It is difficult to carry out such a design on four sides of a box unless a pattern is used. To obtain the most accurate results it would be best to draw the design with pencil on a smooth piece of paper, then make four tracings of it on tissue-paper. The tracing should then be fastened to the wood with pins and the tacks driven in, following the lines of the design.
When the tacks have been driven in part way, tear off the paper, and with a flat-iron held against the inside of the box to drive against, hammer the nails in so that the heads will lie snugly against the surface of the wood.
Each side is to be treated in the same manner, so that the four sides will be alike. If the hobnails cannot be had at a hardware store, or from a shoemaker, oval-headed upholsterers’ tacks may be used. Paint them black before they are driven into the wood.
At the top of the box, in the four corners, eyes are to be made fast, into which the ends of the suspending chains can be caught. Four chains, made from thin strips of metal and small harness-rings, are to be fastened in place, as shown in the drawing.
Chapter VII
DECORATIVE HARDWARE
Properly to complete even the simplest of cabinets or chests some hardware will be needed, whether it be only a pair of strap-hinges and a padlock or the most elaborate kind of ornamental fittings. Plain hinges and a lock will answer every ordinary purpose, but a nice chest or case should be finished off with ornamental hinge-straps, escutcheons, lock-plates, or handles.
These fixtures may be purchased at a hardware store and in some large cities a very beautiful assortment of fancy hardware is displayed. But it will be both cheaper and more satisfactory for the young craftsman to make these fittings for himself, and the art is not a difficult one to acquire. Some of the accompanying designs may appear at first sight rather beyond the ability of the average boy, and so they would be if they were cast in brass or bronze or cut from thick sheet-metal. But all of them can be shaped from ordinary sheet-lead with a pair of old shears, a few small chisels, and a light mallet.
Scraps of sheet-lead, varying in thickness from one to three-sixteenths of an inch, may be purchased from a plumber for five or six cents a pound. For the ordinary fixtures of medium size the metal should be a trifle less than one-eighth of an inch in thickness. For the heavier hardware an old piece of lead pipe may be used by splitting or sawing it open, and beating it out flat, on the surface of an old flat-iron, with a hard wooden mallet. If sheet brass, copper, or zinc are employed, they should be of the soft kind, so as to cut easily. If too hard, the pieces may be softened or annealed by putting them in a fire until they are cherry-red. They should then be drawn out and allowed to cool, when they will be found quite soft and easy to work.
The boy who owns a scroll-saw will find it an easy matter to jig out these designs, whether the material be lead or one of the harder metals. Special fret-saws may be purchased for this purpose, having finer teeth and being more highly tempered than those used for wood-working. In sawing metal you must be careful not to force the saw, and after cutting an inch or two allow the blade to cool, otherwise it will break.