Chapter III: explains it all in detail, so read it carefully

=Things for You to Make.=--When you have your workshop ready, your tools at hand, the foregoing ideas of woods in your mind and know about simple working drawings you can go ahead and make things and your first job will probably be to make a bench.

_How to Make a Work Bench._--Go to a lumber yard or a planing mill and get one 2 × 2 _scantling_ 12 feet long for the legs, and two 2 × 2 scantlings for the cross bars and the side bars; the middle cross bar can be any kind of a thick piece of wood. If you can’t get 2 × 2 scantlings get 2 × 4’s and have whichever size you get planed smooth on all sides.

At the same time get three boards 1 or 2 inches thick, 10 inches wide and 6 feet long for the top of the bench and two boards 1 inch thick, 10 inches wide and 4 feet long for the tool board. Saw the scantlings up so that you will have four pieces for the legs 2 feet 9 inches long; four cross-bars 2 feet 6 inches long, and two side bars 3 feet 6 inches long.

Build up the frame of the bench first as shown in Fig. 5; then nail, or better, screw a cross-bar to the middle of the 6 foot boards, lay them on top of the frame and nail or screw them to the end cross bars. When you have the bench thus far along put on the _vise_.

A wood-worker’s vise as shown at A and B in Fig. 6 can be bought for $3.50 on up to about $9.00. The jaws are about 4 inches wide and 12 inches long and they open nearly 12 inches. All you have to do to fix it to your bench is to screw the rear jaw to the front left hand edge of the top of the bench as shown in Fig. 5.

The tool board is not an absolute necessity but it is a great convenience. To make it saw off two boards 4 feet long, nail them together with a couple of strips of wood--these are called _cleats_--and round off one end as shown in Fig. 5. Screw the tool board to the back of the bench and you are all ready to make things in wood.

_How to Make a Tool Chest._--Either birch or chestnut are good woods to make your tool chest of. Make the box, that is the lower part of the chest, and the lid for it of ³⁄₄ inch thick stuff; have the box 9 inches high, 12 inches wide and 30 inches long and have the lid 3 inches high, 12 inches wide and 30 inches long. Screw the boards together as nails will not hold tight enough. See A Fig. 7.

Screw a strip of wood inside the chest for the tray to rest on; put two or three hinges on the box and lid and be particular how you do it or the lid will not fit evenly on the chest. Fasten a _staple_ on front of the box in the middle near the top and a _hasp_ on the cover so that you can put on a padlock, or better you can put on a regular chest lock which is handier and makes a neater looking job. To keep the lid from falling back when you open it, screw a piece of chain about 8 inches long to it and the box and this will serve as a check.

Finally make a tray of ¹⁄₂ or ⁵⁄₈ inch thick wood as shown at B in Fig. 7. Make the ends 6 inches high and 6 inches long and saw out the handle grips with your keyhole saw. Make the sides and partitions 4¹⁄₂ inches high and 28¹⁄₂ inches long, screw them together and put on the bottom. By making the tray narrower than the chest you can slide it back and forth and so get such tools out of the bottom as you may need without lifting the tray each time you do so.

_Note._--You can buy any tool I have described in this chapter of any hardware dealer or tool supply company in your town or if one is not at hand Hammacher, Schlemmer and Company, corner of Fourth Avenue and 13th Street, New York City, will supply you with just what you want.