Wood-working for Beginners: A Manual for Amateurs

by Charles G. Wheeler

Fig. 649.

To round small sticks, as spars for model boats, arrows, etc., the same process should be followed so far as the small size of the sticks will allow, as you can of course shave more accurately with the plane, on account of the long guiding sole, for the same degree of effort, than with any "free-hand" tool like the knife. But when the stick is quite small it is hard to hold it firmly, and it is also too much covered by the plane. In such cases turn Japanese. Fasten the plane bottom-up in the vise (or even hold it in your lap if you have no vise) and pull the stick along the sole of the plane instead of pushing the plane over the stick. But look out for your fingers when you do this, for a plane-iron in this position has a great appetite for finger-tips.

In filing a short, round stick, one end can often be rested on the bench and the stick turned around towards you as you file.

A good way to finish the shaping of such small sticks is to hold your knife with the edge downward close against the side of your leg just above the knee. Then pull the stick up steadily between your leg and the knife. The leg acts as a sort of gauge to steady both the stick and the knife and with care you can cut a very even shaving in this way.

One very important thing to bear in mind in all these rounding operations is that you will rarely find wood with absolutely straight grain, except in "rift" stock or natural sticks (and in these there are often seemingly unaccountable twists and crooked streaks); so you need to keep constant watch of the direction of the grain, for even a slight turn of the stick will often bring the grain wrong with relation to your tool, and one false cut running in too deep, or even across the stick, will spoil the work.

Router.—See Plane.

Rule.—A rule with which to lay out your work and measure your stock is one of the first tools of which you can make use. A two-foot rule, folding once, is the most convenient for shop-work, but the more common kind, folding to six inches in length, is more convenient to carry around away from the shop. One brass-bound (with brass edges) is more durable, but hardly as convenient to use as the common cheap kind, which will answer every purpose until it breaks.

Fig. 650.

To mark distances with the rule for accurate work, lay the rule on edge so that the divisions marked on it will touch the wood and not be an eighth of an inch above it, as they are when the rule lies flat (Fig. 650). You can thus mark the points more accurately.