Chapter I: Preface

This text has been prepared for the purpose of furnishing the pupil with the essential facts about tools and their uses. However efficient the instruction may be and however attentive the pupil, it is impossible for him to fully grasp and comprehend during a demonstration the names of tools and technical terms, most of which are new to him. This applies with equal force to the manner of using the tools and to the methods of working.

The function of the text is to supplement the instruction of the teacher. It is intended to gather up and arrange in a logical order the facts which the pupil has already been told. By this means these facts will become fixed in the mind of the pupil and he will work with a better understanding and make greater progress.

It is believed that the text can be used to the greatest advantage by requiring the pupil to read up the subjects presented in class immediately _after_ the close of the lesson. Frequent rapid reviews and occasional written tests are very effective.

No course of study in the form of a series of models is presented. It is hardly possible for any two schools to follow the same series of models. Local conditions necessarily affect the choice of a course, while new and better designs are being brought out continuously.

The order in which the tools are described in the following pages is the one that has seemed most natural. They may be taken up, however, in any convenient and logical order.

It is with the earnest hope that nature study and manual work may be closely correlated, that Part II is added. No better period can be selected in which to study trees, their leaves, bark, wood, etc., than when the student is working with wood, learning by experience its grain, hardness, color, and value in the arts.

Occasional talks on the broader topics of forestry, its economic aspects, climatic effects, influence on rainfall, the flow of rivers, floods, droughts, etc., will be found interesting as well as instructive, and such interest should be instilled into every American boy and girl.

The writer is indebted to the Fish, Forest, and Game Commission of New York state for the series of Adirondack lumbering scenes, and to the United States Bureau of Forestry for the views of California Big Trees.

EDWIN W. FOSTER.

CONTENTS

PAGE

PART I. TOOLS

Chapter I. Introduction 3

General directions regarding care of tools and bench. Plan of
work and division of tools into groups.

Chapter II. Measuring and Marking Tools 5

The rule: divisions; method of using. The try-square: method
of handling. The framing square. The marking gauge. The bevel.

Chapter III. Cutting Tools 11

Saws: necessity for two classes; shape of teeth; set; tapers;
method of holding. Backsaw; use of bench hook. The turning
saw. The plane: use of cap iron; names of parts. Adjustment
of plane. Use of lever and adjusting screw; positions for
planing. The jack plane. The smooth plane. Jointers; action
of short and long planes. The block plane. The wooden plane.
The chisel: size of cutting angle; effect of careless
sharpening. The framing and firmer chisels; proper positions
for horizontal and vertical cutting. Sharpening on oilstone.
Brace and bit. Center and auger bits; gimlet and countersink
bits. The spokeshave.

Chapter IV. Miscellaneous Tools and Methods of Work 31

The hammer; use of nail punch. The mallet. The screw-driver.
Sandpaper, use of. Squaring up stock; method explained in
detail. Laying out work; method of laying out a typical
joint. Securing parts; use of glue and hand screws. Nails;
method of using cut nails. Screws; method of using round-head
and flat-head screws. Mechanical drawing. The drawing
instruments explained, and method of making complete working
drawings described. Scale drawings.

PART II. WOOD

Chapter V. Lumbering and Milling 51

The forest; felling trees and floating logs to the mill. The
forming and breaking up of log jams. The log boom and modern
sawmills. Timber and lumber defined. Annual rings; medullary
rays; formation of grain. Characteristics and defects in
wood. Warping and shrinkage.

Chapter VI. Broad-Leaved Trees: the Oaks 65

White oak. Post oak. Mossy-cup oak. Black and black-jack oak.
Red oak. Scarlet and pin oaks. Chestnut oak. Live oak.

Chapter VII. Broad-Leaved Trees: the Maples 76

Sugar and Norway maples. Silver and red maples. Sycamore
maple. Moosewood. Maple keys. Ash-leaved maple. Japan maples.

Chapter VIII. Broad-Leaved Trees having Compound Leaves 85

Horse-chestnut. Buckeye. The hickories. Black walnut and
butternut. Locust. Honey locust. Ash.

Chapter IX. Broad-Leaved Trees having Simple Leaves 94

Elm. The birches. Beech. Iron wood. Buttonball. Sweet gum.
Tulip. Basswood. Willow. The poplars. Sassafras. Mulberry.

Chapter X. The Evergreens 111

White pine. Georgia pine. Yellow pine. Hemlock. Spruce.
Cypress. Balsam fir. The cedars.

Chapter XI. The Big Trees of California 123

ELEMENTARY WOODWORKING