THE SHOP AND BENCH.
Endeavor to procure some small outhouse, in which you may erect what is called a carpenter’s or joiner’s bench. These may very often be bought second-hand, or if not, can easily be procured at a reasonable rate. I am very particular in recommending a bench, as without it you will find many obstacles to your work. You must also provide yourself with a set of tools,—gimlets, hammers, planes, saws, gouges, files, nails, screws, and such articles of use.
The bench is composed of a platform or top, supported by four stout legs; supplied with a bench hook; this ought to be fitted in tight, so as to move up and down with a hammer only. The use of it is to keep any wood steady you may have to plane; the bench screw is used for keeping any wood firm and steady you may have to saw, which is to be put in the grip and screwed tight. Sometimes the edges of wood require to be planed, and then the wood is put in the grip or cheeks of the bench and held tight while you plane it. Make holes in the side of the bench, for the insertion of a movable pin to support the end of the board you have to plane or saw, which is not in the screw. The height of your bench should be about 2 feet 8 inches. The common length is from 10 to 12 feet, and the breadth about 3 feet 6 inches.
The jack plane is the first to be used. It is about 17 inches in length, and is used to take the rough parts from a piece of wood. It should be held steadily by fixing the right hand at the handle, and the left over the top and side, and pushed forward on the wood, when the knife will take off a shaving which runs through the hole, and falls on the side. In using the plane the endeavor should be to take off a clean shaving, which is done by using the instrument uniformly and steadily over every surface to be planed.
There is another kind of plane, called the trying plane, having a double top or handle. It is used to regulate and smooth to a higher degree, the surface of the wood that had previously been smoothed from the rough by the jack plane. Its length is about 22 inches, and it is broader than the jack plane. There is another plane called the long plane, which is used for facing a piece of stuff, which it does with the greatest exactness; its length is about 2 feet 4 inches. There is also the joiner’s plane, which is the longest of all the planes, being 30 inches long. But the most handy of the planes to the boy carpenter is the smoothing plane. It is the last plane used in joining, and gives the utmost degree of smoothness to the surface of a piece of finished work; it is about 7 inches in length, the sides of the stock are curved, and resemble in figure a coffin; it is used in a similar way to the other.