Harper's Outdoor Book for Boys

by Joseph H. Adams

This must be fastened to the forward end of the backbone. The best and lightest way is to braze it, as the tinsmiths call it. File the polish from the end of the needle, and wet it with soldering fluid, which may be bought at a tinner’s, or made by adding zinc to muriatic acid until no more is dissolved. Slip on the brass support just where you want it, and lay on a piece of solder about half the size of a grain of wheat. Now hold this in the flame of a candle, in the gas, or near a hot stove, until the solder melts. Take it away and let it cool, and you will find that the solder has run into all the cracks and joined the pieces beautifully. File off any excess of solder or rough ends, and you will have a neat and workman-like joint, as well as a very light one.

Cut out the piece No. 3, and bend it into the shape shown at No. 4. In this case you will need to file the upper surface of the groove bright and clean. Take off the polish from the other end of the needle, and then put the stern-post, as it may be called, in place, and hold it there by twisting a fine wire around it and the needle. Be careful to get both supports turned the same way. Then braze and finish it as before.

Make the piece No. 5, and form it into the shape No. 6. This is fastened by brazing to the backbone, as shown in the lower diagram. Take a piece of another knitting-needle, and make a shaft like No. 7 by heating red-hot and pounding the end into a hook with a small hammer.

Put the straight end of this shaft through the hole in the stern-post which was formed by bending the metal, and then make a shoulder on it, as follows: bend a piece of fine wire into a ring the size of the needle, and braze this to the shaft about a quarter-inch from the stern-post. This ring of wire keeps the shaft from slipping through the hole when the rubber is stretched. File a flat point on the straight end of the shaft.

Next make the wings. For the ribs I used the thin bamboo strips taken from a Japanese fan. The paper is pulled or soaked off, and the thin strips cut close to the handle. The front of the wings is made as in the upper diagram of Fig. 3. Take one of the largest and stiffest strips of the bamboo, find the exact middle, and lay it evenly across the wing-support (No. 6 in Fig. 2), which is already in place on the backbone. Lash it to the support with waxed sewing-silk. Over this piece lay two others of equal length, making them come together (but not lap over) just above the backbone. When well secured, add three pieces of the same length above the two, placing them in such a way that the joinings shall not come over the joinings of either of the other pieces, and thus weaken the wings.

The ribs are made from the bamboo strips, cut the proper length and lashed to the front edge. The other ends are fastened to a cross-rib to make them take the same curvature. The lower diagram of Fig. 3 shows how the ribs are spaced.

Cover the wings with thin, strong paper. The best is Japanese paper, such as is used in making napkins. This is exceedingly light and very strong. It should be sewed, not gummed, as the gum makes the paper tear easily, and your sticky fingers spoil the whole cover very quickly. The paper is tough enough to be sewed, using a fine needle and white cotton, and you will get a neater and much more satisfactory job.

Make a triangle by lashing together three pieces of bamboo, two being about two inches long, and the third one inch. This triangle is lashed to the backbone just behind the wings, with the short side down; its position may be seen by a glance at the picture of the finished machine. It is kept rigid by running stays, made of waxed sewing-silk, from the lower corners to the stern-post, from the right-hand corner to the middle of the left wing, and from the left-hand corner to the middle of the right wing.

Just in front of this triangle fasten a piece of the bamboo, and make two small guiding vanes or rudders. These are made in a similar manner to the wings. Tie threads to the lower corners of the wings, and then to the triangle, drawing them down until they have the proper angle. The guiding-vanes should have a greater angle than the wings—that is, they should be drawn farther down.