Candidly, we must admit, that to attempt in this chapter to give anything like a complete and elaborate account of the making of the many different kinds of cages and hutches in which to keep pets of feather or pets of fur would be folly.
But I can give my readers many hints that will be of use to them on the subject in hand, and I may begin by telling them that it is not half so difficult to manufacture a good roomy, healthy, wholesome breeding-cage as may at first appear.
Nor need the cage you make be at all ugly or clumsy; only take pains with it, and do not be in a hurry, and I feel sure you will succeed. Do not let any person dishearten you by saying, ‘You can buy cheaper than you can make.’ I doubt if you could do so, but even allowing this were possible, you could not point proudly to your bought cage and say, ‘I made that.’
Now the first questions of practical moment I have to answer are these: 1, What tools are required in the manufacture of cages? And, 2, What materials?
An answer to the first question will enable you to decide at once whether or not you think it worth your time and trouble to go in for cage or hutch-making. I shall mention the tools that it is indispensable you should possess, and you may either buy them or borrow them, as you please. If you are merely going to make one cage or two, perhaps you had better borrow them. But I take this opportunity of reiterating this advice to all sensible boys who may have some spare time on their hands, to possess themselves of a box of useful tools. Cheap boxes of tools are worse than want. If you mean getting tools, get good ones. Do not be caught by the glitter and get-up of the box that contains them, nor by the sheen of the contents either. Be suspicious of articles that are advertised at an exceedingly low price, else you may find yourself possessed of hammers whose heads won’t stop on, saws as brittle as brass, gimlets and awls that burst their handles, planes with pot-metal tongues, and pliers as soft as cheese.
It is far better to fit your own box up, and fill it, buying the articles you require at a respectable ironmonger’s shop, and paying a fair price for them. Then all you have to remember is to keep everything in its place, and keep all steel work free from rust, and the box itself in its own corner and locked, so that Mary Ann, when she wants to break coals, will not have an opportunity of appropriating your axe.
Talking about rust, I find nothing better wherewith to smear tools that are to be laid past for a short time than a little blue ointment. You should keep a morsel of this in a chip box in a handy corner.
Well, now, as to birdcage and hutch-making, you must have, first and foremost, a bench whereon to work. Any old table will do if it be strong enough. But one thing it must have, and that is a contrivance to hold the wood on which you are working with the plane or other instrument. This may either be the wooden screw apparatus, or what is cheaper, the bench-lug.
The tools and things you really want, and must have, to make anything like a job, are (1) a nice sizeable saw, one that will either rip or cross-cut, so it must not have a back to it. (If you go in for fine and ornamental work about your cage it will be better to have a lathe—cost about £3 10s.—and a box of fretwork tools which will run you in to £1 10s. more. So take my advice—be content with what is useful for a time. If you breed some beautiful canaries you can sell them, and having extended the balance at your banker’s, go in for the ornamental afterwards.) (2) A plane or two, one plain plane, and one plough. I do not advise a jack. I know when I was a boy I could not manage the jack-plane nearly so well as the little short one. (3) Some chisels; say three; they are cheap and useful in a thousand ways. Mind, always keep them sharp, and do not use the mallet much on the end of them. (4) A wooden mallet. (5) A hammer or two, with claws at the end. (6) A spokeshave. (7) Pliers and pincers for ironwork. (8) A boring brace and bits to fit. (9) A bradawl or two. (10) A small hand-vice. (N.B.—This last is most essential for holding your wires, etc. Sometimes this vice itself will want holding to enable you to work with both hands. Very well, be handy, fasten it on to the end of your bench by means of the lug or screw apparatus.) (11) A two-foot rule. Do not buy a cheap one; it goes all out of shape in no time; besides, if you have a really serviceable article you can use it as a square. (12) A hone or sharpening stone. (13) Etceteras, in the shape of nails and screws of various sizes (I myself use nothing but the round French nails; they do not split the wood; they go home kindly, and with ordinary care they do not bend); a jam-pot to heat your glue, some glue to heat, a carpenter’s pencil, sand-paper, and a small oil-flask. Other little things may suggest themselves to you; I can’t think of anything else at present. And I would not mind beginning to make either an ordinary breeding cage or a hutch at this moment with the tools I have just named.