Harper's indoor book for boys

by Joseph H. Adams

STRIKING-BAGS

Fig. 15. Fig. 16. Fig. 17.

The regulation portable bags are mounted on an iron base, but in our home-made apparatus a plate of hard-wood will have to answer. From oak, ash, or other hard-wood, two inches thick, cut a base fifteen inches square, and round off the edges on the upper side. Make a hole in each corner through which to pass a screw, and a large hole at the middle to receive a spiral spring. The staff (about the size of a broomstick) is screwed down into the top of the spring for five or six inches, or enough to hold it securely; and at the bottom the spring is held in the block with screws or nails driven through the wires of the spring and into the wooden base.

When using the bag it should be fastened to the floor with two or three screws, so that it will not topple over. As it is struck it bends over from the bottom, and the spring, if stiff enough, will cause it to immediately rebound or come to an erect position.

A striking-bag and disk, like the one shown in Fig. 18, may be made from wood and leather, a few thumb-nuts, and a pair of braces. To make the adjustable disk, obtain two pieces of white-wood or pine three inches wide, two feet long, and one and a quarter inches in thickness. Also two other pieces, each an inch thick, three inches wide, and thirty inches long. The first pieces are the wall-plates, and laps are to be cut one and a half inches in from each end, as shown in Fig. 19, to receive the upright pieces.

In the middle of each lap a bolt two and a half inches long is to be set. This projects through a slot cut in the upright pieces, and at the outer end of the bolt a thumb-nut and washer will make it possible to clamp the uprights fast to the wall-plates, so that the disk may be raised or lowered to any required position.

Two slots, as wide as the thickness of the bolts, are cut in each upright with a bit and compass-saw; and on the uncut space, at the middle of the frame, a disk twenty-one inches wide and twenty-six inches long is made fast with screws and short angle-brackets attached to the under side of the rear corners. This disk should be made of hard-wood one and a half inches in thickness, and it is braced from above with two irons that extend from the top of the disk to the upper ends of the uprights. A blacksmith will make these for a few cents each, and they, as well as the other hardware, should be painted black to give them a good appearance.

Fig. 18. Fig. 19. Fig. 20. Fig. 21.