THERE is no better way for a boy to spend his evenings, half-holidays,
and vacations, than in making some useful and pretty articles of
furniture for his own room, providing he has an aptitude for such
work, and the mechanical ingenuity and natural patience to do it with
neatness and accuracy. Yet a boy should not—if he takes pleasure in
such work—become discouraged if his first attempts are not wholly
attended by success, as no success comes without perseverance; and
perseverance, if the love for the work be not wanting, will inevitably
bring its own reward.
The average boy is not usually blessed with overmuch room in which to
bestow his many treasures—his bats, balls and marbles, his collection
of butterflies and bugs, relics of many a pleasant tramp through field
and wood, and last, but far from least important, the treasured books
of tale and adventure, so dear to the heart of a genuine boy; therefore
the little case or cabinet of the illustration has been contrived,
for his own making, as a resting-place for all these and more, and to
prove the happy truth of the old adage, “A place for everything, and
everything in its place.”
[Illustration: SKETCH NO. 1.]
It may be constructed of nicely-selected pine, for this is easily
obtained, is cheap, and any little mistake will not entail too much
expense if the work has to be done again, and also it is easily worked,
and takes a beautiful golden color when “filled,” and finished with
shellac. Pains must be taken not to mar the wood with tool-marks. To
make a nice piece of work, you will not use any nails, but put the case
together with dowels, screws, and glue.
Now look over the drawings together. _Sketch No. 1_ shows the completed
case as it should look when finished and in place. The first section,
_A_, (_Sketch No. 2_) is a fair-sized box with lifting cover, and a
shelf beneath. This will be found handy for many odds and ends of
boyish treasures too cumbersome to be stored away in drawers and boxes.
_Section B_ contains the specimen, or butterfly case, with a row of
small drawers below, these drawers being handy receptacles for marbles,
tops, twine, or like odds and ends that make a troublesome litter when
thrown together in a large drawer. Two large drawers below these, and
the shelf, will find their uses, without doubt. _Section C_ has a
couple of shelves for books, with storage room for bats, hockey sticks,
etc., below; and in one corner is a small box large enough to hold two
or three balls; outside of this, as the other plans will show, is a
receptacle for a foot-ball, made of bent wire. This, if not a desirable
addition, may be left off.
Having looked our case over in a general way, let us now go into the
details of construction and finish. In _Sketch No. 2_ will be found all
the general measurements. The figuring and lettering on the _Detail
Sketch_ all refer to this drawing. We will first get out the stock
for the side-pieces of the various sections, four in number, and two
of them—those belonging to _Section B_—of exactly the same size and
shape. These should be of one and one fourth inch stock, and of the
dimensions given in _Detail Sketch No. 3_. Mark out carefully the
simple outline indicated for each piece, using a piece of charcoal, so
the line may be easily wiped out and corrected if unsatisfactory. Go
over the corrected outline with a soft pencil to preserve them, and
then saw them out. This must be done with care, to keep the edges even
and true, using either a draw tool or small saw on the finer outlines.
[Illustration: SKETCH NO. 2.]
The half-trefoil on side of _Section A_ at the bottom should be drawn
with a compass, or scribing tool, and cut with a hand scroll-saw; and
the simple pattern on the sides should first be marked out with a
compass, the larger hole carefully cut out with a sharp tool to the
depth of one fourth inch. The smaller holes, surrounding it, bore out
to about the same depth with a small auger-bit. The straight line
decoration on sides of _Sections B_ and _C_ are first neatly lined with
a pencil, and then cut with a sharp tool, one fourth inch wide, and
about as deep. The cover of _Section A_ should be of seven eighths
inch stock, and should project fully an inch over the side and front.
The back piece, on which the hinges are fastened, should be two and one
half inches wide. This will allow ample room for the back board, and
give to the cover, when open, sufficient slant to lean easily against
the wall. This piece should be well glued and doweled into place, and
two neat brass hinges set in, to hold the cover. The bottom of box and
bottom shelf of this same section are of same thickness as top, firmly
doweled and glued into place. The front panel is of same thickness, and
cut to fit exactly into place, doweled and glued. The small jig-saw
patterns at bottom of _Sketches No. 8_, _9_, _10_, are cut from one
half inch stock, and glued on firmly. _Section A_ is now ready to
attach to the side piece of _Section B_. This must be neatly and firmly
done with dowels and glue.
[Illustration: SKETCH NO. 3.]
In _Section B_ first get out the top, centre and bottom shelves, as
well as the narrow strip division for the drawers; these last need
not run back more than three inches, excepting for the row of small
drawers. This division should run entirely from front to back, the
same as the shelves. The thickness of all the shelving is the same
throughout. Having framed together our sides with the centre and bottom
shelves, and drawer partitions, next place the two narrow uprights, on
which the doors are to be hung, in position. These are one half inch
wide and firmly doweled and glued into sides; the doors are hung with
simple brass hinges and made to lap one over the other on one fourth
inch rebate, and shutting against an upright post about three fourths
inch square. Glue a strip one inch wide and one half inch thick around
the sides and back piece, for the top to rest upon and be fastened to,
by one fourth inch dowels, and glued; this strip should, for further
security, be fastened by a number of small screws. Space will not allow
the details of construction of drawers; but if the lad will look at any
well-made drawer, he will easily find out for himself.
We have already got out the side for the book shelves and bat holder,
_Section C_, and have only to dowel and glue shelves firmly into place,
put the back boards in position, having got them out the size and shape
shown by _Sketches 7 and 8_.
Now our case is well framed together and it only remains for us to
finish various small details. After fitting a one fourth inch shelf
into the specimen case midway, the next move is to line the whole of
the specimen case and the two long drawers beneath with thin, flat
pieces of cork about one eighth inch in thickness. First apply to the
whole surface to be covered, a thin coating of hot glue, fitting in the
piece of cork while the glue is hot; rub well into place, and apply an
even pressure, to be left until the glue is thoroughly “set;” when this
is done cover all the cork with nice white paper, applied with flour
paste. Frame up the door as shown in _Sketch No. 12_, of one half inch
stock, setting the glass in from the front into a narrow rebate. Then
glue a narrow moulding on the outside to prevent the glass from falling
out. Hang the door with brass hinges and fit a small lock into place;
then dowel neatly into place the under brackets, _Nos. 9_, _10_, _11_,
in their respective positions, place pretty brass pulls on all the
drawers, and the case is nearly ready for finishing.
In the book case _Section 6_, the simplest way of arranging the shelves
is to bore a row of one fourth inch holes front and back and at both
sides, and fit little pegs into these for two shelves to rest on. These
may be raised or lowered by changing the positions of the pegs. Make a
little box as shown of one fourth inch stock, fasten this neatly with
small screws into the left-hand upper corner of the bat holder under
the lower shelf; this is to hold the base and hockey balls. The back
of the case may be made of narrow strips of one fourth inch sheathing,
held in by screws.
Fill the woodwork thoroughly with a good filler; Wheeler’s is good.
After it is wholly dry, go over the case with a good coat of white
shellac, and when dry, rub it down carefully with powdered pummice
stone, oil and emery cloth. A second coat of shellac carefully rubbed
down, will result in a rich golden brown hue, that will improve with
age. This case, when complete, will cover a small space of four feet
nine inches by three feet three inches.
In buying stock, select the best pine for all portions that will show.
Get the stock well planed and smooth it down.
If made by a carpenter, twenty-five dollars would be the smallest
payable price for a good job, so that the price named is not at all
excessive for a really good thing.
This case being somewhat elaborate is intended both in design and
instructions here given, for those boys who have a fair knowledge of
construction, and some ideas as to the best way to set about it; and
it must be borne in mind although pine is soft and easily worked, it
is also easily soiled and injured by tool marks more readily than the
harder woods.
The general schedule of material and cost given below will be found
useful in buying.