Fig. 128. The mallet
They are made in several sizes, from little ones with 4-inch jaws up to 22-inch jaws. For large and heavy work, clamps of wood or metal may be had as large as eight feet in length. They are useful in the making of drawing boards, doors, etc., but are not a real necessity for boys' ordinary woodwork. Clamps in the form of trestles for specially important large work are made as large as twelve feet in length.
For ordinary purposes, a pair of 6-inch and a pair of 12 or 14 inch wood hand screws will answer. The ingenuity of the young woodworker will suggest other ways of holding glued-up work in the absence of hand screws, such as winding with heavy twine or rope, and twisting a stick through the strands, after the old method of tightening a buck saw or turning saw. In building up a drawing board and gluing the strips together, the requisite pressure may be obtained by laying it on the floor between blocks temporarily nailed there, and wedges driven in, after the method described for picture frames.
Fig. 129. Clamp and hand screws
A large part of the value derived from woodwork is in the exercise of ingenuity required to meet unexpected contingencies. Just so the owner of an automobile learns more about mechanics and the construction of his machine by being obliged to make repairs on the road, miles from any repair shop, and with a limited number of tools and appliances.
THE HAMMER
