THE TOOL CABINET OPEN.
The piece remaining will measure about two and one half feet in length; from this cut off a piece twenty-two and one fourth inches long. Saw strip three and one half inches wide, which to save confusion we will mark A; plane edges, cut off another strip two and one half inches wide; mark this B. Next a strip three and one half inches wide; mark this C. Cut C so as to measure seventeen and one half inches in length.
The cabinet is now mostly cut out; the next step is to put it together.
Take pieces for sides and top and bottom of cabinet. Lay two sides parallel at a distance of twenty-two and one fourth inches apart; put top and bottom in so they will be flush with end of sides. Nail the sides on to ends with six or eight-penny nails. Take care to keep the corners square, as they will be if the edges are even and kept flush.
Before nailing on the back test the squareness of the frame in this way (unless your eye is very accurate; even then it is a good thing to get in the habit of measuring exactly): measure the diagonals from the opposite corner. If the measures are alike, all right; if, however, one diagonal be longer than the other, make it right with gentle, steady pressure on each corner with both hands. When the diagonals are exactly alike the corners will also be right angles. Now lay on two of the two and one half inch pieces (those three feet three inches long and one foot wide); be sure and keep all the edges flush and nail firmly.
Do the same with pieces prepared for doors, and you will find you have two shallow boxes three feet three inches long and two feet wide (outside measure); one will be three and one half inches deep, the other two and one half inches deep.
Now take piece marked A, which is for a shelf in the cabinet; measure and mark six and one half inches from right hand end (this is the length for the small plane); then measure and mark another one half inch beyond this point; from this last point measure length of your oilstone, which is probably six or eight inches. The space remaining will make a sort of box, or tray, for rule, chalk line and reel, pencils, etc., when you have made some use of the bits of wood you had left after cutting the shelves.
In the one half inch space between place for plane and oilstone put a little block one half inch wide and one inch long. At the end of space for oilstone nail a strip an inch wide across the shelf, and a similar strip in front. This makes one side and front of tray; the other side and back will be formed by the cabinet itself.