Harper's indoor book for boys

by Joseph H. Adams

The finest stones are the best for use, and although they take longer to give the keen edge required, they will be found the most satisfactory in the end. Avoid grit and dust on the stones, and before using them they should be wiped off with an oiled rag. The beginner must not consider any pains too great to make himself thorough master of the tools, and to keep a perfect edge on all of them.

The tools being in proper condition, the next step is to acquire a knowledge of the best methods of handling them. It will require some time and practice to become thoroughly familiar with the manner in which tools are used, and, if it is possible, it would be well to watch some carver at work.

The chisels should always be held with one hand on the handle, with two fingers of the other hand near the edge of the tool. This is to give sufficient pressure at the end to keep it down to the wood, while the hand on the handle gives the necessary push to make the tool cut.

A Carver’s Bench

A carver’s bench is a necessity for the young craftsman, but if it is not possible to get one, a heavy, wooden-top kitchen table will answer almost as well. The proper kind of a bench gives greater facility for working, since it is more solid and the height is better than that of an ordinary table. Any boy who is handy with tools can make a bench in a short time of pine or white wood, the top being of hard-wood. If the joiner-work is not too difficult to carry out, it would be better to make the legs and braces of hard-wood also, to lend weight and solidity to the table.

Fig. 14.

The wood should be free from knots and sappy places, and as heavy as it is possible to get it, so as to make a really substantial bench. The top should measure four feet long and thirty inches wide, and not less than one inch and a half in thickness. The framework must be well made, and the corner-posts and braces securely fastened with lap-joints, glue, and screws. The top of the bench should be thirty-nine inches high, and to one side of the bench a carpenter’s vise may be attached, as shown in Fig. 14. The jaw of the vise is seven inches wide, one and an eighth inches thick, and thirty-four inches long. It is hung as described for the carpenter’s bench (see Carpentry, Chapter I.). A wood or steel screw may be purchased at a hardware store, and set near the top and into the solid apron side-rail. The posts are four inches thick, and the cross-pieces and rails should be of seven-eighth-inch hard-wood four inches wide. The top overhangs the framework two inches all around, thus forming a ledge, to which the plates of wood or panels may be bound with the clamps and bench-screws. Where a clamp cannot be used, a cleat, as shown in Fig. 11, is screwed fast to the top of the table, and the projecting ear catches the edge of the wood and holds it securely.

A coat of varnish or paint on the legs and braces will finish this bench nicely, and it will then be ready for the young workman’s use.