A candle may be carried in a glass bottle, as shown in the sketch, with little danger of setting fire to surrounding objects, and without permitting the melted wax to leak upon the floor. The bottom of the bottle is cut off and the candle inserted as shown, the neck affording a convenient handle.—Stanley Radcliffe, Laurel, Md.
A Folding Wall Desk
To provide an inexpensive desk in a shop, where space was quite limited, the folding wall desk shown in the sketch was devised. It was cut from a packing box and the hinged lid built up of boards of better quality. To give a good writing surface, a piece of heavy cardboard was fastened to the writing bed with thumb tacks and may be renewed whenever necessary. The inside of the desk was fitted with filing compartments arranged to care for a large variety of shop forms and stationery. An inkwell holder made of a strip of sheet metal was fixed to the end of the desk and the bottle suspended in it, there being space for additional bottles also. The hinged lid is provided with a hasp and padlock. When not in use the desk may be tilted upward and locked against the wall with small catches. By using a T-square against the left edge of the writing bed, a convenient drafting table for shop sketching is provided.
| Fig. 1 | Fig. 2 |
| Fig. 4 | |
| Fig. 5 | Fig. 3 |
The Packing Box from Which the Desk was Made is Shown in Fig. 1. The Dotted Lines Indicate Where It was Cut to Give the Slanting Writing Surface. The Device in Its Normal Position is Shown in Fig. 2; Hooked against the Wall, in Fig. 3, and with the Lid Raised, Showing the Compartments, in Fig. 5.
The detailed construction, for the making of the desk from stock lumber, by boys, or amateur workers with tools, may be carried out as follows: Determine upon the size of the proposed desk. Convenient dimensions are 30 in. long, 18 in. wide, 7 in. high at the back, and 4 in. high at the front. Use ⁷⁄₈-in. soft wood; pine and poplar are suitable. Cut and shape all the pieces before beginning the assembling of the parts. The wood should be planed smooth and may be sandpapered lightly when the construction is completed, before applying a finish. A simple arrangement of the pieces so they can be nailed together is that shown in the sketch, which was used in making the box. First shape the pieces for the sides, 5¹⁄₄ in. wide at the larger end, 2¹⁄₄ in. wide at the smaller, and 16¹⁄₄ in. long. Clamp the boards together, or tack them with two wire nails while shaping them, so that they will be exactly alike. Make a piece 5¹⁄₂ in. wide and 30 in. long for the back, and one the same length and 2¹⁄₂ in. wide for the front. Nail them to the ends, as shown, permitting the slight excess material to project over the upper edges of the sidepieces. Trim off this extra stock with a plane so that the upper surfaces of the front and back conform to the slant of the sidepieces. Make a strip 4 in. wide for the upper edge of the desk, to which the writing bed is hinged. Cut pieces for the bottom and nail them in place.
Before nailing down the upper hinge strip the interior fittings should be made. Use wood not thicker than ¹⁄₂ in., and fit the pieces into place carefully, nailing them firmly through the outer faces of the desk. A better method is to make the pigeonholes or compartments with a piece of the thin stock on the ends of the partitions, so that the compartments are built up as a unit and slid into the desk, no nails being necessary to hold them.
The lid should be made of sound, dry stock and glued up of strips about 3 in. wide, to prevent it from warping or twisting easily. If the person making the desk has the necessary skill, it is best to fix a strip, 2 in. wide, at each end of the writing bed, to hold the pieces together and to keep the bed in shape.
The holder for the inkwell is made of a 1-in. strip of metal, bent to the shape shown in Fig. 4, and drilled to fit small screws. A can is supported in the holder and the bottle rests in it.