THE CHAMPLAIN MECHANICS IN THE SHOP.
The boys had listened with interest to the discussion at the
dinner-table; and, when they gathered in front of the shop, they were
talking about the subject themselves. But they were hardly ready to
settle their opinions in the matter. The principal’s views sounded
very much like heresy to some of them, who had been taught that it was
the most praiseworthy thing in the world to attend the high-school.
They were in doubt; and, in this respect, they were like thousands of
full-grown women and men.
When Mr. Jepson unlocked the doors of the shop, there was a general
rush for the inside of it. High-school education was forgotten, and
everybody’s curiosity was excited to know what the mechanical school
was to be.
The master-carpenter and the engineer, assisted by Bates and other men
who worked on the estate, had placed all the boxes of carpenter’s
tools in the shop; but not one of them had yet been opened. The
benches were all that looked like furniture. Of these there were half
a dozen for wood-work, and a dozen for iron. Overhead were the shafts,
drums, and pulleys by which various machines were to be operated.
“Here we are again, my lads,” said Captain Gildrock, standing upon one
of the boxes. “The first thing to be done is to put the shop in order.
Your instructors are here; and you must heed what they say, and obey
their orders. Like the session of the forenoon, the afternoon will
last three hours. At four o’clock you will be dismissed for the rest
of the day. The time will be your own then, but you must learn the
lessons which have been assigned. Now, Mr. Brookbine and Mr. Jepson, I
turn the pupils over to you. They have already been divided into
classes. Mr. Jepson will take the first, and Mr. Brookbine the
second.”
Captain Gildrock stepped down from the box, and seated himself on one
of the benches to witness the proceedings. He was quite as much
interested as any of the pupils.
“I am to teach you the use of carpenter’s tools,” said Mr. Brookbine.
“It will be an easy and pleasant job if you give attention and try to
do the best you can. The tools we have here are of the latest fashion,
and some of them are quite different from those with which I learned
my trade.
“Let me say, that every one of them must be handled with the utmost
care, and be kept in good order. You will be shown how to grind upon
the grindstone, and sharpen on the oil-stone, the chisels and
plane-irons. None but a bad workman ever uses dull tools. It is easier
to avoid running your tools against a nail than it is to grind out the
gaps the nail will make.”
“But where are the tools? I don’t see any,” asked Tom Ridley.
“They are in these boxes, and we will now open them. I will put two of
you to each box, for there are just six of these large boxes. Dory and
Thad Glovering may begin with the first one: the others will look on,
and see how it is done. You may learn how to do it, or how not to do
it.”
The carpenter handed Dory and Thad a wooden mallet, a chisel, and a
hatchet. Thad was full of enthusiasm. He thought he knew just how to
do it. He had the hatchet and chisel in his hands. Inserting the
latter under the lid of the box at one end, he struck the handle of
the chisel with the hatchet.
“Stop there, if you please,” interposed Mr. Brookbine.
Thad looked at the carpenter with astonishment, for he had no
suspicion that there was any thing wrong in what he had done.
“What I say to Thad I say to the whole class,” continued the
carpenter. “He has done just what most of you would if you had been in
his place. What is that mallet for, Thad?”
“To hit with, just as your fist is,” replied the amateur workman,
laughing.
“To strike with, and that is just what your fist is not for. You are
never to strike a wooden tool, or the wooden handle of a tool, with a
hammer or a hatchet. Can you all remember that, my lads?”
“Yes, sir!” shouted all the boys.
“Don’t do it, then. A mallet is used in striking a chisel.”
Thad took the mallet, and hit the chisel a tremendous crack with it.
The tool happened to be in a rather loose place in the opening, and it
went in to the handle. Thad tried to draw it out. He pulled and tugged
and wrenched at the chisel, but it was in firm enough to resist all
his efforts. He was so much in earnest, that his attempts amused the
rest of the boys; and they were soon laughing with all their might.
The machinists at the other end of the shop were interested, and some
of them went over to see what the excitement was. But they were called
back by Mr. Jepson before they could see inside of the ring that
surrounded Thad.
“Pull away, my lad,” laughed the master-carpenter. “But when you get
tired of the work, let me know, if you please.”
“I can’t get it out,” replied Thad, when he discovered that he was the
laughing-stock of the class.
“Perhaps you can, if you keep on wrenching for a day or two longer.”
“I have done my best, and it won’t come out.”
“I don’t think it will under any such treatment,” added Mr. Brookbine.
“You laugh, boys, because it is funny; but I doubt if the majority of
you would have done any better. Here is a lesson to learn. Skill is
better than strength, but skill and strength win the battle.”
“Good!” shouted Steve Baxter. “I will remember that as long as I live:
skill and strength win the battle.”
“I hope you will all remember it, for it is just the motto for a
carpenter. The ‘improvement,’ as the minister would say, upon the
text, is this: When things don’t work right, and won’t do as you want
and expect them to do, don’t yank, twist, jerk, and wrench at them.
Something is the matter, and you must see what it is. That chisel
would not come out. Why not?”
“It is in too tight,” replied Dick Short.
“Right, Dick: what is to be done?”
“Loosen it, if you can.”
“Dory, you may try your hand at it, taking the chisel as you find it.”
Dory had been studying the situation, and had made up his mind what to
do. Taking the hatchet, he inserted the edge of it in the crack, near
the chisel, and drove it in with the mallet. The chisel dropped out of
itself. But the hatchet stuck as hard as the chisel had.
“Good, so far, Dory; but your chisel is in chancery,” said the
carpenter.
“What is sauce for goose is sauce for gander,” replied Dory as he picked
up the chisel, and inserted it in the opening made by the hatchet.
Twisting the hatchet a little, he started the nails with which the
cover of the box was secured.
In the manner described, Dory alternately used the tools till he had
gone half-way round the box, when he and Thad took hold of the board
with their hands, and pulled it off.
“That was very well done,” said the carpenter. “But the board could
have been taken off without pulling it off with the hands.”
“I know it, Mr. Brookbine; but that was the quicker way to do it,”
replied Dory.
“So it was. It is quicker to pick up a rock, if you can, than to hoist
it with a machine,” added Mr. Brookbine. “Now, Corny Minkfield, you
and Nat Long may open the next one.”
These operators had closely observed the method of Dory, and they
opened the box without any difficulty. The others were disposed of in
the same manner. The boys turned to the instructor for the next step
in the interesting proceedings.
“These boxes contain six sets of carpenter’s tools,” said Mr.
Brookbine. “I shall describe them to you as they are taken from the
cases. The tools are all packed in the same order. Dory will pass me
the first package, and those who have opened the boxes will take the
same bundle from each of them.”
Dory took a thin package from the top of the box. Removing the paper
from it, he handed the tool to the carpenter.
“I needn’t tell you what this is, for you all know,” continued Mr.
Brookbine.
“It looks very much like a saw,” said Thad. “I know what it is, and
what it is for.”
“I am glad you do, Thad, though I have my doubts. Will you look at it,
and tell me what kind of a saw it is?”
Thad took the implement; and, putting on a very wise expression, he
examined it carefully.
“I should say that this was a hand-saw,” said he at last.
“Quite right: it is a hand-saw. Why is that name given to it--to
distinguish it from what?”
“From the saw in a saw-mill, or a circular-saw, which is not a
hand-saw,” answered Thad.
“You have answered as well as could be expected. There is no
particular meaning to the name, and the term is seldom used. There are
not a few words that lose their original meaning. I suppose if I
should ask you to go for a wood-saw, you would know what I meant.”
“I should say you meant the one used to saw fire-wood,” replied Thad.
“Precisely so; but all the saws in these boxes are wood-saws. Mr.
Jepson has saws for sawing brass and iron; but the term ‘wood-saw,’ or
‘buck-saw,’ was not given to distinguish it from them. If I asked you
to saw off the end of the board you have taken off the box, do you
think you could do it with this saw, Thad?”
“I think I could: in fact, I have no doubt of it,” replied Thad
confidently.
“Suppose you try it; but don’t saw through any of the nails.”
Dory assisted him to place the board in a proper position on the box.
The amateur commenced operations, but the saw did not work as well as
he expected. In spite of all his efforts, it would jump out of its
place; and it would not cut at all well.
“I don’t think this saw has ever been filed,” said Thad, disgusted
with the ill success of his efforts.
“The saw is sharp, well set, and in good order,” replied Mr.
Brookbine. “Can any one of you tell me what kind of a saw this is?”
“It is a slitting-saw,” answered Dory and two or three others, who had
been examining the saws taken from the other boxes.
“That’s what’s the matter,” laughed the carpenter. “It was not made to
cut across the grain, and it will not do it very well. With this saw
you work _with_ the grain of the wood, and it is never used for
any other purpose. You will all have a chance to try it in a day or
two.--The next package, Dory.--Another saw,” added the instructor, as
he took the tool in his hand. “Can any of you tell me what kind of a
saw this is?”
“It is a cutting-off saw,” said Nat Long.
“Right. It is also called a panel-saw, when it has fine teeth. If you
compare the filing and setting of the two saws, you will see that the
teeth of the last are of a different angle from the other, and that it
has more set than the slitting-saw; that is, the teeth are thrown out
more.--What next, Dory?”
Just then there was a roar of laughter from the machine-shop.