The dog house ([Fig. 35]) brought out some new features of construction. The opening in front was cut out with the saw and finished as usual. Sides and ends were then put together with glue. The two pieces forming the roof were nailed together with 3⁄8-inch brads, to make a right angle and were then placed in position and nailed to the front and back pieces.
Ralph explained that it was a saving of time and trouble to draw a light pencil line to mark the location of the brads. If this is not done, the brads are apt to come out in the wrong place and will then have to be withdrawn and placed again. This is a waste of time and it very often spoils the looks of the work, so that the drawing of the pencil lines really saves time in the end, and the lines can be erased.
Fig. 35. The dog house
Fig. 36. Indian chief
"We can make any amount of this dolls' furniture," said Ralph. "In fact we could build a doll's house and equip it with chairs, tables, and beds, but what the youngsters really like best is something that works, something that moves, so I move—no pun intended—that we design a toy that has some life to it. We can cut it out with the coping saw and there need not be a great deal of knife work to it. Suppose we make an Indian paddling a canoe!" This was more of a problem than they had bargained for, as it was necessary to look through an encyclopædia to find pictures of canoes, Indians, tomahawks, etc. Harry traced the figure of an Indian chief, transferred it to the surface of a piece of 1⁄8-inch basswood, and on sawing it out found that he had a very good silhouette of an Indian, but it did not move ([Fig. 36]). The problem was still unsolved, and experiments along that line used up several afternoons.