Figs. 253-256.—Details of Parallel Bars.
The bars should be seven feet six inches in length, and cut out of Georgia pine two-by-fours. Figures [252] and [256] show how these should be dressed, the tops rounded to fit the hands and the ends curved. First roughly shape them with the draw-knife, then smooth up with the plane, and finally scrape and rub them down with sand-paper until perfectly smooth. When the bars have been prepared, slip them into the notches cut in the uprights, and spike them in place.
With the constructive work done, it is only necessary to bury the base to complete the apparatus. Excavate a trench eighteen inches deep, and level off the bottom. Then lower the framework and, after determining that the bars are level, fill in the earth, packing it well against the uprights and braces. Boards E and F should be laid across the top of G and I, and spiked in place.
The Punching-bag Platform, illustrated by [Fig. 257], should be made thirty inches square and suspended from the shed or a wall.
Nail a thirty-inch piece of two-by-four to the wall, two feet above the height at which the platform is to be placed, as at A in the drawing, and nail another on a level with the top of the platform, as shown at B.
Fasten the platform boards together with battens, using nails long enough to clinch on top of the upper face, and nail the two boards C and D to the edges, mitring the edges as in the figure. Then lift the platform to the desired height, and fasten the ends of C and D to the ends of A. Also nail the bottom of the platform to the under side of B.
A swivel such as shown in [Fig. 258] can be bought for forty or fifty cents, and one of these should be screwed to the bottom of the platform, from which to suspend the punching-bag.