Always keep the different sizes of nails separate; then you won’t be bothered by finding the wrong nail in your fingers when you are in the midst of a job.
In using chisels and gouges never strike with a hammer, but always with a wooden mallet; the hammer splits the handles.
In most chisel work it is better to put the bevel edge to the line you wish to cut until you have cut out most of the wood, then finish with the other edge and the pressure of your hand instead of the mallet.
It will be easier to explain the use of the other tools as we come to them in construction.
V.—HOW TO MAKE A TOOL CABINET.
NOW that you’ve got some very good tools, it is time you knew how to take care of them as well as to use them.
The best tools will grow rusty and dull, and shabby, also, even if they don’t hide away out of sight just when you most want to use them, unless you have a proper place to put them and always remember to put them in that place when you have done using them.
I suppose you think you must have a tool chest for this; now a tool chest is a very good thing if you want to carry your tools on a journey, i. e. if you are a city boy and want to take your kit up into the country and have the tools safe from jarring under the hands of the baggage-smashers; but I’ve found that a tool chest isn’t as handy to have in the work shop as a tool cabinet; so I’m going to tell you how to make a good tool cabinet with less expense of money, material and labor than a tool chest would require.