Fig. 2. Fig. 3. Fig. 4.
To make these dumb-bells, obtain some old croquet-balls and clamp them, one by one, in the vise of a carpenter’s bench. Then, with a one-inch bit, bore a hole through each ball, as shown in Fig. 3. Cut a broom-handle or a one-inch curtain-pole in lengths twelve or thirteen inches long, and in the end of each make a saw-cut, as shown in Fig. 3 B. Smear the end of the stick with glue and drive it through the hole in the ball, keying it firmly in place by driving a wedge into the end of the stick, just as hammer-heads are fastened to prevent their coming off. Repeat for the second ball. Some glue should be placed in the saw-cut, so as to hold the wedge when it is driven home. To make the handle easier to grip, it should be bound with linen or cotton fish-line; then the balls may be painted or varnished, and the line given a coat of black varnish, which will set the cord binding and harden it. Several sets of these balls may be made for the “gym” and hung upon the wooden rail that extends around the room.
In the absence of iron bells, a heavy pair of dumb-bells may be made of gas-pipe handles and flanges with screw-holes fastened into wood blocks four inches in diameter (Fig. 4). The gas-pipes, an inch in diameter, may be had at a plumber’s shop or gas-fitters’, and they should be five inches long, threaded at both ends, and screwed into flanges which have been fitted with threads to receive them. These flanges are bored with holes, so that ordinary screws may be passed through them and into the wooden ends. The gas-pipe should be bound with line and painted or varnished, or the entire bell may be painted black to simulate iron.
Indian Clubs
A good pair of Indian clubs, weighing from two to three pounds each, would cost at the shops about one dollar a pair; but the boy who can handle tools may cut out a very serviceable pair of clubs from wood four inches square or round, with the club, or butt, ends fifteen inches high.
Two pieces of spruce, chestnut, or apple wood are to be cut, as shown in Fig. 5. The upper end should be tapered so that it is one and a half inches in diameter, and leaving the base about two and a half inches in diameter.
The tapering is done by holding the wood in a vise and gradually shaving away the wood with a sharp-bladed draw-knife or spokeshave, turning the wood frequently so as to cut the butt evenly and as true as possible. With a brace-and-bit a one-inch hole is bored in the top of each club three inches deep, and into it a broomstick-handle is driven and held in place with glue and a few steel-wire nails. Wooden balls are bored and glued to the top of the handles, and given an additional purchase with small nails. The handles may be bound with fine line and the exposed wood-work painted any desirable color.