Plate 3.
It can be readily seen that supported as it now is, the piece of wood being planed will not splinter or break on its further edge. Pains must be taken, however, to keep the plane flat on its side, not raising it on its edge at all, for by so doing the resulting planed edge will not be square. This bench-hook may be made quite easily by the beginner and besides being a good problem, is a very helpful addition to the tool outfit. It works very well when planing wood not over six or seven inches wide. Wood wider than this should be planed as follows: Place the piece of wood upright in the vise with the end grain uppermost, and plane about three-quarters of the way across the edge. Then turn the piece and plane the remaining part back in the opposite direction. By so doing the end of the wood will not be split.
Figures A and B, [Plate 3], show the operation of the bench-hook for both sawing and planing.
[SIMPLE TOOL SHARPENING.]
In order to do good, clean-cut, accurate work it is very necessary that all cutting tools be kept sharp. And it is important that every boy who undertakes toy making have an elementary knowledge of the subject, especially an understanding of how to properly sharpen the knife, the chisel and the plane blade.
If the tool is very dull, with nicks in the cutting edge, it should be ground first on the grindstone. It is quite important that the blade be held at the proper angle, about 25 degrees on the stone. A suitable tool holder, such as is shown in the illustration on Page [26], is a very useful article to have in the tool equipment. The tool is held in place, bevel side down, by thumbscrews, and projects beyond the holder a little over half an inch.
The grindstone should be thoroughly wet to prevent heating the tool and also to insure the washing away of the fine particles of steel from the surface of the stone.