Fig. 7. Fig. 8. Fig. 9.
The second spindle at first was made immovable by inserting a piece of quarter-inch wire in a wooden bracket, which was screwed to the table; but finding it not always convenient to use blocks of the same length, one was arranged to slide; it could be secured in any position with thumb-screws. A long cut a quarter of an inch wide was first sawed in the table in the line of the short shaft; then a bracket three inches high was screwed to a short strip two inches wide, one inch thick, and a foot long. A similar strip was placed beneath, through which two thumb-screws passed. A piece of wire, filed to a point and driven in the bracket, served for a centre. A movable block of wood three and a half inches high was used for a tool rest, which by means of two small bolts and thumb-screws was held fast to the table top. Slots cut in the table top made it possible to move this rest forward or backward, and the thumb-screws, or winged-nuts, as they are properly called, were tightened at the under side of the table, as shown at Fig. 9.
A great deal of pleasure may be had at little or no cost with a lathe of this description. All sorts of small things may be turned, and when a boy has mastered the craft it would be well to add an iron lathe to his stock of tools, if the cost is at all within his means.
Chapter IV
PICTURE MOUNTING AND FRAMING
The modern idea in framing pictures is to have the frame harmonize with the subject, rather than to employ a stock moulding with set pattern made by the mile, and cut up into frames of all sizes and for all sorts of pictures. All the frames shown in the illustrations accompanying this chapter were made at home, and from such simple materials as thin boards, burlap, tea-chest matting, denim, wire, sheet-lead, harness-rings, and brass-headed upholsterers’ tacks.
A Dutch Head Mounting
For the study of a Dutch head a unique frame, or mounting, is shown in Fig. 1. This is a board of thin wood of a size in proportion to the photograph, the latter being nailed to the board with large, oval-headed tacks painted black.
The board is covered with green denim, the edges of which are drawn over the back of the board and glued, or fastened with small tacks. The photograph, a platinum print, is trimmed to an oval, and then mounted on a white card. When the paste is dry the mount is also cut ovalwise, following the line of the photograph, and leaving a white margin half an inch in width. The picture is placed on the board so that the side and top margins will be equal; it is then fastened in place with upholsterers’ tacks driven three-quarters of an inch apart.
