When you have some long piece of work in your vise you will find it troublesome to keep it level; if you have a number of holes bored in the front of bench, with a good peg to fit, by changing the peg according to the height desired, you can raise the right end of your piece of work to the right level.
A plain hook is a desirable addition to the work-bench: its use is to hold a board when you wish to plane the surface. It is adjustable according to the thickness of the board, and should be set in and screwed on to the bench at point Y. It will cost at hardware store about seventy-five cents.
Note.—In [fig. 1] (the sawhorse) one leg is drawn in dotted lines to show the way the leg is fitted into the hole, and the right slant. In [fig. 6] the broken space in front board is to show the position of brace on right leg.
IV.—USE OF TOOLS.
WE begin with the saws, of which you have two: cross-cut saw, and splitting saw.
The use of a cross-cut saw, as the name implies, is to cut across the grain or fibre of the wood: it is one of the most indispensable tools we have. The teeth are finer and closer together than those of the splitting saw, which, as the name describes, is intended to cut with the grain, usually lengthwise, of a piece of wood. Never try to substitute one for the other, for you would injure your tools. When you want to use a cross-cut saw, the saw should be held at an angle of about forty-five degrees, and must also be held steadily without swerving to the right or left; otherwise the teeth of the saw will stick, and you cannot make a clean cut.
You will observe in looking at a saw that the teeth are set, as it is called; every other point turning a little away to the right or left of a straight line; the reason of this is, to make the cut wider than the saw blade; otherwise after cutting in a little way the friction would make the blade bind. Saws are, or should be, in proper condition to use when they are bought; if not, or if by any accident the teeth should get bent, you must have the saw set without meddling with it yourself.
A splitting saw is used differently from a cross-cut saw; it should be held more nearly upright; the cutting is always done on the down stroke. Never press the saw against the wood; the teeth will catch, and the saw bend, and the wood won’t be cut if you add any weight to that of the saw itself.