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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
 
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 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
MANUAL TRAINING 
 
 FIRST LESSONS 
 
 IN 
 
 WOOD -WORKING 
 
 V 
 
 ALFRED G. COMPTON 
 
 PROFESSOR OF APPLIED MATHEMATICS IN THE COLLEGE OF THE CITY 
 
 OF NEW YORK, INSTRUCTOR IN CHARGE OF THE WORKSHOPS 
 
 OF THE COLLEGE, AND AUTHOR OF A MANUAL OF 
 
 LOGARITHMIC COMPUTATION 
 
 lC* 
 
 
 ■>- 
 
 IVISON, BLAKEMAN, AND COMPANY 
 publishers 
 
 NEW YORK AND CHICAGO 
 
 
,01 
 
 Copyright, 
 
 1888, 
 
 By IVISON, BLAKEMAN & CO. 
 
 f- ?/y^ 
 
 PRESS OF HENRY H. CLARK & CO., BOSTON. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The series of lessons in wood-working here pre- 
 sented is intended, principally, for use in schools in 
 which hand-work is pursued as a part of general 
 training. The order of sequence is designed to lead 
 the pupil from one tool to another of larger capabil- 
 ities, and from one operation to another requiring a 
 higher degree of skill. 
 
 In writing the descriptions of operations the aim 
 has been to make them so full as to enable an intel- 
 ligent pupil to perform the operations tolerably well, 
 even without the help of an instructor, and at the 
 same time to direct the attention of the instructor 
 to the principal points that he ought to insist on, 
 and the principal errors that are found to occur. 
 The work being designed for young pupils, say 
 between the ages of eleven and fourteen, it is not 
 intended to go over much ground, nor to impart 
 great skill, but only to open the way, reserving for 
 another volume a more extended course. For the 
 same reason, a thorough analysis of the mode of 
 action of each tool is not attempted : this belongs 
 rather to the teaching in a technical school, and 
 
iv Preface. 
 
 should have its place in a more advanced work for 
 higher classes. Nevertheless, it is intended, not 
 merely to teach the pupil how to handle the tool, 
 but also to form in him the habit of considering 
 how the tool operates, and what modifications it 
 requires to adapt it to different uses, affording thus 
 training not only for the hand and the eye, but for 
 the attention and judgment as well, — an end to 
 which hand-work, properly conducted, is at least as 
 well adapted as many of the other studies that have 
 heretofore monopolized the attention of our schools. 
 
 With the exercises in the use of tools have been 
 interwoven observations on the properties of the ma- 
 terials used, and elementary principles of mechanical 
 drawing, with the idea that the three studies, thus 
 blended together, would lend help and stimulus to 
 each other, and thus be pursued with more zest than 
 if taught separately. 
 
 The division into lessons is necessarily, to some ex- 
 tent, arbitrary. The lessons may be found too long 
 or too short, according to the time which the school 
 may be able to allow. An intelligent instructor will 
 easily combine them or subdivide them as occasion 
 may require. 
 
 I am indebted to Messrs. Fairbanks & Co. for the 
 design for a small testing-machine, Fig. 8, and to 
 my colleague, Professor William Stratford, for the 
 micro-photograph of a section of the wood of Pinus 
 SylvestriSf Fig. 6. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Preface 
 
 
 iii 
 
 Materials and tools needed .... 
 
 vii 
 
 Lesson 
 
 
 
 I. 
 
 Cutting tools — knife and hatchet ; cross- 
 
 
 
 cutting 
 
 1 
 
 II. 
 
 Knife and hatchet continued; splitting 
 
 
 
 whittling, and hewing 
 
 8 
 
 III. 
 
 Strength of wood 
 
 14 
 
 IV. 
 
 The Cross-cut-saw 
 
 21 
 
 V. 
 
 Shrinking, cracking and warping of timber 
 
 28 
 
 VI. 
 
 Working-sketches 
 
 32 
 
 VII. 
 
 Working-drawings 
 
 38 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Making a nailed box ; laying out the work 
 
 44 
 
 IX. 
 
 Hammer and nails ; putting a box to- 
 
 
 
 gether 
 
 49 
 
 X. 
 
 The same, continued; taking apart 
 
 54 
 
 XI. 
 
 The Jack-plane 
 
 58 
 
 XII. 
 
 The Smoothing-plane .... 
 
 68 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Back-saw and bench-dog .... 
 
 78 
 
 XIV. 
 
 The Chisel ; paring and chamfering j char- 
 
 
 acters of different woods . . .85 
 
vi Contents. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 XV. The Chisel, continued; through mortise; 
 
 brace and bit 99 
 
 XVI. The Chisel, continued; end dove-tail . Ill 
 XVII. Dove-tailed box ; laying out the work ; 
 
 cutting the dove-tails . . .119 
 XVIII. Gluing; hand-screws; putting the box to- 
 gether 128 
 
 XIX. Finishing a dove-tailed box; planing end- 
 wood 136 
 
 XX. Fitting hinges 140 
 
 XXI. Making a paneled door ; isometric drawing 146 
 XXII. Paneled door, continued ; mortise . . 160 
 
 XXIII. Fitting a panel ; the plow . . . 167 
 
 XXIV. Chamfering a frame ; finishing with sand- 
 
 paper and shellac . . . .172 
 Alphabetical Index 183 
 
Tools and Materials required for the Course of 
 Lessons in Wood-Working. 
 
 I. — TOOLS, ONE FOR EACH PUPIL. 
 
 Pocket-knife, two blades. 
 
 Lead pencil, No. 2. 
 
 Marking-gauge. 
 
 Cross-cut-saw, 22 inches long, 8 teeth to the inch. 
 
 Rip-saw, 22 " 4* 
 
 Tenon-saw, 14 " 12 " " 
 
 Dove-tail-saw, 8 " 15 " " 
 
 Try square, steel blade, 6 inches long. 
 
 Hammer, weight 1 lb., handled. 
 
 Mallet, " 1 lb., handled. 
 
 Two-foot folding rule, metric and English on opposite 
 
 sides. 
 Jack-plane, double-ironed. 
 Smoothing-plane, double-ironed. 
 Firmer chisel, one inch, pear-tree handle, 
 half-inch 
 " " quarter-inch " 
 
 II. — TOOLS, ONE FOR EACH BENCH (TWO PUPILS). 
 
 Double bench, with closets. 
 Bevel, blade 12 inches long. 
 
viii Manual Training. 
 
 Oil-stone, in box. 
 
 Oil-can, filled. 
 
 Bench-dog, 6 inches by 12. 
 
 Brace. 
 
 Center-bit, i inch. 
 
 Screw-driver, £ inch. 
 
 Brad-awls, }" and -£%". 
 
 III. — TOOLS FOR EACH CLASS. 
 
 One chopping-block, 12 to 15 inches in diameter, 20 inches 
 
 high. 
 One dozen straight-edges, i" x 2" — 24", pine. 
 Three glue-pots, 1 quart. 
 Three glue-brushes. 
 Two dozen hand-screws, 14 inches. 
 
 a a a « q u 
 
 Twenty pounds glue. 
 Can of sperm-oil, 1 gallon. 
 
 " white shellac varnish, 1 gallon. 
 One fore-plane. 
 Three plows, with bits. 
 One draw-knife. 
 
 IV. — MATERIALS FOR EACH PUPIL. 
 
 Lesson I. — Stick of white pine, £" square, 10" long. 
 
 Stick of pine or hemlock fire-wood, 2 feet long, 2 inches 
 
 thick. 
 
 Lesson II. — Two pieces of pine, each i" X 2" — 6", one 
 
 straight-grained the other crooked. 
 
 Piece of pine or hemlock fire- wood, six or eight inches 
 
Tools and Materials. ix 
 
 long, about three inches square, with square ends, 
 without knots. 
 
 Lesson III. — Two strips of pine, i" x £" — 3", one cut 
 length-ways of the grain, the other cross-ways. 
 
 Lesson IV. — Piece of mill-dressed pine, 1" x 4"— 12", 
 to try tools on. 
 Piece of straight-grained clear pine, f " X 6" — 4' 6', mill- 
 dressed, cut from the end of the board, showing the 
 rough end and the cracks or checks. 
 
 Lesson V. — Half dozen b inch dowels, about 4 inches 
 long, with a piece of maple, cherry, or other hard- 
 wood, 1" X 3" — 8", bored with holes of the same 
 size as the dowel. 
 
 Lesson IX. — Two dozen four-penny nails. 
 
 Lesson XI. — Piece of clear pine, about f"x6"— 12", 
 for practice with plane. 
 
 Lesson XIII. — Clear pine board, |"x8"-26" J for top 
 and bottom of box. 
 
 Lesson XIV. — Pine plank, lb" thick, not very straight- 
 grained, to be cut to lengths of 9", and split to width 
 of 1£", and similar plank of white-wood, furnishing 
 one stick of one kind, lb" X 1 b"~ 9" to each pupil. 
 
 Lesson XV. — Two pieces of clear pine, 4 cm - x5 cm - — 15 cm - 
 
 Lesson XVI. — Two pieces of clear white-wood, lb" x 
 2" -8". 
 
 Lesson XX. — 1 pair brass hinges, b" X 1£", with screws. 
 1 brass hook, 1", with staple or screw-eye. 
 
 Lesson XXI. — Clear pine or white-wood plank, 1£" X 
 12"- 3' 6" for frame. 
 Ditto b" X lib" ~ 16£" for panel. 
 
Manual Training. 
 
 Lesson XXI V. — Half sheet sand-paper, number 0. 
 
 V. — MATERIALS OF ILLUSTRATION FOR EACH CLASS. 
 
 Specimen of fiber of hemp and flax for Lesson III., p. 14. 
 Piece of round pine or spruce, about six inches long, with 
 
 bark on, for Lesson III., p. 16. 
 Small testing-machine (desirable but not indispensable) 
 
 for Lesson III., p. 18. 
 Piece or pieces of round timber, about 10 or 12 inches in 
 
 diameter and 2 feet long, stripped of bark, showing 
 
 character and direction of cracks (or checks) for 
 
 Lesson V., p. 31. 
 Similar pieces cut into boards, which are numbered and 
 
 tied together, slabs included, in their proper places, 
 
 for same. 
 Block of walnut 5" xSi" — 9", with hole in one end as 
 
 in description, p. 34, 35. 
 Nailed box, 9£" X 8"- 12", as figured on p. 38. 
 
Lesson I. 
 Cutting Tools. — Knife and Hatchet. 
 
 EVERY cutting tool is a wedge, which is 
 pressed or driven between the particles of 
 the wood, pushing them apart as it advances. 
 You have a stick of white pine half an inch 
 square and about ten inches long. Lay it 
 down on your bench, holding it in your left 
 hand, and try to cut it across with your knife, 
 about an inch from the end. Pressing down 
 on the knife pretty hard, you force the blade 
 in a short distance, pushing the wood right 
 and left, and making a small notch. You soon 
 find, however, that you cannot force the knife 
 forward any farther ; the sides exercise i. 
 of the notch resist the advance Cross _ cutti 
 of the knife, and stop it when with knife, 
 you have pushed it in perhaps an eighth of 
 an inch. If you could remove the wood that 
 presses against the sides of the knife-blade you 
 might be able to drive it farther forward and 
 
Manual Training. 
 
 cut deeper. You can do this if you proceed 
 a little differently. Begin again on the op- 
 posite face of the stick, at the same distance 
 from the end ; but this time, instead of press- 
 ing squarely against the side of the piece, press 
 obliquely in the direction of the line db, Fig. 1.* 
 
 The knife moves 
 forward more 
 easily, because it 
 
 \ 
 
 lifts up the fibers 
 F% S^*' \ on one side and 
 
 Ob o 
 
 pushes them 
 away, bending them as in the figure. Even 
 now, however, the wood ceases to yield after 
 a while, and the blade advances no farther. 
 If you now place your knife just to the right 
 of the former cut and cut down towards the 
 
 left, in the direction s/ _^ 
 
 of the line c d, you ¥ j 
 
 will cut off the ends . 
 
 of the fibers that are " 
 
 bent up, and leave a notch, as in Fig. 2. 
 
 * The crooked lines at the end of the drawing in Figs. 1, 2, 3 
 mean that the portion of the object to the left of such lines 
 is left out as unnecessary. Similar lines are shown in Figs. 
 32, 45, and others. 
 
Wood - Working. 
 
 Next place the knife a little to the left of 
 the notch, and cut in the same direction 
 as at first. You will turn up another chip, 
 as in Fig. 3. You easily cut off this chip 
 
 by cutting in the 
 
 second direction (c 3- 
 
 d, Fig. 1), and can ; , ; 
 
 even, at the same 
 
 time, by making this cut a little to the 
 right, widen and deepen the notch. Repeat- 
 ing these operations, you may cut half-way 
 through the stick. 
 
 In this exercise, as in every other opera- 
 tion with cutting tools, make it an invariable 
 rule, never to cut towards your own hand. 
 Then if your tool slips it may perhaps cut 
 your bench, but it cannot cut you. Further- 
 more, it may be observed here, that in mov- 
 ing about the shop, you should never carry 
 any cutting tool in your hand, unless it is 
 absolutely necessary to do so. In such cases 
 it must be carried with extreme care, so as 
 not to wound yourself or any one else. Strict 
 attention to these rules is absolutely necessary. 
 
 You have now cut half-way through your 
 
Manual Training. 
 
 stick. Beginning on the other side, yon may 
 now make another cut to meet the first one, 
 thus cutting the stick quite in two. Having 
 done this once, you may cut off another 
 piece an inch long, this time paying particu- 
 lar attention to the following principle. The 
 knife, or any other tool for cutting wood, 
 works best when, instead of pushing directly 
 down on the tool, you at the same time 
 draw it along. This is more important the 
 softer the material is, and is well illustrated in 
 cutting or carving meat, where, if we press on 
 the knife without drawing it along we only 
 bend the fibers instead of cutting them. You 
 will therefore this time, as always hereafter, 
 in using a knife or other cutting tool, par- 
 ticularly on soft wood, try to give it a slid- 
 ing motion along with the pressure. Bearing 
 this in mind, try now to cut off the second 
 inch of your stick clean and smooth. 
 
 After this, cut off a third piece, working 
 this time with the stick firmly held in the 
 left hand instead of resting on the bench. 
 Holding the stick thus you will have a better 
 command of the knife, and will more readily 
 
Wood - Working. 
 
 give it the proper sliding motion ; but, unless 
 you are very careful you will run some risk 
 of cutting yourself in making the second or 
 backward cut. If you do not feel safe in 
 making this cut, you may again rest the stick 
 on the bench. To vary the exercise, you may 
 cut the stick from all the four sides succes- 
 sively, leaving it nicely pointed in the form 
 of a square pyramid. 
 
 After every exercise try to judge the quality 
 of your work. In this last, for instance, see 
 whether all four of the faces of the pyramid 
 are perfectly smooth and alike, whether they 
 meet exactly in a point, and whether the 
 edges are straight and sharp. 
 
 If the piece of wood to be cut were three 
 or four inches thick instead of half an inch, 
 it might be cut off in exactly the same way 
 with the hatchet or ax, which is only a short, 
 heavy knife driven forward by blows instead 
 of pressure, and without the sliding motion 
 just described. With the hatchet or ax, just 
 as with the knife, a blow square across the 
 fibers will make the tool penetrate but a short 
 distance, and to make it cut to any consider- 
 
Manual Training. 
 
 able depth the blows must be directed right 
 and left alternately, gradually widening the 
 cut, exactly as in the exercise with the knife, 
 leaving the piece beveled or obliquely cut 
 on the end. This is exactly the kind of cut 
 that the woodman makes with his heavy ax 
 in felling a tree, and afterwards in cutting it 
 up into logs. You may try it with a light 
 hatchet on a stick of pine or hemlock fire- 
 wood, two or three feet long and about two 
 inches thick. Lay it on the chopping-block, 
 holding the end in the left hand. First strike 
 Exercise 2. a square blow with the hatchet, ob- 
 
 cros^Ttins serving how little it penetrates. 
 
 with hatchet. Next strike obliquely, right and 
 left alternately. Be very careful not to strike 
 very hard, nor to let the hatchet glance, lest you 
 cut yourself. When you have cut about half 
 through you may turn the stick over and cut 
 from the other side ; but if you do this you 
 must work rather carefully when you have 
 nearly cut through, for if the last stroke, which 
 cuts through, should be delivered too squarely, 
 or with too much force, the end piece would 
 iiy up, and might strike you in the face. 
 
Wood - Working. 
 
 You have now learned that such cutting tools 
 as the knife and the hatchet are not adapted for 
 cutting square across the grain of wood, though 
 they cut very well obliquely. We shall learn 
 by and by what instrument to use when it is 
 necessary to cut square across the grain. 
 
Lesson II. 
 
 Knife and Hatchet Continued. 
 
 THE knife, the hatchet, and similar tools 
 are used for other purposes besides cross- 
 cutting or chopping: they are used for 
 splitting and for hewing or paring. 
 
 You have two pieces of pine | of an inch 
 
 thick, 2 inches wide, and about 6 inches long, 
 
 marked A and B. Try to split from one edge 
 
 a piece half an inch wide. The pieces have 
 
 been selected by inspecting the grain of the 
 
 wood, so that in one case this task shall be 
 
 easy, and in the other case impossible. Take 
 
 exeroise 3. the piece marked A. Set it up 
 
 splitting with endwise on your bench. Place 
 
 knife. your knife on the end, about an 
 
 inch from the edge, and press down hard 
 
 with the right hand. You find that the 
 
 knife runs out, cutting off too narrow a piece, 
 
 or runs in, cutting too wide a piece. Take 
 
 the piece marked B and try the same experi- 
 
 8 
 
Wood - Working. 
 
 ment, and you find no difficulty in splitting 
 off the piece required. Now, looking at the 
 sides of the pieces, you find that your knife 
 in both cases followed the grain of the wood, 
 indicated by lines that you see on the face if 
 you examine with care. Your experience, 
 then, shows you that when you wish to split 
 wood in a given direction you must pay 
 attention to the grain, and when the grain is 
 not favorable, if you wish to cut along a 
 given line you will have to use some other 
 method than that of splitting. We shall 
 learn, in a few lessons, what this method is, 
 and what tool must be used. 
 
 As thin and soft wood is split with the 
 knife, so heavier and harder wood may be 
 split with the hatchet or the ax. Try the 
 hatchet on a piece of fire-wood, about six or 
 sight inches long, taking first a piece of soft 
 wood, such as pine or hemlock, without 
 knots, and with square ends, so exercise 4. 
 that it will stand upright on the splitting with 
 block without being held. At hatchet, 
 first, to get control of the movement of the 
 hatchet, you may strike a light blow, caus- 
 
10 Manual Training. 
 
 ing the hatchet to stick in the wood, and 
 then, lifting hatchet and stick together, strike 
 a harder blow, driving the hatchet through. 
 Afterwards, but not till you are quite sure 
 of your ability to strike just where you 
 wish to, even when hitting hard, you may 
 hold the piece steady with the left hand, 
 snatching the hand away just as you strike 
 with the right. This must be practiced with 
 extreme care, and only by one pupil at a 
 time, and under the eye of the instructor. 
 Last of all, when you are quite sure of your 
 stroke, you may venture to strike with the 
 right hand while holding the piece with the 
 left, but use a pretty large piece, and do not 
 try to split off much at once. 
 
 From short pieces and soft wood, such as 
 you have just used, it requires only practice 
 to enable you to work up gradually to longer 
 pieces and harder wood, requiring stronger 
 blows and heavier tools. 
 
 Besides cutting across the grain and split- 
 ting along the grain, we may cut along the 
 grain instead of splitting, for the purpose of 
 trimming the piece down to* a given mark. 
 
W >' -Working. 
 
 11 
 
 This operation performed od a small piece 
 with a knife or a chisel, is called paring; on 
 
 a larger scale, with the hatchet or ax it is 
 hewing. Since, in this case, the cutting is 
 
 lv in the direction of the grain, or nearly 
 so, we have to be careful not to let the tool 
 split the wood, so as to run inside of the pro- 
 
 1 mark. 
 Take the piece A again, which has now a 
 crooked edge, and draw a straight line on the 
 side of it with your lead-pencil, exercise 5. 
 about half an inch from the for- Parinc or whit . 
 mer edge. To prevent the wood Uin s with knife. 
 from splitting within this mark, the first pre- 
 caution to be taken is to cut in such a direc- 
 tion that the knite. following the grain, will 
 run outward rather than inward. Thus, if the 
 
 Fig '.<*. 
 
 grain runs as in Fig. 4. in which A B is the 
 
 line to which the piece is to be pared down. 
 
12 
 
 Manual Training. 
 
 the part from A to 0, must be pared from left 
 to right, and the part from to B from right 
 to left. A second precaution that may be ob- 
 served, particularly when much wood is to be 
 removed, and when the grain is very irregular, 
 or when it is difficult to see which way it runs, 
 is to " score " the edge with several oblique 
 cuts, as in Fig. 5, after which the pieces be- 
 
 Fig. 5. 
 
 tween these cuts can be cut off, working in 
 the opposite direction, or from B to A. New 
 scores are then made and new pieces split 
 off. As soon as you begin to approach 
 the line A B, special care must be taken to 
 cut so that the knife shall run out rather 
 than in. 
 
 The operation of hewing, with hatchet or 
 ax, is just the same as this. The stick must 
 be turned with alternately one and the other 
 
Wood - Working. 1 3 
 
 end up, according to the grain, and when 
 much wood is to be taken off, it must be 
 scored and split as in the last exercise. The 
 operation may be tried on one exercise e. 
 of the sticks of fire- wood used Hewing with 
 in Exercise 2. Holding the stick hatchet, 
 upright on the block with the left hand, turn 
 one of the faces towards the right. Score 
 obliquely into the more prominent parts, and 
 then split them off. When the face has been 
 made pretty nearly plane, smooth it off with 
 light strokes of the hatchet, turning up now 
 one end and now the other, so as to cut with 
 the grain. Examine your work critically to 
 see whether the face you have been working 
 on is straight and smooth. 
 
Lesson III. 
 
 Strength of Wood. 
 
 WE have seen, in our previous exercises, 
 that it is much easier to cut and split 
 wood lengthwise than crosswise. We will now 
 look into this matter more closely. 
 
 If we examine with a microscope the struct- 
 ure of the trunk of a tree, we find that the 
 wood consists of fibers or threads running 
 lengthwise of the trunk and adhering to each 
 other more or less strongly. In many plants 
 these fibers are longer and more easily sepa- 
 rated than in trees, and they are used for 
 twisting into ropes and into threads to be used 
 in weaving. By examining specimens of hemp 
 and of flax, you will learn something of 
 the length and strength of such fibers. In 
 some kinds of wood these fibers adhere so 
 loosely that they can be separated by heat, 
 moisture, and bruising. The fibers of bass- 
 wood and some others are thus separated, to 
 
 14 
 
Wood - Working. 
 
 15. 
 
 be used in making paper. Fig. 6 shows the 
 appearance of the fibers of Scotch Fir, a species 
 of Pine, under the microscope. Now, while 
 these threads have singly considerable strength, 
 
 Fig ; 6. 
 
 and still more, of course, when a number of 
 them are taken together, their adhesion to 
 each other is not so great. On the next page 
 
16 
 
 Manual T) 
 
 -aining. 
 
 is shown a round pine stick, six inches thick, 
 with the bark on, just as it grows in the tree, 
 and we will cut off some pieces to illustrate 
 what has been said. The stick is cut square 
 across at the ends, and you can see the rings 
 which mark how much the trunk grows each 
 year. First I cut off a cylindrical piece six 
 inches long, Fig. 7. Next, from this, I split 
 off with an ax or a draw-knife some pieces 
 a quarter of an inch thick, beginning at the 
 outside, and splitting wider and wider pieces, 
 
 CL 
 
 9 
 
 Ft?. 7. 
 
 h, . 
 
 till I get one four or five inches wide, by 
 splitting along the lines a b, a c. In the 
 piece a b d c thus cut off you can see the 
 edges of the layers of fibers of which the ends 
 
Wood - Working. 17 
 
 were seen in the c}dindrical block, and, com- 
 paring carefully the end of the thin board 
 with the face, you see that these edges con- 
 stitute the " grain " of the wood, and can also 
 see why they are closer together near the edge 
 of the board and farther apart near the mid- 
 dle, or why the board is fine-grained near the 
 edge and coarse-grained at the middle. 
 
 I will now cut off from a b d c a strip a b f g, 
 half an inch wide, with a fine saw. In this 
 strip, which I will mark A, the grain runs 
 crosswise. Next, with a knife or hatchet, I 
 will split off another strip, f d h i t also half an 
 inch wide, in which the grain runs lengthwise, 
 and which I will mark B. Now taking the 
 first piece by the ends and pulling it, I can 
 break it in two ; but no pull that I can give 
 is strong enough to break the other. (I am 
 careful not to bend either of the sticks, be- 
 cause I want to consider now only the ques- 
 tion of breaking by a direct pull ; breaking by 
 bending is something more complicated, and 
 cannot be considered till later.) I hand you 
 all now a number of such strips, of both 
 kinds, and you readily satisfy yourselves that 
 
18 Manual Training. 
 
 it is much easier to separate the fibers from 
 each other than -to break them. 
 
 After we have thus found out that wood is 
 stronger lengthwise than crosswise, we may go 
 a step further, and inquire how much stronger. 
 We may put one of the pieces of each kind in 
 a small " testing-machine/ ' and apply an in- 
 creasing force to it till it breaks. With such 
 a machine we find that the piece A is 
 broken by a pull of 65 pounds, while it takes 
 700 pounds to break B, and, as the two pieces 
 are of the same size, we conclude that this 
 kind of wood is about eleven times as strong 
 lengthwise as it is crosswise. The operation 
 of "testing," and the machine used for the 
 purpose, are of the greatest importance. The 
 architect and the engineer make use of power- 
 ful machines, in which large bars and columns 
 can be strained till they break, and the break- 
 ing force measured. At the proper time you 
 will find no difficulty in understanding these 
 larger machines and operations, if you have 
 understood the smaller ones. In the machine 
 shown in Fig. 8, the piece to be broken is 
 held by the clamps A and B. The wheel C 
 
Wood - Working. 
 
 19 
 
 being turned the screw D is drawn down, 
 which raises the other end, E, of the lever, 
 E F, and stretches the piece till it breaks. The 
 index, G, on the spring-balance shows how 
 great is the force applied at F; and the 
 
 force applied at E is as many times greater 
 than this as the length of H F is greater 
 than that of E H. As the piece stretches 
 before breaking, the pull is applied at first 
 by means of the screw /, and afterwards by C. 
 
20 Manual Training. 
 
 Our experiments with these pieces of wood 
 agree with our observations on the action of 
 cutting-tools. The knife and the hatchet, 
 when cutting square across the fibers, pene- 
 trate but a short distance, unless a very great 
 force is applied, but when cutting between the 
 fibers they are much more easily pressed for- 
 ward. With such tools, therefore, we were 
 obliged to cut lengthwise or obliquely, and 
 found it nearly impossible to cut a thick piece 
 square across. If we wish to do this we must 
 use another tool. The tool specially designed 
 for this work is the cross-cut-saw, which we 
 will study in our next lesson. 
 
Lesson IV. 
 The Cross-cut-saw. 
 
 EXAMINE your saw carefully. You find 
 that it consists of a number of triangular 
 teeth, each of which acts as a sort of knife. 
 Count the number of teeth to the inch. You 
 will find this different in saws that are in- 
 tended for different purposes. The one that 
 you have is a " cross-cut" saw for moderately 
 soft wood. If you now examine one of these 
 teeth, you will find that it is pointed, and 
 the front edge is sharp. It would be a use- 
 ful exercise, and would help you to under- 
 stand the mode of action of the saw, if you 
 would cut out with your knife from a piece 
 of thin wood (say | of an inch thick) a 
 model of half a dozen teeth of each of your 
 various saws as you become acquainted with 
 them. When you push the saw across the 
 grain, each of these teeth makes a cut across 
 
 the fibers, just such as you can make by hold- 
 
 21 
 
22 Manual Training. 
 
 ing your knife upright and drawing it across 
 the grain. Next, examining the successive 
 teeth, you find the alternate ones sharpened in 
 different ways. While one has its sharp edge 
 towards the left, the next has its edge towards 
 the right. Thus the two sets of teeth make 
 two different cuts across the grain, and these 
 cuts are at a distance apart equal to the 
 thickness of the saw, or a little more, inas- 
 much as the teeth are spread apart, or " set." 
 All this you will easily make out if you study 
 attentively the saw itself, and not merely this 
 description. 
 
 Now, try to make with your knife just such 
 a cut across the grain as one of these teeth 
 makes. You have a piece of waste wood 
 which you will keep by you for this and sim- 
 ilar experiments. Hold your knife upright on 
 the piece and draw it along, across the grain. 
 You find, as you have found before, that you 
 cannot cut very deep, because the wood at the 
 side of the knife is not removed, and thus the 
 cut is not wide enough to let the knife enter; 
 but with the saw it is different. When one 
 knife or tooth has made its cut, the next 
 
Wood - Working. 23 
 
 knife not only makes another cut very near 
 and parallel to the first, but it also tears off 
 the little piece of wood between the cuts. The 
 third tooth, therefore, is able to cut a little 
 deeper, and the fourth tooth tears off a little 
 more, and so on. Thus the saw makes a clean 
 cut with parallel sides, and wastes only a small 
 amount of wood. 
 
 We can now go on to the use of the cross- 
 cut saw. On your bench is a piece of pine 
 board about 4 feet 6 inches long, 6 inches wide, 
 and f of an inch thick. (Hereafter we will in- 
 dicate dimensions like this in the following 
 way: 6"x|"-4' 6", which will be read, "Six 
 inches by three-quarters of an inch, by four 
 feet six inches)." The board is what is called 
 " mill-dressed," that is, the roughness that is 
 always found on boards that have been sawn 
 from the log has been planed off by a planing- 
 machine, leaving a tolerably smooth surface. 
 The piece on your bench has been cut from 
 the end of the board, and you will very likely 
 observe that in the first place it is not square 
 on the end, and in the next place that it is 
 cracked or "checked" at the end. The first 
 
24 Manual Training. 
 
 is owing to the fact that the log was cut with 
 the ax, as already explained. In many cases 
 the logs are cross-cut with a saw, and then the 
 ends of the boards are square. The cracks or 
 " checks" we will explain in our next lesson. 
 
 Now lay the board on the bench, with the 
 checked end to the right, and we will proceed 
 to first mark it square, and then cut it square. 
 For the first purpose we will use the try-square. 
 Place the edge of the wooden part of the 
 square against the edge of the board, letting 
 the steel blade lie flat on the board and square 
 across it. Then, using the edge of the blade 
 as a ruler, draw a pencil-mark; this will run 
 square across the board. You must be care- 
 ful in drawing this line not to vary the in- 
 clination of your pencil, or you will make a 
 line which is not parallel to the edge of the 
 square, and therefore not perpendicular to the 
 edge of the board. Draw such a line just 
 far enough from the imperfect end to leave 
 out all the worst checks. We will then cut 
 off with the saw the imperfect piece thus 
 marked. 
 
 There are several ways in which the board 
 
Wood - Working. 25 
 
 may be held while we are making this cut. 
 For this exercise you may hold it in the 
 bench-vise. Observe how the vise exercise 7. 
 works. Open it to the width of cross-cutting 
 your board, lay the board in it, with saw - 
 with the imperfect end to the left and the 
 marked face up, and screw the vise up so as to 
 hold the board firmly, the marked piece pro- 
 jecting beyond the end of the bench. 
 
 Take the saw in your right hand. (If you 
 are left-handed you will do well, nevertheless, 
 to learn to work with the right hand, or, 
 better still, to work equally well with both 
 hands. It is sometimes a great advantage to 
 be able to use either hand ; and there are some 
 things which can only be done with the right.) 
 Set the saw to the left of the mark, just so 
 far that when you cut you will cut exactly 
 up to the mark, but not beyond it. Rest the 
 fingers of the left hand on the wood outside 
 of the mark, holding the thumb up for a 
 guide to steady the saw. Draw the saw back- 
 ward, letting it rest very lightly on the wood, 
 till you have made sure that the cut will be 
 in the right place; then push it forward, still 
 
26 Manual Training. 
 
 bearing lightly on the wood. Having started 
 the cut thus with a few gentle strokes, con- 
 tinue it with long strokes, the full length of 
 the saw. Avoid short, jerky strokes. Draw 
 the saw back at each stroke till the hand 
 nearly touches the shoulder, and push it for- 
 ward till the handle nearly reaches the board. 
 A long, steady stroke cuts smoother as well 
 as faster, is a more agreeable movement, and 
 affords a pleasant exercise. 
 
 Be careful not to bear too hard on the saw; 
 if you do, you will bend the saw, and it will 
 make a crooked cut. While working, watch 
 the saw, to see that you keep it perpendicular 
 to the surface of the board. When the cut 
 is nearly finished bear still more lightly, and 
 work with gentler strokes, at the same time 
 holding up with the left hand the piece that 
 you are cutting off, to prevent splintering 
 when the saw comes through. 
 
 Having cut off one piece under the super- 
 vision of your instructor, you may mark and 
 cut off two or three more, each exactly an 
 inch wide, till you find you can make a 
 smooth and square cut. If you need more 
 
Wood - Working. 27 
 
 practice you must use a piece of waste wood 
 for the purpose, not reducing the length of 
 your board to less than 45". The squareness 
 of the cut should be tested by applying the 
 try-square, with the wooden part first against 
 the edge of the board, and then against the 
 face. The former test will show whether you 
 have cut square across the board, and the latter 
 whether you have. cut square through. 
 
Lesson V. 
 
 Shrinking, Checking, and. Warping of 
 Timber. 
 
 WE have already observed that our board 
 was cracked at the end. We can under- 
 stand this if we consider what happens to 
 timber after it is cut down. While the tree is 
 growing its pores are full of sap, which is 
 mostly water. After the tree is cut, the sap 
 begins to evaporate, and the wood shrinks. 
 You will have no difficulty in finding, all 
 around you, proofs of this shrinking. Flooring- 
 boards, panels of doors, bottoms of drawers, 
 which fit well when first put in place, all leave 
 openings after a while by shrinking. Here are 
 several "dowels," which were all cut from the 
 same stick, and yesterday they all fitted well 
 in the corresponding holes ; but half of them 
 have been soaked in water over night, and 
 now they will not go into the holes at all. 
 The shrinking of timber, you will find, 
 
 28 
 
Wood - Working. 29 
 
 takes place only in the width, not in the 
 length. Examine the floor, and you will find 
 that it is only the joints between the edges 
 of the boards that have opened. When two 
 boards have been put together end to end, 
 the joint is as close as in the beginning. 
 This fact is very striking, and should be 
 remembered. The shrinking of wood causes 
 endless trouble in carpentry, cabinet-work, 
 and building, and it cannot be entirely pre- 
 vented; but, by taking advantage of the fact 
 just mentioned, it can often be prevented 
 from doing mischief. We shall study some 
 of these methods in Lesson 21. 
 
 When the drying of timber goes on at all 
 parts with equal rapidity, the piece shrinks 
 equally in all parts, and keeps its shape ; but 
 in large pieces the drying goes on more 
 rapidly on the outside than on the inside, 
 and this causes important changes in the 
 shape and condition of the wood. We shall 
 look at these changes in detail by and by, 
 but for the present it will be sufficient to 
 note the following facts. 
 
 First, as the outside shrinks faster than the 
 
30 Manual Training. 
 
 inside, cracks are formed, which begin on the 
 outside and gradually extend inward. These 
 cracks are largest and most numerous at the 
 ends of the log, where the drying is most 
 rapid, and they are the cracks which we 
 have already noticed in our boards. 
 
 Secondly, when timber has been cut up, if 
 by any means one side of a piece is pre- 
 vented from drying as fast as another, the 
 side which dries most rapidly, and therefore 
 shrinks most rapidly, becomes hollow, or the 
 piece "warps." Or, if one side of a piece of 
 wood which has been dried or "seasoned" is 
 exposed to moisture, that side swells and 
 becomes convex, and again the piece warps. 
 Verify these statements by experiment, laying- 
 several pieces of board six or eight inches 
 wide and of about the same length on the 
 ground for some hours, or even on your 
 bench if they have not been very well sea- 
 soned, setting up others on their edge so that 
 both sides may be equally exposed to the air, 
 and noting carefully the results after several 
 hours. In the same manner, if wood has been 
 already warped, it may be straightened by 
 exposing it in the proper way. 
 
Wood -Working. 31 
 
 (Samples of round timber stripped of the 
 bark should be exhibited, showing the checks 
 on the surface, and particularly at the ends, 
 as well as one sample of a short log, cut up 
 into boards, showing the cracks in the ends, 
 and the edges of the boards, and in the faces 
 of the outside boards or " slabs." The pupils 
 should be made to observe for themselves the 
 position and direction of these cracks in 
 boards cut from different parts of the log. 
 They should be made to observe how check- 
 ing and warping continue after wood lias 
 been made up, if it is exposed, and how they 
 are prevented by painting or varnishing). 
 
Lesson VI. 
 
 Working Sketches. 
 
 IT is proposed to make a box from the piece 
 of board used in your seventh exercise. 
 The box is to be made, not of any size and 
 shape that you may happen to give it, but 
 exactly according to given dimensions. This 
 is extremely important, for, when an object is 
 wanted for a given purpose, it is often worth- 
 less if not of just the right size and shape. 
 
 The shape and dimensions of this box, as 
 of any other piece of work, can be shown in 
 a working drawing or a working sketch. The 
 former name is given to a drawing carefully 
 made " to scale," and the latter to a drawing 
 made with less care, and which may be drawn 
 freehand, and only approximately to scale. In 
 the latter case the dimensions are marked 
 on the corresponding parts of the drawing, 
 and can be read off; in the former they are 
 ascertained by measuring carefully the dimen- 
 
 32 
 
Wood - Working. 33 
 
 sions of the drawing, and making the proper 
 allowance for the " scale," as will be under- 
 stood presently. 
 
 Here is a block of wood, of which we will 
 make a sketch first and a drawing afterwards. 
 Measuring the block with the rule, we find it 
 is 9 inches long, 5 inches wide, and 3J inches 
 thick, or as we have agreed to represent it, 
 5" x 3J"-9". If we look directly at the front 
 of the block, we see a rectangle 9" x 3J", 
 which we indicate by drawing, freehand, a 
 rectangle whose long side is nearly three 
 times as great as its short side, and writing 
 on these sides their dimensions, as in Fig. 9. 
 This figure we 
 call the Ele- 
 vation, or the 
 Front Elevat- 
 ion. If we 
 look straight 
 down on the 
 block, we see a rectangle 9" * 5". This we 
 represent in a similar way, Fig. 10, and call 
 the representation the Plan. 
 
 From these two, even if we had never seen 
 
 Fiy 9. 
 
34 
 
 Manual Training. 
 
 the block, we should be able to form a cor- 
 rect picture in the mind of its size and shape, 
 
 and a work- 
 man would be 
 able to make 
 one just like 
 it. Sometimes, 
 however, there 
 are details in 
 the figure of 
 the object 
 which these two drawings foil to show. Thus, 
 if there were a round hole in the right-hand 
 end, neither of these would show it. In such 
 case a third figure is added, called the End 
 Elevation. This is the view that we get if 
 we look directly at the end 
 of the object: in the case 
 of this block it would be 
 another rectangle, 3^" x 5", 
 Fig. 11. If we wish to 
 show the hole, Ave must 
 ascertain exactly its size 
 and position, and show them properly in the 
 drawing. If the hole is 1" in diameter, and 
 
 j^y. //. 
 
Wood - Working. 
 
 35 
 
 Fig.JZ, 
 
 placed 3" from one of the narrow faces and 
 1" from one of the wide faces, we indicate 
 this as in Fig. 12, making the drawing per- 
 haps a little larger than 
 before, so as to be able 
 to write all the necessary 
 dimensions. This, how- 
 ever, does not show how 
 deep the hole is. Suppose 
 we find it to be 2" deep. 
 Looking at the front of the block again, 
 you will understand that, if we could look 
 into the block, the hole would appear as at 
 a b, Fig. 13. As the lines at a b are, how- 
 ever, hidden 
 by the ma- 
 » terial of the 
 block, we 
 will indicate 
 them by dot- 
 ted lines. In 
 the same manner the hole may be shown 
 in the plan. The three figures being now 
 brought together as in Fig. 14, they give 
 complete information as to the size and shape 
 
 Fiy. 13. 
 
36 
 
 Manual Training. 
 
 of the block. This group of drawings thus 
 marked, with the dimensions of all the parts, 
 we will call a " Figured Sketch" or "Work- 
 ing Sketch." It is not necessary that the 
 lines be ruled, provided they are drawn toler- 
 
 0" 
 
 9 
 
 JZtvcI jElevatioiv 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 N 
 
 J^la,n,. 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 i ' — 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 «■ 
 
 
 
 i ._ 
 
 
 ably straight, and it is not necessary that they 
 be exactly in true proportion to each other, 
 though it is best to have them nearly so. 
 Every dimension must be given in at least 
 one of the drawings. If, for instance, the fig- 
 
Wood - Working. 37 
 
 ure 3" in the plan were left out, the workman 
 who should try to make the block from this 
 sketch would not know where to bore the 
 hole, unless this figure were given in the End 
 Elevation. A dimension, however, which is 
 given in one drawing need not be repeated 
 in another. Thus the figure 9" in the 
 Elevation need not be repeated in the Plan, 
 though the repetition does no harm, unless 
 the figures are too crowded. 
 
 Having made figured sketches of the block, 
 you may now, for exercise, make similar 
 sketches of a large nail or spike, a bolt with 
 a nut, a six-sided lead-pencil, a try-square, or 
 other simple object. In our next lesson we 
 will undertake a working drawing. 
 
IjESSON yu. 
 Working Drawings. 
 
 IF, instead of drawing the lines of our last 
 lesson freehand, and writing the dimensions 
 of the object on the drawing, we rule the 
 lines with care, and make them all bear 
 exactly the same ratio to the lines they repre- 
 
 Fivf. 15, 
 
 
 Scale ofTitcfves. 
 
 01Z3%5678 
 
 i i i i i ' 
 
 sent, we have a " Drawing to Scale," or 
 "Working Drawing," as in Fig. 15, which 
 
 38 
 
Wood - Working. 39 
 
 shows the plan, elevation, and side-elevation 
 of a box. 
 
 The scale, or ratio of the dimensions in the 
 drawing to the corresponding dimensions of 
 the object must be indicated on the drawing. 
 This may be done in either of three ways. 
 Suppose, for instance, the lines of the drawing 
 to be one quarter as long as the correspond- 
 ing lines of the object. First, we may write 
 on the drawing " Scale \ ". Or, secondly, we 
 may write " Scale \ " = 1" ", or " Scale 3" = V ". 
 Or thirdly, we may draw a straight line of 
 any convenient length, divide it into parts, 
 of which each represents one inch on the 
 object (or one foot, or one meter), and num- 
 ber these parts 1, 2, 3, etc. In the case in 
 question where the scale is |, each of the 
 parts must be actually one quarter of an inch 
 long. If the drawing had been made to a 
 smaller scale, as T \ for instance, which might 
 be written "Scale T \ ", or "1" = 12"", or " 1" 
 = 1'" the spaces would have been each one 
 inch long, and would have represented each 
 one foot in the object. In Fig. 15 all three 
 of the modes of representing the scale are 
 shown. 
 
40 Manual Training. 
 
 The scale must be large enough to enable 
 the workman to determine from the drawing 
 the dimensions of every part of the object. 
 Thus, in the last figure, to determine the 
 size of the hole in the block, the workman 
 would measure with the compasses its diame- 
 ter on the drawing. Finding this to be one 
 quarter of an inch, he would know that the 
 diameter of the hole was to be one inch. 
 Next, to determine where to place the hole, 
 he would measure the distances on the draw- 
 ing from two sides of the end elevation, and 
 finding these distances to be each one quarter 
 of an inch, he would know that the hole was 
 to be one inch from each of the corresponding 
 faces of the block, and therefore the center of 
 the hole one inch and a half from each of 
 these faces. If the scale had been much 
 smaller, say iV = l", it would have been 
 difficult to measure exactly the dimensions on 
 the drawing, and therefore difficult to deter- 
 mine exactly the dimensions of the object. 
 
 When an object is large, or contains many 
 details, it may be impossible to make the 
 scale large enough to show all the details in 
 
Wood - Working. 
 
 41 
 
 such a way that the workman can get their 
 true dimensions from the drawing. It is then 
 necessary to add separate drawings of some of 
 the details. These are only working drawings 
 on a larger scale. Of course the scale of these 
 drawings must be indicated also. 
 
 %" 
 
 %" 
 
 JEle-vcLtCcn/ 
 
 13Vz" 
 
 ^ 
 
 /b'JlnclJilevaZiori, W 
 
 F-ig. 16. 
 
 $L 
 
 PlayTV. 
 
 In addition to the two elevations, plan, and 
 drawings of details, there are sometimes need- 
 ed other drawings, called " sections," which 
 will be explained hereafter, when they come 
 to be needed. 
 
 You will now be able to understand the 
 
42 Manual Training. 
 
 working sketch, Fig. 16, of the box which 
 we propose to make. The front elevation 
 shows that the box is 13 J" long and 6" high, 
 and the end elevation, or the plan, shows that 
 it is 9J" wide. The dotted lines in the front 
 elevation show that the front and back pieces 
 are fastened on over the ends of the end 
 pieces. The same fact may be learned from 
 an inspection of the end elevation and plan. 
 The figure f " shows that the wood used is £" 
 thick. As there may be a doubt whether the 
 figures 12" and 8" in the two elevations are 
 the inside or the outside measurements of 
 
 Ti 9 J7. 
 
 the box, it is best to remove this ambiguity 
 in the following way. Let the figure which 
 indicates any dimension be written in the 
 middle of a line drawn parallel to the line 
 
Wood - Working. 43 
 
 to which it belongs, and terminated by arrow- 
 heads exactly opposite the ends of the line. 
 Thus, Fig. 17, means that the inside length 
 of the box is 12 inches, and Fig. 18, means 
 
 Fig. JS, 
 
 that the outside length is 12 inches. In a 
 working drawing there would be no such 
 ambiguity as this. 
 
Lesson VIII. 
 
 Making a Nailed Box. — Laying out the 
 Work. 
 
 TAKING dimensions from Fig. 16, we see 
 that we shall need for our box two pieces 
 of £ inch stuff 6" x 8" for the ends, and two 
 pieces 6"*13^" for the front and back. Later 
 we shall need two pieces each 9 J" x 13 J" for 
 the top and bottom, but for the present we 
 will leave them out of consideration, to 
 simplify the drawings and the laying out of 
 our work. 
 
 Take the piece of board used in Lesson IV. 
 If the work of that lesson was well done, the 
 piece is now square on one end, and a little 
 longer than is necessary for the four pieces. 
 Furthermore, if it has been properly exposed 
 to the air, it has dried well without warping. 
 
 If it is not square on one end, make it so 
 with the least possible waste of material, 
 remembering that, if you get it less than 
 about 44 inches long it will be spoiled. 44 
 
Wood - Working. 45 
 
 Now, with your rule, lay off 8 inches from 
 the squared end, along the best edge of the 
 board. Mark this edge with your lead-pencil, 
 with a cross or other mark, to distinguish it 
 as the edge from which }^ou will work. Place 
 the wooden handle of your square against 
 this edge, arid draw a pencil-mark square 
 across the board, exactly 8 inches from the 
 squared end. You have now marked off one 
 of the ends of the box, and might proceed to 
 cut it off; but it is best to perform all opera- 
 tions of one kind at once, and we will therefore 
 " lay out " all the pieces before commencing 
 to cut them off. 
 
 If you should draw another pencil-line 
 just 8 inches from the first, and then proceed 
 to cut out the pieces, they would turn out 
 too short by the amount of the exercise 8. 
 thickness of the saw ; and though Laying out a 
 in comparison with some dimen- box - 
 
 sions this thickness is very small, in compari- 
 son with some others it is very considerable, 
 and it should, therefore, never be neglected. 
 Allowance must always be made for the 
 "waste" of a saw in cutting to a mark. As 
 
46 Manual Training. 
 
 you do not know yet how much this waste is, 
 
 you may, after having marked off your first 
 
 piece 8 inches long, begin a cut with the saw 
 
 just outside of the mark, but quite close to it, 
 
 so as to leave the piece exactly 8 inches long. 
 
 Exercise 9. As soon as you have cut a little 
 
 Cross-cutting way into the piece, say an inch, 
 
 with saw. make another mark with pencil 
 
 and square, parallel to the first, and so near 
 
 to it that the two marks just contain the cut 
 
 between them, and no more, as in Fig. 19. 
 
 From these 
 you can learn, 
 by measuring 
 
 Fi-cr J9 ^ e di^ance 
 
 between them, 
 or by observing carefully and remembering, 
 how much the saw wastes. You will soon 
 be able to make the proper allowance for 
 this waste by the eye without measuring. 
 
 Now lay off 8 inches from the second mark, 
 draw a third mark and a fourth parallel 
 to it for the waste. Then lay off 13^ inches, 
 mark off the waste again, lay off 13 \ inches 
 again and mark off the waste again, and 
 
 i 
 
Wood - Working. 
 
 47 
 
 the work is completely laid out. Your piece 
 of wood will now be marked as in Fig. 20, 
 in which 1 and 2 are the ends, 3 and 4 
 are the front and back, and 5 is the waste. 
 
 fty. 20. 
 
 After this lesson you will not make double 
 marks for your saw-cuts, but will make the 
 necessary allowance for the waste by the 
 eye. 
 
 In making pencil-marks, as in this exercise 
 you must be careful to apply the square 
 always to the same edge of your board, 
 distinguishing this edge, as already pointed 
 out, by a cross or other mark. Indeed, this 
 is an important principle in all laying out of 
 work. The reason of it is that, unless the 
 opposite edges are parallel, lines drawn 
 perpendicular to them with the square will 
 not be parallel ; but lines drawn perpendicular 
 to the same edge, provided that edge is 
 straight, will always be parallel. Try this 
 
48 Manual Training. 
 
 with your waste-piece, whose opposite sides 
 are not quite parallel, drawing your two per- 
 pendiculars pretty close together. 
 
 In laying out your work you must see that 
 each piece is, if possible, free from knots 
 and cracks, particularly at the ends, where 
 the nails will have to be driven. If there 
 should be a knot at any one of these places, 
 at the boundary between 3 and 4 for instance, 
 you must try to throw the knot out, by 
 shifting 4 to the right, and making the waste 
 piece fall in the middle, where the knot is. 
 
 Now place the board in the vise, as in 
 Exercise 7, and cut off the four pieces, being 
 very careful to keep the saw between the 
 double marks, to cut square, and to go gently 
 towards the end of the cut, so as to avoid 
 splintering. When the four pieces are cut off 
 they should be compared with each other two 
 and two, measured, and tested with the 
 square. 
 
Lesson IX. 
 
 Hammer and Nails. — Putting a Box 
 Together. 
 
 IN using the hammer, the first thing to 
 learn is to swing it with a free movement of 
 the arm from the elbow rather than from the 
 wrist, and the second is to strike squarely 
 with the whole face of the hammer rather 
 than with one edge. Begin by striking a 
 moderately hard blow on your piece of waste 
 wood, in one corner of the piece. Examine 
 the mark made. You will probably find it 
 deeper on one side than on the other, show- 
 ing that you have not struck exercise io. 
 squarely. Strike again, by the striking with 
 side of the first mark, and ex- hammer, 
 amine the result, and so on, over the whole 
 face of your piece of wood, or until you can 
 strike hard and square. 
 
 Take a dozen four-penny nails and exam- 
 ine them. (Note that " four-penny" probably 
 
 49 
 
50 
 
 Manual Training. 
 
 U 
 
 SnP 
 
 meant, originally, weighing four pounds to the 
 hundred, and thus four-penny, six-penny, etc. 
 give some indication of the size of the nails.) 
 Observe that the nails have two sides parallel, 
 as shown in the side-elevation, Fig. 21, b, 
 while the other two sides, as 
 shown in a, act as a wedge, and 
 will split the wood if it is weak. 
 The wedge, therefore, must be 
 made to act in the direction in 
 which the wood is strongest, that 
 is, as we learned in Lesson III., 
 in the direction of the length 
 of the fibers. 
 
 Now, holding a nail between 
 
 the fingers and thumb of the 
 
 left hand, in the proper position to enter the 
 
 wood without splitting, drive it into your piece 
 
 of waste wood f " from the end, till the point 
 
 exercise ii. just shows through on the other 
 
 side. Now draw it out with 
 
 the claw of the hammer. To 
 
 Fvg.21- 
 
 Driving and 
 drawing a nail. 
 
 do this place a block of wood under the head 
 of the hammer to lift it up to the height 
 of the head of the nail ; catch the head 
 
Wood - Working. 51 
 
 of the nail with the claw, and while the 
 hammer rests on the block with the handle 
 up, swing the end of the handle over so as 
 to raise the claw, and the nail will come 
 out. If the block is not used to raise the 
 hammer, the nail will be bent. Drive the 
 nail in the same way and draw it several 
 times, always f" from the end of the piece, 
 but always in the first position, or so as 
 not to split the piece. Afterwards, drive it sev- 
 eral times in the second position, at the same 
 distance from the end, and observe that you 
 will nearly always split the piece. Note well 
 these two positions. Observe that you can 
 distinguish the one from the other by the 
 shape of the head or by the way the nail 
 feels between the fingers, and you should 
 never hereafter split a piece of wood by care- 
 lessly driving a nail in the wrong way. 
 
 Now, taking the long sides of your box, 
 draw a light pencil-mark across each end, f" 
 from the edge, and make on this Exercise 12. 
 line two dots, each an inch from Nailing a box. 
 the end of the line, and a third half-way 
 between them, for the places where the nails 
 
52 Manual Training. 
 
 are to be driven, as in Fig. 22. Drive six 
 nails nearly through at these places. Then, set- 
 ting one of the short sides upright in the vise, 
 lay the end of the long piece on it, exactly 
 
 as it is to go 
 when the box 
 is put to- 
 
 __ . gether ^ being 
 
 careful, while 
 holding the long piece in the left hand, to 
 let the fore-finger reach round the edge, so 
 as to feel whether the edge of the upper piece 
 and the face of the lower piece are exactly 
 even. Drive the middle nail through into 
 the end piece, but do not drive its head 
 quite down. This will now hold the piece 
 firmly enough, while allowing you to adjust 
 it and drive the other two nails down to the 
 same distance. The heads of the nails are 
 left projecting a little, so that it may be 
 easy to draw them if necessary. The second 
 corner may be nailed in the same way, and 
 the six nails driven " home," that is, till the 
 heads are even with the surface of the wood, 
 taking care not to bruise the wood with the 
 
Wood - Working. 53 
 
 hammer. For the third and fourth corners 
 lay the nailed piece down on the bench, 
 with the short pieces standing up, lay the 
 fourth side in place, holding it as you did 
 the first, and drive the other nails with the 
 same precautions as before. 
 
 If the pieces have been properly cut and 
 properly nailed, the box will now be square 
 at all its corners, the diagonals will be of 
 equal lengths, and when it is set on the bench 
 all the corners will rest on the bench and 
 the sides will be perpendicular to it. You 
 should test your work as to these particulars 
 with rule and square. 
 
Lesson X. 
 
 The same Continued. 
 
 THERE will now no doubt.be two classes 
 of boxes in the class, as the result of the 
 last exercise. The first will be smaller or 
 larger than they were intended to be, or they 
 will be not quite square at the corners, or 
 they will be "winding," that is, when set 
 on a flat surface like that of the bench they 
 will touch at three corners only. The second 
 will be true to dimensions and shape, and 
 will be " out of winding." 
 
 The test for " winding " is important, and 
 may be made in several ways. We cannot 
 always depend on the test by laying on the 
 bench as already described, since the bench 
 itself may be in winding, or the object may 
 be too large to be tested in this way, or too 
 small to show the defect. A second, and 
 more common way of testing an object of 
 moderate size, such as one of your boxes, is 
 
 54 
 
Wood - Working. 55 
 
 to hold it up before one eye, keeping the 
 other closed, and look across one of the 
 edges at the other edge. If. the front edge 
 exactly covers the hind edge, there is no 
 winding ; but if one end of * the hind edge 
 stands up above the front edge when the 
 other end is exactly covered, the object is 
 winding. When the object is very small it 
 is sometimes hard to detect the fault in this 
 way. In this case the error may be exagger- 
 ated and made perceptible by means of 
 " winding sticks." These are two " straight 
 edges" or strips of wood with exercise 13. 
 straight and parallel edges. Sup- Test for wind . 
 pose two such strips, say in s- 
 
 2"xi / '-24 ; to be laid across your box at 
 opposite ends. If the winding be too small 
 to be noticed when you look across the box 
 itself, you may yet be able to detect it when 
 it is exaggerated by these long sticks. In 
 this way, even the winding in the edge of 
 a board may be detected. 
 
 This and the other tests being applied, we 
 will suppose your boxes divided into two 
 classes, as already described. Those of the 
 
56 Manual Training. 
 
 second class, being perfect, or nearly so, we 
 might finish up, by furnishing them with 
 bottoms of the same material, fastened, like 
 the sides, with nails. These boxes, being all 
 of the same size, might be piled up in a set 
 or "nest," and used for the stowing of nails, 
 screws, glue, and other materials used in the 
 shop. Instead of doing this, however, we will 
 take the boxes of both classes apart, and 
 use the material in making another set of 
 boxes of better finish than these, and requir- 
 ing the use of other tools and more practiced 
 hands. 
 
 To knock your box apart without splitting 
 
 it, hold it by one of the long sides and 
 
 exercise 14. strike the other long side, inside 
 
 Taking apart of the corner, with a hammer. 
 
 nailed work. j) not strike directly on the 
 
 wood, in which case you will probably split 
 
 it, and certainly bruise it, but on a strip laid 
 
 in the corner to receive the blow. If there is 
 
 not room to strike with the face of the 
 
 hammer, strike with the side. Striking in 
 
 one corner and the other alternately, you will 
 
 probably separate the box at two corners, and 
 
Wood - Working. 57 
 
 so take off one of the long sides, after which, 
 holding the short sides and repeating the 
 operation with the same care as before, you 
 will take off the other side. Drive out the 
 nails by striking them on the points, and 
 straighten them by striking them gently with 
 the hammer on the convex side while holding 
 them on a block of wood, — not on the bench, 
 as you would thus mar the bench. 
 
 For the new box that we propose to make, 
 we will reduce a little the thickness of our 
 pieces of wood, and give them a finer surface 
 than the mill-dressed surface that they 
 received from the planing-machine. Your 
 exercises with the hatchet and the knife have 
 shown you the difficulty, if not the impossi- 
 bility, of finishing a piece smooth with either 
 of these tools. You will be ready, therefore, 
 to appreciate the value of the plane. 
 
LiESSON XI. 
 The Jack-Plane. 
 
 YOU have seen how the knife or the 
 hatchet tends to follow the grain of the 
 wood, and, if the grain happens to run inward 
 rather than outward, splits off large pieces, 
 thus making fine work impossible. The knife 
 or " iron " of the plane is prevented from 
 doing this, and so, with this tool, work may 
 be finished up very smooth. The plane-iron, 
 as you see, is set in a block of wood through 
 which it projects only a short distance, and 
 as the block rests on the surface of the wood, 
 the iron cannot penetrate beyond this distance. 
 If you set the plane down on the surface of 
 a board, and press down on it, the iron will 
 cut into the wood until the block comes in 
 contact with the board, and then it can go 
 no further. If now we push the plane 
 forward, the edge of the iron moves say 
 from a to 6, Fig. 23 ; but, instead of following 
 
 53 
 
Wood - Working. 59 
 
 the grain, and cutting deeper and deeper, it 
 is forced to remain at the same distance 
 below the surface. It thus lifts up the thin 
 layer or " shaving," bending it upwards as it 
 
 ^jt^ 
 
 
 a* 
 
 Fig- *3\ 
 
 advances, and delivering it out of the " mouth" 
 of the plane. The tool thus described is the 
 plane with a single iron. 
 
 When we use this tool, however, although 
 the iron itself cannot penetrate far into the 
 wood, it is still possible that, while the end 
 of the shaving slides up the surface of the 
 iron, the split, once commenced, may run 
 some distance into the wood. In this case, 
 the strong splinter torn up may stop the 
 plane, or, breaking off, may leave a rough 
 surface. To prevent this a second iron or 
 "cap" is introduced, thus making the plane 
 with double iron. The cap is secured to 
 
60 
 
 Manual Training. 
 
 the cutting iron by a screw as in Fig. 24, 
 and the two are put together into the block, 
 and held in place by a 
 wedge, as you will readily 
 understand on examining 
 the plane on your bench. 
 Figures 23 and 24 should 
 be carefully compared with 
 your plane, by way of fur- 
 J?tq*2&. ther illustration of the 
 principles of mechanical 
 drawing explained in Les- 
 son VI. 
 
 With this instrument it is impossible" for 
 the end of the shaving to slide far up the 
 iron, and cause a deep split in the wood, 
 because the shaving is caught by the back 
 iron or cap and bent forward. If the cap is 
 thick enough, and set near enough to the 
 edge of the cutting-iron, it will bend the 
 shaving so abruptly as to break it. As long 
 as the shaving was a strong stick or splinter, 
 as at a 6, Fig. 25, the forward movement of 
 the cutting-iron tended to lift this stick up 
 without breaking it, and extend the split 
 
Wood - Working. 
 
 61 
 
 down into the wood; but when the end of 
 the splinter is turned up and broken off, as 
 at c d, the cutting-iron cuts partly through 
 the base of the remaining short piece, turning 
 
 Ftg. 25. 
 
 up a longer splinter, which is again broken 
 off, and so on, till the splinter curls up as 
 a thin " shaving," as at e f. 
 
 When you examine one of the thin shav- 
 
62 Manual Training. 
 
 ings taken off by such a plane, you find 
 that it is cracked or broken across at equal 
 short distances. Thus it is so much weak- 
 ened that the cutting-iron cannot lift it up 
 by the end and continue the split down into 
 the wood. 
 
 With this partial view of the mode of action 
 of the plane we can now go on to consider 
 the way of using it. The discussion of the 
 several kinds of planes, and of the methods 
 of sharpening them and of adjusting them 
 for different kinds of work, will come later. 
 
 For your first exercise in planing, the tool 
 called a "jack-plane" will be used. It is 
 designed for coarse work, such as removing 
 the rough outside of a plank, or cutting off 
 considerable quantities of material. As it is 
 intended to cut pretty thick shavings, the 
 cap is set well back from the edge of 
 the cutting-iron (|" to j% ff ), the cutting-iron 
 is allowed to project considerably from the 
 block, and its edge is curved, as you will 
 notice, so that the middle of it projects 
 farther, and therefore cuts deeper than the 
 corners. Your jack-plane has been already 
 
Wood -Working. 63 
 
 sharpened and adjusted for the kind of work 
 you are going to do. It is intended to plane 
 up the sides of your box ; but it will be well, 
 before undertaking this, to try your hand on 
 another piece of wood of about the same size. 
 To make the exercise as simple as possible, 
 pick out a piece which is not winding. 
 
 You find at the left end of your bench a 
 stop or " bench-hook," to prevent the piece 
 that you are planing from sliding forward. 
 Examine the construction of this bench-hook. 
 Observe how it is raised and lowered, and 
 fastened in any desired position. Set it so 
 that it shall stand up above your bench a 
 little less than the thickness of the piece 
 that you are going to plane. If your bench 
 has a wooden " bench-pin " instead of the 
 bench -hook the mode of adjusting this is 
 obvious. Lay your piece of wood on the 
 bench, with the end against the bench-hook. 
 Hold the plane by the handle with the 
 right hand. Take hold of the front of the 
 plane with the left hand, the thumb being 
 on the side nearest your body, and the 
 fingers on the other side. This throws the 
 
64 Manual Training. 
 
 left elbow up, and enables you to press down 
 on the front of the plane. It is not, however, 
 generally necessary to press down very hard : 
 if the plane is sharp and properly adjusted 
 exercise 15. it will take hold without this, 
 
 use of the J ust as * ne saw does. In this 
 Jack-plane, position, push the plane forward 
 from end to end of the piece, trying to take 
 off a shaving the whole length. If the first 
 shaving is taken from the left-hand edge, let 
 the next be just to the right of this, and so 
 on, till you have gone over the entire breadth 
 of the piece, not missing any portion of the 
 surface. You will of course have to change 
 the position of the piece from time to time, 
 so that the portion on which the plane is 
 working shall be opposite the bench-hook. 
 
 In the management of the jack-plane the 
 chief points to be attended to are these: 
 
 1. During the first part of the stroke press 
 down most with the left hand, to prevent 
 the rear end of the plane from dropping, 
 and so cutting off too much of the rear end 
 of the piece. 
 
 2. In the same manner, bear down, during 
 
Wood - Working. 65 
 
 tin* last part of the stroke, on the handle of 
 the plane, to prevent the front from fulling. 
 If these two points be neglected, the piece 
 will present, when planed, the appearance 
 
 j 
 
 Fig. 26. 
 
 shown in Fig. 26 : a straight-edge laid upon 
 the surface will not touch at the ends. 
 
 3. Do not continue to plane any particular 
 spot merely because it happens to work easily : 
 you will thus get the surface uneven, and be 
 obliged, after all, to plane away the rest of 
 the piece to the same level with the soft part 
 on which you have been working. 
 
 4. Do not, as a general rule, work " against 
 fche grain," that is, in such a direction as 
 from a to g, Fig. 25, or from c to / in the 
 same figure. When you work thus, each fiber 
 is torn some little distance 'down into the 
 wood before it is cut off, and the result is a 
 number of small shallow pits, deeper at one 
 end than at the other, leaving the surface 
 rough, as in Fig. 27, in which the appearance 
 
66 
 
 Manual Training. 
 
 is exaggerated, to show the character of the 
 effect. Planing with the grain, the tool, as it 
 cuts off each fiber and bends it up, makes a 
 split which runs outward, across the shaving, 
 instead of inward into the piece, and thus 
 
 JFig.tr. 
 
 leaves the surface smooth. As the grain often 
 runs differently in different parts of the 
 piece (as it does, for example, in Fig. 25) it 
 will be necessary, in such cases, to turn 
 the piece from time to time, as you work 
 on different parts. While it is not best 
 in general to work against the grain, it is 
 often allowable, and even preferable, to do 
 so when a considerable thickness of wood is 
 to be removed, as the plane, if not set too 
 coarse, works freer and more rapidly against 
 the grain than with it. In this case also, 
 however, it will be necessary, when nearly the 
 desired amount of wood has been taken off, 
 to turn the piece, and finish with the grain. 
 5. Work, whenever you can, with the 
 
Wood - Working. 67 
 
 plane as with other tools, with long, steady 
 strokes. When you are obliged to turn the 
 piece frequently, because of the crookedness 
 of the grain, this is of course impracticable. 
 
 Bearing these points in mind, and having 
 first practiced on the extra piece of wood, 
 you may now plane up one surface of each 
 of your pieces with the jack-plane, provided 
 the surface is not winding : if any surface is 
 winding we will reserve its treatment for 
 another exercise. When you have done this, 
 you will find that the marks made by the 
 saw (" saw-kerfs " they are called), as well as 
 any stains or rough spots, have been removed; 
 but the general surface, though clean, is now 
 marked with- a series of broad and shallow 
 furrows or valleys separated by low ridges 
 which are due to the curved form of the 
 iron, and which will appear very conspicuous 
 if you lay a straight-edge crosswise on your 
 piece. In our next lesson we will endeavor 
 to remove these furrows and make the sur- 
 face smooth. 
 
Lesson XII. 
 
 The Smoothlng-Plane. 
 
 TO cut the ridges left by the jack-plane 
 down to the level of the valleys is the 
 next operation. It may be performed, 
 imperfectly, with the jack-plane. To do 
 this the cutting-iron must be drawn back 
 so that it shall not project so far through 
 the block, and as this adjustment is fre- 
 quently needed for the purpose of adapting 
 the jack-plane, or any other plane, to hard or 
 crooked-grained wood, it may be learned and 
 exercise 16. practiced here. If you strike the 
 upper surface of the plane near 
 
 Adjustment 
 
 of cutting- the front, two or three moderately 
 
 iron. 
 
 hard blows with the hammer, 
 the wedge will be loosened and the iron 
 will move up out of the block. You must 
 be careful not to strike too hard, or you 
 will, in the first place bruise the plane-block, 
 and in the second place loosen the wedge 
 
Wood -Working. 69 
 
 and iron too much. By turning the plane 
 up and looking down the " sole " from front 
 to rear you can see how much the iron 
 projects, and judge whether you have it right. 
 If you get it back too far, you can drive it 
 forward again to the right amount by gentle 
 blows of the hammer on its upper edge. 
 When you have it just right, you must drive 
 the wedge tight again. 
 
 For the purpose for which you are now 
 going to use the plane the iron should project 
 very little, and the cap should exercise 17. 
 come very close to the edge of _ ~ 
 
 J n Smoothing 
 
 the iron. As the edge of the with jack- 
 iron is curved, it will not be plane, 
 possible to make the surface of the wood 
 plane : you can only replace the deep valleys 
 by shallower ones, and to make them as 
 shallow as possible the iron must project as 
 little as possible. With this precaution, go 
 over again the sides that you have already 
 planed and make them as smooth as you 
 can, remembering the warning concerning plan- 
 ing against the grain. The operation you 
 have just performed can be better done, par- 
 
70 
 
 Manual Training. 
 
 ticularly on large surfaces, with another plane, 
 called the fore-plane. This is longer and 
 heavier than the jack-plane, and has an iron 
 which, as shown in Fig. 28, 6, is broader 
 than that of the jack-plane, Fig. 28, a, and 
 has an edge which is straight, except just at 
 
 the corner. It is easy 
 
 o 
 
 \_A: 
 
 TCy. 28. 
 
 o 
 
 w 
 
 to see that this plane, 
 if properly used, is 
 capable of making a 
 large surface even, or 
 "plane." It is managed 
 in the same way as 
 the jack-plane, only 
 requiring a little more 
 care to prevent either 
 end from dropping at 
 beginning or end of 
 the stroke. It will 
 not be necessary to 
 use this tool on the small pieces of this 
 exercise, but we will finish up these pieces 
 with the smoothing-plane. This plane is 
 usually employed after the fore-plane. It 
 is short and light, and specially adapted for 
 
 «. 
 
Wood - Working. 71 
 
 making short and quick strokes. It is there- 
 fore exactly fitted for following the fore-plane 
 (or the jack-plane when used as in this 
 exercise) to remove the small pits which 
 result from the former plane's having worked, 
 in some places, against the grain. Observing 
 the same precautions as with the exercise is. 
 jack-plane, and in particular Use ^7t he 
 reversing the direction of your smootning- 
 work as often as the grain of P lane - 
 the wood requires it, go over your pieces 
 with the smoothing-plane till the ridges left 
 by the jack-plane are all cut down, and the 
 first surface of each piece is made quite 
 straight and smooth. Test this with the 
 straight-edge. 
 
 We supposed, a little while ago, that the 
 surface of one of your pieces was winding. 
 If it was not so, it is very likely that one of 
 the surfaces may have become so exercise 19. 
 during the operation of planing R& ~ n& 
 it. Test these pieces and pick winding, 
 out any that are winding, or make one so 
 by planing off a little from one corner. 
 Suppose A B G D, Fig. 29, to be the piece, and 
 
72 Manual Training. 
 
 suppose that, when you hold it up, with the 
 
 edge D G towards you, so that the end C just 
 
 hides B, the end A stands above D. This 
 
 „ _, indicates 
 
 that some- 
 thing has 
 
 to be taken 
 Z) Fiy.29> C off from 
 
 either A or G. Place a bit of shaving under 
 the corner A to support it. Then, applying 
 the jack-plane near D G, take first a short 
 stroke at 0, then a little longer one, and so 
 on, ending with a stroke nearly but not quite 
 the whole length of G D. The portion of the 
 board near G is now lower, and when tested 
 as before the piece will be less winding. If 
 you have taken off too much, the winding 
 will even be reversed, and G and A will 
 appear too low instead of too high. You 
 must avoid this result by testing the piece 
 frequently while working, otherwise you will 
 get first one winding and then the other, 
 and will plane your piece too thin before 
 you get it true. Having at length made one 
 surface of each of your pieces quite free from 
 
Wood - Working. 73 
 
 winding and perfectly straight and smooth, 
 mark this with your pencil as the standard 
 surface from which all the others are to be 
 formed. 
 
 Having now finished the first faces of 
 all your pieces, these pieces must be reduced 
 to the proper thickness, and the second 
 surfaces must be made parallel to the first, 
 and smooth. The proper thickness is first to 
 be marked round the edge of each piece 
 with the gauge. If you have not wasted 
 material in making the first surface true, 
 you ought to be able to finish up the pieces 
 of your last exercise to a thickness of half 
 an inch. 
 
 Loosen the screw of your gauge, and, hold- 
 ing your rule in the left hand, set the gauge 
 
 by it to half an inch, and 
 
 Exercise 20. 
 tighten the screw moderately. 
 
 Try, with the rule, whether the G"* * 
 
 gauge is set exactly right. If not, move it 
 
 the necessary amount by striking one end 
 
 or the other of the handle a few times on 
 
 the bench, and when it is exactly right 
 
 fasten the head in position with the screw, 
 
74 Manual Training. 
 
 but not so tightly as to bruise the handle 
 with the point of the screw. 
 
 To mark a piece, hold it in the left hand 
 with the edge up and resting on the bench, 
 the finished side towards the right. Place the 
 head of the gauge against the finished 
 side, and push it from you along the edge of 
 the piece from end to end, not with a series 
 of short jerks, but with one long, steady 
 stroke. The point, resting lightly on the edge 
 of the piece, will make a straight mark 
 parallel to the face of the piece. The 
 commonest fault in the use of the gauge is to 
 bear too heavily on the marking-point, caus- 
 ing it to sink too deeply into the wood. It 
 then moves along, not smoothly, but with a 
 series of jumps, marking deeply in some 
 places and in others not at all, and sometimes 
 following the grain of the wood, and thus 
 making a crooked mark, instead of being 
 directed by the face of the piece and making 
 a straight mark. To avoid this fault proceed 
 as follows : When you set the head of the 
 gauge against the side of the board, if you 
 hold it so that the marking-point shall stand 
 
Wood - Working. 
 
 75 
 
 perpendicular to the edge of the board, as in 
 Fig. 30, a, it can penetrate the wood to its 
 full length. If you incline the top of the 
 marking-point forward, as in Fig. 30, b, the 
 corner of the 
 
 r 
 
 handle will bear 
 upon the board 
 and lift the point 
 up so that it 
 will penetrate to 
 a less depth or 
 not at all. Now, 
 hold it at first 
 so that the point 
 shall only just 
 touch, and in 
 this position 
 
 Fisy.30. 
 
 make a very light mark the whole length 
 of the piece. Then returning to the begin- 
 ning, hold the gauge so that the point may 
 penetrate a little deeper, and again mark the 
 whole length of the piece, and so on until a 
 sufficiently plain mark has been made. It is 
 seldom necessary to make a deep mark. All 
 that is required is a mark that can be 
 
76 Manual Training. 
 
 readily seen, and the lightest mark that will 
 serve this purpose is best. 
 
 Mark in this way the four edges of all 
 
 your pieces. Then, with the jack-plane, plane 
 
 them down just to the marks, being - very 
 
 exercise 21. careful not to go even a little 
 
 Planing to t0 ° far - If y° u g° beyond the 
 thickness, mark the piece is spoiled. 
 Finish up with the smoothing-plane. If the 
 work has been well done, each of the faces 
 should be perfectly plane, free from winding, 
 and quite smooth, and the pieces should be 
 everywhere exactly half an inch thick. 
 
 After planing the sides of your pieces, 
 
 plane one edge, holding the piece in the vise, 
 
 exercise 22. anc ^ being very careful not to 
 
 cut off too much at either end, 
 
 Squaring the 
 
 edge of a and not to let the plane tip over 
 board - either to the right or the left. 
 Test for the first fault with the corner of the 
 jack-plane used as a straight-edge, and for 
 the second with the try-square. In applying 
 the square always apply it to the side first 
 finished and marked. One edge being finished 
 straight and square, set the gauge to 5| 
 
Wood - Working. 77 
 
 inches, and mark the pieces to this width 
 from the finished edge. When the gauge is 
 set so wide as this, it is even more necessary 
 than before to bear lightly on it. It is more 
 difficult to control the gauge exercise 23. 
 when so wide open, and if the „ . 
 
 1 Gauging and 
 
 point enters too deep it will jump planing to 
 and make a crooked mark. Hav- width, 
 ing marked all the pieces to the proper width, 
 plane the second edges down to the mark, 
 but not beyond it. 
 
Lesson XIII. 
 
 Back-saw and Bench-dog. 
 
 THE pieces you have been working on are 
 now of the uniform thickness of half an 
 inch and of the breadth of 5f inches. They 
 are still marred, however, by the nail-holes 
 made in them in a former exercise. They are 
 now to be cut off square, a little shorter than 
 before, and smoother at the ends than we 
 were able to make them with the ordinary 
 cross-cut-saw. For this work we will use the 
 " back-saw" or " tenon -saw." This saw is 
 shorter and thinner than the one you have 
 used before, and has more teeth to the inch. 
 Its teeth also are not bent sideways or " set " 
 as much as those of the cross-cut-saw. Ex- 
 amine the two saws carefully, and compare 
 them in these particulars. The back-saw 
 being thinner than other saws is more likely 
 to bend. To prevent bending it is provided 
 with a stiff back, which gives it its name. 
 
 78 
 
Wood - Working. 79 
 
 While this allows the saw to be made thinner, 
 and therefore fits it for finer work, it limits, 
 of course, the depth of the cut that can be 
 made with it. A back-saw still smaller, 
 thinner, and finer than the tenon-saw that 
 yon have, and with no set to its teeth, is 
 called a " dove-tail " saw. 
 
 In working with small back-saws, it is 
 generally the case that a number of pieces 
 are to be cut in quick succession. Too much 
 time would be wasted if these were all to be 
 fastened in the vise before cutting them, and 
 besides, the firm grip of the vise is not neces- 
 sary. Small pieces are most conveniently cut 
 on the " bench -dog " which you find on your 
 bench, and which is shown, in elevation and 
 plan, in Fig. 31. Lay the dog on your bench, 
 one of the cross-strips being downward and rest- 
 ing against the front of the bench. Laying the 
 piece that is to be cross-cut on the dog and 
 resting against the other cross-strip, with the 
 end that is to be cut off projecting a little 
 beyond the right-hand edge of the dog, you 
 can easily hold it with the left hand, and 
 cut off the piece required. In the case of 
 
80 
 
 Manual Training. 
 
 the pieces you have been using we will cut 
 off enough to remove the nail-holes. Half an 
 inch at each end of the long pieces will suffice 
 for this. This will reduce the long pieces to 
 
 
 // 
 
 3" 
 
 i Oft 
 
 Fly. 31. 
 
 \\\ inches, and, to keep nearly the same 
 proportion of length to breadth as before, 
 we will take off f of an inch from each end 
 of the short pieces, reducing them to 7| 
 inches. 
 
Wood- Working. 81 
 
 Having made the necessary pencil-marks 
 with the square, as in Lesson VIII., remember- 
 ing all the cautions there given as to working 
 with your square always from the same edge 
 and side, allowing for the waste of the saw, 
 and so on, you will proceed to cut off the 
 narrow pieces from the ends, making first a 
 few trial cuts on another piece, to get the 
 necessary steadiness of hand. In cutting with 
 the back-saw, hold the saw with exercise 24. 
 its edge nearly parallel to the cross-cutting 
 surface of the piece, but let the with back-saw. 
 tip of the saw drop a little at first, so as to 
 begin the cut at the farther edge of the board. 
 Remember the injunctions to cut slowly at 
 first, to keep the saw upright, not to force it, 
 and to cut gently when the saw is nearly 
 through. If you have carried the pencil- 
 marks all round the pieces, there will always 
 be one of the marks on the faces and one 
 of those on the edges in view to guide you. 
 
 The pieces being now, if your w r ork has been 
 well done, exactly alike in pairs, are ready 
 to be formed into a box of much better finish 
 than the one first made with nails. We will 
 
82 Manual Training. 
 
 put it together with " dove-tail " joints ; but 
 before this can be done it will be necessary 
 to acquire some skill in the use of the chisel. 
 Two other pieces may be cut out and planed 
 up for the top and bottom. You may deter- 
 mine the proper size for these, and lay them 
 out and get them ready yourself. 
 
 In cutting out these pieces you will have 
 to saw lengthwise of the grain, and will use 
 the " rip-saw " for this purpose. You will 
 observe that this has larger teeth than the 
 cross-cut -saw, that the front faces of the teeth 
 are square instead of having sharp edges, and 
 that the angle of the tooth is smaller. On 
 
 considering a little you 
 b will see that these 
 
 VvvVvVv differences are in ac- 
 
 cordance with what we 
 
 have learned about the 
 
 d different strength of 
 
 VVV\AA/VV W oocl in different di- 
 e 
 
 Fly. 3 2. rections. The lower 
 
 edge of the tooth of 
 
 the rip-saw, at a, Fig. 32, has to cut across 
 
 the fibers, and must therefore be sharp. The 
 
Wood - Working. 83 
 
 front a b has only to push the pieces out, 
 and is therefore blunt. In the case of the 
 cross-cut saw, it is the front edge c d that 
 cuts across the grain, and is therefore filed 
 sharp, and the pieces are pus'hed out by the 
 point c. Furthermore, as the edge c d is to 
 cut the fibers, it will work best when it 
 falls on them not quite perpendicularly, but 
 obliquely, which is the reason why c d is not 
 perpendicular to the edge of the saw, as a b is. 
 
 Fig. 33. 
 
 On the other hand, the corner a of the tooth 
 of the rip-saw, being a sort of chisel, works 
 best when driven obliquely across the fibres. 
 In ripping the piece D E, therefore, Fig. 33, 
 the saw should be held as shown, rather than 
 perpendicular to the length of the board. 
 
84 Manual Training. 
 
 In making a long cut with the rip-saw, you 
 will sometimes be hindered by the springing 
 together of the parts that are already cut, 
 causing them to " pinch " the saw and resist 
 its motion. The remedy for this is to insert 
 a wedge, such as a chisel, a screw-driver, 
 or a piece of wood, in the cut near the saw. 
 Towards the end of the cut care must be 
 taken that this wedge does not split the 
 board. 
 
 The six pieces are now to be put away 
 while the use of the chisel is being learned, 
 by which time they will be thoroughly sea- 
 soned. They must be set up on edge with a 
 space of at least an inch between them for 
 circulation of air, so that they may not warp. 
 You may mark on each piece its exact dimen- 
 sions, and note, when you take it up again, 
 how much it has shrunk in each direction. 
 
Lesson XIV. 
 
 The Chisel. 
 
 OBSERVE the form of the inch chisel on 
 your bench. Its back is perfectly straight 
 and flat. Its face makes with its back an 
 angle of twenty-five degrees, and just at the 
 edge is a short face which makes with the 
 back a somewhat larger angle, namely, 35°. 
 This form is given to the chisel in the follow- 
 ing way : First, it is held on the grindstone 
 till the face A B, Fig. 34, is formed, making 
 with the 
 
 back the 4^—-^~ — & ~\ 
 
 angle 25°. 
 Then the 
 
 part near J)^^- -r j 
 
 A is rubbed „. „, 
 
 on the oil- 
 stone, in a manner which will be explained 
 presently, making the narrow face A I). This 
 face is exaggerated in the figure, to make it 
 
 85 
 
86 Manual Training. 
 
 clear; it should be less than half as wide as it 
 is there shown. If you examine the chisel on 
 your bench, which is in good condition, you 
 easily detect on D B the scratches made by the 
 grindstone, while A D, which was finished on 
 the fine-grained oil-stone, is smooth and bright, 
 and the edge at A is very keen. This is the 
 condition in which the chisel and all similar 
 cutting tools should be constantly kept. 
 When the tool is dull you cannot do fine 
 work with it; and, moreover, in trying to 
 force it you are very apt to make it slip 
 and cut yourself, so that a dull tool is really 
 more dangerous than a sharp one. 
 
 The chisel and the plane have the same 
 form of cutting edge and require the same 
 treatment. Other cutting tools resemble these 
 in general, but differ in respect to the size 
 of the cutting angle, and some other par- 
 ticulars. It will be readily understood that if 
 the tool is to be used on hard material, it 
 must be stronger, to prevent its breaking or 
 " nicking " on the edge, and therefore the angle 
 must be larger. As we become acquainted 
 with various tools for cutting wood and metals 
 
Wood - Working. 87 
 
 we shall find that this angle has very differ- 
 ent values, reaching even to 90° in some 
 lathe-tools for cutting metals. 
 
 There are several different ways of holding 
 the chisel, according to the kind of work to 
 be done and the force required. 
 
 1. In paring off thin shavings the chisel is 
 intermediate, as to the quality of the work it 
 can do, between the knife and the plane. We 
 will take, for an exercise of this kind, a piece 
 of pine or of whitewood with a rough or 
 crooked edge, which we will make straight 
 and smooth as in Exercise 4, but with the 
 chisel instead of the knife. We will cut from 
 a 11" or \\" plank a piece 9 inches long, 
 and will split from this, with the hatchet, 
 pieces about 2" wide. We will select for the 
 purpose a plank which, though of good qual- 
 ity, is not very straight-grained, so as to give 
 us some little difficulty in dealing with the 
 grain. 
 
 Holding one of these pieces in the vise, 
 with one of the crooked edges upward, take 
 the end of the handle of the chisel in the 
 hollow of the right hand, the thumb and first 
 
88 Manual Training. 
 
 finger lying forward on the handle, and the 
 other fingers curved under and grasping it. 
 exercise 25. Lay the back of the chisel (not 
 Paring with the beveled side) flat on the sur- 
 chisei. face of the wood, and hold it 
 down with two or three fingers of the left hand 
 lying on the blade, a little way back from 
 the edge. Pushing the chisel forward it will 
 now cut off projecting masses very much as 
 the plane does. (If the edge of the piece is 
 very crooked, so that much wood has to be 
 removed, as in Fig. 4, p. 10, it may be scored 
 and split, exactly, as in the exercise with the 
 knife or the hatchet.) This operation of 
 paring is very simple so long as the grain is 
 quite straight, or even when it is moderately 
 crooked, provided you can work with the 
 grain : it is only necessary to push the chisel 
 with a steady movement lengthwise along the 
 piece, and the back of the chisel, like the sole 
 of the plane, prevents its entering too deep. 
 But when the grain is very irregular, so that 
 as the tool advances you find it working now 
 with the grain and now against it in quick 
 succession, it will be found best to work with 
 
Wood -Work i ii (j. 
 
 89 
 
 a sliding rather than a pushing movement, 
 obliquely, across the grain rather than along 
 it. Thus, if the grain runs as shown in the 
 elevation A, Fig. 35, then, in paring the upper 
 
 J3 
 
 edge, shown in plan at B, if the chisel moves 
 from right to left, it will work against the 
 grain in going over the spaces b c, d e, f g, etc., 
 and with the grain over the spaces a b, c d, 
 e f, etc. It will be found best, then, as it is 
 not practicable to reverse the direction of the 
 work so often, to lay the chisel on the work, 
 
 I 
 
 JFty. 36. 
 
 not as shown in Fig. 36, but obliquely, as in 
 Fig. 37, and in moving the chisel, not only 
 
90 Manual Training. 
 
 to push it in the direction of the arrow a, but 
 to give it, at the same time, a sliding motion 
 towards the right or left. The first move- 
 ment alone would make the chisel come out 
 
 O Q JP 
 
 Fiy 37. 
 
 at ; the second would bring it out at P; 
 the two movements together make it come out 
 at Q. This sliding movement of the chisel, 
 like that of the knife already spoken of (see 
 p. 4) is very important, and you should take 
 pains to get command of it. With it wood 
 can be pared smooth which would be quite 
 unmanageable without it. The reason of this 
 can now be easily understood. The edge of 
 a knife, chisel, or plane, however keenly it 
 is sharpened, is always more or less jagged 
 like a saw. On some tools you can feel the 
 inequalities or teeth with the finger, and even 
 
Wood - Working. 91 
 
 when, as in a well-sharpened razor, you can- 
 not feel them, you can see them under a 
 microscope. When the tool has the sliding 
 movement that has been described, these teeth 
 catch the fibers crosswise and cut them off, 
 while, if it is pushed straight forward, it forces 
 itself between the fibers, as a wedge, and 
 splits them apart along the grain. 
 
 Paying attention to the points just men- 
 tioned, you may now, drawing a straight 
 line on your piece of wood about a quarter 
 of an inch back from the edge, pare the 
 edge down to the mark, making it straight, 
 square, and smooth. Test your work carefully 
 with respect to all these requirements, and do 
 not be satisfied till you have produced a 
 really good result. 
 
 When you have worked with the chisel or 
 other cutting tool some time, it becomes dull, 
 and does not cut well. If you examine its 
 cutting edge you will find that instead of 
 being quite invisible, as it was at first, it is 
 visible as a bright shining edge, and instead 
 of feeling very keen to the end of the finger, 
 it is smooth and rounded. Under a glass it 
 
92 Manual Training. 
 
 would appear as at a, Fig. 38, rather than as 
 
 at b. The keen edge must be restored by 
 
 sharpening on the oil-stone. 
 
 exercise 26. A plane-iron and a chisel are 
 
 sharpening sharpened in the same way, and 
 
 a chisel. it is of the utmost importance 
 
 that this should be done properly. Having 
 
 put a few drops 
 
 en 
 
 2. 
 
 of oil on the 
 stone, take the 
 chisel in the right 
 hand, place the 
 
 , ^~- -7 beveled face on 
 
 JFi.q.38. t ne stone and 
 
 press it down 
 with two or three fingers of the left hand held 
 near the edge of the blade. At first place the 
 tool on the stone so that the beveled face 
 touches all over, Fig. 39, a. Then raise the 
 right hand a little, so that only the small 
 bevel shall touch, as at b. Be careful not to 
 raise the hand too high : it is only necessary 
 to just miss rubbing the large bevel. If the 
 hand is raised too high, the edge will be 
 worn away too much, and the angle of the 
 
Wood - Working. 
 
 93 
 
 chisel will be too large. Until the right way 
 of holding has become habitual, it may be 
 
 a. 
 
 noted that the height of the end of the 
 handle above the surface of the stone should 
 be about six-tenths of the length of the tool 
 and handle. Thus, if the entire length of 
 the chisel is 10 inches, the middle of the 
 circular end of the handle should be 6 inches 
 above the stone. In rubbing the tool on 
 the stone, the hand must be pushed to and 
 fro parallel to the stone, not rising and falling 
 a little, which would make the edge of the 
 tool round. 
 
 If the chisel has not been neglected too 
 long it will not be necessary to rub it much 
 
94 Manual Training. 
 
 It is only necessary to remove the roundness 
 just described. When this is done, the metal 
 will begin to turn up a little on the back, 
 making a roughness called a " wire-edge," as 
 shown, exaggerated, in Fig. 40. This wire- 
 edge is removed by laying the flat side on 
 
 the stone and 
 
 ^ f giving the tool 
 
 JFiy.4-0. a few light 
 
 strokes. It 
 must not be at all tipped up during this 
 operation, nor the operation continued long, 
 or the back will be rounded and the tool 
 spoiled. The operations being repeated once 
 or twice, more and more lightly, a fine keen 
 edge will appear. 
 
 In using any cutting tool, it will be found 
 much the best plan to sharpen it frequently. 
 If this is done, it will require only a slight 
 rubbing each time, and the best quality of 
 work can be done with a tool thus kept in 
 order. 
 
 When the tool has been sharpened very 
 often the short bevel near the edge be- 
 comes wide, and much work is then 
 
Wood - Working. 95 
 
 required to sharpen it on the oil-stone. It 
 must then be ground on the grind-stone. 
 The long bevel, which makes the smaller 
 angle with the back (D B, Fig. 34) is to be 
 held on the stone, until it is ground away so 
 far that it runs quite out to the edge at A. 
 In doing this take care. 
 
 1. To hold the tool steady at the proper 
 inclination. 
 
 2. To keep plenty of water on the stone, 
 so as not to heat the tool. Heat would 
 soften and spoil it. 
 
 3. To turn the stone towards the chisel, 
 particularly near the end of the grinding. 
 Turning it from the chisel will turn up a 
 " wire-edge," as in Fig. 40. 
 
 4. Never to let the stone touch the back 
 of the tool. 
 
 When the bevel A B, Fig. 34, has been 
 carried out to the edge, which will make the 
 latter rough, a moderate rubbing on the oil- 
 stone will give it a smooth, keen edge. 
 
 Having now pared one edge of your 
 piece of wood straight and smooth, each of 
 you may exchange pieces with his next 
 
96 Manual Training. 
 
 neighbor, and repeat the operation on the 
 opposite edge. This exchange is made for 
 the purpose of giving you an opportunity 
 to examine and become acquainted with 
 the two kinds of wood that have been 
 distributed through the class. The pine is 
 of the kind called white-pine. It is soft 
 and straight-grained, and planes to a smooth, 
 glossy surface if the piece is a good one. 
 The tree is a fine evergreen which grows 
 to a height of one hundred to one hun- 
 dred and fifty feet in the woods of the 
 Northern States and Canada, and sometimes 
 has a trunk six feet in diameter. Its leaves 
 are long slender needles (Fig. 41), growing 
 
 
 in groups of five, each group making, if 
 the several parts are pressed together, a com- 
 plete cylinder. You can find small speci- 
 mens of the tree in woods and parks 
 
Wood - Working. 97 
 
 almost everywhere, but the large ones are 
 to be seen only in the wild Northern 
 woods, and even there are getting scarce. 
 It is very different in its mode of growth, 
 the shape and grouping of its leaves, and 
 the character of its wood from the yellow- 
 pine and the pitch-pine, and yon onght to 
 endeavor, as opportunity offers in the work- 
 shop and elsewhere, to make yourself ac- 
 quainted with these different species and 
 their uses. The white-wood is the wood of 
 the tulip-tree, which is also a large, hand- 
 some tree, with fine straight trunk, and 
 with curious, square-cut leaves, as in Fig. 
 42. It is not an evergreen, but a decidu- 
 ous tree; that is, it loses its leaves in the 
 fall. It bears, in June, a coarse, tulip-shaped, 
 yellow flower, from which it is named. 
 Its wood, as you see, is not white, but 
 greenish-yellow. It is very straight-grained, 
 free from knots, soft and easily worked, 
 and is much used in house-carpentry, and 
 in furniture and pattern-making. 
 
98 
 
 Manual Training. 
 
 jriy^Z- 
 
Lesson XT. 
 
 The Chisel Continued. 
 
 WHEN greater force has to be applied to 
 the chisel, as in paring across the grain, 
 the handle is held in the closed right 
 hand, the end of it standing out a little on 
 the upper or thumb side, and the flat side of 
 the chisel being turned towards the body. 
 Leaning over the work and bringing the 
 shoulder against the handle of the chisel, 
 the tool is forced downward by the press- 
 ure of the hand and the shoulder together. 
 In this case, also, the oblique or sliding 
 movement makes the tool cut easier. 
 
 As an exercise in this method of using the 
 
 chisel, one end of the piece used in the last 
 
 exercise 27. exercise may be " chamfered " or 
 
 champing " beveled " on the edge. The 
 
 end-wood, work must be first marked 
 
 out, as in Fig. 43 which shows elevation, 
 
 plan, and end elevation of the piece. The 
 
100 Manual Gaining. 
 
 line F E is to be drawn lightly, on one end, 
 with the gauge, in the middle of the thick- 
 ness of the piece ; D is to be drawn on one 
 face, with lead-pencil and square, at the same 
 
 D 
 
 C 
 
 B 
 
 aC 
 
 Fig* ^3 
 
 distance from the corner that E F is; A B 
 may be ruled with the lead-pencil and the 
 edge of the square. The line A B, being on 
 the top of the piece, is visible in the plan; 
 C D, being on the back, is dotted on the 
 elevation, and for a like reason, E is dotted 
 in the right-hand end elevation. Holding the 
 piece in the left-hand, by one end, rest the 
 edge, at the other end, on a clean piece of 
 wood, — not on the bench. The bench may 
 have dust on it, which would dull the chisel; 
 and besides, chiseling on the bench destroys 
 the smooth surface that it ought always to 
 
Wood - Working. 101 
 
 have. The piece should be held with the side 
 that is to be beveled turned from you ; 
 leaning over, you will then have a good view 
 of the part you are cutting. Setting the edge 
 of the chisel near the corner, as at a, Fig. 44, 
 press it down 
 
 and cut off a &' \ 
 
 small chip. Fig. 4*4*. 
 
 Then setting 
 
 it back a little, as at b, cut off another, and 
 so on. As the cuts become wider it will be 
 harder to drive the chisel down, and you 
 will have to take thinner shavings. Do not 
 forget, particularly when making the last cuts, 
 that it will work easier if, while 'pushing the 
 chisel in the direction D C, you also slide it 
 in the direction B A. The last cut should 
 be a very light one, and made very carefully 
 and with a keen chisel, so as to leave the 
 surface quite plane and smooth. 
 
 After chamfering one side of the end A, 
 mark and chamfer the other side of the 
 same end, working the end to a sharp edge. 
 Then chamfer the other two edges of the 
 same end, working it to a point. As the 
 
102 Manual Training. 
 
 quantity of wood to be removed in this 
 part of the exercise is less, the chisel will 
 work easier, and the pressure of the shoulder 
 will not be needed. You may hold the piece 
 in your vise, the end that is to be beveled 
 projecting only a little above the bench, so 
 as to be firm, and the chisel being managed 
 as in Exercise 25. Finally, make a drawing 
 in plan, elevation, and end elevation of the 
 finished piece, to a scale of J. 
 
 3. In the exercise just finished, the cut was 
 made obliquely across the grain. When it is 
 made square across it is more 'difficult. In 
 this case, and particularly when the piece to 
 be cut off is so situated that the sliding move- 
 ment cannot well be used, a mallet is used to 
 drive the chisel. In this case the chisel is 
 held in the left hand, nearly or quite per- 
 pendicular to the surface of the wood, and 
 with the same grip as in the last exercise, but 
 not bearing against the shoulder. The ham- 
 mer must not be used instead of the mallet, 
 as this will deface the handle of the chisel, 
 and after a while split it. When the position 
 of the cut will allow it, some of the wood 
 
Wood - Working. 
 
 103 
 
 may be removed by the brace and bit, or 
 a portion of the cut may be made with the 
 saw, before beginning to use ExERC1SE 28 
 the chisel. The next exercise, 
 a " through-mortise 
 
 Mortising. 
 
 will illus- 
 trate the first plan, and the following exer- 
 cise, an " end dove-tail," the second. 
 
 Figure 45 is a working sketch of one form 
 of a "mortise and tenon" joint. A and B are 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 I { 
 
 c Jf-cm,^ 
 
 
 
 
 t \ 
 
 K 
 
 jcm,.) 
 
 1 
 
 * ) 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 + \ 
 
 
 
 5* 
 
 CL 
 
 G 
 
 1 
 
 < jf-cm,} 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 b 
 
 <— 4. °1&- -> 
 
 r a, 
 
 J^iy 4-3 
 
 D 
 
 elevation and plan of the mortise and C and 
 D of the tenon. No end elevations are 
 needed. 
 
 The dimensions are given in centimeters, 
 
104 Manual Training. 
 
 that is, hundredths of a meter, that the eye 
 may become accustomed to Metric measures 
 as well as English measures. A centimeter 
 is a little less than half an inch (0 in .39), 
 a meter being a little more than a yard 
 (39 inches, or 3.28 feet). An examination of 
 the drawing will show that, when the two 
 pieces E and F are cut out, the remaining 
 piece, or " tenon," will, if properly cut, fit 
 closely in the hole or mortise G, and the 
 pieces will be firmly joined together perpen- 
 dicular to each other. 
 
 To make this* joint, the pieces must first 
 be planed up exactly square and to the 
 true dimensions. Sharpen the plane if neces- 
 sary. First plane one surface of each piece 
 true and mark it thus x. Next plane one 
 adjacent surface on each piece true, and per- 
 pendicular to the first surface, testing with 
 the square. Next, mark the pieces to the 
 proper breadth and thickness with the gauge, 
 measuring from these finished surfaces, and 
 plane to the marks. All four surfaces of each 
 piece should now be of the proper dimensions, 
 and the pieces square. Set the smoothing- 
 
Wood - Working. 105 
 
 plane fine and finish the surfaces, taking 
 off only enough wood to make the surfaces 
 smooth. 
 
 Now mark out the joint, drawing the 
 lines a, b, c, d with the gauge, being care- 
 ful not to mark them too deep nor to 
 extend them too far, and draw the other 
 lines with the square and a sharp lead-pen- 
 cil. Both sides of the pieces must be 
 marked, and also the end of the tenon- 
 piece, C D. 
 
 To cut out the wood from the mortise, 
 first use the brace, with a center-bit three 
 or four millimeters smaller than the width 
 of the mortise ( a millimeter is a tenth 
 of a centimeter, or a thousandth of a meter, 
 and is the smallest division on your metric 
 rule) . 
 
 Notice the way in which the center-bit 
 works. The revolving knife-point or " cut- 
 ter " first makes a circular cut, exercise 29. 
 and then the revolving chisel, Boring with 
 following the knife, removes a center-bit.' 
 chip. If the cutter is not sharp on the 
 front edge it will not make a clean cut. 
 
106 Manual Training. 
 
 If it is too short, the chisel will cut before 
 the cutter has prepared the way for it, and 
 will tear out the wood beyond the intended 
 circle. Hence, though the cutter must be 
 sharpened with a file when necessary, the 
 sharpening must be done only on the inside 
 edge, and very carefully, for if the outside 
 edge is filed the circle cut will be too small, 
 and if the cutter is made too short the bit 
 is spoiled. 
 
 With the center-bit a hole is to be bored 
 through the piece near each end of the 
 mortise. It is necessary that this hole 
 should go through quite squarely, or it 
 will cut away wood which ought not to be 
 cut. A few experiments may be made first 
 on the other end of the piece, or on a 
 piece of waste wood. Mark a point near 
 
 
 O 
 
 the end, as at P, Fig. 46, and then with 
 the gauge and square find the point exactly 
 
Wood - Working. 107 
 
 opposite P. Hold the piece in the vise, 
 the end P standing up above the bench. 
 Place the handle of the brace against the 
 breast, set the point of the bit on P, hold 
 the bit perpendicular to the surface, and 
 begin to bore without altering the position 
 of the brace. No hard pressure on the 
 brace will be needed, if the wood is soft, 
 as pine or white-wood, and the bit in order. 
 When you have bored about l cm , stand 
 aside, holding the end of the brace in the 
 hand without altering its position, and 
 examine, both from above and from the 
 side, whether it is perpendicular to the sur- 
 face of the block. If it is not, make it 
 so and go on. Examine again once or twice 
 before boring through. As soon as the 
 point of the bit begins to show, if it 
 comes out at the marked point, or within 
 one or two millimeters, you have bored 
 pretty well and may venture to bore the 
 holes for the mortise. As soon as the point 
 makes its appearance reverse the block and 
 bore from the other side, or clamp another 
 piece tightly against your piece in the vise, 
 
108 Manual Training. 
 
 and bore through against that. Unless you 
 take one or the other of these precautions 
 the bit will splinter the wood when it 
 comes through. The first two holes having 
 been bored, as in the Figure, a series of 
 holes may be made between them, touching 
 each other, and removing most of the wood 
 from the mortise. 
 
 The mortise is now to be trimmed to 
 its exact size and shape with the chisel. 
 To do this, lay the block on a piece of 
 clean wood on the bench, set the chisel 
 ( which must be a little narrower than the 
 mortise) upright on it about \ inch inside 
 of the end mark, the flat side towards the 
 mark, and drive it in by a smart stroke 
 of the mallet. Pare away the wood at the 
 sides of the mortise with a wide chisel ; 
 drive the narrow chisel in again, and so on 
 till the mortise is cut about half-way 
 through. Then turn the piece over and 
 cut in the same way from the other side. 
 A little wood has been left, which is now 
 to be very carefully pared off, holding the 
 chisel against the shoulder as explained in 
 
 
Wood - Working. l o 9 
 
 the previous lesson, and taking especial pains 
 not to cut beyond the marks. This paring 
 also should be continued half-way through 
 from opposite sides in succession. The four 
 sides of the mortise, if properly finished, 
 will now be smooth, perpendicular to the 
 faces, and parallel, in pairs, to each other. 
 
 The tenon is to be cut with the ''back- 
 saw." This is, as you have seen, finer than 
 the cross-cut-saw heretofore used, and if skill- 
 fully handled will leave the surfaces smooth 
 enough without the use of the chisel. To avoid 
 the risk, however, of cutting the tenon too 
 small, it will be best, until you have acquired 
 considerable skill, to saw not quite up to the 
 marks, leaving a very small amount to be pared 
 off with the chisel. 1 
 
 If the mortise and tenon have been properly 
 cut, they will now fit closely together. The 
 tenon must not go in too tight. If it does, 
 particularly sideways, it will split the mortise- 
 piece. If it does not enter when driven with 
 
 1 Some particulars in the management of this saw 
 when cutting lengthwise of the grain are given in the 
 next lesson (page 115), and may be noticed here. 
 
110 Manual Training. 
 
 gentle blows of the mallet, it must be with- 
 drawn. The bruises on the surfaces will show 
 where it fits too tight, and either it or the mor- 
 tise must be pared down carefully till a good 
 fit is obtained. 
 
 
Lesson XVI. 
 
 The Chisel Continued. — End Dove -Tail. 
 
 THE two pieces that were, put together 
 in your last lesson can be pulled apart 
 in one direction. The piece A, Fig. 47, can 
 be drawn out from B towards the right, but 
 the part of B which 
 
 B 
 
 \ 
 
 Fly. 4-7. 
 
 projects above A in 
 the figure prevents 
 the tenon from be- 
 ing removed by a 
 pull upward, or in 
 the direction of the 
 arrow. If we wish- 
 ed, however, to get 
 rid of the projecting piece above the tenon, 
 so as to have a smooth corner, we should 
 lose this advantage, and unless the tenon were 
 narrowed, A would not be able to resist either 
 a force toward the right or an upward force, 
 but would yield in either direction. If we 
 
 in 
 
112 Manual Training. 
 
 wish, in this case, to have A held fast so that 
 there shall be one direction in which it can 
 be pulled without being withdrawn, we must 
 give the joint another shape. This shape is 
 called the " dove-tail," from its resemblance 
 to the spreading tail of a dove, Fig. 48. It 
 
 is evident that if the 
 
 A -> ; dove-tailed piece A is 
 
 ~" x^ /.o fitted into a hole of 
 
 the same shape, it can- 
 not be withdrawn by pulling in the direction 
 of the arrow. With this explanation you 
 will now be able to understand the sketches 
 in Fig. 49, in which A and B represent the 
 plan and elevation of the mortise-piece, G 
 and D those of the tenon-piece, and E and 
 F those of the two pieces put together. 
 
 The two pieces are to be first carefully 
 planed true and smooth as in the last 
 exe rcise 30. exercise. The work is then to 
 End dove-taii. be laid out. The thickness of 
 A B ( 1 J" ) is to be marked with a sharp 
 pencil on C D, first on the upper side 
 shown at 0, then, by means of the square, 
 on the front side I), and then, from these 
 
Wood -Working. 
 
 113 
 
 two sides, with the square, on the other 
 two sides. In the same manner, the thick- 
 ness of C D is to be marked, first on the 
 right-hand face of A B, then on the front 
 
 D 
 
 ) 
 
 + f>/£- 
 
 A 
 
 1 * 
 
 
 • 
 
 Tip. 4*9. 
 
 face shown at B, and then from these on 
 the other two. Next the two inclined lines 
 marking out the dove-tail are to be drawn 
 on the upper face of 0, then on the lower 
 face, and then their ends are to be joined 
 by lines drawn across the end of the 
 piece. Lastly, similar inclined lines are to 
 be drawn on the end of A, and from their 
 extremities lines are to be drawn down the 
 right and left faces of A B to the cross- 
 
114 Manual Training. 
 
 mark. Mark with a cross x, as in Fig. 54, 
 to prevent mistakes, the pieces of wood that 
 are to be cut away, and before beginning to 
 cut, put the pieces together and make sure 
 that your marks are right. The lines are all 
 to be drawn with a very sharp pencil, so 
 that if you cut exactly up to the center 
 of each line, but not beyond, the dove-tail or 
 tenon and the hollow or mortise shall fit 
 perfectly together. 
 
 The cutting of the marked portions from 
 the tenon-piece C is very simple. It is all 
 done with the back-saw, and if the tool is 
 handled with skill, nothing will remain for 
 the chisel. To do this, however, would re- 
 quire more skill than you can be expected 
 to possess as yet, and you may therefore 
 cut not quite up to the marks with the 
 saw, leaving a little wood to ~be trimmed 
 off with the chisel. Be very careful, when 
 trimming this off, to have your chisel as 
 keen as possible, and to use the sliding 
 movement already described. 
 
 In removing the wood from the mortise- 
 piece also, the first part of the work is 
 
Wood - Working. 
 
 115 
 
 done with the saw. Hold the piece up- 
 right in the vise, place the saw just within 
 the inclined marks on the end of A, but 
 very near them, and cut down to the cross- 
 mark. In making these cuts on A, as well 
 as the corresponding cuts on (7, and any 
 others which go lengthwise of the grain, be 
 careful not to hold the saw quite horizontally, 
 or with the tip inclining downward, as in 
 cross-cutting, but with the handle downward 
 as in ripping, as in Fig. 50. Otherwise the 
 
 Ftg.50 
 
 teeth will stick too firmly in the wood, 
 and the saw will jump, or " chatter." In 
 making cross-cuts, as the two short cuts in 
 C, this precaution is not necessary. 
 
116 
 
 Manual Training. 
 
 When the two saw-cuts in the mortise-piece 
 have been made, the next operation is to 
 cut out the piece of wood between them 
 down to the cross-mark. Here, as in the 
 last exercise, the work of cutting with the 
 chisel may be lessened by the use of the 
 
 brace and bit ; 
 but we will, 
 for the sake 
 of variety in 
 exercise, use 
 a different 
 method, cut- 
 ting the mor- 
 tise with the 
 chisel alone. 
 Lay the piece 
 on the bench, 
 with the dove-tail end from you and the right 
 side (Fig. 49, B) up: this is the side on which 
 the two cuts come nearest together (1£"). 
 Set the edge of your one-inch chisel at the 
 dotted line, Fig. 51, about \" inside of G H, 
 the flat side of the chisel being towards you. 
 Strike a smart blow with the mallet, driving 
 
 Fiy.51 
 
Wood - Working. 117 
 
 the chisel in about a quarter of an inch. Do 
 not strike a series of feeble, uncurtain blows, 
 but one vigorous one. You may, if you choose, 
 after placing the chisel, give it one gentle tap 
 to make sure of starting it right (though this 
 is not necessary), but when you are sure that 
 it is right, strike it boldly. Having driven the 
 chisel in about a quarter of an inch, you 
 have now compressed the wood so that it is 
 difficult to penetrate any farther. Set the 
 chisel about a quarter of an inch nearer to 
 the end, but tipped forward, as at b in the 
 Figure, so that it shall work towards the cut 
 you have already made. It will thus throw out 
 the little triangular chip shown in the Figure. 
 Set the chisel upright again at the same 
 point as at first, and drive it in farther. 
 Move it nearer to the end, tipped forward 
 again, and cut out another chip. Advance 
 thus, till you have got half-way through the 
 piece; then turn it over and proceed in the 
 same way from the other side. Be careful 
 not to let the chisel go through and strike 
 the bench. If you cannot check it, place a 
 piece of clean board under your work. As 
 
1 1 8 Ma ni i a I Tra in ing. 
 
 the piece to be cut out is wider on the 
 second face than on the first, you must in- 
 cline your chisel right and left, so as to cut 
 under a little while working from the first 
 face and to avoid cutting into the sides of 
 the mortise when working from the second. 
 
 When the piece is cut out, the three sides 
 of the mortise are to be carefully pared so 
 that the tenon will go in, fitting closely, but 
 not so tightly as to split the mortise-piece. 
 
Lesson XYTI. 
 
 The Chisel Continued. — Dove-Tailing. 
 
 WE will now return to the box which we 
 left unfinished in our thirteenth Lesson. 
 We had got out the required material, cut it to 
 the proper shape, and put it away to dry 
 thoroughly. Examine the pieces carefully for 
 shrinking, warping, and winding, and if neces- 
 sary reduce them to their proper shape and 
 dimensions. If they have shrunk or twisted 
 much, it may be necessary to make them 
 somewhat smaller than originally proposed, 
 sa y tV *&H" x 12^" for the long pieces, and 
 iV' x5 ii" x W for tne snort P^ces; but it is 
 to be hoped that this will not be necessary. 
 
 The four pieces for the sides are now to be 
 put together with dove-tail joints as in Fig. 52, 
 which is a working drawing showing five dove- 
 tailed tenons on each end of the long pieces A, 
 which fit into five corresponding mortises in 
 the ends of the short pieces B. The pieces 
 
 119 
 

 D 
 
 » • 
 
 • i 
 
 • ■ 
 
 □ 
 
 • • 
 i ■ 
 
 • i 
 
 O 
 
 • ■ 
 
 • • 
 
 • i 
 
 ■ ■ 
 
 □ 
 
 • ■ 
 
 • * 
 
 □ 
 
 s 
 
 s i 
 
 & 
 
 )* I 
 
 < 
 
 B 
 
 tZVt 9 - 
 
 I 
 
 B 
 
 Saccle '/2 or* 6"= /' 
 
 )*l 
 
f 
 
 \I • (^ 
 
 II 
 
 % 
 
 P 
 
 ■ : 
 * i 
 
 □ 
 
 □ 
 
 Tig* 5Z. 
 
 which stand out between the mortises in B, and 
 which might themselves be regarded as tenons 
 fitting into mortises in A, are called " pins." 
 The figures G and D show end-views of the 
 pieces A and B respectively. The interrupted 
 lines at A and B have the meaning already ex- 
 plained on page 2. 
 
 These drawings should be carefully studied 
 till they are thoroughly understood. If they 
 cannot be understood otherwise, you may 
 
 121 
 
122 Manual Training. 
 
 examine a finished box and compare them 
 with it. After this the work is to be laid 
 out in the following way : 
 
 First, the lines a b are to be drawn with 
 square and pencil on both sides of A 7 being 
 careful, as before explained in similar cases, 
 to work from one edge and one face of the 
 piece. Then the lines c d are to be drawn on 
 the pieces B. Next set out on a b the eleven 
 distances, of which those numbered 1, 2, 3, 
 4, 5 are equal, those numbered 6, 7, 8, 9 are 
 also equal, and the two end spaces are half 
 as long as 6 and 7. 
 
 When these spaces have been laid out 
 exactly, the oblique lines from a b to e f can 
 be drawn with the " bevel," provided e f is 
 quite straight and square. The bevel must be 
 first set to the proper angle. Take a smooth 
 piece of board five or six inches wide, with 
 one straight edge and one smooth face. The 
 piece that you have used in previous exercises 
 to place under your work to protect your 
 bench will do very well. Near one end draw 
 a fine pencil-line across it with your square. 
 Measure from this line an inch along the 
 
Wood - Working. 123 
 
 edge of the board, and four inches along 
 the line. Place your bevel with the handle 
 against the edge of the board, set exercise si. 
 the blade so that the edge of it La yin7out 
 shall pass exactly through the two dove-taiis. 
 points thus determined, and clamp it. With 
 the bevel thus set, placing it against the end 
 of the piece A, you can mark first all the 
 lines which slope in one direction, and then, 
 turning it over, all those that slope in the 
 other direction. They will appear as in Fig. 
 52 A. The dove-tails will be a little wider 
 at the ends and will hold a little tighter, if 
 the bevel is set with a slope of 3^- to 1, or 
 even of 3 to 1, instead of 4 to 1. This, how- 
 ever, will make the acute angles of the dove- 
 tails and pins weaker, and if the wood is soft 
 they may break off at the edges. The work 
 is sometimes laid out with smaller pins and 
 wider dove-tails, as in Fig. 53 A. This 
 lessens the amount of work to be done, but 
 leaves the pins rather weak. If both the 
 pins and the dove-tails are widened, as in 
 Fig. 53 B, the work has the appearanc of too 
 much sparing of labor. You may lay out, on 
 
124 
 
 Manual Training. 
 
 the edges and ends of your piece of board 
 sets of dove-tails with different angles and 
 
 r-J" 
 
 3 
 
 L n. 
 
 JB 
 
 n. 
 
 ttg- S3 . 
 
 spaces, and compare them as to appearance 
 and strength, and may select one for your 
 work if you prefer to do so. 
 
 Having marked out the dove-tails on one 
 of the faces of A, set the piece upright in the 
 vise, and from the ends of the oblique lines 
 
Wood - Working. 125 
 
 draw fine lines with your square across the 
 ends of the pieces. If the end is rough, you 
 can make these lines clearer by first rubbing 
 some chalk into the end-wood. After these 
 lines are made, draw with the bevel, dove- 
 tails on the other face, to correspond with 
 those already drawn on the first. 
 
 Next mark out the pin-pieces B. The 
 drawing, Fig. 52 B, shows that side of B on 
 which the pins are narrowest, which is the 
 outside when the piece is in its place in the 
 box. Lay the ends B on your bench with 
 the other side, or inside, up, and lay out on 
 c d the same distances that you have already 
 marked on a b. Be very careful to have these 
 distances exactly equal to those on a b. Ap- 
 plying the s'quare to the end of B, draw lines 
 through the points thus found, perpendicular 
 to the end. Holding the piece upright in the 
 vise, draw, with the bevel, lines on the end of 
 B, corresponding exactly with those on the 
 face of A, as in Fig. 52 D. Lastly, with 
 the square, draw on the opposite face of B 
 the lines perpendicular to the ends as in 52 B. 
 
 When you have marked out all the pieces, 
 
126 
 
 Manual Training. 
 
 
 hold the end-piece B upright in the vise, 
 the face B being turned towards you. Set A 
 exercise 32. on B, the end IV turned from 
 Dove-taiied y ou > and assure yourself, by care- 
 box - ful inspection, that the lines on 
 
 the one piece correspond exactly with those 
 on the other, so that there shall be no mis- 
 take when you begin to cut the pieces. In- 
 spect the other corners in the same way. 
 Mark the corners that are to go together, I, 
 I ; II, II ; III, III ; IV, IV. Mark the parts 
 that are to be cut out as in Fig. 54. This 
 
 Fir?. <?*-. 
 
 will prevent the mistake, very common with 
 beginners, of cutting out the wrong pieces. 
 
 With the fine back-saw, called " dove-tail 
 saw," make all the cuts on the pin pieces, 
 and then all the cuts on the dove-tail pieces, 
 being careful in both cases to cut close up 
 
Wood - Working. 127 
 
 to the mark, but not beyond it. If this is 
 skillfully done the pieces will fit together 
 without paring. Then, laying the pieces on 
 a clean board on your bench, cut out the 
 waste-pieces as in the last exercise. 
 
 The points to be specially attended to are : 
 
 Not to cut a wrong piece. 
 
 Not to cut beyond the mark. 
 
 Not to drive the chisel too far perpendicu- 
 larly before making an oblique cut (Fig. 51) 
 
 Not to cut quite through from one side, 
 but to work from both alternately. 
 
 Not to let the corners of the chisel cut 
 into the sides of the pins. 
 
 Not to drive the pieces violently together 
 if they fit tight. 
 
 When the pieces are put together, every 
 joint should be perfectly close, the ends of 
 each piece should come just even or " flush" 
 with the surface of the next, and the box 
 should be perfectly square at all its corners, 
 perfectly free from winding, and exactly of 
 the proposed dimensions. 
 
 [The glue required for the next lesson should be partly 
 prepared during this lesson.] 
 
Lessor XVTII. 
 
 Gluing. 
 
 A BOX properly dove-tailed together would 
 preserve its shape without glue or any 
 other joining material, unless subjected to con- 
 siderable strain. To hold it in proper shape 
 in spite of strains it must be fastened with 
 glue ; and when properly glued it is impos- 
 sible to get it apart without breaking, except 
 by soaking it in water. 
 
 To prepare glue, soak it over-night in 
 enough cold water to cover it, and in the 
 morning cook it gently for an hour or two 
 in the inner bowl of the glue-pot, stirring it 
 from time to time, and taking care that the 
 water in the outer pot does not boil away 
 and allow the glue to burn. When ready for 
 use, the glue, if thoroughly hot, will flow 
 from a stick or brush in a smooth thread, 
 running off pretty freely, but not in drops. 
 It is very important that it should be of 
 
 128 
 
Wood - Working. 129 
 
 just the right consistency. If too thin, it 
 will soak into the wood without acting as a 
 cement. If too thick, and especially if cold, 
 it will make a jelly-like layer over the wood, 
 preventing the pieces from coming in contact. 
 It is not easy to describe the proper condition 
 of the glue, but when you have seen it a 
 few times you will have no difficulty in 
 recognizing it. It may be remarked that the 
 beginner is in general disposed to use it too 
 thick rather than too thin ; at the same time 
 it is unmistakably too thin, if it falls from 
 the brush in drops with the sound of dripping 
 water. 
 
 After getting the glue of the proper consist- 
 ency it is equally important to have it 
 thoroughly hot when used. It is worse than 
 useless to allow yourself to be led by impa- 
 tience into using the glue before it is just 
 right. Not only must the glue be hot, but 
 the pieces to which it is to be applied must 
 be heated till they are hot to the touch ; 
 and the room in which the gluing is done 
 must be warm and free from draughts. No 
 open window must be allowed near work 
 
130 Manual Training. 
 
 that is being glued (except in the case of 
 veneering, when heat is supplied in another 
 way). Lastly, the work of gluing must be 
 done quickly, so that the wood and the glue 
 shall have no time to chill, and as much of 
 the glue as possible must be driven out from 
 between the pieces by forcing them close 
 together. 
 
 Bearing these particulars in mind you may 
 now proceed to glue your box together. First 
 put it together without glue. Set two hand- 
 
 exercise 33. screws to a width equal to the 
 Setting width of the box. The proper 
 
 hand-screws. wa y to open or close a hand- 
 screw, when it requires much change, is to 
 take one of the screw-handles in each hand, 
 hold it with the open jaws towards your face, 
 and then revolve one hand round the other, 
 making the jaws turn quickly between your 
 arms, and being careful of course that they do 
 not hit your face as they turn. After a little 
 practice this becomes very easy, even with 
 rather large screws. After you have thus 
 turned the screw to about the right width, 
 place it, points downward, on the box, which 
 
Wood - Working. 
 
 131 
 
 is resting on the bench, move it along near 
 to one end, but not so near as to rest on the 
 dove-tails, and turn the front screw A, Fig. 55, 
 
 till the jaws touch at the edge C D. Then turn 
 the back screw B, till they take a firm hold 
 at both edges. Considerable care is required in 
 this operation, to avoid putting too much press- 
 
132 
 
 Manual Training. 
 
 ure on one part and too little on another. If 
 you tighten the front screw A too much, the 
 pressure on the back edge will be excessive 
 when you come to screw up the hinder one. 
 If you do not tighten it enough, the screw 
 will bite at the point and not at the back. 
 If you find your first attempt unsuccessful, 
 you must always loosen the back screw before 
 trying to readjust the front one. When the 
 adjustment is right, the jaws should appear 
 exactly parallel when the screws are well 
 tightened, and should press equally on point 
 
 scrrz} 
 
 CTL 
 
 \i 
 
 mmma^^ 
 
 FisCf 36 
 
 sscin^ 
 
 and heel. Either of the positions in Fig. 56 
 is faulty, and tends to break some of the dove- 
 tails, while leaving others open at the joints. 
 
 Having set one screw at each end so that 
 it shall press properly, closing all the joints 
 and leaving the box in good shape, loosen 
 
Wood - Working. 13; 
 
 the back screws a little and the front screws 
 still less, only just enough to allow the 
 hand-screws to be taken off easily, and lay 
 them on the bench ready for use. See that 
 the corners of the box are conspicuously 
 numbered so that you can quickly place 
 them together again in their proper order. 
 Place them in front of a fire, or in an oven, 
 or on top of a stove. If the last, they must, 
 if the stove is very hot, be raised a little 
 from the top on small pieces of wood, to 
 prevent them from burning, and in either 
 case should be turned from time to time. 
 When they are well warmed, lay them one 
 on top of another on your bench, in the 
 order in which they are numbered, and, with 
 the least possible loss of time apply the glue. 
 This may be applied with a brush of suitable 
 size, in the following way. First pass the 
 brush crosswise over the wide sides of the 
 pins, not letting the glue run over the ends 
 or backs; enough glue will run in on the 
 inclined faces of the pins, or a little may 
 be rubbed in there with the end of the 
 brush. Next pass the brush crosswise over the 
 
134 Manual Training. 
 
 inside faces of the dove-tails, allowing a little 
 
 to run inside, but none on the ends or the 
 
 ir^„«,~ o„ out side faces. When the two 
 
 Exercise 34. 
 
 pieces are driven together, every 
 surface of contact will have glue 
 on it, and all the outside surfaces will be 
 clean. Put them together quickly, driving 
 them close with the mallet or hammer (strik- 
 ing on a strip of wood so as not to bruise 
 them), apply the hand-screws, and tighten 
 them up as they were before. A good deal 
 of glue will be forced out of the joints. 
 This must not be allowed to dry on the 
 wood, as it is very hard to get it off when 
 it is dry. Scrape off most of it with a chisel, 
 without scratching the wood, and wash off 
 the rest with a piece of clean rag or a bunch 
 of shavings wet with hot water. 
 
 As success in this, as in all gluing opera- 
 tions, depends greatly on quickness, it will be 
 well, the first time, to rehearse all the move- 
 ments with a dry brush without glue, and 
 not apply the glue till you are sure you can 
 perform all the movements rapidly and 
 without confusion. 
 
Wood - Working. 135 
 
 If the joints are good and the screws prop- 
 erly applied, the box will preserve its shape. 
 As there is always, however, some risk of dis- 
 torting it, it is best to examine it carefully 
 as soon as it is screwed up. The hand-screAvs 
 will prevent you from applying a square,, out- 
 side, and you will only be able to apply a 
 small one inside, or to test the squareness by 
 the eye, or by measuring the two diagonals, 
 which ought to be equal. The winding may 
 be tested by setting fhe box on your bench. 
 Any error in squareness or winding must be 
 corrected by loosening the screws, and apply- 
 ing a suitable pressure at once, before the 
 glue sets. After this the screws are to be 
 carefully tightened again, and must not be 
 disturbed for three or four hours, when the 
 glue will be quite dry. 
 
Lesson XIX. 
 
 Finishing a Dove-Tailed Box. 
 
 THE box being glued together is now to 
 have the bottom glued on, the top 
 fastened on with hinges, and the surfaces all 
 finished up true and smooth. 
 
 To put on the bottom you must plane up 
 the bottom edges square, smooth, and free 
 from winding. Use the square and the 
 smoothing-plane, and be very careful not to 
 splinter the edges. There is much danger of 
 doing this at the corners. The front and 
 back overlap the ends, so that, while in 
 running the plane along the edge of the front 
 or back you will be planing lengthwise of 
 the grain, at the beginning and end of the 
 stroke you will run crosswise over the end- 
 pieces, and will be very likely to splinter 
 them at the edge. In the same way, in 
 planing along the end-pieces you will be 
 likely to splinter the front and back. The 
 
 130 
 
Wood- Working. 137 
 
 way to avoid this is, in the first place, to 
 have the plane set fine, and in the next, to 
 change the course of the plane at the corners, 
 so as to work obliquely instead of going 
 square across the grain of either piece. 
 
 When you have planed the lower edges 
 true you may glue the bottom on, taking the 
 same precautions as in the last exercise as to 
 the condition of the glue, the heating of the 
 surfaces, the proper manner of applying the 
 hand-screw, and the cleaning off of the glue 
 that flows out. In cases like this, where it 
 is not easy to get at the glue to clean it off, 
 it may be prevented from sticking by rubbing 
 the surface with soap or wax, being very 
 careful to get none on the surfaces which are 
 to be glued together. Moreover, as you can- 
 not easily get at the inside of the box to 
 finish it up after it is put together, all the 
 surfaces must be made smooth and clean 
 before it is glued. 
 
 When the glue is dry you may finish the 
 upper edges as you have already finished the 
 lower ones, and make the box of the same 
 height all round, if it is not exactly so 
 already. 
 
138 Manual Training. 
 
 Next, finish up the sides, using as before 
 a sharp smoothing-plane. Hold the box in 
 the vise, with one end up, and plane off' 
 first the ends of the bottom. In doing this 
 you are planing " end- wood," or cutting across 
 the ends of the fibers, and must be very 
 careful not to splinter the wood at the end 
 of the stroke. To avoid this you must let 
 exercise 35. the stroke extend only half- 
 pianing wa y across the end, and when 
 
 end-wood. y 0U have thus cut down one 
 corner of the bottom nearly enough, turn 
 the box round in the vise and plane the 
 other corner, never letting your plane run 
 clear out to the edge. Plane down the other 
 end of the bottom in the same way. As 
 this work is rather hard, you had better, if 
 there is much more than about an eighth 
 of an inch to take off, cut off most of it 
 with the back-saw. After planing off the 
 ends of the bottom, plane off the sides of the 
 same. The reason for not planing the sides 
 first is, that if you should, in spite of your 
 care, splinter them a little while planing the 
 ends, the defects thus caused could be planed 
 
Wood - Working. 139 
 
 out. If there is much wood to be taken off 
 here, use the jack-plane first, and finish with 
 the smoothing-plane. Here also you must be 
 careful to avoid splintering, not the bottom, 
 but the pins of the end-pieces. Lastly, plane 
 up the four sides with the smoothing-plane, 
 working from the corners inwards, and never 
 letting the plane run out. Test for square- 
 ness, straightness, and winding as you work, 
 and set the plane very sharp and fine for 
 the finishing strokes. 
 
 If there is any glue on the inside, it can 
 be best removed with a chisel when it has 
 got quite hard, provided you have soaped or 
 waxed the surface so that it cannot stick. 
 
Lesson XX. 
 
 Fitting Hinges. 
 
 (s 
 
 o 
 
 YOU are now ready to put hinges on your 
 box. Fig. 57 shows a plan and an end 
 elevation of a hinge. When applied to the 
 box the upper half of the hinge 
 is to be sunk into the top, and 
 the lower half into the edge of 
 the back, and both are to be 
 fastened on with screws. Lay the 
 two hinges on the edge of the 
 box where you intend to fasten 
 them, as in Fig. 58, not at the 
 ends, nor yet too near the middle. 
 Mark the length of the hinges on 
 the edge, and with the square 
 draw fine pencil-lines across. Next mark on 
 the edge the width the hinges are to occupy. 
 This is not the full width of the hinges, but 
 only the distance from the center of the pin 
 to the edge of the hinge, because, when the 
 
 140 
 
 57., 
 
Wood - Working. 
 
 141 
 
 hinge is fastened on, it and the box should 
 appear as in Fig. 59, the center of the pin 
 falling exactly at the 
 corners of the two 
 pieces. With the 
 gauge set to this 
 width, mark the 
 width of the hinge, 
 making only a light 
 scratch, and extend- 
 ing it only the length 
 of the hinge. Hold 
 the top against the 
 
 Fly.Jtf. 
 
 back, as in Fig. 58, without the hinges, and 
 
 transfer the four cross-marks to the top, 
 
 and then, with the 
 
 square, mark the 
 length of the hinges, 
 and with the gauge 
 mark their width, 
 just as on the edge. 
 Next, mark the 
 depth to which the hinges are to be sunk. 
 In order that they may let the top close 
 properly, they must be let in exactly half 
 
 
142 Manual Training. 
 
 their thickness into each part of the box. 
 If you place your gauge, therefore, against 
 the face A B, Fig. 57, and set it so that the 
 point reaches exactly to the middle of the 
 pin, this will show how deep the hinge is to 
 be let in. With the gauge thus set mark 
 the back, and the edge of the top. 
 
 All being properly marked out, lay the top 
 
 on your bench, and cut out the pieces to 
 
 exercise 36. make room for the hinges. This 
 
 Fittin operation is exactly the same as 
 
 hinges. that of cutting a mortise, except 
 
 that the cut is a very shallow one, and 
 
 you will have to be careful not to go too 
 
 deep. 
 
 Place the chisel near one end of the cut 
 and drive it in, nearly to the depth marked. 
 Make a series of similar cuts about ¥' apart 
 along the length of the hinge. This breaks 
 up the wood so that, holding the box in the 
 vise, you can easily, by cutting across the 
 grain, pare away the wood down to the mark. 
 Then, laying the piece on the bench again, 
 finish cutting away the little that has been 
 left on the three sides of the spaces, till the 
 
Wood - Working. 143 
 
 hinges exactly fit. Fit them into the top in 
 the same way. 
 
 Now put the hinges in place, without screws, 
 lay the top on, and see whether they are let 
 in deep enough. If not, carefully cut away 
 enough wood to let them into their proper 
 places. If you should happen to cut away 
 too much (which you ought not to do) you 
 must glue a piece of card-board or shaving 
 under the hinge to bring it up. Also, open 
 the top, put the hinges in place, as in Fig. 58, 
 and see whether the back edge of the top 
 just touches the edge of the back all along. 
 If all these adjustments are correctly made, 
 you may make a small hole with an awl 
 exactly in the middle of each of the holes 
 in the hinges, and put in the screws with 
 your small screw-driver, being careful, before 
 using any screw on the top, to assure yourself 
 that it is not so long as to go through. 
 
 With all the care you can take in putting 
 on hinges, several faults are likely to occur. 
 
 1. If the hinges are not let in deep enough 
 the top will not shut close at the back. 
 
 2. If they are let in too deep, the top will 
 
144 Manual Training. 
 
 not close at the front, or, if it is forced shut, 
 a strain will be thrown on the hinges, and the 
 screws will be pulled out. 
 
 3. If the space cut out is too narrow, the 
 hinges will stand out too far, giving an ugly 
 appearance, and leaving an unnecessary gap 
 between the top and the back when the box 
 is opened. 
 
 4. If too wide a space is cut out, letting 
 the hinges in beyond the center of the pin, 
 the corner of the top will press against the 
 corner of the back as soon as the top begins 
 to rise, and opening the top will force off 
 the hinges. 
 
 5. If the width allowed for one hinge is 
 greater than that allowed for the other, the 
 top will not shut down square over the box, 
 but will stand out, at the front, more on one 
 side than on the other. 
 
 The cause of any of these faults being 
 understood, it is easy to apply the remedy. 
 Taking out the screws, you must set the 
 hinges deeper, or put something under them, 
 or set one or both farther in or farther out. 
 Either of the above changes will oblige you 
 
Wood - Working. 145 
 
 to make new holes for the screws, so that 
 they may push the hinges in the proper 
 • direction. Before doing this, the old holes 
 must be plugged up with small sticks whit- 
 tled to the proper size and fastened in with 
 glue. 
 
 After the top is hinged at one edge, the 
 other three edges are to be finished, the ends 
 first and then the front, with the same pre- 
 cautions that were used in finishing the 
 bottom. 
 
 A small brass hook-and-eye may be put 
 on, to keep the box shut. This operation 
 will need no explanation. 
 
Lesson XXI. 
 
 Making a paneled Door. — Isometric 
 
 Drawing. 
 
 IN Lesson XIII you planed up the sides of 
 your box and put them away; and when 
 you took them out again you found that 
 they had shrunk in width though not in 
 length, and you measured the amount of 
 the shrinkage. You found also that some 
 of the pieces had checked, and some had 
 warped. When large pieces of wood are used, 
 shrinkage, warping, and checking give rise to 
 serious trouble. Thus, in a door 30 inches 
 wide shrinkage may amount to half an inch 
 or more, and warping to an inch, and long 
 and wide cracks are almost sure to appear. 
 Moreover, the shrinking does not take place 
 once for all, and then come to an end, but 
 the wood having once shrunk may , swell 
 again, and shrink again, and so on repeatedly. 
 Doors that are exposed to the dry air of 
 
 146 
 
Wood - Working. 
 
 147 
 
 houses which are heated in winter become 
 very loose, but sometimes swell up in summer 
 so much as to stick. The shrinkage will be 
 less if the wood has been thoroughly seasoned, 
 but the swelling in damp weather can hardly 
 be prevented. 
 
 never 
 
 made 
 
 m one 
 
 Doors are therefore 
 piece, but are always 
 constructed of parts, 
 so arranged as to 
 reduce as much as 
 possible the bad 
 effects of these 
 changes. There are 
 two principal meth- 
 ods of construction 
 by which this is ac- 
 complished. The first 
 is the battened door 
 and the second the 
 paneled door. The 
 battened door is made 
 of strips, Fig. 60, 
 running lengthwise of the door and held 
 together by cross-strips or battens, fastened 
 
 « e • • #~l 
 
 : ■* : : 
 
 F-Cg.60 
 
148 Manual Training. 
 
 on with screws or nails. As the wood shrinks 
 only in width and not in length, the shrinking 
 of the strips will only cause the edges to 
 
 separate a little, and 
 
 . ** will produce scarcely 
 
 ""~" any change in the 
 
 c==x==ir== rx==i==3 width of the door. 
 
 .Fig. 61 The warping, also, in 
 
 this case, will be 
 small in amount. While a piece the whole 
 width of the door might warp, as at a, Fig. 
 
 61, a battened door would appear as at b. 
 The separating of the strips, leaving cracks 
 in the door, is prevented by using " matched " 
 boards, or "tongue and groove" joints, as 
 shown in the plan Fig. 60, or on a larger 
 scale in Fig. 
 
 62. In this ~ --j , 
 
 case the £_ ^ _^ 
 
 tongues slip Fvg.62. 
 
 partly out 
 
 of the grooves when the wood shrinks, 
 but do not leave the joints open. This 
 construction is simple and effective, and is 
 much used where fine workmanship and 
 
Wood - Working. 
 
 149 
 
 handsome appearance are not important, 
 as in the doors of barns and outhouses. 
 For dwelling-houses and in cabinet-work the 
 paneled door is used. This is a frame-work 
 mortised to- 
 
 gether 
 
 < /5" - 
 
 at the 
 corners, and 
 grooved all 
 round on the 
 inner edge to 
 receive a thin 
 piece called the 
 panel,as shown 
 in Fig. 63. The 
 shrinking of 
 the panel only 
 causes it to 
 slip in the 
 groove. As the 
 cross-pieces at 
 the top and 
 bottom under- 
 go no change in length, the only altera- 
 tion in width that the door will suffer is 
 the slight one due to the shrinking in the 
 
 r 
 
 
 , 1 
 
 
 .:::] 
 
 
 t:::; 
 
 A 
 
 ::: i 
 
 
 & 
 
 v--- 
 
150 Manual Training. 
 
 width of the two upright pieces. We will 
 proceed to make such a door from the 
 figured sketch, in which A shows the eleva- 
 tion, B the plan, and G a section on the 
 line ah. 
 
 The first step is to get out the material. 
 This consists of the top and bottom pieces, 
 called the rails, the upright sides, called 
 stiles, and the thin central piece or panel. 
 Take the dimensions of these from the 
 drawing, and mark them out on boards of 
 the proper thickness, being careful to allow 
 for the saw-kerf and for the material which 
 will be wasted in planing up the pieces to 
 the true shape and dimensions. Furthermore, 
 as the mortises will be very near the ends 
 of the stiles, the latter may be cut li" 
 longer than the door, so that they may 
 project f" at each end, as in the Figure, 
 and the tenon-pieces, or rails, may be made 
 \" longer than the width of the door, so 
 that the tenons may project ¥' beyond the 
 stiles till all is finished, after which the 
 projecting parts can be cut off. The rails, 
 therefore, will be cut out 16" long and 
 the stiles 21£" long. 
 
Wood - Working. 
 
 151 
 
 In laying out the frame, try, as in Lesson 
 VIII. to avoid knots and cracks, and at the 
 same time to waste as little wood as possible. 
 The four pieces may be laid out in one 
 way or another, according to the character 
 of the wood from which they are to be 
 cut. If the board were much checked at 
 the end, as in Fig. 64, you should cut off 
 
 just enough to remove the short cracks, and 
 might then lay out the work so that the 
 long cracks which remain should lie in 
 
 a 
 
 
 ap- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 a. 
 
 
 
 
 
 JFlj. 05. 
 
 the waste-wood left at the ends of the short 
 pieces. If there were a bad knot at a, Fig. 
 65, this might be made to fall in the waste- 
 
152 Manual Training. 
 
 wood between the rails and the stiles; and so 
 on, according to the position and character 
 of the defects. 
 
 The frame-pieces being cut out, they are 
 to be finished to exact dimensions and true 
 surfaces as in previous lessons. The joints 
 are then to be marked out with gauge, 
 square, and pencil, making all gauge and 
 square marks from the front surface and 
 inner edge of the pieces, which must be 
 marked to distinguish them. 
 
 The laying out of the joint in this exer- 
 cise is complicated by two circumstances. 
 The first of these is that the tenon must 
 be made of less width than the full width 
 of the rail, in order that the mortise may 
 not run out quite to the end of the stile. 
 The second is, that a groove is to be cut 
 in the inner edge of the four pieces, and 
 this groove, unless a special arrangement is 
 made to prevent it, will leave a hole be- 
 tween the end of the stile and the shoulder 
 of the mortise, as shown in the sketch of 
 one joint at a, Fig. 66. To prevent this, 
 a projecting stud, or tooth, is left on the 
 
Wood - Working. 
 
 153 
 
 tenon-piece, as shown in plan and elevation 
 at a and b, Fig. 67. 
 
 This construction, and the method of laying 
 it out, may be better 
 understood by the help 
 of another kind of draw- ' 
 ing called Isometric Pro- 
 jection, the elements of 
 which can be easily understood. 
 
 The elevations and plans that we have 
 hitherto used are projections on planes 
 
 a 
 
 •Fig- 
 
 d 
 
 Cb 
 
 Tt 9 . e7. 
 
 parallel to the 
 front, bottom, 
 and sides of 
 the object; that 
 is to say, they 
 are views taken 
 from a point 
 at a great dis- 
 tance in front 
 of the object, 
 above it, or to 
 one side of it. 
 
 The eye being at a very great distance from 
 the object, if a plane be placed parallel to 
 
154 
 
 Manual Training. 
 
 the face of the object, the lines drawn from 
 all points of the object to the eye are per- 
 pendicular to the plane. If lines are thus 
 drawn from all points on the edges and 
 other lines of the object, they cut the plane 
 in a number of lines which make up what 
 is called the projection of the object. The 
 elevations and plan already drawn are such 
 projections, and are called 
 right projections. If we take 
 our point of view not exactly 
 in front of the object, but a 
 little to one side, or if, which 
 is the same thing, we turn 
 the object so that its front 
 is not parallel to the plane 
 of projection, the appearance 
 of the object is changed, and 
 the projection is called an 
 oblique projection. The front 
 of the object appears nar- 
 rower, and the side, which was 
 invisible before, comes into view. Suppose, 
 for instance, the object were a cube, of which 
 the plan is A, Fig. 68. Then, on the plane 
 
 Fzq.6S. 
 
Wood - Working. 
 
 155 
 
 of projection, the front of it appears as a 
 square, in the elevation B, and the side a is 
 not seen at all in this elevation. But, if the 
 cube be turned round to the position C, Fig. 
 69, the front face will 
 appear narrowed, or 
 " foreshortened " to the 
 width be, and the right- 
 hand face will come into 
 view and will have the 
 apparent breadth c d. 
 The elevation, therefore, 
 will now present the 
 appearance shown in D, 
 Fig. 69, where b ef g 
 represents one of the 
 visible faces of the cube, 
 c d hf another, and e d 
 h i and b e i g the two 
 invisible or rear faces. 
 If we take the point of 
 
 view still fort her to the right, or turn the 
 object farther round, the front becomes ap- 
 parently narrower, the right face wider, and 
 the two appear presently of equal width. 
 
156 
 
 Manual Training. 
 
 This happens when the square C, Fig. 69, has 
 been turned so that its diagonal is perpendic- 
 ular to the plane of projection, as at E, Fig. 
 
 70. The elevation then 
 appears as at F, in 
 which a b and c d rep- 
 resent the faces of 
 the cube, and appear 
 of equal width. If, 
 now, we take our point 
 of view not only to 
 the right of the object, 
 but also higher, the 
 vertical lines will be 
 foreshortened also, the 
 upper surface will come 
 into view, and the cube 
 will appear as in Fig. 
 
 71. If the point of 
 view be taken still 
 higher, the edge P Q 
 
 will be made to appear of the same length 
 as P R and P S, Fig. 72. All dimensions 
 which are parallel to either edge are then 
 equally foreshortened, and the drawing is 
 
 Tig<70 
 
Wood - Working. 
 
 157 
 
 Q 
 
 called an isometric drawing or isometric pro- 
 jection. The dotted lines in Fig. 72 show 
 the edges of the cube that are concealed. 
 The drawing of a cube 
 on this system is thus 
 seen to be extremely 
 simple : that of a body 
 with unequal dimen- 
 sions is not difficult, 
 provided its faces are 
 perpendicular to each 
 other. Thus, if it is 
 required to represent a body of this shape 
 
 whose length, breadth, 
 and thickness are re- 
 spectively 3", 2", and 
 1", we have only to 
 draw three lines P Q, 
 P R, and P S, Fig. 73, 
 making equal angles 
 with each other, and 
 to lay off on the one 
 three units of length, 
 on the second two equal units, and on the 
 third one of the same units, and complete 
 
151 
 
 Manual Training. 
 
 the drawing as in the figure. The drawing 
 of the three lines, or " axes " P Q, P R, 
 and PS is easily accomplished, as in Fig. 74. 
 
 tt? 73. q 
 
 Draw a circle with any radius. From the 
 highest point on the circumference lay off 
 the radius six times, and through the alternate 
 points draw the three axes. To secure accuracy 
 the radius should be taken at least as long 
 as the longest line in the drawing. 
 
 It will be well, now, to make a few iso- 
 metric drawings of simple objects, such as the 
 box of Lesson XX., the through mortise of 
 Lesson XV, and the end dove-tail of Lesson 
 XVI., to accustom the eye to the " reading " of 
 
Wood - Working. 
 
 159 
 
 such drawings. It will be readily seen by 
 those who understand ordinary perspective 
 drawings, that 
 isometric draw- 
 ings differ from 
 these only in 
 giving the true 
 dimensions of the 
 remote as well 
 as of those of 
 the near parts, 
 while perspective 
 drawings make 
 the parts that 
 are farther away 
 appear smaller, and therefore a scale cannot 
 be applied to them. 
 
 Ti,y. 74-. 
 
Lesson XXII. 
 
 Paneled Door Continued. 
 
 FIG. 75 is an isometric drawing of a part 
 of one of the stiles of the door, showing 
 the mortise and the groove, and Fig. 76 is a 
 
 similar drawing of the end of the rail or tenon- 
 piece, tnrned round. so that the shoulder A B 
 is towards you, and the tenon C and the stud 
 D are visible. From these drawings you will 
 
 160 
 
Wood - Working. 
 
 161 
 
 be able to understand the way . of marking 
 out this joint. 
 
 As the tenons are to project half an inch 
 beyond the stiles, and as these are 2£" wide, 
 
 Tvy.7% 
 
 a mark is to be made first, all around each 
 rail 3" from the end, and a second mark 
 10" from this, which will be 3" from the 
 other end. These are the marks at A B, Fig. 
 76, which show the shoulder of the tenon. 
 
162 Manual Training. 
 
 They should be interrupted on the outer edge 
 
 at the middle, as at D, so as to prevent the 
 
 exercise 37. mistake of cutting across the 
 
 The^^led Stud when y° u be g in t0 Saw- 
 Door. Next the thickness of the tenon 
 is to be marked with the gauge on the edges 
 and ends of the rails as at E, always work- 
 ing from the front face. Then the breadth of 
 the tenon is to be marked by drawing, with the 
 gauge, lines i" and 2" from the inner edge, 
 being careful not to extend them beyond the 
 cross lines at D and F. Lastly, the length 
 of the stud D is to be marked with the 
 square, and its breadth with the gauge. The 
 marking will then appear as in Fig. 77. The 
 marking out of the mortise is simpler, and 
 is shown in Fig. 78. Light marks P Q may 
 be made 3±" from the ends of the stiles, 
 which will be 15" apart, and will indicate 
 the positions of the inner edges of the rails, 
 or the inside length of the frame. Marks R 
 S 2¥' from these will indicate the outside 
 length of the frame. These should both be 
 drawn light, as no cutting is to be done on 
 either of them. They may indeed be omitted, 
 
Wood - Working. 
 
 163 
 
 though they serve as a useful check to pre- 
 vent mistakes in 
 laying out the 
 rest. Marks on 
 the inner and 
 outer edges, \" 
 and 2" from P Q 
 will show the 
 length of the 
 mortise; and 
 gauge marks 
 with the gauge 
 set exactly as in 
 drawing A B, 
 Fig. 77, and meas- 
 ured from the 
 front face, will 
 show the width 
 of the mortise. 
 The marking will 
 appear as in Fig. 78, in which the dotted 
 lines are on the rear faces. The groove for 
 the panel is not shown in these figures. 
 It appears in Fig. 75 ; and the method of 
 marking it out and cutting it will be shown 
 in the next Lesson. 
 
 Tig. 7*. 
 
164 Manual Training. 
 
 The marking being now finished, the cut- 
 ting out proceeds as follows : With the back- 
 saw cut first the lines A B y Fig. 77, then 
 the lines C D and E F, observing that C D 
 must not be cut so deep as E F } in order 
 to leave the stud L B uninjured. Next 
 make the cross-cuts G H, I J, I K, and / K, 
 being careful not to cut too deep. The side 
 pieces will then fall off, leaving the tenon 
 complete, except the stud L B. The stud is 
 still of the same thickness as the tenon, and 
 must be pared down to the proper thickness 
 with the chisel, by taking off I" from its 
 back face, as shown in Fig. 77 and in Fig. 
 67 a. The tenon, also, will need some paring, 
 if you have not cut exactly to the marks 
 with the saw ; but you must not in any case 
 cut beyond the middle of the mark. 
 
 The mortise may be cut with the center- 
 bit and chisel in the same way as in Lesson 
 XV., page 89, or with the chisel alone. The 
 breadth of the mortise being small and its 
 depth considerable, the bit will be apt to mar 
 the sides of the cut, unless it is held exactly 
 perpendicular to the face of the piece and 
 
Wood - Working. 
 
 165 
 
 kept very steady. For this reason, and for 
 the sake of practicing the other method, we 
 will cut out this mortise with the chisel 
 alone. 
 
 Lay the piece on your bench, with the 
 edge up. To steady it, you may first lay a 
 
 hand-screw on the bench, then set the piece 
 in it and tighten the screw, as in Fig. 79. 
 With alternate perpendicular and oblique 
 
166 Manual Training. 
 
 cuts, as described on page 116, cut the mor- 
 tise half-way through the piece. Then turn 
 the piece over and cut in the same way 
 from the other side. When the two cuts 
 meet, the four surfaces are to be pared to 
 the marks, using a wide chisel for the sides, 
 and being careful not to cut away anywhere 
 more than half the width of each mark. 
 If the paring of both pieces has been prop- 
 erly done, the tenon will fit closely in the 
 mortise. If it fits so tightly that there is 
 danger of splitting the mortise-piece, it must 
 be carefully pared away a little more. The 
 tenon cannot be driven quite " home," being 
 stopped by the stud. Room will be made 
 for this by cutting the groove, which is 
 the next operation. 
 
Lesson XXIII. 
 
 The Plow. — Fitting a Panel. 
 
 THE tool used for this purpose is a 
 kind of plane called a plow. Its mode 
 of action will be understood after an examina- 
 tion of the accompanying Figure and of 
 the tool itself. 
 
 The iron d, Fig. 80, cuts the groove. The 
 "fence" b determines the distance of the 
 groove from the face of the piece. It can 
 be set at any distance from the iron by 
 means of the screws c. The stop a, which 
 can be raised or lowered by the screw e, 
 regulates the depth of the cut. For this 
 exercise it must be set at \" , and the fence 
 must be set so that the groove shall be \" 
 from the face of the frame. Before venturing 
 to use the plow on your frame, you should 
 try it on a waste-piece, and assure yourself 
 that you can cut a smooth, clean groove at 
 the proper distance from the face of the 
 
 167 
 
168 Manual Training. 
 
 frame and to the required depth. The plow 
 has an assortment of irons, or "bits/' of 
 
 tty. SO. 
 
 different sizes for cutting grooves of different 
 widths. For this exercise the f" iron will be 
 exercise 38. used. Remember that the plow 
 Grooving. i s to be placed against the front 
 surface of each piece. If this precaution is 
 neglected, the grooves in the several pieces will 
 probably not match at the corners, and the 
 panel cannot be got in. The grooves must 
 not be planed beyond the depth indicated, 
 
Wood - Working. 169 
 
 for if cut too deep they will weaken the 
 pieces too much. The grooves being cut, the 
 studs which have been left to fill them 
 will go into their places, and all the joints 
 should fit quite close. If too much wood 
 has been left anywhere it may be carefully 
 pared away; if too much has been cut off 
 there is no remedy. 
 
 To prepare the panel, first plane it to 
 the proper thickness, and finish it with the 
 smoothing-plane. Then plane two edges 
 straight and perpendicular to each other, 
 being careful, in planing the end, to avoid 
 splintering, as directed in Lesson XIX., page 
 138. Then cut the piece to the proper 
 length and breadth, remembering that these 
 are not the length and breadth of the in- 
 side of the panel, but 1" more, on account 
 of the depth of the groove. 
 
 The panel is next to be fitted to the 
 groove by chamfering. Mark the width of 
 the chamfer (1") all round the face with a 
 lead-pencil, or very lightly with the gauge, 
 and the depth (^") on the edge in the same 
 way. Lay the piece on the bench, its edge 
 
170 
 
 Manual Training. 
 
 ScaZe y /z. 
 
 being just even with the edge of the bench, 
 fasten it down with a hand-screw, and plane 
 the chamfer carefully to the mark all round, 
 exercise 39. again being careful to avoid 
 Fitting a panel, splintering. If this is properly 
 done, the panel will have a thickness of f " at 
 a distance of half an inch from the edge, and 
 will just fit in 
 the groove as 
 shown in Fig. 81. 
 In this Figure, 
 the shading, 
 which has been 
 introduced once 
 
 before in Fig. 63, c, indicates a cross-section, 
 fine ruled lines being generally used for 
 metal, and somewhat coarser free-hand lines 
 for wood. Do not drive the panel in if it 
 fits tight, but ease it carefully till it enters 
 freely without looseness. The flat side is to 
 be turned towards the front of the frame. 
 
 The frame of the door has been made 
 thicker than it ought to be, in order to lessen 
 the risk of splitting the stiles while making 
 the mortises. It may now be taken apart and 
 
 Ti 9 . M. 
 
Wood - Working. 171 
 
 finished to a proper thickness. This is not 
 the course that a skilled workman would take, 
 nor that which you will follow hereafter in 
 such cases. Setting your gauge at 1", make a 
 mark on both edges of each piece at that 
 distance from the front. Then, setting it at 
 1 T V'> make a second mark at this distance 
 from the front. Plane the faces exactly to 
 these marks. The thickness of the frame will 
 then be reduced to lyV'j an( ^ the g ro °ve will 
 be \", from the front, and T 5 g" from the back, 
 the latter distance being left larger because 
 the chamfer brings the back surface of the 
 panel nearer to the surface of the frame than 
 the front, as shown in Fig. 81. 
 
LESSOR XXIV. 
 
 Chamfering. — Sand-Paper. — Shellac. 
 
 THE door may now be glued together and 
 afterwards finished up with the smooth- 
 ing-plane, or the front inner edges of the 
 frame may be chamfered first. Fig. 82 shows 
 how the chamfer is to be laid out. The line 
 A B is drawn with a sharp pencil on the 
 front of each piece, at a distance of T %" from 
 the inner edge, and the line C D on this 
 inner edge at the same distance from the front. 
 The pencil is used in preference to the gauge, 
 because, unless the latter is used very lightly 
 and skillfully, its mark is apt to show on the 
 finished work. 
 
 The chamfer ma}^ be terminated at each 
 end by a simple inclined cut, as at A and C, 
 Fig. 82, or by an ogee, as at B and D. For 
 the former, mark the point a f" from the 
 inner corner of the frame, A and C one inch 
 from 0, and corresponding points at the 
 
 172 
 
Wood - Working. 
 
 173 
 
 other end of the piece. For the latter, mark 
 a as before, and B and D 14" from 0. 
 
 JFCy. 8Z. 
 
 To cnt the chamfer. First with the bev- 
 eled end. Hold the piece in your vice ; set 
 the chisel near a, the flat side exercise 40. 
 
 towards 0, and make an inclined chamfering a 
 cut extending nearly down to frame, 
 the ruled line, and throwing up a chip. 
 Turning the chisel round, set it about \" be- 
 
174 Manual Training. 
 
 yoncl A or C, and cut out the chip, leaving 
 a notch. Cut again, with the chisel close to 
 a, making as clean a cut as you can, and 
 being very careful not to let the chisel go 
 even a little beyond the ruled line A B, 
 because, if it does so, a mark will be left 
 on the chamfered surface which you cannot 
 remove. Having made such a notch at 
 each end of the chamfer, you may score the 
 edge not quite down to the two marks, and 
 pare it down, making a plane surface inclined 
 to the face. You will find that it is not easy 
 to make this surface perfectly true. The 
 points to be attended to in order to secure 
 good results are : 
 
 1. To keep the chisel very sharp, and in 
 particular, not to let it get in the least degree 
 round on the back. 
 
 2. To give it constantly the sliding move- 
 ment which prevents it from following the 
 grain of the wood. 
 
 3. As you get nearly down to the required 
 depth of the chamfer, to keep the back of 
 the chisel lying quite flat on the surface, so 
 that it shall act as a plane, removing all 
 irregularities. 
 
Wood - Working. 175 
 
 4. To take care, while cutting either the 
 inclined end of the chamfer, or the long 
 plane surface, to make no mark on the other 
 surface, but to make the two surfaces meet 
 in a perfectly sharp and smooth line, perpen- 
 dicular to the edge. 
 
 You see that it is impossible from the 
 nature of the chamfer, to finish it up with 
 the plane, and that it requires, therefore, ex- 
 cellent work with the chisel. If the cham- 
 fer is several feet long, the smoothing-plane 
 can be used in the middle of it, but even 
 then the ends have to be finished with the 
 chisel. Fine sand-paper is sometimes used 
 in finishing up such a surface, a exercise 41. 
 piece of it being held on a block Sand-papering, 
 of wood and rubbed to and fro, taking great 
 care not to allow any rocking motion of the 
 block, as this would give a rounded surface 
 instead of a plane one, nor to leave the paper 
 loose on the block, in which case it will 
 wrap round the corner of the work and pro- 
 duce the same result. Even with the utmost 
 care that can be taken, the sand -paper is 
 almost certain to take off the sharp corners 
 
176 Manual Training. 
 
 that characterize good work, and should not 
 be used, unless, as in this case, a very fine 
 shaving can afterwards be taken off with 
 the smoothing-plane from the adjacent face, 
 to restore the sharpness of the edge. 
 
 The ogee end of the chamfer is more difficult 
 than the plane end. The curved surface to 
 be formed is concave at a, Fig. 83, and convex 
 
 at b. The part 
 a should be cut 
 first. The chisel 
 is set with the 
 handle towards 
 the left in the 
 Figure, and the 
 bevel side towards the wood, a little to the left 
 of a, and a small cut made. Then it is 
 turned with the handle towards the right, 
 the bevel still towards the wood, and the 
 chip cut out. These operations are repeated, 
 gradually widening the cut, till the hollow 
 has the proper size. As the cut is most 
 inclined at the beginning of the hollow and 
 level at the bottom, the handle of the chisel 
 must be depressed as you approach the bot- 
 
Wood - Working. 177 
 
 torn, and care must be taken to prevent the 
 tool from making a mark on the opposite 
 side of the hollow. The convex surface b 
 is cut with the back of the chisel towards 
 the wood, as in cutting the plane surface, 
 and is comparatively easy to form. The 
 entire curved surface, like the plane sur- 
 face of the chamfer, ought to be formed with 
 the chisel alone. If you fail to get it 
 smooth with the chisel, you may use a piece 
 of very fine sand-paper (No. 0) in the fol- 
 lowing way: Prepare a stick, J" x J" — 5". 
 Cut one of the flat faces with your knife 
 or your chisel, to such a curvature that 
 it will nearly fit the hollow, touching at 
 the bottom, but not at the sides. Glue 
 a piece of sand-paper on this, and use it as 
 a file to smooth the hollow. Even with 
 this there is danger of your rounding the 
 surface, and particularly of spoiling the sharp 
 point of junction at c, between the ogee 
 and the straight edge of your piece. You 
 will do best, therefore, to endeavor to avoid 
 the use of sand-paper in such cases as this, re- 
 garding it as the resource of an unskillful 
 
178 Manual Training. 
 
 workman. This, however, is not to be un- 
 derstood as condemning the proper use of 
 it On broad surfaces to give a smooth finish, 
 when there are no corners that are likely 
 to be injured by it. 
 
 The chamfered edges being now finished, 
 you may pass the smoothing-plane, set very 
 fine, once over the inner edge of the pieces of 
 the frame, and over the surfaces of the panel, 
 before gluing them together. The other 
 surfaces can be finished afterwards. 
 
 The panel is not to be glued into its 
 groove, but left free, so that it can shrink 
 without splitting. It will even be best to 
 rub some soap or wax on the corners, to 
 prevent its being accidentally stuck by the 
 glue which will squeeze out of the joints. 
 
 If you have no hand-screws large enough 
 to span the width of the frame, you may 
 proceed, in this and similar cases, as follows : 
 Provide two strips of board, A and B, Fig. 
 84, three or four inches wide, and as long 
 as the inside of your frame. Fasten them 
 down on your bench parallel to each other 
 with hand-screws, so that the door will lie 
 
Wood -Working. 
 
 179 
 
 between them, with about an inch to spare. 
 Lay two pairs of wedges in the open space, 
 as at c and d. By driving the inner wedges 
 outward you can force the stiles exercise 42. 
 up close against the shoulders of Gluillg tlp a 
 the tenons. In putting the frame panel frame, 
 together, insert first two tenons into one stile 
 
 [ 
 
 JFCy.S*-. 
 
 d 
 
 and drive them home; then put in the panel, 
 and lastly put on the other stile and drive it 
 up tight. Put no glue on the inner edge of 
 the tenon, as whatever is put on here will be 
 
180 Manual Training. 
 
 driven out into the grooves and will tend to 
 fasten the panel. Test the frame for square- 
 ness, and correct any error, before allowing 
 the glue to set, by gentle strokes of the ham- 
 mer on the proper corners, protecting the edge 
 with a block of wood when you strike it. 
 
 When all is dry, cut off the projecting ends 
 with the back-saw, being careful not to cut 
 too close, or you will deface the outer edge 
 of the frame. Finish up with the smoothing- 
 plane, observing the precautions indicated in 
 Lesson XIX., page 138, to avoid splintering. 
 
 The surfaces of the door may be finished 
 with shellac varnish, which consists of white 
 shellac dissolved in alcohol. This will pro- 
 tect it in part from the effects of moisture, 
 exercise 43. and will allow it to be cleaned 
 Finishing with fr° m time to time. Sand-paper 
 shellac. all broad surfaces and wipe them 
 clear of dust with a clean rag. Then, in 
 a warm room, free from dust, apply with a 
 flat brush, one coat of varnish, and let it 
 dry. Do not pass the brush over the varnish 
 oftener than is necessary to spread it smooth. 
 Passing the brush over it when it is begin- 
 
Wood - Working. 181 
 
 ing to "set," or dry, breaks up the smooth 
 surface that it would form if left to itself. 
 Do not put on too much at a time; it will 
 flow down the sides and form "runs," which 
 it is hard to remove. When the first coat is 
 thoroughly dry, which should be in a quarter 
 of an hour, it may be rubbed down with 
 fine sand-paper, on a block, taking great care 
 to do no injury to the corners, and a second 
 coat applied. 
 
 If you have determined in advance to 
 finish the work with shellac, it will be best 
 to finish the panel and the inner edges of 
 the frame before gluing. In .this case, how- 
 ever, you must be careful to clean off with 
 warm water any glue that may get on the 
 finished surfaces, before it hardens, as, after 
 it is hard it will take off the varnish with 
 it. All the other surfaces should be finished 
 after gluing. 
 
ALPHABETICAL INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Accidents with tools, prevention of . . . . 3 
 Ax ; See Hatchet 
 
 Awl 143 
 
 Back-saw, use of in cross-cutting and ripping . .115 
 
 Battened door 147 
 
 Bench-dog 79 
 
 Bench-hook 63 
 
 Bevel 123 
 
 Boring 105 
 
 Box, nailing together 52 
 
 Box, dove-tailed 119 
 
 Brace 105 
 
 Brad-awl 143 
 
 Broken lines in drawings, meaning of ... 2 
 
 Cap of plane 60 
 
 Center-bit . . . .' .' . . . . 105 
 
 Chamfering . . . ' . . .' 101, 169, 172 
 Checks ; See Cracking 
 
 Chisel, form of 85 
 
 " grinding . 94 
 
 " paring with ....... 88 
 
 183 
 
184 
 
 Manual Training. 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Chisel, manner of holding 
 
 87, 88, 92, 95 
 
 " sliding movement of 
 
 . 90 
 
 " sharpening 
 
 92 
 
 Cracking of timber 
 
 29, 31 
 
 Cross-cutting with hatchet 
 
 6 
 
 " " " knife .... 
 
 2 
 
 "saw 
 
 23 
 
 Door, battened 
 
 . 147 
 
 " paneled 
 
 149 
 
 " prevention of effect of shrinkage 
 
 . 146 
 
 Dove-tail, end 
 
 111 
 
 Dove-tailed box 
 
 
 Dove-tailing, points to be attended to in 
 
 127 
 
 Dowels 
 
 . 28 
 
 Drawings, scale of; working . . 
 
 38 
 
 " details 
 
 34, 41 
 
 " isometric projection 
 
 153 
 
 • " meaning of broken lines 
 
 2 
 
 " working sketches . 
 
 36 
 
 " sections . . . ' . 
 
 
 " shading to indicate sections . 
 
 170 
 
 End-wood, planing 
 
 
 Fibers of wood . . . . 
 
 15 
 
 Gauge, use of . . . . . 
 
 . 74 
 
 Glue, cleaning off . 
 
 134, 135 
 
 " preparation of 
 
 
 " to prevent from sticking 
 
 137 
 
 Gluing 
 
 
 Gluing ; warming the work for 
 
 133 
 
Index. 
 
 185 
 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Grain of wood, working against the . 
 
 
 66 
 
 Grinding chisels and planes .... 
 
 • 
 
 95 
 
 Hammer, striking with 
 
 
 49 
 
 Hand-screws, adjustment and use of 
 
 130, 
 
 132 
 
 Hatchet or ax, cross-cutting with 
 
 
 6 
 
 " " hewing with .... 
 
 
 13 
 
 " " splitting with . 
 
 
 8 
 
 Hewing with hatchet 
 
 
 13 
 
 Hinges, fitting of 
 
 
 140 
 
 " points to be attended to in 
 
 
 143 
 
 Hook and screw-eye for box . 
 
 
 145 
 
 Isometric drawing 
 
 
 153 
 
 Knife, cross-cutting with 
 
 
 1 
 
 '• splitting with 
 
 
 7 
 
 " whittling or paring with . 
 
 
 11 
 
 Laying out dove-tails 
 
 
 123 
 
 " " end dove-tails .... 
 
 
 112 
 
 " " mortise and tenon 
 
 
 105 
 
 " " paneled door .... 
 
 
 162 
 
 " " work ; avoiding knots and cracks 
 
 . 48 
 
 151 
 
 Mallet 
 
 
 102 
 
 Marking with square 
 
 
 24 
 
 " " gauge 
 
 
 74 
 
 Materials required 
 
 • 
 
 vii 
 
 Metric measures 
 
 
 104 
 
 Mortise-cutting with center-bit 
 
 . 
 
 106 
 
 " " without center-bit 
 
 . 116 
 
 164 
 
 " and tenon 
 
 103 
 
 , 160 
 
 Nailed box 
 
 
 52 
 
186 
 
 Manual Training. 
 
 Nails, drawing .... 
 
 " form of 
 
 Nails, four-penny, etc. 
 
 " right and wrong driving of 
 Ogee end of chamfer 
 
 Oil-stone 
 
 Paneled door 
 
 Paneled door, chamfering the frame of 
 " " " panel of 
 
 " cutting mortises and tenons for 
 
 " finishing up 
 
 " gluing . . 
 
 " grooving for 
 
 " laying out 
 
 Paring with chisel across the grain 
 " " " with the grain 
 " knife . 
 
 Pine-wood 
 
 Plane, fore 
 
 " jack 
 
 " manner of holding 
 " mode of action of 
 " principal points in using 
 " smoothing 
 
 Planing an edge 
 
 Planing end-wood 
 " to thickness 
 
 Plane-irons 
 
 Plane-iron, adjustment of 
 
Index. 
 
 187 
 
 PAGE 
 
 . 167 
 
 175, 177 
 
 78, 115 
 
 21 
 
 79 
 
 Plow 
 
 Sand-paper .... 
 
 Saw, back 
 
 Saw, cross-cut .... 
 
 " dove-tail .... 
 Saw-kerf, allowance for . 
 Saw, rip 
 
 " tenon .... 
 Scale of drawings 
 Scoring with knife or hatchet 
 Screw-driver .... 
 Sharpening tools 
 
 Shellac varnish . . . . . 
 Shrinkage and warping, effect of, on doors 
 
 Shrinkage of wood 
 
 Sliding movements of cutting tools 
 Splitting with hatchet . 
 
 " knife .... 
 
 Square 
 
 Standard edge or surface 
 
 Straight-edge 
 
 Testing-machine 
 
 Timber ; See Wood 
 
 Tools required, list of vii 
 
 Warping of wood 30 
 
 White-wood 69 
 
 Whittling ; See Paring 
 
 Winding 55 
 
 Winding, removal of 71 
 
 , 126 
 
 45 
 
 83 
 
 78 
 
 , 38 
 
 11 
 
 , 143 
 
 92 
 
 ■ 180 
 
 146 
 
 28 
 
 4 
 
 8 
 
 7 
 
 , 24 
 
 45,72 
 
 55 
 
 18 
 
188 Manual Training. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Winding-sticks 55 
 
 Wood, fibers of 15 
 
 " shrinking, cracking and warping of . . 29, 30 
 
 " strength of 18 
 
 Wood, structure of 15, 16 
 
 Working drawings 38 
 
 " sketches 36 
 
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