Competition has brought down the cost of good tools to a point where they are not beyond the means of the average boy who is prepared to save his pocket-money. It is better to purchase only a small kit at first, and then to add to it from time to time, until the complete outfit is obtained.
Good tools may be purchased at nearly every hardware shop or general store throughout the country. For ordinary work you will require a good rip and cross-cut saw, with twenty and twenty-four inch blades, respectively; a claw-hammer, and a smaller one; a wooden mallet for chisels, and to knock together the lap joints of wood; a jack and a smoothing plane; a compass-saw; a brace and several sizes of bitts, ranging from a quarter to one inch in diameter; a draw-knife; a square; awls; pliers; a rule; several firmer-chisels, and a screw-driver. There are many other useful tools, but they may be added as they are required.
It is a difficult matter to instruct a boy, by written description, how to handle tools; and rather than attempt it, I should advise the young workman to watch a carpenter at his work. Most carpenters are quite willing to have you follow their movements, and many of them will even offer advice, if they see that you are really interested. But remember that a good workman never likes to have a boy meddle with his tools, and you should not ask foolish or unnecessary questions.
Perhaps there is a carpenter’s shop near your home in which the owner may let you work occasionally (if you keep out of his way), and where, in the atmosphere of the craft, you will make faster progress than you can possibly do at home with no one to tell or show you how things should be done.
The Work-bench
One of the indispensable pieces of equipment for the boy carpenter is a good work-bench. The bench must be substantially made, and provided with a planing-stop, a vise, and a drawer in which to keep small tools, nails, screws, and the various odds and ends that are employed in carpentry.
To begin with, obtain four spruce or white-wood sticks, three inches square and thirty-six inches long, planed on all sides. These are for the legs. You will also need two pieces of clear pine, or white-wood, three feet long and six inches wide, and two more the same length and three inches wide. These pieces should be one and an eighth inches thick, and planed on all sides and edges.
Fig. 1. Fig. 2. Fig. 3. Fig. 4. Fig. 5.