No. 23. Foot-Stool.
(Requiring [Exercises] 5, 7, 12, 8, 9, 10, 3, 4, 15, 44, 32, 29, 14, 13, 3, 5, 41, and 42.)
Cut from Deal two pieces, one 12 in. long, 6 in. wide, and 11⁄4 in. thick; the other 18 in. long, 31⁄4 in. wide, and 1 in. thick.
The former piece is for the laths, and it must be prepared and cut as in No. 22, making each lath to finish 1 in. wide, 1⁄2 in. thick, and 103⁄4 in. long.
The wood for the support must now be proceeded with. Plane one side and one edge at right angles, and gauge-mark for width of 3 in. and thickness of 17⁄8 in. Plane the rough side and edge down to the gauge-marks. Then saw through the centre so as to make two pieces of 7⁄8 in. thickness each. Place the pieces side by side, and nail them together with two 11⁄2-in. wrought nails, so that both pieces can be operated upon together. Then draw on one outer side the diagram shown on the unshaded part of Fig. 1 of [drawings No. 23], and, with the aid of try-square and compasses, repeat the diagram on the other outer side. Then cut off each end nearly to the end lines of the diagrams, and, with the smoothing plane, finish at perfect right angles. Then, with a 5⁄8-in. centre-bit, drill at the spots marked a a on each diagram, penetrating on one side a little more than an inch, and finishing by drilling from the other side in precise unison. The drilling throughout must be exactly vertical. Then proceed with the arch shown in Fig. 1, with the turning saw cutting out the three semicircles, which finish with gouge and file, taking care to maintain right angles at every point. Then separate the pieces, smooth each face with the smoothing plane, and the circular parts with file and sand-paper.
The respective parts being now complete, mark on each lath the distance the supports are from the ends shown in Fig. 2. Then nail on the laths, b b first, c next, and the others afterwards. Then, having first taken care to punch down all the nails sufficiently, plane a few shavings off the tops of the laths to make them clean and level.
*** If the laths are well and truly nailed on, their ends should be in perfect line. Any defect in that respect must be remedied by carefully and judiciously planing; but the perfection of work is when no such planing is necessary.