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[Ill.u.s.tration: _Fig. 23._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: CHINESE SAW. _Fig. 24._]

THE CHINESE SAW.--This saw is designed to saw with an upward cut, and the ill.u.s.tration (Fig. 24) shows the handle jutting out below the tooth line, in order to cause the teeth to dig into the material as the handle is drawn upwardly. Reference is made to these features to impress upon beginners the value of observation, and to demonstrate the reason for making each tool a particular way.

THINGS TO AVOID.--Do not oscillate the saw as you draw it back and forth. This is unnecessary work, and shows impatience in the use of the tool. There is such an infinite variety of use for the different tools that there is no necessity for rendering the work of any particular tool, or tools, burdensome. Each in its proper place, handled intelligently, will become a pleasure, as well as a source of profit.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Fig. 25._]

THE PLANE.--The jack plane and the fore plane are handled with both hands, and the smoothing plane with one hand, but only when used for dressing the ends of boards. For other uses both hands are required.

ANGLES FOR HOLDING PLANES.--Before commencing to plane a board, always observe the direction in which the grain of the wood runs. This precaution will save many a piece of material, because if the jack plane is set deep it will run into the wood and cause a rough surface, which can be cured only by an extra amount of labor in planing down.

Never move the jack plane or the smoothing plane over the work so that the body of the tool is in a direct line with the movement of the plane.

It should be held at an angle of about 12 or 15 degrees (see Fig. 25).

The fore plane should always be held straight with the movement of the plane, because the length of the fore plane body is used as a straightener for the surface to be finished.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Fig. 26._]

ERRORS TO BE AVOIDED.--Never draw back the plane with the bit resting on the board. This simply wears out the tool, and if there should be any grit on the board it will be sure to ruin the bit. This applies particularly to the jack plane, but is bad practice with the others as well.

A work bench is a receptacle for all kinds of dirt. Provide a special ledge or shelf for the planes, and be sure to put each plane there immediately after using.

THE GAGE.--A man, who professed to be a carpenter, once told me that he never used a gage because he could not make it run straight. A few moments' practice convinced him that he never knew how to hold it. The ill.u.s.tration shows how properly to hold it, and the reason why it should so be held follows.

You will observe (Fig. 26) that the hand grasps the stem of the gage behind the cheekpiece, so that the thumb is free to press against the side of the stem to the front of the cheekpiece.

HOLDING THE GAGE.--The hand serves to keep the cheekpiece against the board, while the thumb pushes the gage forward. The hand must not, under any circ.u.mstances, be used to move the gage along. In fact, it is not necessary for the fingers to be clasped around the gage stem, if the forefinger presses tightly against the cheekpiece, since the thumb performs all the operation of moving it along. Naturally, the hand grasps the tool in order to hold it down against the material, and to bring it back for a new cut.

THE DRAW-KNIFE.--It is difficult for the apprentice to become accustomed to handle this useful tool. It is much more serviceable than a hatchet for tr.i.m.m.i.n.g and paring work. In applying it to the wood always have the tool at an angle with the board, so as to make a slicing cut. This is specially desirable in working close to a line, otherwise there is a liability of cutting over it.

This knife requires a firm grasp--firmness of hold is more important than strength in using. The flat side is used wholly for straight edges, and the beveled side for concave surfaces. It is the intermediate tool between the hatchet and the plane, as it has the characteristics of both those tools. It is an ugly, dangerous tool, more to be feared when lying around than when in use. Put it religiously on a rack which protects the entire cutting edge. _Keep it off the bench._

CHAPTER IV

HOW TO DESIGN ARTICLES

FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGNING.--A great deal of the pleasure in making articles consists in creative work. This means, not that you shall design some entirely new article, but that its general form, or arrangement of parts, shall have some new or striking feature.

A new design in any art does not require a change in all its parts. It is sufficient that there shall be an improvement, either in some particular point, as a matter of utility, or some change in an artistic direction. A manufacturer in putting out a new chair, or a plow, or an automobile, adds some striking characteristic. This becomes his talking point in selling the article.

THE COMMERCIAL INSTINCT.--It is not enough that the boy should learn to make things correctly, and as a matter of pastime and pleasure. The commercial instinct is, after all, the great incentive, and should be given due consideration.

It would be impossible, in a book of this kind, to do more than to give the fundamental principles necessary in designing, and to direct the mind solely to essentials, leaving the individual to build up for himself.

FIRST REQUIREMENTS FOR DESIGNING.--First, then, let us see what is necessary to do when you intend to set about making an article. Suppose we fix our minds upon a table as the article selected. Three things are necessary to know: First, the use to which it is to be put; second, the dimensions; and, third, the material required.

a.s.suming it to be the ordinary table, and the dimensions fixed, we may conclude to use soft pine, birch or poplar, because of ease in working.

There are no regulation dimensions for tables, except as to height, which is generally uniform, and usually 30 inches. As to the length and width, you will be governed by the place where it is to be used.

If the table top is to have dimensions, say, of 36" 48", you may lay out the framework six inches less each way, thus giving you a top overhang of three inches, which is the usual practice.

CONVENTIONAL STYLES.--Now, if you wish to depart from the conventional style of making a table you may make variations in the design. For instance, the Chippendale style means slender legs and thin top. It involves some fanciful designs in the curved outlines of the top, and in the crook of the legs. Or if, on the other hand, the Mission type is preferred, the overhang of the top is very narrow; the legs are straight and heavy, and of even size from top to bottom; and the table top is thick and nearly as broad as it is long. Such furniture has the appearance of ma.s.siveness; it is easily made and most serviceable.

MISSION STYLE.--The Mission style of architecture also lends itself to the making of chairs and other articles of furniture. A chair is, probably, the most difficult piece of household furniture to make, because strength is required. In this type soft wood may be used, as the large legs and back pieces are easily provided with mortises and tenons, affording great rigidity when completed. In designing, therefore, you may see how the material itself becomes an important factor.

CABINETS.--In the making of cabinets, sideboards, dressers and like articles, the ingenious boy will find a wonderful field for designing ability, because in these articles fancy alone dictates the sizes and the dimensions of the parts. Not so with chairs and tables. The imagination plays an important part even in the making of drawers, to say nothing of placing them with an eye to convenience and artistic effect.

HARMONY OF PARTS.--But one thing should be observed in the making of furniture, namely, harmony between the parts. For instance, a table with thin legs and a thick top gives the appearance of a top-heavy structure; or the wrong use of two different styles is bad from an artistic standpoint; moreover, it is the height of refined education if, in the use of contrasting woods, they are properly blended to form a harmonious whole.

HARMONIZING WOOD.--Imagine a chiffonier with the base of dark wood, like walnut, and the top of pine or maple, or a like light-colored wood. On the other hand, both walnut and maple, for instance, may be used in the same article, if they are interspersed throughout the entire article.

The body may be made of dark wood and trimmed throughout with a light wood to produce a fine effect.

CHAPTER V

HOW WORK IS LAID OUT

CONCRETE EXAMPLES OF WORK.--A concrete example of doing any work is more valuable than an abstract statement. For this purpose I shall direct the building of a common table with a drawer in it and show how the work is done in detail.

For convenience let us adopt the Mission style, with a top 36" 42" and the height 30". The legs should be 2" 2" and the top 1", dressed. The material should be of hard wood with natural finish, or, what is better still, a soft wood, like birch, which may be stained a dark brown, as the Mission style is more effective in dark than in light woods.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Fig. 27._]

FRAMEWORK.--As we now know the sizes, the first thing is to build the framework. The legs should be dressed square and smoothed down with the fore plane to make them perfectly straight. Now, lay out two mortises at the upper end of each leg. Follow the ill.u.s.trations to see how this is done.

LAYING OUT THE LEGS.--Fig. 27 shows a leg with square cross marks (A) at each end. These marks indicate the finished length of the leg. You will also see crosses on two sides. These indicate what is called the "work sides." The work sides are selected because they are the finest surfaces on the leg.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Fig. 28._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Fig. 29._]

THE LENGTH OF THE MORTISES.--Then take a small try square (Fig. 28) and add two cross lines (B, C) on each of the inner surfaces, the second line (B) one-half inch from the finish line (A), and the other line (C) seven inches down from the line (A). The side facing boards, hereafter described, are seven inches wide.

When this has been done for all the legs, prepare your gage (Fig. 29) to make the mortise scribe, and, for convenience in ill.u.s.trating, the leg is reversed. If the facing boards are 1" thick, and the tenons are intended to be 1/2" thick, the first scribe line (E) should be 1/2" from the work side, because the shoulder on the facing board projects out 1/4", and the outer surface of the facing board should not be flush with the outer surface of the leg. The second gage line (F) should be 1" from the work side.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Fig. 30._]

THE MORTISES.--When the mortises have been made they will appear as shown in the enlarged cross section of the leg (Fig. 30), the total depth of each mortise being 1-1/2". The depth of this mortise determines for us the length of the tenons on the facing boards.

THE FACING BOARDS.--These boards are each 1 inch thick and 7 inches wide. As the top of the table is 42 inches long, and we must provide an overhang, say of 2 inches, we will first take off 4 inches for the overhang and 4 inches for the legs, so that the length of two of the facing boards, from shoulder to shoulder, must be 34 inches; and the other two facing boards 28 inches. Then, as we must add 1-1/2 inches for each tenon, two of the boards will be 37 inches long and two of them 31 inches long.