Wood-working for Beginners: A Manual for Amateurs. Charles G. Wheeler
which abound in the popular publications. Try to make everything as simple as you can. Look askance on contrivances that are all tangled up with springs, and levers, and complicated mechanism, and study them well before you begin to make them.
First figure the cost of the object you intend to make. This book is not to do your work for you, but to put you on the right track to do it yourselves, so read Estimating, page 54, and the whole of Part I had best be read before you begin to make the things described hereafter.
CHAPTER VII
A FEW TOYS
Fig. 144.
Wooden Swords, Knives, and Daggers.—Before beginning work, read Marking, Knife, Whittling, Paring, Rounding Sticks, Rasp, File, and Sandpaper, and look up any other references. The construction of those shown in Fig. 144 is too obvious to require special description. First cut the general outline as shown, then round or pare or shave to the thickness required. If you have a bow-saw or scroll-saw, it will save much time in shaping the outlines, or you can have them sawed at the mill. If you stain these weapons with various colours, as red, black, yellow, etc., and in various patterns, and shellac them neatly (see Finishing), you can turn out quite a formidable array of awe-inspiring weapons. They should be made of some straight-grained and easily whittled wood. Nothing is better than white pine.
Fig. 145.
To make a sword like that shown in Fig. 145, first select a piece of straight-grained wood (ash or any strong wood) about 2½' in length, 3/16" thick, and 1" wide. About 4" from one end make a mark. From this mark taper the edges to the other end. Do not taper the stick too gradually. Then draw a line along the centre of each side and taper from this centre line to the edges, leaving the edges about 1/16" thick. Next get out two pieces of wood 1/8" thick and 4" long (some dark-coloured wood can be used for contrast). Nail one of these pieces with brads on each side of the 4" space left for the handle. Next get a piece 4" long,¼" thick, and ¾" wide (see Fig. 145). Mark it as shown, making the marks for the holes (3/16") so the outside edge of one will be just 1" from the outside edge of the other. Then bore these holes carefully (see Boring) and cut out the wood between them with a knife or chisel (being careful about splitting) and shape the outside as marked. Slip the blade through the hole in the guard you have just made up to the handle and nail the guard to the blade.
Fig. 146.
Wooden Snake.—This imitation reptile (Fig. 146) if well made will (when grasped at the middle) by a slight movement of the hand undulate and writhe in a very lifelike manner, as you may know, so do not be eager to terrify your feminine relatives, or those of other boys, too much.
Fig. 147.
Before beginning work read carefully Marking, Rule, Knife, Saw, and Rounding Sticks. The snake can be of any size—say from 2' to 6' long and from 1" to 2" in diam. Select a piece of straight-grained wood—white pine or any wood easy to work. First see that the stick is square, then make it hexagonal (six-sided), then taper it to the general shape of the snake, and finally round and smooth it (Fig. 147). Remember not to use sandpaper in the smoothing, as the grit will dull the tools yet to be used. The head you must whittle or carve according to your ingenuity and skill. The mouth can be cut with a fine saw.
The snake having been shaped, mark pencil lines lengthways along the middle of the top and bottom (except at the head), and cut with a knife a little slit or groove merely wide enough to hold a fine cord (like fish-line). This can be done with a fine saw (as a back-saw), using the teeth only at one end of the saw blade, but much care is required and the stick must be firmly clamped or held in the vise. You will probably do it more easily with the knife. Mark equal spaces (Fig. 148) of ½" to 2", according to the diameter of the snake, from the neck to within a short distance of the end of the tail. If you make these marks as near together as ¾", the snake will look more natural, as the notches will not have to be so wide, but you will have to cut more of them. Number these sections so that you can finally put them together again in the right order. With the knife or chisel notch in to the centre from each side at each of the marks, or use the saw and knife or chisel, until the body of the snake is cut into sections (Fig. 148). Put the sections together again by sinking a fine strong cord in the longitudinal grooves in the top and bottom. Set the cord in place with glue (see Gluing), and fasten with little staples (which you can make of bent pins), or something of the sort, at the end of each section.
Fig. 148.
Set beads in the head for eyes. Sandpaper the whole with fine sandpaper (see Sandpaper). Paint in imitation of whatever kind of snake you prefer (see Painting), using red for the inside of the mouth.
Windmills.—These are made in a great variety of forms. A few patterns which can be readily constructed of wood are given below. Bear in mind to make them strong, as they are under very great strain in a violent wind, and, also, that the larger they are the stronger they must be; for little models, you know, are much stronger in proportion than large structures made after the same designs. Dimensions are given merely to help illustrate the principles of construction. The windmills will work just as well if made larger or smaller, within any reasonable limits. They should be made of straight-grained white pine, whitewood, or some wood easy to work.[19]
Fig. 149.
Fig. 150.
Before beginning work read carefully Marking, Rule, Square, Saw, Knife, and Paring, and look up any other references. In case of using heavy stock, see also Draw-knife, Spokeshave, and Plane. To make a very simple form (Fig. 149), take two sticks, say 8" x 1" x 1", and halve or notch (see Halving) each piece at the centre (Fig. 150), so that when put together they will form a cross with arms of equal length. Bore a hole through both pieces at the centre to loosely fit the pin upon which the vanes are to turn (see Boring). Upon the ends of each stick mark diagonal lines (Fig. 150) slanting in opposite directions, or so that, if you revolve the cross edgeways and look in turn upon each of the four ends, the lines will all slant the same way. This is essential, for the next operation is to shave each of the sticks down towards these lines until perhaps 1/8" thick (Fig. 150), and you can readily see that if these vanes are not turned the same way the windmill will not revolve. When this shaping is done fasten the sticks together with brads (see Nailing). The remaining part is very simple (Fig. 151), perhaps 1' long and ½" thick, with the broad vane made thin, as the only object of this is to act as a weather-vane to keep the windmill headed toward the wind, and if made thick and heavy the whole affair will not balance well.
Fig. 151.
The revolving cross you can now fasten with a nail or screw upon the end of the part last made (Fig. 151) so that it will revolve freely. Find the point at which the whole windmill will balance over your finger or a stick, and bore a vertical hole through the horizontal