Chapter I: Preface (1)

There is a period in a boy's life, roughly speaking between the ages of ten and sixteen, when his interests and energy turn in the direction of making things. It may be called the creative period, and with many of us it ends nearer sixty than sixteen. At one time it will take the form of a mania for building boats; again it may be automobiles or aeroplanes.

The boy is very susceptible to suggestion. A great automobile race occurs, and for weeks the building and racing of toy automobiles goes on apace. The papers are filled with accounts of an aero meet. Immediately the boy's energy turns to the study and manufacture of aeroplanes. This abounding interest in the real things of life is perfectly normal and should be encouraged rather than discouraged; but the boy needs guidance, if this energy is to be properly directed. He needs strengthening in his weak points, otherwise he may become superficial and "scattering" in his work, and fail to stick to a thing until, overcoming all obstacles, he succeeds in doing the one thing he set out to do. He may acquire the bad habit of never finishing anything, though continually starting new schemes.

The ability of the average boy is far beyond the general estimate, but intelligent supervision is needed. The pocket knife is his natural tool, yet not one boy out of a thousand realizes its possibilities. An attempt has been made in this volume to suggest some of these, especially for boys living in the city, where a little work shop for himself, unfortunately, is too often a luxury.

The two boys here depicted form a composite picture of several thousand American boys whom it has been the pleasure of the author to guide.

The ability to design new things, and to adapt general rules to personal requirements, is to be encouraged at all times, and this idea has been exemplified in the following pages.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. Introductory 3
II. The Knife and Its Possibilities--First Experiments 6
III. Mechanical Drawing 23
IV. Mechanical Drawing (Continued) 31
V. Toys 40
VI. Moving Toys 50
VII. Designing Moving Toys 58
VIII. The Model Aeroplane 68
IX. The Monoplane 75
X. Kites 84
XI. Chip Carving and Knife Work 97
XII. Chip Carving (Continued) 109
XIII. Chip Carving (Continued) 120
XIV. The Shop 133
XV. The Equipment for a Shop 143
XVI. Building a Lumber Rack 150
XVII. Mills and Weather Vanes 157
XVIII. Tools--Saws 169
XIX. Tools--Planes 176
XX. Squaring up Stock 185
XXI. Boring Tools 193
XXII. Miscellaneous Tools 199
XXIII. Making Nail Boxes 206
XXIV. Bird Houses 213
XXV. Simple Articles for Household Use 221
XXVI. The Mitre Box and Picture Frame 228
XXVII. Making Toilet Boxes 235
XXVIII. Brackets and Book Racks 242
XXIX. Construction 250
XXX. The Use of the Gouge 258
XXXI. Coat Hanger and Towel Rollers 266
XXXII. Clock Cases 276
XXXIII. Foot Stools 291
XXXIV. The Tabourette 301
XXXV. The Dovetail Joint 313
XXXVI. Inlaying 319
XXXVII. The Checkerboard 332
XXXVIII. Tool Cases and Chests 339
XXXIX. Book Cases and Magazine Racks 347
XL. The Medicine Cabinet 354
XLI. Mission Furniture 361
XLII. The Chest 377
XLIII. The Drawing Outfit 381
XLIV. Woodwork for Outdoor Sports--The Tennis
Court, Tennis Court Accessories 399
XLV. The Pergola 426
XLVI. Poultry Houses 441
XLVII. Housing of Outdoor Pets 451
XLVIII. Outdoor Carpentry 457
XLIX. Staining, Polishing, and Finishing 481
L. Durability: Decay and Preservation of Wood 492
LI. Mathematics of Woodwork 498
LII. Lumber No. 1 510
LIII. Lumber No. 2 517
LIV. Lumber No. 3 524
LV. Lumber No. 4 532
LVI. Broad-leaved Trees 543
LVII. Trees with Simple Leaves 556

ILLUSTRATIONS

The Shop--The Most Interesting Place in the
World on a Stormy Day _Frontispiece_

FACING PAGE

The Boy and his Jack Knife 8
Using the Veining Tool 118
Using the Jack Plane 146
Learning to Use the Crosscut Saw 170
Tools of the Seventeenth Century 178
The Correct Way to Hold the Chisel 208
Assembling and Finishing 374
Staining and Polishing 484

CARPENTRY AND WOODWORK

I

INTRODUCTORY

Two boys sat on a log whittling. Conversation had ceased and they both seemed absorbed in their work. Presently the younger one became aware of the silence and glanced at the older boy. He gave an exclamation and jumped to his feet. "Why," he cried, "you are making a knife out of wood. Isn't it a beauty! Is it a dagger?"

"No" replied the other, "it is a paper-knife for opening letters and cutting the pages of magazines. It is for father's desk, for his birthday."

"It's a dandy!" continued the youngster. "How can you make such fine things? Why can't I do that kind of work?"

"You can do it," replied Ralph, "but just now there are several reasons why you don't."

"What are they?"

"Well, in the first place you start to whittle without having any clear idea of what you are at work on. It's for all the world like setting out to walk without knowing where you are going. If you start that way, the probabilities are that you will get nowhere, and when you get back and father asks where you have been, you say, 'Oh, nowhere; just took a walk.' That's the way with your knife work. You just whittle and make a lot of chips, and when you get through you have nothing to show for your time and labour. If you want to know a secret--I never start to cut without first making a careful sketch of just what I want to make, with all the important dimensions on it.

"Another reason you don't get any results is that you don't know how to hold your knife, and still another is that you work with a dull tool. Why, that knife of yours is hardly sharp enough to cut butter."

"Will you show me how to do that kind of work?" asked the youngster humbly.

"Yes; on certain conditions."

"What are they?"

"That you will do just as I tell you."

"Will you show me how to make a paper-cutter now?"

"There you go, right off the handle! You are like a young man learning carpentry; you want to start right in to build a house instead of first learning how to use your tools. Why, it has taken me two years in the manual training school to learn how to do this work. No, indeed, if you want to learn how to do woodwork like this you must begin on something simple, learn how to handle wood, and how to keep your tools sharp."

"All right," sighed the younger boy; "I am willing to take lessons and begin at the beginning. What shall we do first?"

"The first thing to do is to throw away your folding penknife. That kind is of very little use. The steel is so poor it won't hold a cutting edge for any time at all, and the knife has a treacherous habit of closing up on your fingers. I will give you a good Swedish whittling knife like mine, and we will start by putting a good cutting edge on it."

So the boys began the first lesson. The fun they had and the things they made, their many experiences, the patience required, and the great skill developed with tools are described in the following pages. What they accomplished, any other boy may do if he will but apply himself with all his energy.

II

FIRST EXPERIMENTS--THE KNIFE AND ITS POSSIBILITIES

The older boy, after a search through his treasure chest, selected a knife with a blade about two and a half inches long.

Incidentally, the smaller boy caught a glimpse of the inside of that chest and it made his eyes bulge--but that is another story.

"This knife," explained Ralph, "is one I used for over a year in school and it's the most perfectly shaped tool for whittling that I have ever seen. Of course knives come in hundreds of shapes for different purposes, and later on, when you have become skilled in using this one, we will try some others, but our first motto must be 'one thing at a time.' A knife with either blade or handle too long or too short is awkward, but this one seems to fit my hand, and undoubtedly will fit yours. Try it."

Harry took it and went through the motions of whittling an imaginary stick.

"Now," said Ralph, "we will go out to the wood pile and see what we can find. White pine makes the best wood to start on, because it is usually straight grained, soft, and free from sap; but it is getting scarce and expensive, so we must be economical, as it is a very easy matter to waste lots of lumber."

After some searching, they found part of a pine board, about a foot long and an inch thick. Ralph chopped out a piece with a hatchet and deftly split it to about an inch and a half wide. His skill was a revelation to Harry, who saw that even a hatchet could be used with precision.

"Now," said Ralph, "I want you to cut this piece of rough pine to a smooth, straight piece, just an inch square."

"Oh, that's easy," replied Harry eagerly. "Just watch me."

"Take care," said Ralph. "I said an inch square; anything less than an inch will be wrong. Just imagine that this is a problem in arithmetic and you are trying to find the answer. If you succeed in making it just an inch square the answer will be correct; anything larger or smaller than the exact size will be wrong. In the first place, hold your knife so that it makes a slant or oblique angle with the wood, like this (Fig. 2)," he said, taking the wood in his left hand and the knife in his right. "That gives what we call a paring action, and is much easier (Fig. 3) than the stiff way you were holding it, at right angles with the stick."

"Now remember that the trouble with beginners is that they usually take off too much material. Make light, easy cuts and try to get one side of the wood perfectly straight first."

This was a harder job than Harry had expected, but after much testing and sighting (Fig. 4) Ralph said it would do for the first attempt. "Now," he said, "you may consider this first side the foundation of your house. Make a pencil mark on it near one of the edges, what the woodworker would call his witness mark. It means that this side or face is finished and the edge nearest the pencil mark is to be trued up next."

This proved even a harder job than the first, because after whittling and testing until he had the second side straight and true, Ralph tested it with a square and found that the second edge was not at right angles with the first, or working face. It was finally straightened, however, to stand the try square test fairly well.

An inch was next marked off at each end on face number one, and a sharp pencil line drawn from end to end. Harry then whittled this third side down to the line, and tested again with the try square. It seemed easier to do now, and the thickness was obtained in the same way. It looked as if they never would get that piece of pine exactly square, and even when Ralph said it would do, they measured it with a rule and found it an eighth of an inch too small each way.

Harry was disgusted. "The answer is wrong after all," he exclaimed, "but I'll learn to do that if it takes me a month."

"That's the right sporting spirit," said Ralph. "Keep at it till you get it. It's the hardest thing you will ever have to do with a knife, and it's unfortunate that you have to tackle it the first thing; but it's like learning to play the piano, you must learn the notes and scales and how to use your fingers before you can play a real piece. Every time you try this, you are gaining skill and the control of your hands. After a while you will be able to do it easily and think nothing of it."

Several days later Harry brought in a piece that he had been working on and Ralph tested it carefully with rule and try square. He gave Harry a pat on the back. "Good for you, boy; you are coming along splendidly," he said. "How many of these have you tried?"

"Twenty," said Harry meekly.

"Well, now, I'll show you how the Indians used to record their exploits. We'll put a notch on this stick for every one you've tried to make, and you can keep it as a souvenir of your first attempts at whittling." So with great care they measured off six two-inch spaces on each edge, carefully drew notches with a pencil and rule, and as carefully cut each notch to the line. (Fig. 5.)

Harry was delighted with the result.

They then hunted up a small screw eye, found the exact centre of the end of the stick by drawing two diagonals, fastened the screw eye in the centre and tied to it a piece of red, white and blue ribbon. A quarter-inch bevel was made around each end as a finishing touch.

This piece of white pine, with its twenty notches, hangs to-day in Harry's room, and every once in awhile he counts the notches to make sure they are all there, and recalls the trial that each one represents.

Harry was so much pleased with his notched trophy stick that he wanted to begin something else at once, and he was immediately started on a key rack.

"Too many homes," said Ralph, sagely, "have no definite place to keep keys. Those that have no tags are always a nuisance. Every key or bunch of keys should have a tag attached and should be hung on a certain hook where it can be found without searching. Now we'll make a sketch of a key rack before doing anything else, to find out just how large a piece of stick we shall need."

The drawing they produced is shown in Fig. 6 and called for a piece of wood seven inches long, an inch wide, and half an inch thick. As the key rack was to be a permanent household article, they decided on gum wood as more suitable than pine, it being easy to work and having a satisfactory appearance.

The different stages in the process of cutting out are shown in Fig. 6. At _a_ is shown the stock squared up with the knife to the extreme outside dimensions. The ends were then whittled down to the form shown at _b_ and the blank piece was ready for notching. The notches were carefully drawn with a sharp hard pencil and cut as shown at _c_. The ends were bevelled by whittling to the lines, and the inner edges of the notches in the centre were whittled back to the middle of each edge. Then the knife work was finished.

Three brass screw hooks were placed in the centre of the large blank spaces, and two small screw eyes fastened into the upper edge for hanging the key rack on the wall.

Each stage of the work had been worked out so carefully that the boys hardly realized what a satisfactory result they were getting. When it was finally hung in the boys' room, of course some keys must be put on it, and as they had no tags, the making of some followed as a matter of course. A search through their small stock of woods disclosed a few little pieces of holly, the remains of fret saw work, about an eighth of an inch thick. This proved to be ideal material, and half a dozen key tags were made of the size and shape shown in Fig. 7. The holes were made with a brad awl, the tags fastened to the rings by small pieces of wire, and the names of the keys printed on the different tags with black drawing ink.

The boys, from this time on, seemed possessed with a mania for making articles to be used about the house. One thing to be manufactured without delay was a winder for their fishing lines.

The form they finally decided on is shown in Fig. 8. Ralph insisted on the design being carefully drawn on a piece of thin wood, a quarter of an inch thick. Harry found whittling to curved lines somewhat harder than notching, but he produced a fairly satisfactory result. Ralph was a very exacting teacher, always having in mind his own training in school. He showed Harry how to cut out the curves at the ends without cutting his thumb (Fig. 9.) and gave him much advice about whittling away from himself, whenever possible.

When the knife work was finished, Ralph explained that where curved edges were cut it was allowable to smooth with a piece of fine sand-paper, although as a rule it was to be avoided.

Harry wanted to know why, and Ralph explained that, generally speaking, sand-paper was the hallmark of a poor workman, one who could not do good work with his tools. Sand-paper leaves a scratched surface, for the grit becomes embedded in the wood to a certain extent, and it will immediately ruin the cutting edge of a sharp tool in case one has to be used after the sand-papering. "So," he summed up, "keep your sand-paper and knife as far apart as possible."

About this time the ladies of the household thought that a winder for worsted would come in very handy, and the boys evolved a new form, shown in Fig. 10. This was made only an eighth of an inch thick, and proved so easy of construction that each of the boys made two and "allowed" that "they ought to satisfy the sewing department for some time to come."

"Do you know," exclaimed Harry one day, "we could make lots of things for Christmas and birthday presents!"

"Why, certainly," said Ralph, "and people appreciate things that you have made yourself much more than things you buy. Anybody can go to the store and buy ready-made presents, but those you make yourself mean more."

"In what way?" said Harry.

"Why, they represent much more of your time and labour, and thought; and, by the way, if we are going to make many Christmas presents, we must start right away, because we only have a few weeks and you know how little time we have outside of school hours after getting our lessons."

The result of this talk was that the little building in the yard which they called their "shop" became a perfect beehive of industry for several weeks. With what money they had saved they purchased a supply of lumber and a few tools the use of which Ralph said he would explain later. He suggested that Harry begin by making some calendar backs, as suitable New Year's presents, because they were easy; and the more complicated articles could be made after Harry had developed a little more skill with the knife.

The drawing he made is shown in Fig. 11. This called for a small calendar about two inches long, an inch and three quarters high, and a space this size was drawn on the centre of the calendar back, while the calendar was glued to the wood.

After two or three of these had been made, Harry decided that they were too small to suit him, and a new design somewhat larger was worked out on paper. It was a little more difficult to follow, because the outline had two reversed curves, but the boys were too busy and interested to be daunted by a trifle like that. (Fig. 12.)

Ralph suggested simple picture frames, and this brought the new problem of cutting out an opening for the picture.

The first design they tried is shown in Fig. 13. Ralph had to show Harry how to make the ellipse with compasses by first constructing two squares or rectangles touching, and with both diagonal lines in each square. By taking for a centre the point where the squares touch, as _a_ and _b_, and using the length of a diagonal line as a radius, two arcs were drawn at _x_ and _y_. The ellipse was finished by taking _c_ as a centre, and the distance _c d_ as a radius, to draw arc _z_, and the other end was finished in the same way.

Ralph explained that this was not a perfect ellipse, but would answer for a small picture frame. The drawing was easy compared to the question of how to cut out the wood to this curved line.

One of the new tools was brought out, and Harry was introduced to the mysteries of the coping saw. (Fig. 14). A thin saw blade was produced and fastened in one end of the frame, the other end being left free. A hole was made inside of the ellipse with a brad awl, the free end of the blade passed through the opening and fastened in the frame of the saw. Resting the picture frame on the edge of a bench, the ellipse was sawed out roughly about 1/16 of an inch inside of the drawing. This remaining sixteenth of an inch was then whittled to the line with a knife and finished with sand-paper. Harry found some difficulty in getting this elliptical opening smooth enough to suit him, so they tried designing for half an hour, and produced a new form (Fig. 15).

This was easier, as there were no curved lines, and it could be sawed close to the outside as well as the inside lines, to save time in whittling. While Harry was finishing this frame, Ralph was busy on a new design and finally passed over the drawing shown in Fig. 16.

"Do you know there is as much fun in getting up new designs as there is in making them in wood?" said Ralph.

"Yes, but you have to know how to draw," replied the younger boy. "Can't you teach me?"

"Yes. I first make a rough sketch of my idea, and then a careful drawing of its actual size, with the drawing instruments."

"That's the part that I want to learn: how to use the instruments."

A lesson in mechanical drawing followed, and as it is a very important subject to young woodworkers, it will be given in full in the next chapter.

III

MECHANICAL DRAWING

"In taking up mechanical drawing," said Ralph, "always remember that accurate and neat work, containing all necessary dimensions, is half the battle. You will probably feel, as I did at first, that it is a waste of time, but you can always consider that when your drawing is finished the work is half done. You can judge from it the number of pieces of stock required, and their over-all dimensions This saves much time at the wood pile, and tells at a glance to just what size you must square up each piece of stock.

"The drawing board is an absolute necessity. It need not be perfectly square, but the surface must be flat and true, and at least one of the edges absolutely straight. (Fig. 17.) The T square must have a thin blade--about 1/16 of an inch, and be made of hard wood. It should form a right angle with the head, which slides along the left-hand edge of the drawing board, and that must be the straight edge.

"The T square is used as a guide for the pencil in drawing horizontal lines, and it should always be kept on the same side of the drawing board. When drawing a vertical line, one of the wooden triangles should be placed on the T square and the line drawn along the left-hand edge of the triangle. Circles or arcs of circles are drawn with the compasses held at the extreme top."

With this introduction, the boys proceeded to fasten with four thumb-tacks a piece of drawing paper to the upper part of the drawing board.

"Why don't you put the paper in the centre?" asked Harry.

"Because, if one worked on the lower part of the drawing board, the T square head would extend below the edge of the board, and touch the table. You would have to watch it constantly. The head of the T square should always be tight against the board, for when you slide it too far down, it sometimes strikes the table without your knowing it, and you find your horizontal lines are _not_ horizontal; so I always like to have the drawing paper as high up on the board as possible."

The boys agreed that while the younger was learning to make drawings, each one should represent something to be made later in wood. Drawing number one was a square, 3 inches on a side. Ralph showed how this was made with only two measurements. Drawing one horizontal and one vertical line, 3 inches were marked off on each, the other two lines drawn through these new points, and the square was finished. Ralph insisted that all lines be very light, as they could be darkened up later, if necessary, and were easy to erase in case of a mistake. (Fig. 18.)

Harry was then told to divide the upper and left-hand sides into even inches, and to draw across the square vertical and horizontal lines from the four points obtained.

Thus the large square was subdivided into nine 1-inch squares, and by darkening the lines shown in the figure at _a_ the cross of St. George was produced.

Another 3-inch square was drawn, and marked off, as shown at _b_. The points were connected by oblique lines by means of the 45-degree triangle, and by darkening the lines shown at _c_ the cross of St. Andrew was formed. After explaining that the British flag was a combination of these two figures Ralph said, "While we are drawing crosses, we may as well make a Maltese one."

Starting with a 3-inch square again, it was measured off as shown in Fig. 19. The lines were connected and darkened, as shown at _b_. "Now," said Ralph, "you can cut that out of wood, tie a ribbon on it and wear it as a medal."

"Huh," grunted Harry. "Pretty big medal--three inches across!"

"Well, make it any size, an inch or even less."

"That's not a bad idea. I'll make it out of white holly, and put a red, white, and blue bow on it."

"And print on it 'American Order of Junior Woodworkers'."

"Not a bad idea either; we can find lots of boys who would be glad to join and come here Saturdays to work in the shop."

"There would be no trouble to get candidates; the trouble would be to take care of them. They would fill the yard and overflow into the street," said Ralph.

"But why couldn't we----"

"Come now, let's do one thing at a time; you are supposed to be learning mechanical drawing. We'll leave the organization of the A. O. J. W. till another time. I'm going to show you how to use the compasses."

While they were drawing the circle, quarterfoil, heart, and oval, shown in Fig. 20, Ralph reviewed his pupil on the meaning of diameter, radius, circumference, etc. "If you want to cut hearts out of paper or wood, I would advise you to wait until St. Valentine's Day, and reserve the oval or egg until Easter.

"The circle is a wonderful figure. By marking the radius off on the circumference, with the compasses, we find that the former divides the latter into exactly six equal parts, and by connecting the points, we have a perfect hexagon. By connecting the alternate points we obtain a perfect equilateral triangle, and by connecting the remaining points we get another triangle of the same size. The two triangles form a six-pointed star. (Fig. 21.)

"Now," said Ralph, "I am going to give you a problem by dictation; all you have to do is to obey orders. First draw a circle 3-1/2 inches in diameter."

"What's the radius?" asked Harry.

"That's for you to find out."

Harry thought a moment, divided three and a half by two, and setting his compasses at 1-3/4, drew the circle.

"Now divide the circumference into three equal parts."

The boy puzzled over this for a moment, then marked off the radius, cutting the circumference into six parts, as if for a hexagon, and erased every other point, leaving three.

"Draw radial lines from these points to the centre."

"Easy," remarked Harry, and drew a line from each point to the centre with the edge of one of his triangles.

"Find the centre of each of those lines."

"Easy again," said the boy, as he set his compasses at 7/8 of an inch, and from the centre of the circle cut each of the straight lines with an arc. (Fig. 22.)

"Draw a semicircle from each of these points with a radius of 5/8 of an inch."

"Easier still," quoth Harry, as he drew the semicircles. The drawing then looked like _a_ (Fig. 22).

"Now," said the teacher, "let me show you something." He made a few strokes with the compasses, and the drawing as shown at _b_ was finished. "That is enough for to-day. The compasses are about the easiest of all instruments to use, provided you keep in mind that the pencil point needs to be sharpened to a chisel, or flat shape, the same as any other drawing pencil. The number of designs which may be made with it are simply endless, as you will learn later on."

IV

MECHANICAL DRAWING: CONTINUED

The next day, as they were about to resume their study, Ralph said: "There is so much to drawing that I hardly know where to begin, or what to leave out; but in shop drawing, a picture will not do; imagine an architect trying to build a skyscraper from a picture. The shop drawing must tell the mechanic everything he needs to know about the object he is making. He cannot keep running to the office asking questions; the drawing must answer them all. That is the reason why the draughting-room is such an important part of every manufacturing plant. Drawing is the language the designer uses to tell the workmen what he wants made. It is doubly important when the designer is hundreds or thousands of miles away from the workman.

"A battle-ship can be designed in Australia and built in England, so this language of the shop has grown to be a very interesting and important art. Every one who works with tools must learn it sooner or later, the sooner the better.

"Usually it is necessary to represent even the simplest object by at least two views. For example, suppose I hand you this sketch _a_ (Fig. 23), and tell you to make two out of wood. You wouldn't know what to do because no thickness is shown, but if I give you this sketch _b_, you would see immediately that it has practically no thickness and might be a sheet of paper. You learn that from the top view looking down on it.

"The first view is called the front view. Now, suppose I change the top view to this _c_; thickness is shown here, and if I say, make two of these out of white pine, you would know all that would be necessary to go ahead.

"Again, suppose I give you this sketch _a_ (Fig. 24), and ask you to make two out of gum wood. You would be completely at sea, because that front view might have any one of these top views shown at _b_, _c_, _d_, _e_ (Fig. 24). In other words, it might be a triangle without thickness, a wedge, cone, or pyramid.

"So you see, two views are absolutely necessary, and very often a third, taken from the right or left side. The three views of a book would look like Fig. 25. The side view is not necessary in this case, but that is the way it would be drawn if a third were needed. You will have plenty of opportunities for practising this as we get along with our tool work, because in order to understand drawings you must be able to make them. Suppose you try your hand now, by drawing the two views of a cylinder, two inches in diameter and three inches high."

Ralph rolled a sheet of paper up until the ends met, to illustrate a cylinder, and the drawing produced by Harry looked like _a_. (Fig. 26.)

"Now," said Ralph, "no shop drawing is complete unless it shows all the necessary dimensions; so I will put them on to show you how it is done, but after this you must dimension every drawing you make."

The finished drawing of the cylinder is shown at _b_.

Harry was told to make the mechanical drawing of a cone, 2 inches in diameter, and 3 inches high. While he was working at this problem, Ralph disappeared, and when he returned Harry asked where he had been.

"Never mind. Let me see your drawing," _c_ (Fig. 26). "All right." Then he laid a little wooden object on the table.

"Why, it's a cat," said Harry.

"Yes, a tip cat, and as soon as you make a working drawing of it, you are going to manufacture one with your knife. Please notice that the tip cat is a cylinder with a cone at each end, and two views will show everything about it."

The drawing took longer to make than Harry imagined it would; or it seemed longer because he was so impatient to get to work with his knife. His finished drawing is shown at _a_ (Fig. 28).

The different stages in the making of the tip cat are shown in Fig. 27.

First came the squaring up, shown at _a_. Then the two ends were whittled down to wedges as shown at _b_, and these two ends reduced to square pyramids, as at _c_.

Lines a quarter of an inch from each edge were drawn on the four sides of the square part and continued out to the points of the pyramids, as at _d_. Cutting to this line changed the square to an octagon, and the square pyramids to octagonal ones.

The edges were again whittled off until there were no more to be seen; the cat was smoothed with sand-paper, and called finished.

Harry was delighted, but Ralph said: "That is not the best form for a tip cat, because it will roll. We will make a bat for it now, and after we have played with it awhile, we'll make a better one; just the same except that the centre part will be left square and only the ends rounded." (Fig. 28, _b_.)

The bat they made is shown in Fig. 29. Its handle was cut out with the coping saw and whittled to the lines. Ralph explained that anything to be held should be rounded, or it would be hard on the hand, so all the edges were curved with the knife and finished with sand-paper.

They had so much fun with the cat and bat that woodwork was forgotten for two afternoons. The third day it rained, so the boys were glad to get at work again in the shop.

Ralph suggested that, as they were doing so much drawing, it might be well to make a pencil sharpener.

The drawing they produced is shown in Fig. 30. This was easily worked out in 1/8-inch wood with a piece of sand-paper glued in the oblong space.

The sand-paper suggested match scratchers, and as they are useful articles, several designs were worked up for Christmas gifts. Three of these are shown in Fig. 31, but after a good deal of discussion it was decided that for scratching matches a longer space for sand-paper was necessary, and three other designs (Fig. 32) were the result of several hours' work.

"I'm getting tired of match scratchers," exclaimed Harry; "let's make some toys!"

"Very well, we'll get ready for Santa Claus, and provide a stock of things for our numerous young cousins," replied Ralph. "This will give us a chance to use our coping saw, and I have been wanting to do that for a long time."

V

TOYS

"In making presents for little children," said Ralph, "we must always remember that the toys will be played with and receive a great deal of rough handling. So to begin with, they must be strong and of simple construction. The youngsters don't care so much for finely finished articles as older people do, and they tire very quickly of things that are so complicated that they get out of order easily. Suppose we first make some neat boxes. They can be filled with candy, and after that is gone they will be used for a long time to keep treasures in."

Fig. 33 shows the drawing of the first box the boys made. The two oblong pieces form the top and bottom. The latter was nailed on with 3/8-inch brads. The two cleats were nailed to the under side of the top to hold it in place, while the sides and ends were fastened with a little glue, and one brad in the centre. This made a very serviceable box, the material being basswood 3/16 of an inch thick.

The sled shown in Fig. 34 came next, made of the same material as the box. Ralph was delighted with its strength and graceful lines. Two cleats were glued into the grooves in the sides, and the top nailed on with 3/8-inch brads.

In each case the drawing was made directly on the wood, which was sawed close to the lines with the coping saw, and finished to the lines with the knife.

The dog house (Fig. 35) brought out some new features of construction. The opening in front was cut out with the saw and finished as usual. Sides and ends were then put together with glue. The two pieces forming the roof were nailed together with 3/8-inch brads, to make a right angle and were then placed in position and nailed to the front and back pieces.

Ralph explained that it was a saving of time and trouble to draw a light pencil line to mark the location of the brads. If this is not done, the brads are apt to come out in the wrong place and will then have to be withdrawn and placed again. This is a waste of time and it very often spoils the looks of the work, so that the drawing of the pencil lines really saves time in the end, and the lines can be erased.

"We can make any amount of this dolls' furniture," said Ralph. "In fact we could build a doll's house and equip it with chairs, tables, and beds, but what the youngsters really like best is something that works, something that moves, so I move--no pun intended--that we design a toy that has some life to it. We can cut it out with the coping saw and there need not be a great deal of knife work to it. Suppose we make an Indian paddling a canoe!" This was more of a problem than they had bargained for, as it was necessary to look through an encyclopædia to find pictures of canoes, Indians, tomahawks, etc. Harry traced the figure of an Indian chief, transferred it to the surface of a piece of 1/8-inch basswood, and on sawing it out found that he had a very good silhouette of an Indian, but it did not move (Fig. 36). The problem was still unsolved, and experiments along that line used up several afternoons.

What was finally worked out is shown in Fig. 37. The arms were made separate from the body, and were fastened to both the paddles and the bodies by brads, which acted as pivots. The bodies were then fastened to the canoe in the same way, but a little glue was used as well as brads, as they were to be immovable. How to make the paddlers move in unison was a hard problem, finally solved by fastening a narrow strip of wood to the lower part of each paddle. It was found that by moving this strip back and forth the two figures moved with the precision of a machine. In each case where a pivot was required it seemed only necessary to drive in a 3/8-inch brad. (Fig. 38.)

The success of this moving toy was so great that the boys went rushing into the house to show it to the family.

Soon they came rushing back again, determined to try their skill on something else. Ralph had to remind Harry that the Indian paddlers were not yet finished, as the toy would not stand up, so the standards shown at _b_ were sawed out, smoothed with the knife, and one fastened at each end, as a support, by means of brads and glue.

After much boyish arguing, it was decided next to try two swordsmen fencing. This called for some posing, and looking in books to get the correct position of a man fencing. The drawing shown in Fig. 39 was finally copied from a book on athletic sports.

The different parts of the figures are shown clearly in the illustration. It was found, by experimenting with paper figures, that by making one leg of each figure in two parts, the body, arms, and other leg could be sawed out of one piece.

The work of cutting out and assembling this combination, seemed much easier now that the boys had gotten into the swing of it, and they were so anxious to see it work that they almost spoiled it in their haste. The swords, or foils, were made of two pieces of soft iron wire.

Ralph insisted on filing these out flat near the ends to make them look realistic, and they were fastened by drilling a hole in each hand, passing the wire through and clinching it with a pair of pliers. It was much safer to drill these holes, as a brad awl sometimes splits wood that is very thin. This combination worked to perfection, and while they were trying it Harry caught a glimpse of its shadow on the table. The silhouette in black looked even more realistic than the toy itself, and it gave the boys an idea. (Fig. 40.)

These toys could be used for moving shadow pictures, and immediately their imagination began to conjure up the programme of a show.

"Our first selection, ladies and gentlemen, will be a shadow picture, entitled 'Before the Coming of the White Men'," exclaimed Harry, moving the Indian paddlers.

"And our next will be entitled 'The Duel'," said Ralph.

"Not a very good historical show," said Harry. "We ought to have the 'Landing of the _Mayflower_'."

"Not a bad idea, either," said Ralph. "I think we could rig up a ship in a storm. Let's try that next."

VI

MOVING TOYS

The problem of making a ship roll proved somewhat of a strain on the engineering corner of Ralph's brain, and after awhile Harry grew restless.

"Can't you give me something to do while you are designing that ocean?" he said.

Ralph, pausing a moment, replied, "Yes, try two men sawing a log."

Harry began to draw, but found that he knew very little about saws, so had to go out and look at one, measured it, and after awhile produced the sketch shown in Fig. 41. Ralph criticised it rather severely, suggesting the addition of a log and saw buck, and advised that the arms of the men and saw be cut out of one piece. The drawing shows the separated pieces, two bodies, four legs, a saw and arms in one piece, two straight pieces for the saw buck, the log, and a little triangular piece to go between log and saw buck. The object of this triangle is to leave a space between the log and saw buck for the passage of the saw back and forth, as shown in the sectional view.

The two pieces forming the buck were halved together, and the log, triangle, and buck are fastened with glue and two brads.

After all the pieces had been cut out, the men were first put together by fastening both legs to the body with one 3/8-inch brad.

The feet were next fastened to the straight piece, 10 inches long, representing the ground, by one brad through each foot, the bodies standing upright, and the feet two inches apart. The arms came next, with one brad through each man's shoulder, and lastly, the saw buck, with the log already fastened rigidly to it, was nailed on the back of the ground piece with the log in front of the saw. To make this toy stand up, two standards were fastened to the ends of the ground piece, the same size as those attached to the fencers in Fig. 40.

It took Harry two hours to make this figure in wood, after he had the drawing finished. In the meantime Ralph had worked out a scheme for giving a boat a rolling motion.

"We'll be mechanical engineers by the time we finish this," he told Harry. "This piece of mechanism calls for a crank, a shaft, two bearings, and a cam, not to mention a ship, an ocean, and a few miscellaneous articles too trivial to mention."

The various parts of "the ship in a heavy sea" are shown in Fig. 42. At _a_ is the cam, at _b_ the crank and handle, and at _c_ the shaft. The boat was sketched free hand and cut out with the coping saw in one piece by sawing exactly on the lines. The ocean was represented by two pieces corresponding to the ground piece in the sawyers, and the wavy outline was not made until everything had been cut out and the combination was ready for assembling.

The most difficult part--the shaft--was made first, and entirely with the knife: A piece of basswood was cut exactly a quarter of an inch square, a section was marked in the centre of this 3/16 inch wide, and notches were made on each corner. The two ends were then whittled to an octagonal shape and rounded. The square section in the centre was reduced to 1/8 inch wide and the rounded ends sand-papered smooth.

Next, the cam was cut out, and the square hole made. This was accomplished, after spoiling one, by drilling a quarter of an inch hole in the square and cutting the opening square with the point of the knife.

The object of the square opening was to prevent the cam from slipping when in operation. The cam was then placed over the round part of the shaft and glued to the square section, over which it fitted snugly. Next came the crank. This was made the same shape as the cam, but the 1/4 inch hole drilled in one end was left round, while the other was cut square as in the cam. The shaft fitted into the round hole and was glued in after the assembling. For the handle on the crank, a piece 1/4 inch square was fitted into the square hole, and the rest of it whittled round and sand-papered.

Two cleats, 2 inch × 1/4 × 3/16 inch, were cut out with the saw and everything was ready for assembling. The two sides of the ocean were held together and the 1/4-inch hole at _d_ drilled through both pieces at once.

The two notches at _e_ were cut after the assembling was finished. After the holes were drilled, the wavy line was sawed, and the two ends of the shaft inserted in the holes with the cam inside.

The two cleats were inserted in the ends of the ocean and fastened with brads and glue.

Next, the boat was slipped in between the two sides, with the sloping stern just touching the cam, and a 3/8-inch brad was driven through the three thicknesses, sides and boat.

The crank was next slipped over the shaft and glued in position. The crank handle was inserted into the square hole and fastened with glue, and lastly a light rubber band was slipped over the notch on the stern of the boat and the two corresponding notches on the bottom of the ocean. This was to hold the boat against the cam, which gives the motion.

To make this toy more realistic, the boys got out a box of water colors, painted the body of the boat black, the ocean green, and left the basswood sails their natural color--white.

"There," said Ralph when it was finished, "the youngsters can raise a storm at any time they like by simply turning the crank. This toy ought to be very serviceable, as it can't very well get out of order and is almost unbreakable."

The subject of moving toys is almost endless, being limited only by the imagination of the designer. Thanksgiving suggested the turkey and the axe, and in the toy these boys worked out the turkey evades the axe every time.

The parts are shown in Fig. 43. The legs of the turkey are stuck rigidly to the body by brads and a little glue, and they are fastened to the ground piece by one brad, which acts as a pivot.

The axeman's body and right leg are in one piece, the left leg being in two pieces. The arms adhere rigidly to the body, and the axe to the hands, by means of brads. The operating strip is 1/4 inch wide and 9 inches long.

It is fastened between the legs of the turkey, and to the rigid leg of the man, by one brad for pivot in each case.

The stump is nailed to the ground strip from the front.

VII

DESIGNING MOVING TOYS

The boys found this making of toys so fascinating that one was barely finished before another was suggested. So absorbed did they become that even meals were forgotten, and they regarded it as a hardship to be called in to supper, while to be told that it was bedtime was absolute cruelty. They found that it saved time to be systematic, and the usual method of procedure was about as follows:

First, to decide on the practicability of the idea. Second, to sketch out a skeleton figure, as in _a_ (Fig. 44), the boxers. When the proper action was secured in these skeleton figures, the bodies were sketched roughly around them as shown at _b_. Third, the movement of the figures was thought out, and separate drawings traced from the assembled drawing on tracing paper. Fourth, these separate pieces were traced on 1/8-inch basswood with the grain of the wood running the long way of the piece, wherever it was possible. Fifth, the pieces were sawed out, and the edges smoothed with knife and sand-paper. Very often, through anxiety to see how it worked, the smoothing of the edges was neglected. Sixth, the parts were put together with brads, and where the points came through they were bent over or "clinched" on the further side. Seventh, after experiments to discover the best position for it, the moving strip was fastened to the legs by 3/8-inch brads, and last of all the feet were pivoted to the ground piece in the same way.

The boys learned many things not to do: for example, all the finer details of the face and hands must be omitted, as they are very apt to be broken off in sawing. It was found best to make the feet nearly round or the brads would split the wood. For that reason wherever a brad has to be driven through, the arm or leg should be made larger than the proportionate size.

The most surprising feature about the figures was the fact that the shadow they cast on a white wall or sheet was more realistic than the figures themselves, and our boys never tired of exercising these toys in order to watch the shadow pictures.

Of all combinations, perhaps the design and construction of a racing automobile, that would actually go, gave them the greatest amount of amusement as well as the largest number of problems to solve. The history of trials and failures need not be given, but the machine, as finished, is shown in Fig. 46. The body and hood are comparatively simple. The principal trouble, as with larger machines, was with the motive power, and the boys finally compromised by using a rubber band. The four wheels were sawed out of 3/16-inch basswood, and smoothed with sand-paper, the two driving wheels for the rear having a 1/4-inch hole drilled to receive the ends of the axle. The rear axle was 1/4 inch square at the centre for half an inch, and the rest of it 1/4 inch in diameter, rounded with the knife and sand-paper. The total length of the axle was four inches, and the wheel base seven and one-half inches.