing off as little as possible.
[Illustration: THE TOOL CABINET OPEN.]
The piece remaining will measure about two and one half feet in length;
from this cut off a piece twenty-two and one fourth inches long. Saw
strip three and one half inches wide, which to save confusion we will
mark _A_; plane edges, cut off another strip two and one half inches
wide; mark this _B_. Next a strip three and one half inches wide;
mark this _C_. Cut _C_ so as to measure seventeen and one half inches
in length.
The cabinet is now mostly cut out; the next step is to put it together.
Take pieces for sides and top and bottom of cabinet. Lay two sides
parallel at a distance of twenty-two and one fourth inches apart; put
top and bottom in so they will be flush with end of sides. Nail the
sides on to ends with six or eight-penny nails. Take care to keep the
corners square, as they will be if the edges are even and kept flush.
Before nailing on the back test the squareness of the frame in this
way (unless your eye is very accurate; even then it is a good thing to
get in the habit of measuring exactly): measure the diagonals from the
opposite corner. If the measures are alike, all right; if, however, one
diagonal be longer than the other, make it right with gentle, steady
pressure on each corner with both hands. When the diagonals are exactly
alike the corners will also be right angles. Now lay on two of the two
and one half inch pieces (those three feet three inches long and one
foot wide); be sure and keep all the edges flush and nail firmly.
Do the same with pieces prepared for doors, and you will find you
have two shallow boxes three feet three inches long and two feet wide
(outside measure); one will be three and one half inches deep, the
other two and one half inches deep.
Now take piece marked _A_, which is for a shelf in the cabinet; measure
and mark six and one half inches from right hand end (this is the
length for the small plane); then measure and mark another one half
inch beyond this point; from this _last_ point measure length of your
oilstone, which is probably six or eight inches. The space remaining
will make a sort of box, or tray, for rule, chalk line and reel,
pencils, etc., when you have made some use of the bits of wood you had
left after cutting the shelves.
In the one half inch space between place for plane and oilstone put a
little block one half inch wide and one inch long. At the end of space
for oilstone nail a strip an inch wide across the shelf, and a similar
strip in front. This makes one side and front of tray; the other side
and back will be formed by the cabinet itself.