There are small boxes of tools sold, containing generally a wooden mallet, saw, plane, chisel, and gimlet, at about 3s. 6d. or even 5s. Such a box is simply useless. The tools are of iron—will not take a good edge, and are generally disposed to bend and twist. Avoid these, and buy, or get a friend to buy, those I have named, of good quality, and be sure to take care of them, for which purpose you may try your hand at making a box. For this purpose, you will require some thin board (half-inch thick) planed on both sides. (The carpenter will prepare this for you.) Let us see how much you will need. Measure your longest tool, the chisel or saw, if the latter is quite a small one fit to go into a little box; if not, it can be hung on a nail, and you can make your box to contain your knife and chisel and gimlets. I daresay if the box is 9 inches long, 4 inches wide, and 3 inches deep, it will be large enough to take these few tools, for I have just now measured such a hammer and chisel as I have recommended, and find them each about 9 inches in length. The top and bottom of a box should project a little all round, so that you will want them about an inch and a half wider and longer, which will also allow for the thickness of the wood; for you must remember we have given the size of the box inside. To make this clear, I shall here give a plan of the bottom of the box (Fig. 1).
Fig. 1.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 3.
It is 10½ inches long, and 5½ inches wide. The broad black line shows where the edges of the sides and ends will come, these being half an inch thick, so that there is a quarter of an inch all round the outside as a border. Reckon across and you will understand this better. A quarter of an inch outside, half an inch for the black line (equals three-quarters of an inch), 4 inches for the inside width, half an inch again for the black line, and a quarter of an inch outside as before,—altogether making 5½ inches. Now reckon the length. A quarter-inch border, half an inch for the black line, 9 inches inside, half inch for the second black line, and another quarter outside—making 10½ inches. You require, therefore, two boards 10½ inches long and 4½ wide for the top and bottom. Now the two long sides and the ends are to be 3 inches wide to form the depth of the box, and here you want no extra width, but as the inside of your box is to be 9 inches long, and the sides are usually nailed over the ends, like Fig. 2, where I have shown them put together, you see that you must have the sides as much longer than 9 inches as will allow them to lap over the ends; that is, half an inch at each end where I have made them black, or altogether, one inch; so that you will want two pieces 10 inches long and 3 wide. The ends will be also 3 inches wide and 4 inches the other way, and here no additional size is needed. Now, the usual way to cut the sides is to get a narrow strip of board of the required width and thickness, and long enough to make both the sides and ends, just such a piece as Fig. 3, on which are marked the lines where it will have to be cut across, and you will easily perceive that you require 28 inches in length and 3 in width.
But you must understand that when you cut with a saw you waste a little of the wood, which falls in the shape of sawdust, and so if you did not allow for this, your box would be too small. The waste depends on the thickness of the edge of the saw, where you will, if you examine it, see that the teeth spread out right and left to prevent it from sticking fast as it is used. Probably, you would waste three-eighths of an inch, which is nearly half an inch in cutting off the pieces, so that instead of a piece exactly 28 inches long, you must have it 28½ inches, or even a little more.
I want you to understand all this before you set to work, even though at first you may get a carpenter to measure and cut it for you; because most small boys take no trouble of this kind, and consequently they are sure to make their boxes too large or too small, and they look very bad when done. However, as I said before, I expect my young readers to understand what they are about, and they must set out their work carefully, or they will never get on so as to be able to make good use of the later chapters of this book. A carpenter’s rule is made like this (Fig. 4).