Wood-working for Beginners: A Manual for Amateurs. Charles G. Wheeler
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.
Fig. 101.
Fig. 102.
Fig. 103.
Fig. 104.
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, 1½" 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.
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).
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.
Fig. 106.
Fig. 107.
Fig. 108.
Fig. 109.
If you have a piece of fairly good joist, from 1½" × 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 1¾" 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).
Fig. 110.
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]
Fig. 112.