Mallet Made from Wagon-Wheel Felly and Spoke
A Well-Shaped Mallet Made from a Section of a Wagon-Wheel Felly and Spoke
When in need of a mallet and if an old broken and discarded wagon wheel is at hand, one can be made quickly as follows: Cut through the rim at A and B, and through the spoke at any distance desired, as at C, for instance. The spoke is dressed into the shape of a handle and sandpapered smooth. The section of the felly is used as head and is shaped properly and fastened to the handle with two nails.—Contributed by Mark Gluckman, Jersey City, New Jersey.
A Mystery Sounding Glass
Procure a thin, tapering drinking glass, a piece of thin, black thread, about 2 ft. long, and a long lead pencil. Cut a small groove around the pencil near one end. Make a slip noose in each end of the thread and slip one into the notch and place the thin glass in the other with the thread near the top. When the pencil is revolved slowly the thread will be wound on it slightly and it will slip back with a jerk that produces a ring in the glass. This may be kept up indefinitely. The movement necessary is so small that it is imperceptible. The glass can be made to answer questions by two rings for “yes” and one ring for “no.”
¶A lighted match held to the outside of a fish-pole joint causes an expansion of the outer ferrule and allows the pole to be readily pulled apart.
Repairing a Broken Canoe Paddle
While paddling a rented canoe one day the paddle struck a rock and snapped in two a little below the center of the handle. The boatman laughed at the idea of trying to fix it, but after paying his price for the paddle I decided to try mending it. The barrel of an old bicycle pump was procured and I found that it fitted over the paddle at the break a trifle loosely. It was pushed on the handle out of the way. Then with a No. 8 bit I bored a hole 8 in. deep in the end of each broken part. Into these holes, which formed one cavity when the broken ends were brought together, was forced and glued a tight-fitting 16-in. dowel pin. The outside of the handle was then wrapped with tape for about 10 in. each side of the break, and the pump barrel was forced down over this tape until it completely and firmly enveloped the broken ends.—Contributed by Clarence G. Meyers, Waterloo, Iowa