One or more billhooks will be found of great value when traversing the tangled thickets, for dividing vines, lianas, briars, and entangled branches. We have found the following form of hook extremely powerful, and capable of cutting through most formidable impediments. The following illustration represents the two sides of the hook, which, as will be seen on examination, are not alike. The near side of the blade, or that which would, when the instrument is used by a right-handed man, lay towards the left, is slightly hollowed, and the edge, instead of being bevelled, remains perfectly flush with it, like the front of a very large gouge. The off-side edge is bevelled, and exactly like that of a chisel. The plate of the blade should be 10in. long, and stouter at the back than most ordinary English billhooks. Instead of terminating in a tang or spill, the metal should be continued throughout the handle as far as the point at which the curved knob at its end is carved out. Handles for these hooks are best made from natural-grown sticks of suitable bend. The wood must be tough, strong, durable, and well seasoned. When nearly finished, a saw cut must be made the exact length of the continuation of metal from the blade, and this must be opened and widened with a flat file until the plate fits exactly in it. A strong wide ring must now be driven on at the upper end, and three stout soft iron pins passed through both the wood and iron of the handle, riveting the ends securely in countersunk holes prepared for their reception. The handle may now be finished, and made to fit the grip of the hand by the use of the rasp, and some pieces of broken glass as scrapers. The temper of these tools must be regulated by the file test. Leather sheaths should be made for them, with guide straps for the belt to go through.
Tool hold-all.
Portable tool chest.
All the small tools can be conveniently packed and carried in a leather or canvas hold-all. This is merely a long strip of either canvas or leather, with longitudinal bands sewn on the inside. The tools are arranged side by side under these, and then rolled up and tied carefully together with a wide tape string. All the edge tools should be tempered or let down to meet the file test, ground and set, before being finally packed. The axe handle should be of well-seasoned hickory, and so made as to admit of being knocked forward through the eye of the blade, and so removed from it, as shown in the illustration of the group of tools on the next page. A grooved strip of wood should be fitted to the edge of the saw, in order to preserve the teeth and keep the blade straight. A leather bag may be also made for it with advantage. To those who do not require such tools as we have described, and yet wish to provide themselves with a very few, of small size, we can confidently recommend the following arrangement. Portable tool chest. Order from a tin-plate worker a stout, wire-edged tin box, with wire hinges. Let it be 7in. long, 3in. wide, and 2½in. deep. In this, several small files, one or two small chisels, a number of both straight and curved awl blades, a screw driver, hammer head, pliers, a few sail needles, a small hand vice, a watchmaker’s drill and bits, a jointed blowpipe, some bits of solder, a little lump of resin, bits of brass and copper wire, some pieces of watchspring for cutting metal, a narrow cold chisel, and several other odds and ends, may be conveniently stowed away. A watch-spring saw needs no teeth; it is only requisite to occasionally run the face of a file from end to end, flat on the edge, as if in the act of blunting it, to renew its cutting power. A gun barrel, or a bar of iron the thickness of a walking-stick, can be cut through in an inconceivably short time with one of these little instruments, aided by a little sweet oil.
Camp Furniture.
Beds.