Please see the [Transcriber’s Notes] at the end of this text.

HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS

A MODEL ENGINE CONSTRUCTED FROM DIAGRAMS SHOWN IN THIS BOOK

HANDICRAFT
FOR BOYS

BY
A. FREDERICK COLLINS

INVENTOR OF THE WIRELESS TELEPHONE
Author of “Inventing for Boys,” “The
Boys’ Book of Submarines,” etc.

WITH 185 ILLUSTRATIONS AND DIAGRAMS

NEW YORK
FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY
PUBLISHERS

Copyright, 1918, by
Frederick A. Stokes Company

All rights reserved

TO
MY NEPHEW AND NIECE
CLARENCE AND MAY ZEITLER

A WORD TO THE BOY

Your life, if you live it like the average boy, is split up into four parts and these are (1) eating, (2) sleeping, (3) working and (4) playing.

Now I haven’t a word to say about the first three phases of your existence for you will attend pretty well to the eating and sleeping ends, and your elders will quite likely see to it that you get enough work to do in and out of school.

But when it comes to playing I want to edge in, for this is a very important and often a sadly neglected part of your daily routine. There are three kinds of playing, namely (a) where your mind only is engaged as for instance at dominoes, checkers or chess, (b) where your body is chiefly in action as in gymnastics and outdoor games, and (c) where your mind and body are doing something more or less constructive.

This book which I have written for you deals with playing of the latter kind and while I don’t want you to get so interested in any of the various arts and crafts described to the extent of using all your spare hours doing it, still it is a great mistake not to have a hobby such as jig-sawing, printing, die-sinking or the like. There is something tremendously fascinating about visualizing things in your brain and then fashioning them with your hands and you ought to do it.

Different from other kinds of playing the by-products of these arts and crafts last a long time after your efforts have been spent upon them and it is a source of great pleasure to look at them once in a while and know that you made them with your own hands.

Not only is there the fun of planning and doing the things I have described, but you will at the same time pick up a lot of information and, what is of far more value, your brain and eyes and hands will learn to work together like a dynamo direct connected to an engine, and then you can depend on them to serve you well whenever the occasion may arise.

A. Frederick Collins.

“The Antlers,”
Congers, N. Y.

CONTENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS

HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS

CHAPTER I
CARPENTRY WORK AND CABINET MAKING

Did you ever think about what you’d do if you were shipwrecked on a tropical island like Robinson Crusoe?

Well, if you had a good, strong pocket-knife with you it wouldn’t be so terribly bad and in a few months’ time you’d have fashioned all the things you’d need to furnish a three-room palmetto bungalow.

To be sure your furniture wouldn’t be very highly finished but it would be awfully artistic and while in a civilized community it might be looked upon as a rare exhibit of savage workmanship, it would serve you nobly and well in your island home.

But you don’t have to be marooned on a lonely isle or limited to the use of a jack-knife to show your prowess as a worker in wood. All you need to do is to get some out of the way room where there is plenty of light for a workshop and buy a few good tools to work with and you’ll take as keen a pleasure in making useful things with your own hands as Robinson Crusoe did.

The Tools You Need.

—It is a great mistake to go out and buy a cheap chest of tools of whatever size for while there is always a large number of tools in it they are usually of a very poor quality.

If you can afford to buy a chest of good tools and will get them of a regular tool supply house you can then buy a chest of tools safely. Now to make any ordinary piece of woodwork you don’t need many tools but each one should be the very best, for therein half the pleasure lies.

The Kind of Tools.

—The tools used for cabinet making, as the finer kinds of joinery are called, are exactly the same as those used for carpentry though they are usually kept a little sharper and there should be a few more of them.

All the tools you will need at first are shown in [Figs. 1] and [2] and these are (1) a cast-steel, adze-eye, bell-faced hammer[1] weighing about 9 ounces, which is a regular carpenter’s hammer. (2) A mallet, made of hickory, with a 2¹⁄₂ inch face and try to get one in which the handle goes clear through the head and is wedged in.

[1] The Ohio Tool Company makes good hammers.

(3) Four saws,[2] namely (a) a 16 inch crosscut saw—usually called a handsaw—which is used for sawing off boards across the grain, (b) a 20 inch rip-saw, for sawing with the grain so that a board can be sawed lengthwise, (c) a back saw or miter saw as it is sometimes called; it is about 12 inches long and has about 20 teeth to the inch so that it makes a very fine and smooth cut. (d) A compass saw; it has a narrow, tapering blade about 10 inches long and is used to cut out holes in boards, and to cut disks, or wheels of wood. The blade of a keyhole saw is thinner and narrower than a compass saw and, hence, smaller holes and shorter curves can be cut with it than with a compass saw.

[2] Disston saws are the kind to get.

Fig. 1. some useful wood working tools

(4) A miter box (pronounced mi′-ter) is a little trough of wood formed of a bottom with two sides screwed to it but without a top or ends. The sides of the box have saw-cuts in them, or kerfs as they are called, at angles of 45 and 90 degrees so that strips of wood, molding and the like can be sawed accurately across, or mitered, to make a corner joint.

(5) Three planes[3] and these are (a) a block plane for small light work; (b) a smoothing plane which is a little longer and has a handle and is set fine, that is the bit, or blade is finely adjusted for finishing work; and (c) a jack-plane, which is a large plane used for planing off rough surfaces.

[3] I like Stanley planes the best.

(6) Three chisels,[4] or firmer chisels as they are called. These are regular flat, bevel-edged carpenter’s chisels and the blades should be ¹⁄₈, ¹⁄₄, and ¹⁄₂ inch wide, respectively.

[4] Buck Brothers are noted for their chisels.

(7) Three gouges,[5] or firmer gouges, to give them their full name. These gouges are simply chisels with curved cutting edges so that a rounded groove can be cut in a board. Get them with blades having ¹⁄₄, ³⁄₈ and ¹⁄₂ inch regular sweep, as the curve of the cutting edge is called.

[5] Buck Brothers’ gouges are also good.

Fig. 2. a few more common wood working tools

(8) A brace and five auger bits.[6] A brace and bit, as you know, is a tool to bore holes in wood with. You ought to have five bits and get them ¹⁄₄, ⁵⁄₁₆, ³⁄₈, ⁷⁄₁₆ and ¹⁄₂ an inch in diameter.

[6] When you buy auger bits get the genuine Russel Jennings.

(9) A maple or a boxwood rule; this should be a regular, 2-foot, four fold carpenter’s rule. (10) A marking gauge; the bar of the gauge is graduated in 16ths of an inch and the adjustable head of one good enough to work with is fitted with a brass thumb screw.

(11) An iron bound try-square with a 6, or better, a 9-inch blade. This is used not only to make measurements with but to try whether a thing is square or not, hence its name.

(12) Two screw drivers, one for small and the other for large screws. (13) Two double cut gimlets, one ¹⁄₈ and the other ³⁄₁₆ inch in diameter; these are useful for making holes for starting screws and the like.

(14) Four hand screws, or clamps as they are more often called; these are made of wood and are used to clamp two or more pieces of wood together when they are being bored or after they are glued. The jaws should be about 7 inches long and they should open at least 4 inches wide. They only cost a quarter apiece.

(15) A nail set; this is a steel punch for driving the head of a nail below the surface of the wood without denting it.

(16) A Washita oil-stone is the right kind to sharpen wood-working tools on; a stone ¹⁄₂ or ³⁄₄ inch thick, 2 inches wide and 4 or 5 inches long will be large enough and you should make a box with a cover to keep it in and so protect it from the dust.

Fig. 2m. a clamp often comes in handy

(17) A sewing machine oil can filled with sewing machine oil, or any other good, light lubricating oil, is needed for sharpening your tools.

(18) A small can of Le Page’s liquid glue, or if you want to make your own glue then get a glue-pot and brush. You can buy a ¹⁄₂ pint can of liquid glue for a quarter or less, or you can buy a cast iron, water-jacketed glue pot which holds a pint for about 40 cents. Get a small round bristle brush for a glue brush.

Some Hints on Using Tools.

—Since I have used tools ever since I was old enough to hold a hammer I can easily tell you just how you should handle them but to become a skilled workman you must be willing to do the rest and that is to practice.

How to Hold a Hammer.

—When you use a hammer, grasp the handle a couple of inches from the free end and hold it so that it will swing freely and easily in your hand and keep your hand and wrist above the level of the nail or whatever it is you are pounding; this takes the jar off of your arm and makes the work of using it surer and less tiresome. Never use a hammer on wood-work of any kind.

When you use a mallet as for driving chisels hold it rather close to its head, and need I tell you never to use a wooden mallet to drive nails with.

How to Use a Saw.

—Hold the wood to be sawed with your left hand—I am taking it for granted that you are righthanded; put all of the fingers of your right hand through the hole in the handle of the saw with your thumb on the other side and grip the handle firmly.

To start the saw put it on the mark where you want to saw the board and rest your thumb against the side of it to guide and steady it. Stand so that your eye will look down the back of the saw and don’t hold it too straight but at an angle of 45 degrees, that is half way between the horizontal and the vertical. Of course this does not apply to a back saw or a keyhole saw.

How to Use a Plane.

—Since a smooth plane has no handle lay your right hand over the tail of it and rest your left hand on the nose of it. Make short, quick strokes, pressing down on the plane as it goes forward and letting up on it a little as you draw it back.

A jack-plane has a handle on it something like a saw-handle and it is held like a saw with your right hand. If there is no knob on the nose of it hold it by laying your left hand across it. When using a jack plane give it a long stroke with even pressure and you will take off the same thickness of shaving all the way along.

How to Use Chisels and Gouges.

—To hold a chisel properly when cutting a groove grip it a couple of inches below the top of the handle with your left hand. Hold it with the beveled edge down from you and at a slight angle from the horizontal when making grooves, and at a slight angle from the vertical when cutting a mortise. Gouges are used in the same way as chisels.

How to Use a Brace and Bit.

—Set the sharp pointed end of the bit on the exact spot which is to be the center of the hole you are to bore. Hold the top handle of the brace with your left hand and the crank handle with your right hand. Have the top of the brace and the bit in a line with your eye and after you start to bore sight the bit on both sides of the hole you are boring to see that it is plumb—that is straight up and down.

How to Use a Rule.

—A carpenter’s rule is two feet long and divided into inches which are sub-divided again into 8ths and 16ths of an inch. In making measurements for joinery use the rule accurately or you will have misfits.

How to Use a Marking Gauge.

—This is a useful device to mark off one or more parallel lines on a board when one edge of it is straight.

The head slides on a wooden bar near one end of which is a steel point. The bar is graduated, that is, it is spaced off in inches and fractions of an inch like a rule and this makes it easy to set the head at any distance from the steel point.

When you have set the gauge hold the head against the edge of the board you want to mark, press the steel point against the surface and draw the gauge along with both hands when the point will scratch a line.

How to Use Hand Screws or Clamps.

—Put the pieces of wood that are to be held together between the jaws of the clamp and screw each screw up a little at a time so that the jaws are kept even, that is parallel.

How to Use a Nail Set.

—A finishing nail, that is, a nail having a head only a shade larger than the shank, is used for the finer kinds of woodwork. After you have driven in a nail until its head is within, say, ¹⁄₈ inch of the surface put the small, hollow end of your nail set on it, hold them together with your thumb and forefinger and drive it in by hitting the nail set with your hammer. After the head is sunk below the surface of the wood fill in the hole with a wood filler[7] when neither the nail nor the hole can be seen.

[7] To make a wood-filler, melt 1 ounce of white resin and 1 ounce of yellow wax in a pan and add enough ochre, which can be had in any color, to give it the color of the wood you are using. Stir it well and fill the dent while hot. This filler sticks well to the wood and when dry is very hard.

How to Use a Gimlet.

—After you have started a hole with a gimlet give it a complete turn and then half a turn back each time, for by so doing it will be far less liable to split the wood. Moisten the point of the gimlet and it will go in easier.

How to Drive Nails and Screws.

—Put a little common brown soap on the ends of nails and screws before you drive them in and you will find that it greatly lessens the friction.

How to Make a Glue-Pot.

—In these days of preparedness it is easier to buy ready made glue than it is to make it yourself; moreover it is just about as cheap, nearly as good and certainly far less trouble.

If you insist on making your own glue though, you must, first of all, have a glue-pot of the right kind to make it in. As I have already mentioned a glue-pot is made of two pots one inside the other. The outside pot is half filled with water and the inside one contains the glue.

You can improvise a glue-pot by using a tomato can for the outside pot and a pepper or mustard can for the inside pot. While it won’t look quite as shop-like as the kind you buy it will work just as well.

How to Make Good Glue and How to Use It.

—To make good glue, put some small pieces of genuine Peter Cooper or imported French Coignet glue into the inside glue pot in enough water to cover it. The outer pot is set on a fire and the water in it is brought to a boil. Stir the glue until it is all melted, when it should be about as thick as sewing machine oil. Skim off the scum that forms when the glue is boiling.

In using home-made glue have it very hot, for the hotter it is the stronger the joint it will make; further put it on both surfaces of the wood to be glued together very thinly as this also tends to make it stick tighter.

How to Sharpen Your Tools.

—You must have sharp tools if you expect to do a job like a carpenter or a cabinet maker.

About Sharpening Saws.

—This is done by filing the teeth with a hand saw taper file and the saw must be held in a saw-vise, that is a vise with long jaws which keep the saw from vibrating.

When the saw is filed the teeth must be set, which means that one tooth is bent one way a trifle and the next one to it is bent the other way and this is done with a tool called a saw set.

You ought to learn to file your own saws but it would be just as well, or a little better, to let a man who makes a business of filing saws do this job for you at first. Keep your saws oiled when not in use.

About Sharpening Chisels and Plane Bits.

—To sharpen a chisel or a plane bit put a few drops of oil on your Washita oil stone; hold the beveled edge of the tool on it and toward you, and see to it that it rests flat on the stone or you will make it rounding and the edge uneven.

When you get it at exactly the right angle grasp it firmly with both hands and then move it on the stone, forth and back, pressing down on it pretty hard as it moves away from you, and easing up on it as you draw it toward you.

When a chisel or a plane-bit gets a nick in it it must be ground out on a grind stone; if you haven’t one get a carpenter to do it for you, and when you get it back hone it, that is, sharpen it on your oil stone as before.

Get a Washita slip stone for the touching up gouges and instead of rubbing the edge of the gouge on the stone you rub the stone on the gouge. Never try to grind a woodworking tool on an emery wheel.

About Sharpening Auger Bits.

—An ordinary auger-bit seldom needs sharpening but when it does the cutter of it must be sharpened on the inside. A very fine file can be used for this purpose and then hone it with a slip of an oil stone.

How to Take Care of Your Tools.

—If your workshop is nice and dry you don’t need to put your tools away in a chest or a cabinet after you get through using them each time.

But if you use them only once in awhile it is a good plan to wipe them off with a piece of cheese-cloth moistened with oil and then lock them up where neither the baby can get them nor the hired girl from across the street can borrow them.

Removing Rust from Tools.

—Should any of your tools show signs of rusting you can get the rust off by rubbing some sweet oil on the rusted part; let it stand a couple of days and then rub it with very finely powdered unslacked lime.

To Etch Your Name on Tools.

—Clean the saw, or whatever tool you want to etch your name on, with a hot solution made by dissolving some sodium carbonate, commonly called soda, in water and be careful not to touch the cleaned surface with your fingers.

Next cover the cleaned surface with a thin layer of melted wax or paraffin and when it is cold scratch your name clear through it with a darning needle or some other sharp pointed tool so that the steel is exposed and the acid solution can act on it.

Put ¹⁄₂ an ounce of water into a glass stoppered bottle and add ¹⁄₂ an ounce of nitric acid.[8] Shake the solution well to mix it, dip a splint of wood into it and touch the scratched in letters with it until the acid covers the exposed parts of the steel.

[8] Nitric acid is a poison and you must so label the bottle containing it. Do not pour the water into the acid as it will splash about. Be careful not to get it on your clothes, but if you should, brush some ammonia over it as this will neutralize it and stop its action.

Let the acid solution stay on for a half or an hour and then wash it off with hot water, scrape off the paraffin and you will find your name etched on the steel exactly as you marked it.

Kinds of Wood to Use.

—There are many kinds of woods and each one has its special use in the arts and crafts. For carpentry and cabinet making you will probably not use more than half-a-dozen woods and these are, (1) pine; (2) cedar; (3) mahogany; (4) oak; (5) birch and (6) walnut.

Pine.

—This is a good wood for making things in general. There are two kinds of pine and these are (a) white pine and (b) yellow pine.

White pine is very soft, light and straight grained and it is a pleasure to use it even if it is only to sit on a fence and whittle it with a pocket knife. (I wish I could do it again.) You can make benches, boxes, toys and a hundred and one other things out of it but it is too soft for furniture and cabinet work.

Yellow, or Georgia pine has a fine yellow color, and a beautiful grain and together they are very showy. It is harder than white pine and while it can be used where the latter cannot, it is not nearly as easy to work.

Cedar.

—This fragrant wood belongs to the pine family and it is nearly as soft as pine. There are two kinds of cedar and these are (a) red cedar and (b) white cedar.

Red cedar is the kind you want to get to make things of; it has a pastel red color and a fragrant odor and it is this latter property that makes it a good wood for wardrobe chests, for moths do not like it. Next to white pine it is about the easiest wood to work and it is especially nice for making all small articles, such as glove boxes, handkerchief boxes and the like.

Mahogany.

—Also and likewise there are two kinds of mahogany and these are (a) Honduras mahogany and (b) Spanish mahogany.

Honduras mahogany is the kind that cigar boxes are made of and it is much softer and lighter in both weight and color than Spanish mahogany. You can make all manner of nice things of the better grades of Honduras mahogany and, curiously enough, it stays glued better than any other wood. It is nearly as easy to work as pine and it takes a fine polish.

Spanish mahogany is like Honduras mahogany in name only. It is a fine, close-grained dark-red-brown or yellow-brown colored wood, takes a very high polish and makes the finest kind of furniture.

Oak.

—This is a strong, beautiful wood and is useful in making all kinds of furniture the design of which should be plain.

It is not an easy wood to work and tools when used on it soon lose their cutting edges. But after you have made a piece of furniture you can depend on it that it will last to the end of time, nearly.

Birch.

—This wood belongs to the oak family but different from oak it is quite easy to work. It is light in color, fine grained, so tough and elastic it cannot be easily broken, and it takes a fine polish. For these reasons it makes nice furniture and it is a very good wood for turning.

It is from the bark of the birch that the Indians made their canoes, but this is a story of the long ago and we must stick to the present.

Walnut.

—This is a good old English wood; it is the finest kind of wood that can be used for ornamental furniture, gun stocks and wherever else a beautiful color and a showy grain are wanted. It is easier to work than oak and is a fine wood for carving.

How to Make Joints.

—The word joint in woodworking means the place where two or more pieces of wood are fitted together, and hence the words joiner and joinery in woodworking parlance.

Fig. 3. how edge joints are made

There are two chief kinds of joints and these are, (1) where two flat surfaces are fixed to each other, and (2) where the edges of two boards meet to form a corner. Though there are many ways to make both kinds of joints I shall only tell you about half-a-dozen which you will find the most useful for your needs.

Edge Joints.

—There are three easy ways to make flat, or edge joints and these are (a) the square, or butt joint; (b) the lap-joint and (c) the matched joint, all of which are shown in [Fig. 3].

In the square joint the edges of the boards are simply butted together and nailed, screwed or glued. This joint is very weak unless the abutting ends are fastened to something else.

In the simplest form of lap-joint the edge of one board is laid on top of the other board and these are nailed or otherwise fastened together. A neater lap joint is made by cutting away half of the edge of each end of the boards so that when they are fitted and fixed together the surfaces of the boards at the joints are even and smooth.

A better joint than the lap-joint is made by planing a tongue on the edge of one board and a groove in the other. To do this easily, neatly and quickly you need a rabbet plane and as this is quite a costly tool, you can get along very well without it by using the lap-joints.

Corner Joints.

—There are five corner joints which you should know about and these are (a) the butt, or square joint; (b) the lap, or rebated joint; (c) the mitered corner pieced joint; (d) the common dove-tail box joint, and (e) the regular dove-tail joint, pictures of all of which are shown in [Fig. 4].

Now when you can saw a board off straight, plane it true and make a good joint you will have small trouble in making anything in wood that you want to make.

Fig. 4. how corner joints are made

About Working Drawings.

—When most boys—to say nothing of the majority of men—start to make something they simply knit their eyebrows (not high-brows) and think out how it will look in the concrete—that is when it is all done and ready to use.

Then they go ahead and begin to saw up the lumber and put the pieces together. The result is that when the object is finished it looks very different from the thing they so proudly pictured in their mind’s eye. Now the right way to build what you want and have it look as it ought to is to make a working drawing of it.

To do this draw a picture of it to a scale, of say 1 inch to the foot; that is, if it is to be 4 feet long draw it 4 inches long. The drawings I have made of the [work-bench] and the [tool box] which follow will show you how to make simple working drawings and the last part of Chapter III explains it all in detail, so read it carefully.

Things for You to Make.

—When you have your workshop ready, your tools at hand, the foregoing ideas of woods in your mind and know about simple working drawings you can go ahead and make things and your first job will probably be to make a bench.

Fig. 5. an easily made work bench

How to Make a Work Bench.

—Go to a lumber yard or a planing mill and get one 2 × 2 scantling 12 feet long for the legs, and two 2 × 2 scantlings for the cross bars and the side bars; the middle cross bar can be any kind of a thick piece of wood. If you can’t get 2 × 2 scantlings get 2 × 4’s and have whichever size you get planed smooth on all sides.

At the same time get three boards 1 or 2 inches thick, 10 inches wide and 6 feet long for the top of the bench and two boards 1 inch thick, 10 inches wide and 4 feet long for the tool board. Saw the scantlings up so that you will have four pieces for the legs 2 feet 9 inches long; four cross-bars 2 feet 6 inches long, and two side bars 3 feet 6 inches long.

Build up the frame of the bench first as shown in [Fig. 5]; then nail, or better, screw a cross-bar to the middle of the 6 foot boards, lay them on top of the frame and nail or screw them to the end cross bars. When you have the bench thus far along put on the vise.

Fig. 6. a wood vise for your work bench

A wood-worker’s vise as shown at A and B in [Fig. 6] can be bought for $3.50 on up to about $9.00. The jaws are about 4 inches wide and 12 inches long and they open nearly 12 inches. All you have to do to fix it to your bench is to screw the rear jaw to the front left hand edge of the top of the bench as shown in [Fig. 5].

The tool board is not an absolute necessity but it is a great convenience. To make it saw off two boards 4 feet long, nail them together with a couple of strips of wood—these are called cleats—and round off one end as shown in [Fig. 5]. Screw the tool board to the back of the bench and you are all ready to make things in wood.

Fig. 7a. a carpenter’s tool chest

How to Make a Tool Chest.

—Either birch or chestnut are good woods to make your tool chest of. Make the box, that is the lower part of the chest, and the lid for it of ³⁄₄ inch thick stuff; have the box 9 inches high, 12 inches wide and 30 inches long and have the lid 3 inches high, 12 inches wide and 30 inches long. Screw the boards together as nails will not hold tight enough. See [A Fig. 7].

Screw a strip of wood inside the chest for the tray to rest on; put two or three hinges on the box and lid and be particular how you do it or the lid will not fit evenly on the chest. Fasten a staple on front of the box in the middle near the top and a hasp on the cover so that you can put on a padlock, or better you can put on a regular chest lock which is handier and makes a neater looking job. To keep the lid from falling back when you open it, screw a piece of chain about 8 inches long to it and the box and this will serve as a check.

Fig. 7b. the tray for your tool chest

Finally make a tray of ¹⁄₂ or ⁵⁄₈ inch thick wood as shown at [B in Fig. 7]. Make the ends 6 inches high and 6 inches long and saw out the handle grips with your keyhole saw. Make the sides and partitions 4¹⁄₂ inches high and 28¹⁄₂ inches long, screw them together and put on the bottom. By making the tray narrower than the chest you can slide it back and forth and so get such tools out of the bottom as you may need without lifting the tray each time you do so.

Note.—You can buy any tool I have described in this chapter of any hardware dealer or tool supply company in your town or if one is not at hand Hammacher, Schlemmer and Company, corner of Fourth Avenue and 13th Street, New York City, will supply you with just what you want.

CHAPTER II
SCROLL SAWING, WOOD TURNING, WOOD CARVING, ETC.

As you may have observed, it takes a pretty good sized room for a shop and quite a lot of tools to do carpenter work and cabinet making.

Now if you find it hard to get these things don’t be discouraged because there are other kinds of woodwork that take neither a whole room nor a chest of tools, and the chief ones of these are (1) scroll sawing; (2) wood turning; (3) wood carving and (4) pyrography.

Not only are the pursuits of these trades pleasant but they are profitable because whether the art objects you make are useful or not the work trains your mind, your eyes and your hands at one and the same time and when you get these three factors working harmoniously together you have achieved something that will be valuable to you as long as you live.

All About Scroll Sawing

Scroll sawing, fret sawing and jig sawing all mean precisely the same thing and that is sawing interlaced and ornamental designs out of wood, or fretwork as it is called.

With a scroll saw frame costing 50 cents and a few thin boards you can saw out the most exquisite patterns and make the most dainty articles imaginable. There is more pleasure, of course, in using a regular foot power scroll saw, but you can do just as good work with a hand frame and though it takes a little longer you’ll enjoy it immensely.

Scroll Sawing Outfits.

—A scroll saw is a very simple piece of apparatus and it consists of a fine saw fixed in a frame, or otherwise supported, so that it can be moved up and down, and it is narrow enough to turn sharp curves.

Now scroll saws, as I shall call them, are of three kinds and these are (1) those worked by hand; (2) those run by foot-power, and (3) those operated by other kinds of power.

Fig. 8. a simple and cheap scroll sawing outfit

A Cheap Scroll Sawing Outfit.

—The simplest and cheapest scroll sawing outfit consists of (a) a scroll saw frame; (b) a dozen saw blades, and (c) an awl, all of which are shown in [Fig. 8]. If it is your idea to saw out brackets and other fancy knickknacks you ought to have a sheet of (d) impression paper,[9] (e) some [sheet designs],[10] and (f) some fancy wood.

[ [9] This is ordinary carbon paper such as is used for typewriting.

[10] See [Fancy Woods] for Scroll Sawing in this chapter.

The scroll saw frame is a bent iron or steel bar, usually nickel-plated, which forms a frame about 5 inches wide and 12 inches long. A handle is fitted to one end and a clamp to each end so that the saw blade can be held tight in the frame.

How to Use the Scroll Saw.

—The first thing to do is to put a saw blade in the frame and be sure to have the points of the teeth down, that is toward the handle.

Next mark the design you intend to saw out on a thin piece of wood[11] planed nice and smooth on both sides, hold it flat on the edge of the table with your left hand, grip the saw handle with your right hand and hold it so that the saw blade is vertical as shown in [Fig. 9].

[11] Both can be bought of L. H. Wild, 171 Avenue A, New York City.

You are ready now to begin to saw out the design; set the sawblade on the line, jig the saw frame up and down and be careful to give it even and smooth strokes. You will be surprised to find how easily it works. When you are sawing turn the wood and not the saw frame—the latter can be turned a little sometimes to advantage—and hold it so that the back of the frame is always toward you and the blade should move forward but very slightly.

Fig. 9. the right way to use a hand scroll saw

When you want to saw a piece out of the inside of the board, take your awl and make a hole in it by giving it a twisting motion to prevent it from splitting the wood. Now unscrew one of the clamps of your saw frame and put the free end of the saw through the hole, clamp it in the frame and start to saw again.

A Few Other Helpful Things.

—A Hand Saw-Table.—You can saw out your designs much more easily and neatly if you use a hand saw table as shown in [Fig. 10]. This is a board about 4 × 6 inches on the sides with a V sawed out of one end and a clamp screwed to the bottom of it.

Fig. 10. a hand scroll saw table

This makes the end of the board project out from the table it is clamped to, raises the wood you are sawing from the surface of it and gives you a firm grip on it. You can easily make a saw table or you can buy one for 50 cents.[12]

[12] The Millers Falls Company, Millers Falls, Mass., makes them and nearly all tool companies sell them.

Files for Scroll Work.

—To do a really neat job at scroll sawing you should have a set of scroll saw files. These files are long and thin and are made round, oval, knife edge, half round and three cornered as shown at [A in Fig. 11].

A Twist Drill Stock.

—A twist drill stock and a drill, see [B, Fig. 11], is far better for making holes in wood than an awl and as they only cost 50 cents you should have one. You can make a hole in a ¹⁄₈ inch thick board in the ¹⁄₁₀₀th part of a minute.

A Pair of Pliers.

—A pair of flat-nose, side cutting pliers is a very useful tool which will go a long way toward making your scroll sawing efforts a success. A pair is shown at [C in Fig. 11].

A Small Hammer.

—And finally get a small hammer to drive brads with as pictured at [D].

Scroll Saw Blades.

—There are two kinds made and these are known as (1) Star saw blades and (2) German saw blades.

	A TWIST DRILL STOCK
SCROLL SAWYER’S FILES			SAW BLADES (HALF SIZE)
FLAT NOSE, SIDE CUTTING PLIERS		A SMALL HAMMER		THE TEETH OF A SAW ARE PLACED WIDE APART TO CUT CLEAN

Fig. 11. some necessary scroll sawing tools

As one is as good as the other by all means buy Star blades. The sizes from 1 to 10 are shown at [E in Fig. 11], but three smaller and two larger sizes are made. The smaller sizes cost 10 cents a dozen and the larger sizes 15 cents a dozen. The spacing of the teeth on the blade is shown at [F].

How to Trace a Design on Wood.

—You can draw your own designs or buy them printed ready to use. In either case you must transfer the design to the surface of the wood you are going to saw.

To do this lay a sheet of carbon paper as typists call it, or impression paper as jig sawyers call it, with the prepared side next to the wood; lay the design sheet on top of it; and fasten the corners of the sheets to the wood with glue, or, better, with thumb tacks.[13]

[13] Thumb tacks are short, flat headed tacks used by draughtsmen.

Now take a sharp, hard lead pencil or a piece of pointed bone and trace the outline of the design. When you have it all done you will find that the design is plainly marked in black lines on the wood—that is except where you forgot to trace it.

Designs for Scroll Sawing.

—Designs in great variety can be bought of H. L. Wild, Publisher, 171 Avenue A, New York City. Besides glove boxes, handkerchief boxes, bird cages, clock cases, thread and thimble stands, photo frames and a thousand and one other pretty and useful articles you can get patterns for doll furniture, alphabets and mechanical designs like the horizontal engine shown at [A in Fig. 12] and the fire engine shown at [B].

Foot-Power Scroll Saws.

—There are several makes of foot-power scroll saws on the market and the prices of these range from $4.50 to $25.

The Cricket Scroll Saw.

—This is the cheapest foot-power scroll saw that you can buy and is the one that sells for $4.50. It has a table that tilts which permits you to saw your work on a bevel—that is on a slant—so that you can inlay it with some other kind of wood or metal.

A—A HORIZONTAL STEAM ENGINE

B—A FIRE ENGINE

Fig. 12. mechanical masterpieces made with a scroll saw

This little machine weighs 17 pounds and is 33 inches high; it is made of lighter castings than the machines which follow but it will do just about as good work as the higher priced ones. [Fig. 13] shows what it looks like.

Fig. 13. the cheapest foot-power scroll saw made

The Lester Scroll Saw.

—This is a well made saw, has a cast iron frame and the arms of the saw frame and the pitman—that is, the rod which connects the crank wheel with the frame—are of ash.

The Lester has several very handy attachments and these are (a) an automatic dust blower, which blows the sawdust away from the line you are sawing on; (b) an adjustable lever saw clamp with a hinged jaw which prevents the saw blades from breaking; and (c) a drilling attachment.

Fig. 14. the lester scroll saw with turning lathe attachment

This saw, which is shown in [Fig. 14], costs $10.00, is 35 inches high and weighs in the neighborhood of 30 pounds. The lathe attachment costs $2.00 extra.

The Fleetwood Scroll Saw.

—This is the best and consequently the most expensive foot power scroll saw made. It has a swing of nearly 16 inches. It is fitted with a tilting table, a vertical drill and a blowing attachment. A scroll saw of this kind with a plain stand can be bought for $21.00, or one with a fancy stand, see [Fig. 15], can be had for $25.00.

Fig. 15. the fleetwood scroll saw

How a Foot-Power Scroll Saw Works.

—If you will look again at Figs. 13 and 14 you will see that the scroll saws shown have saw frames very like a hand saw frame. The lower part of the frame is connected with a crank on the end of a spindle, which has a small grooved wheel fixed to it, by a pitman or rod and the treadle is connected with the large drive wheel by another pitman; finally the drive wheel is belted to the small grooved wheel.

Now when you work the treadle with your foot it produces a reciprocating motion and this is changed by the pitman into rotary motion which it imparts to the drive wheel. Since the grooved, or driven, wheel is smaller than the drive wheel it revolves faster and this gives the pitman connected with it a very rapid rotary motion on one end but as it is pivoted to the frame which in turn is pivoted at the rear end it is changed into an up and down or reciprocating motion exactly like the treadle but many times faster.

The Fleetwood works a little differently, in that instead of a frame the pitman is connected with a metal block that slides in a guide. The lower end of the saw is fastened to the upper end of this sliding block and the top of the saw blade is fixed to the end of a long, curved spring whose elasticity tends to make it fly up.

This action keeps the saw blade always taut and pulls it up except when the pitman pulls the block down and the saw with it. This is the principle on which large power jig saws used in shops are worked.

How to Saw on a Foot-Power Scroll Saw.

—Lay the board you are going to saw flat on the table of the machine and put your finger tips of both hands on top of the board; when possible keep one hand on one side of the saw and the other hand on the opposite side of it.

Press down hard enough on the work to keep it on the table against the up strokes of the saw; as the top of the table is polished it is easy to slide the work around and keep the saw on the line. Run the saw at an even speed and do not feed the wood against the blade too fast.

TABLE OF SCROLL SAW WOODS

These woods can be bought of H. L. Wild, 171 Avenue A, New York City, or of J. Gabriel and Company, 672 Grand Street, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Fancy Woods for Scroll Saw Work.

—Fancy woods that are planed on both sides for scroll sawing can be bought in thicknesses of ¹⁄₁₆, ¹⁄₈, ³⁄₁₆ and ¹⁄₄ inch. Wood that is ¹⁄₈ inch thick is the best to use for all ordinary work.

The foregoing [list] gives the name, thickness and price of the chief common and fancy woods that are good for scroll sawing.

Trimmings for Boxes, Etc.

—Brass hinges, knobs, screws, drawer pulls, box hooks, French screws and wire nails, that is brads, catches, metal legs, small locks, escutcheons, turned moldings, etc., can be bought of the above dealers who specialize in scroll sawyer’s materials.

Turning in Wood

And now we come to another and highly fascinating kind of wood-work and this is to spin a stick of wood in a lathe and shape it with a chisel or gouge, or wood turning as it is called.

While the outfit you need to turn wood with costs more than for scroll sawing you will never forget the pleasure of rounding up of a bit of wood into a shapely form, no, not if you were to live a thousand years.

Get a Lathe First.

—It is far better to buy a lathe than to try to make one, that is if you expect to turn anything on it, for in the first place it is hard to get the things to make one with and in the second you can buy one for very little money.

How a Lathe is Made.

—A wood turning lathe consists of four principal parts, and these are (1) the headstock; (2) the rest; (3) the tailstock; (4) the bed and (5) the stand, the first three parts of which are shown in [Fig. 16].

Fig. 16. the chief parts of a turning lathe

The head stock is fixed to the bed of the stand; it is formed of a cone pulley mounted on a spindle in a frame. A spur center is screwed to the spindle and this holds the wood tightly in place while it is being turned. The rest, which is adjustable, is used to lay your turning tool on and so keep it in position. A long and short rest usually go with the better lathes.

The tailstock has two adjustments, the first of which allows it to be slipped back and forth on the bed and clamped at any point which gives a rough adjustment, and the second is a spindle which is threaded on one end and has a taper center, that is a sharp point on the other end. This allows the piece of wood which is to be turned to be set between the spur center of the headstock and the taper center of the tailstock.

These parts rest on the bed of the lathe and this in turn is mounted on a stand. The stand is fitted with a drive wheel and this is driven by a treadle with which it is connected by a pitman exactly like a foot-power scroll saw.

Fig. 17. the cheapest wood turning lathe made

The Cheapest Lathe You Can Buy.

—The cheapest lathe you buy is called the Companion; it is made by the Millers Falls Company, Millers Falls, N. Y., and it costs $10.50. It has a long and a short rest, three turning tools and a 2 inch face plate and spur center. When you get it uncrate it, set it up, oil it well and you are ready to do some turning. The lathe is shown complete in [Fig. 17].

Attachments for the Companion Lathe.

—This lathe is fitted with a 4 inch emery wheel without extra charge. A very useful attachment is a circular saw 3 inches in diameter and a saw table 6 × 7 inches with a straight edge guide; it costs $1.25 extra. A scroll saw attachment that can be clamped on the lathe bed may be bought for $3.00 extra. Both of these attachments are shown in [Fig. 17]. Of course better and larger lathes can be had for more money.

Turning Tools for Wood.

—The tools used for turning wood[14] are simply chisels and gouges. The chisels are made with four kinds of points, namely, (1) skew point; (2) round point; (3) square point, and (4) spear point, and these are shown in [Fig. 18]. These chisels can be bought in all sizes from ¹⁄₄ inch to 1 inch wide.

[14] Buck Bros.’ turning tools for wood are counted best.

Gouges also come in sizes from ¹⁄₄ inch up to 1 inch, and a parting tool, which is used to cut off a turned piece and which is simply a V shaped chisel, can be had in ¹⁄₂, ⁵⁄₈ and ³⁄₄ inch sizes. These turning tools are also shown in [Fig. 18]. You can buy them fitted with applewood handles and sharpened ready for use for about 50 cents apiece. You can buy them of hardware dealers or of Hammacher, Schlemmer and Co., Fourth Ave. and 13th Street, New York.

SKEW POINT
ROUND POINT	SQUARE POINT	SPEAR POINT
THE GOUGE
THE PARTING TOOL

Fig. 18. a set of wood turning tools

How to Turn Wood.

—Before you can turn out a really good job on a lathe you must practice awhile. A good thing to try your hand on is to make some tool handles. The size of these will, of course, depend on what you intend to use them for.

Take a stick of wood, round or square, it doesn’t in the least matter, a couple of inches longer and a trifle larger than the largest diameter that the handle is to be and drive one end against the spurs of the face plate as shown in [Fig. 19].

This done screw up the feed of the tailstock until the back-center is forced into the end of the wood about ¹⁄₈ of an inch; clamp the rest so that it comes to within ¹⁄₄ an inch of the wood you are going to turn and you are ready for work.

Fig. 19. putting the rough wood in the lathe

Now put your foot on the treadle and work it up and down; very soon the speed of the drive wheel will carry it round smoothly and it will deliver considerable power to the pulley of the headstock. If the drive wheel is 5 times as large as the pulley and you treadle the drive wheel 100 times every minute, the stick of wood which you want to turn will revolve 500 times a minute.

Fig. 20. the right way to hold a wood working tool

When you have the wood rotating at about this speed grip the handle of it firmly with your right hand, lay the back of the chisel on the rest and press down on the blade with your left hand as shown in [Fig. 20]. Of course the top edge of the wood is turning toward you.

Whatever you do when you are roughing down a stick of wood don’t try to take off too large a cut. Go at it very gently with the point of your chisel and as it begins to cut you can swing the tool around so that the whole width of the blade is cutting.

Gouges are used in the same way as chisels and with them you can turn out hollow parts. A parting tool is used for cutting off the ends of the wood after you have finished turning it.

		SIZING WITH A PAIR OF CALIPERS
A REGULAR SIZING TOOL

Fig. 21. sizing the turned work

When you want to turn a piece of wood down to a given size you can do so by testing it with a pair of calipers, as shown in [Fig. 21], or you can size it with a regular sizing tool. To size the work measure off the distance between the points of the calipers with a rule for whatever thickness you want the turned part; then as you turn the wood you can try it from time to time until the wood will just slip through between the points.

The Art of Wood Carving

Carving is by all odds the hardest of all woodworking processes to learn and yet there are some simple forms of it that are at once easy to do and pretty to look at. While carving is an art in itself it can be used with fine effect in combination with some kinds of scroll sawed and turned work.

Your Set of Carving Tools.

—To begin with you can get along very well with a set of six carving tools. A set of this number is made up of a ³⁄₈ inch, a ¹⁄₄ inch, a ¹⁄₂ inch and a ⁵⁄₁₆ inch straight shank carving tools and two of these are chisels and four are gouges, so you see that they are just about the same as carpenters’ and turners’ chisels and gouges. Such a set of tools costs about $3.00.

A better set contains a dozen carving tools and this includes the above tools as well as a couple of bent fluting gouges, with ¹⁄₈ and ¹⁄₄ inch sweeps, a couple of front bent tools, a straight parting tool, and a veining tool, all of which is shown at [A in Fig. 22]; the sweeps, as the curved cutting edges are called, are shown at [B].

The tangs of these tools, that is the sharp ends which fit into the handles, have shoulders on them to prevent the handles from creeping and splitting. The best carving tools on the market are those made by S. J. Addis of London, and you can’t go wrong if you buy them.

	A
STRAIGHT CHISEL		SHORT BEND GOUGE
SKEW CHISEL		STRAIGHT PARTING TOOL
STRAIGHT GOUGE		LONG BEND GOUGE
FLUTING GOUGE		FRONT BEND GOUGE
		VEINING TOOL
BENT FILE
B		C
SWEEPS OF WOOD CARVING TOOLS		CARVER’S MALLET

Fig. 22. kinds and sweeps of carving tools

Carving tools as they come from the makers are sharpened but not honed, that is the tools are ground sharp, but the inside bevel of the tools must be rubbed up with an oil stone slip and most wood carvers like to do this themselves.

When you buy a set of carving tools you also want to get a carver’s mallet made of lignum-vitæ[15] with a face 2¹⁄₂ inches in diameter and, as you will see in [Fig. 22], its shape is quite different from the ordinary kinds. Also get a Washita oil stone, and an Arkansas carving tool slip, which is a small wedge-shaped oil-stone.

[15] Lignum-vitæ is a greenish-brown wood and is very hard and heavy. It grows in tropical America.

Fig. 23. markers for stamping in backgrounds

Two or more markers, which are stamps made of tool steel, are very useful for stamping in background work. A number of different designs are shown in [Fig. 23] and they cost about a quarter apiece.

A SNIB	A HAND CLAMP	A CARVER’S VISE

Fig. 24. schemes for holding work when carving

To hold the work while you are carving it you can make two or more snibs as shown at [A in Fig. 24]. These little clamps are sawed out pieces of wood with an ordinary wood screw through the thick end, and when you want to carve a flat piece of work clip it with a couple of snibs and screw the latter to your bench. A better scheme is to use a couple of hand screws as shown at [B]. For carving in relief you will need a wood-carver’s vise as shown at [C].

The Best Woods for Carving.

—A wood that is suitable for carving must be tough, even grained and free from knots. For a beginner, and I guess you are one, yellow pine is a good wood to practice on as it is soft and easy to work but you must be careful not to splinter it along the grain.

Oak is much tougher but it is a fine wood for carving and you will not need to take the care to prevent splintering as with pine. Black walnut and mahogany are beautiful woods and are nice to carve, while for finer work apple, pear, sycamore and California redwood are largely used.

Kinds of Wood Carving.

—There are three kinds of wood carving in general and these are (1) chip, or surface carving, (2) panel or relief carving, and (3) figure carving, as shown in [Fig. 25].

When you cut your initials in the top of your desk at school you made a primitive attempt at what is called chip carving. Most likely you got the birch for it but it was only the savage instinct for decorative art that was trying to find expression in you, and so it’s not your fault. (But don’t do it again.) Any kind of carving on a flat surface is called chip carving, and some of it is very beautiful. It is shown at [A].

Fig. 25. kinds of carving

Panel carving is done on flat pieces of wood also but the design is made by cutting out or sinking the ground, as shown at [B]. Sometimes when it is desirable to make some part stand out in relief above the surface it is carved out of a separate piece of wood and planted on, that is glued on.

To carve a lily of the valley or a deer’s head out of a solid block of wood is not as easy as the other kinds of carving, but if you have a natural aptitude for using tools and an eye for art you can succeed as well as the next one.

Fig. 25d. a carved watch case holder

Chip Carving.

—You will need only three tools for chip carving and these are (1) a ¹⁄₄ inch chisel; (2) a parting tool and (3) a veining tool.

The first thing is to get the design you want to carve on the board. To do this you can either draw the design directly on the board, or, better, lay a sheet of impression paper on the board and then the design you want to transfer on top of it and trace it with a lead pencil.

Screw the board to your bench with two or more snibs and you are ready for work. Carve out the heavier lines with the parting tool and the lighter lines with the veining tool. Use the chisel to cut the corners sharp and make the lines clean and even. In chip carving grounds are never put in.

Panel Carving.

—In this kind of carving leaves, berries, scrolls and the like are carved out of the surface of the board and as the ground is sunk these objects stand out in relief.

Begin by drawing, or transferring, the pattern to the board as before; then cut it out with gouges and chisels as shown at [A] and finally use the veining tool for the radiating lines. The head can be carved out of a separate piece of wood glued to the ground, or planted on as it is called. The work can be oiled and polished but never varnish it. It is shown finished at [C].

To make a watch case holder like the one shown at [D] saw out a piece of walnut, or other wood, ¹⁄₄ inch thick and draw on the design.

Carve the cross and lower part of the case by chipping it; carve the leaves in relief and put in the veins with the veining tool. Now saw out another piece for the pocket 1 inch thick and carve out the front and the back to the shape shown at [D] so that it is only ¹⁄₈ inch thick when finished and glue it to the other part when you will have a watch case holder of the vintage of 1875.

Carving in Solid Wood.

—This ranges all the way from carving simple leaves as shown at [D] to the human form divine.

To carve out leaves on a flat surface draw the design as before and carve them out with your gouge to look as much like real leaves as you can and to give them the final touch of beauty cut the veins in with your veining tool.

For carving out heads, as for example the one shown at [C], mark the shape of the object which you intend to carve on the sides of the block as it would look if you cut it down through the middle. Now screw up the block in your vise and cut away the sides with your chisels and gouges, using the mallet to do it with. All you want to do at first is to get the rough shape of the figure.

When you have done this you can go ahead and finish up the work with your chisels and gouges. To give the carving a life-like appearance do not use files or sandpaper on it and do not varnish or polish it.

Pyrography, or Wood Burning

This is a simple and pleasing art and one that is easy to practice. It gets its didactic name from the Greek word pyro, which means fire, and graph, to write, that is writing with fire, only in pyrography you draw with fire instead.

The Necessary Tools.

—The chief tool you need is called an etching tool. This is formed of a piece of iron, copper or platinum with a curved point which is heated in a flame until it is red or white hot. When it is hot you press the curved point against the wood upon which you have drawn the design and it burns the lines into it.

A—THE ETCHING TOOL

B—COMPLETE WITH HANDLE

Fig. 26. the tool used for pyrography

How to Make an Etching Tool.

—Get a piece of copper rod ¹⁄₄ inch in diameter and 3 inches long; file one end down to a point to the shape shown at A and B in [Fig. 26] and put a file handle on the other end.

How to Make an Alcohol Lamp.

—The etching tool must be heated in either an alcohol or a Bunsen flame. You can make an alcohol lamp of an ink bottle that will serve the purpose very well. Make a hole in the cork about ¹⁄₄ inch in diameter and make a tin tube 1 inch long that will fit it snugly. Braid a wick of string and put it through the tin-tube; fill the bottle with alcohol and your lamp is done. If you can get gas you can use a Bunsen burner[16] which makes a hotter flame and is less trouble.

[16] Can be bought of the L. E. Knott Apparatus Company, Boston, Mass.

A Better Outfit.

—A good outfit which has a platinum pointed tool and burns alcohol vapor, see [C], can be bought for $3.00 and more.[17] If you have gas in your house you can buy a tool which uses it for 50 cents or less.

[17] Everything needed for pyrography can be had of the Frost and Adams Co., Cornhill, Boston.

C—AN OUTFIT THAT BURNS ALCOHOL VAPOR

Fig. 26c. an outfit that burns benzine vapor

About the Designs.

—If you are good at drawing you can make your own designs, but if not you can buy them ready to use. Draw your designs on soft white pine or basswood with a soft lead pencil having a blunt point. Photo frames, plaques, tie racks, collar boxes and things which you can saw out on your scroll saw are greatly improved by burning.

How to Burn in the Design.

—Heat the tool until it is red-hot, or if it is platinum until it is white hot as shown at [D]. Hold the tool as shown at [E] and without using too much pressure draw and push the point along the lines until they are burnt in evenly.

When you have burnt in the design burn in the background by making a lot of closely spaced lines; then burn in more parallel lines across the first set. This produces a cross-hatched effect which at a distance makes the design stand out in bold relief.

Fig. 26d. how the tool is heated

Fig. 26e. burning in the design

When you have become a little expert you can shade the design but don’t try it until you can burn the lines in evenly.

Coloring and Staining Wood.

—Stains and dyes of all colors can be bought of the Devoe and Reynolds Company, 101 Fulton Street, New York.

Ebony Stain.

—Brush the wood with a saturated solution of ferrous-sulphate and it will make it inky black. When used on white holly, or any other close grained wood, it gives it a real ebony look. Put the solution on with a soft brush. After the ebony stain has been used the wood should be polished with wax to give it a dull finish.

Fumed Oak.

—Oak can be colored a beautiful brown by putting it in a box with a tight fitting lid in which is a saucer of ammonia; paste up the cracks around the lid tight and leave it for a couple of days when it will take on a brown color which is known by the trade name of fumed oak.

CHAPTER III
METALS AND METAL WORKING

There is something about working metals that makes a tremendously strong appeal to a fellow and yet it is just as easy to fashion these elements as it is to shape wood, that is, if you have the right kind of tools to do it with.

Then there is another good thing about working metals and that is the tools you need don’t cost very much and you can soon make enough useful things to pay for them.

Metal working, like wood working, can be divided into two classes and these are (1) the strictly practical, and (2) the purely ornamental, but you can often combine them in an object which possesses both utility and artistic merit.

It is my intention to tell you in this chapter about the tools that you need to do ordinary metal work, such as sawing, drilling, bending, filing, etc. As in working wood you ought to have a bench, or a good strong table will do.

Your Kit of Tools.

—To work metals you will need certain tools according to the kind of work you intend to do. If you get all of those I have listed below you will have nearly all the hand tools you need to do any kind of a job that may come up. The following list is quite a full one and a kit which includes all of them will cost in the neighborhood of fifteen dollars. You don’t need to buy all of them at once, however, but just get a tool at a time as you must have it until your kit is complete.

The Various Kinds of Tools.

—Metal working tools are tempered harder than wood working tools and are made of what is known as tool-steel.

For your kit of machinists’ tools get (1) a ball pein hammer which weighs about 8 ounces—this is a regular machinists’ hammer; (2) a pair of 4 inch side cutting pliers; (3) a pair of 8 inch tinners’ snips which makes a 2 inch cut; (4) a jeweler’s adjustable saw frame; (5) a hack saw frame to hold an 8 inch saw blade; (6) a hand drill stock with a chuck for holding round shank drills from 0 to ³⁄₁₆ inch in diameter.

(7) Four Morse twist drills ¹⁄₁₆, ³⁄₃₂, ¹⁄₈ and ³⁄₁₆ inch in diameter; (8) a 6 inch steel rule, graduated into 8ths, 16ths, 32nds and 64ths of an inch; (9) a machinist’s steel square with a 2¹⁄₂ inch blade; (10) a pair of 3 inch spring dividers; (11) a pair of 3 inch inside spring calipers; (12) a pair of 3 inch outside calipers; (13) a center punch; (14) a No. 1 set of screw cutting taps and dies, this set contains a stock or handle and five taps and five dies which cut ⁷⁄₆₄, ⁹⁄₆₄, ⁵⁄₃₂, ³⁄₁₆, and ⁷⁄₃₂ inch in diameter.

(15) A few files—flat, hand, round and half-round in shape and the smooth and second cut will be the most useful; (16) several screw drivers, small and large; (17) a soldering copper that weighs about ¹⁄₂ a pound; (18) a can of soldering paste, or you can make a soldering fluid yourself, and (19) an alcohol lamp, which I told you how to make in the [last chapter], or a Bunsen burner if you have a supply of gas, and (20) a machinist’s vise. All of these tools are shown in [Figs. 27] and [28].

TINNER’S SNIPS			SOLDERING COPPER AND ALCOHOL LAMP
FLAT NOSE SIDE CUTTING PLIERS		FLAT NOSE PLIERS		ROUND NOSE PLIERS
A BENCH LEVEL			A WIRE GUAGE
A ROSE COUNTERSINK
A TAPER REAMER			OIL CAN AND OIL STONE
SET OF SCREW CUTTING TAPS AND DIES			MACHINIST’S VISE

Fig. 27. the chief metal working tools

JEWELLER’S HAMMER
BALL PEIN HAMMER			HAND DRILL STOCK AND DRILL
SPRING DIVIDERS		SPRING CALIPERS OUTSIDE		SPRING CALIPERS INSIDE
JEWELLER’S ADJUSTABLE SAW FRAME			HACK SAW
6″ STEEL RULE			MACHINIST’S STEEL SQUARE
CENTER PUNCH
			1—SHELL SQUARE TAPER 2—ROUND OR RAT TAIL 3—HAND OR FLAT KINDS OF FILES
COLD CHISEL

Fig. 28. some other metal working tools

Some Hints on Using the Tools.

—(1) When you want to rivet something use the ball pein end of the hammer to pound down the end of the rivet as this will spread it out in every direction evenly and you can make it nice and round. (2) Side cutting pliers are useful to hold and bend bits of metal with and to cut off pieces of wire as well. (3) Tinner’s snips are simply large powerful shears and you can cut sheet metal up to ³⁄₃₂ of an inch thick with an ordinary pair. When you cut a sheet of heavy metal with them let the lower blade and handle rest on your bench and you can get a better leverage on it. Metals that are thicker than ³⁄₃₂ inch must be sawed.

(4) While metals can be sawed by using a special saw blade in a scroll saw frame you should use a jeweler’s saw frame with jeweler’s saws for metal—I prefer the Fish Brand for fine work. (5) For heavier work use a machinist’s hack saw; put the piece of metal in a vise and have the part you want to saw close to the jaws of the vise so that it will not vibrate; use a little pressure on the outward, or cutting stroke, and let up on it as you draw the saw back or you will dull the teeth.

(6) In using twist drills, and these are the only satisfactory kind for metal work, be mighty careful not to press too hard on the drill stock and don’t try to crowd the drill into cutting faster than it will cut at the speed with which it is turning. In drilling iron keep plenty of oil on the drill point.

(7) You can measure much more accurately with a steel rule than you can with a wood rule and whereas measurements in cabinet work down to ¹⁄₁₆ inch are close enough, for metal work it should not be more than ¹⁄₃₂nd of an inch, and for machine work make your measurements to ¹⁄₆₄th of an inch. (8) A small steel square is better in every way for metal work than a carpenters’ try square but you will find it quite expensive.

(9) The advantage of spring dividers over the ordinary kind is that you can set them very accurately and they will stay where you set them. In scribing a circle with a pair of dividers mark the center with your center punch first as this will prevent your dividers from slipping.

(10) Inside calipers are used for measuring the inside diameters of cylinders and the like, and, conversely (11), outside calipers are used for measuring the outside of anything that is round. In either case you measure the distance between the points of your caliper with your rule to find the diameter of the thing. (12) A center punch is always useful to make a starting point in metal with, for it can’t be rubbed off or lost sight of.

(13) A set of taps and dies to cut screw threads with in metal of whatever kind is a joy forever. All metal work becomes easy if you have a set of these screw cutting tools and it is next to impossible to make things if you haven’t got them.

When you are cutting threads in a piece of metal with the tap, the hole in the metal must of course be a trifle smaller than the diameter of the tap; the tap is put into a handle called a stock and as you cut the threads in the metal don’t turn the stock continuously around but give it one complete turn forward and then half-a-turn backward and you will be less apt to break the tap.

The same method holds good when you are cutting threads on a rod with a die; in this case the rod must be a little larger than the hole in the die. In threading iron use plenty of oil on the tap or die, but for brass and the softer metals a lubricant is not needed.

(14) In filing work press down on the outward or cutting stroke and ease up on the file on the return stroke for the teeth of a file are set like the teeth of a saw, that is, so that the cut is made on the out stroke.

A small file can be held in one hand and the work you are filing in the other which can be rested on the edge of the bench but heavier work must be put in a vise and the file held firmly by the handle with one hand and the end steadied and guided by the fingers of your other hand.

(15) In putting in a screw always use the largest size screw-driver whose blade will fit the slot in the head of the screw; this will prevent the blade of the screw-driver from twisting the edges of the slot out of shape.

(16) Before a soldering copper can be used, if it is a new one, it must be tinned, that is the point of it must be coated with solder. To tin it get a pine board about 1 inch thick, 4 inches wide and 6 inches long, and put some brown resin and bits of solder on it.

File off the copper until the point is sharp and it is bright and smooth; heat the copper and then melt the resin and solder on the board with it and rub the copper in them on all sides until a film of solder is formed on it.

(17) It is cheaper to buy a stick of soldering paste than it is to make it but you can easily and cheaply make a good soldering fluid by dissolving a teaspoonful of zinc chloride in an ink bottle full of clean water.

In heating the soldering iron keep it near the tip of the flame; if you use an alcohol lamp don’t have the wick too high and if you use a Bunsen burner adjust the openings in it until the flame is as nearly invisible as you can get it.

About Sharpening Tools.

—The only metal working tools you will need to sharpen are the twist drills and these can be sharpened on a carborundum oil stone. Hold the beveled edge of the drill point on the stone and move it to and fro, being very careful to keep the drill perfectly straight up and down while you are sharpening it.

Metals and their Uses.

—Like woods each metal has its especial uses and it will depend largely on what you are going to make as to the kind of metal you should make it of.

There are five chief metals and a couple of alloys, which are formed by melting and mixing two or more metals together, which you will find the most useful and I shall describe these for you in detail.

Iron.

—This is the most useful metal we have. When it is pure it has a silvery color, is very tenacious, which means that it is tough; it is malleable, that is it can be hammered without cracking, and it is ductile in that it can be drawn out into wire without breaking.

It is hard to get pure iron for nearly all of it contains a small percent of carbon, silica, phosphorus, sulphur or other elements. These substances in iron give it different properties. For instance cast-iron has a large amount of carbon in it; this kind of iron is good to cast into molds but it cannot be hammered or drawn without danger of cracking or breaking.

Wrought iron has very little carbon or other substances in it and this makes it easy to work because it can be hammered or drawn. Steel contains more carbon than wrought iron but it has less carbon than cast iron; steel can be cast, forged, tempered and hardened by heating it red hot and then suddenly cooling it.

Tin.

—This is a white metal that looks very much like silver, and it is so malleable that it can be hammered out into very thin sheets and which you know so well as tin-foil.

It is not found in very many places but the ancients called Britain the Tin Islands because they got it chiefly from there. What we ordinarily call tin is really tin plate, that is thin sheet iron coated with tin, and it is used as a covering for other metals because it does not rust or oxidize in air.

Tin is largely used in making alloys such as soft solder, type-metal, pewter, etc. It has a very low melting point.

Zinc.

—This is a bluish white metal and though it is sometimes found in a pure state it is usually found in combination with other elements.

When it is heated to different temperatures it behaves in various ways; for instance when it is cold it is quite brittle, but at 100 to 150 degrees Fahrenheit,[18] it can be easily rolled into sheets and rods; curiously though when it is heated to 200 degrees or over it gets brittle again.

[18] The Fahrenheit thermometer scale is the one generally used in this country. Fahrenheit was a German scientist who lived 200 years ago, and he invented the mercurial thermometer.

Zinc is easy to cut and when mixed with copper it forms the alloy we know as brass.

Lead.

—This is the softest metal known and it has a bluish-gray color. It is very heavy and melts at a low temperature.

Lead was one of the earliest metals known and if you will read the Book of Job you will find it mentioned there. It has been used from time immemorial in making water-pipes, utensils, etc., and the ancient Romans made weights of it. Since it is so soft it can be easily hammered into any shape or it can be rolled or drawn.

It is also largely used in forming alloys with other metals, thus solder is made of 50 parts of lead and 50 parts of tin; type-metal is made of 80 parts of lead and 20 parts of antimony; and pewter is made of 25 parts of lead and 75 parts of tin.

Copper.

—This metal is found in a pure state in large quantities around Lake Superior in the United States and in Chili, South America. It is a fairly hard metal of a reddish color, has a high luster, is malleable, and ductile.

Long before iron was known utensils and weapons for the chase and war were made of copper and copper tools have been found that were made by the ancients and tempered even as steel is tempered now, but the art was lost when iron came into use.

Copper is now largely used in the arts and trades as for the sheathing and bolts of ships, the conducting parts of electrical apparatus, in making alloys, such as bronze of which tin is the other metal. Copper is easily hammered and drawn but it is so tough that it is hard to saw and drill.

It does not oxidize in dry air but in moist air it gradually changes and takes on a layer of carbonate of copper which gives it a very beautiful and artistic appearance and makes it look as if it was a thousand years old.

Aluminum.

—This metal is found everywhere in nature but as it is never found free it is only in the last few years that it has been extracted in large quantities and cheaply enough to bring it into use.

It has a bright bluish white color nearly like that of tin and is the lightest common metal known.[19] It does not tarnish either in dry or moist air; it is malleable and ductile and as easy to work as brass but it is very hard to solder but there are soldering compounds on the market by which it can be soldered. Aluminum can be bought[20] in sheets of any thickness, or in rods or tubes of any size.

[19] Aluminum when mixed with magnesium makes an alloy called magnaleum and this is lighter than aluminum alone.

[20] Sold by the Aluminum Co. of America, 120 Broadway, N. Y.

A Few Useful Alloys.

—When two or more metals are melted together and mixed they form what is called an alloy.

Brass.

—This well known alloy is made by mixing zinc with copper. There are twenty or more different kinds of brass but common brass is made of 36 parts of zinc and 64 parts of copper.

Brass is harder than copper and while it can be hammered and drawn it is not nearly as malleable or as ductile as copper. It can be sawed, drilled, threaded and machined easily and is about the best alloy you can use for making small parts of machines.

Type-metal.

—All kinds of metals shrink when they cool after being run into a mold and so the edges of the castings are never very sharp.

Now type metal which is an alloy made of 80 parts of lead and 20 parts of antimony will expand and this is the reason why type is so beautifully clear and sharp. So if you want to cast little parts of machines and engines and the like you can do a good job by using type-metal. As it melts at a low temperature you can melt it in an iron ladle over the kitchen fire.

Pewter.

—This alloy, which is made of 75 parts of tin and 25 parts of lead, in Colonial days was much used for making all kinds of table-ware and household utensils and it will come into vogue again I hope. More will be said about [this alloy] and how to work it in the next chapter.

How to Do Metal Work.

—Now that you know about tools and the properties of metals there are a few other little things which, if you will bear them in mind, will enable you to make nearly anything you want to. The first has to do with drawing and the others with working the metals themselves.

First Sketch Your Ideas.

—To start out and try to make an object which you have in mind without sketching it on paper first so that you can see just what size to cut and shape it, and how it will look when you have finished it, is the first step toward being a disappointed boy.

When you get an abstract idea for a design or a machine that you want to put in concrete form take a rule and compasses, pencil and paper and draw it out to scale, that is, make a drawing of it and mark the sizes, or dimensions, of each part just as it should be when the thing is done.

By roughly sketching the object, or, better, by making an accurate working drawing of it before you do anything else you will save time, patience and materials.[21]

[21] How to make working drawings is explained in [Chapter V]. Fuller directions will be found in Inventing for Boys, by the present author, published by Frederick A. Stokes Company, N. Y.

Sheet Metal Work.

—Cutting and Sawing.

—After having traced or otherwise marked out the design or shape you want on the sheet of metal with the sharp point of your center punch or an awl, or scribed it with your dividers you can cut it out with your snips if the sheet is thin enough. If it is too thick to be sheared then saw it out with your jeweler’s or hack saw.

Should you want to make a hole or an open design of any kind in thin sheet metal you can easily punch it in with your center punch, or cut it out with a stencil cutter’s chisel, which is simply a very sharp cold chisel.[22] But should the metal be too thick to punch or cut in this way drill a small hole in it and you can then saw out the part with a jeweler’s saw frame and blade just as you would saw out a piece of wood with a scroll saw, though you may have to hold the metal in a vise.

[22] See [Chapter VIII].

Making Seams and Joints.

—The next thing to do after having cut out the different pieces of metal is to put them together. The way you do this will again depend very largely on the thickness of the metals, but in any event where the pieces meet, a seam or a joint must be made.

Fig. 29. how metal seams and joints are made

If the metal is thin the pieces can be lapped and then soldered or riveted together as shown at [A in Fig. 29] or you can make a folded seam as shown at [B]. If, however, the metal is thick you can make a lap seam and either rivet or bolt it together with screws having nuts on them as shown at [C].

A strong butt seam can be made by hard soldering or brazing the edges together but it takes a hot flame and considerable skill to do a good job of this kind. Another way to make a butt seam of two thick sheets of metal is to lay them with their edges together and then rivet a strip or plate on both sides of them as shown at [D.]

In making corner joints one or both edges of the sheet should be bent over as pictured at [E] when they can be soldered, riveted or bolted together; or a grooved seam can be made as shown at [F] if the metal is thin enough.

If the pieces of metal are say ¹⁄₁₆ inch or more thick you can put a three cornered piece of metal in the corner and drill and thread it so that the pieces which form the butt joint can be screwed to it as shown at [G], or if one of the pieces is thick enough you can drill and thread it and screw the other piece to it as shown at [H].

When putting ends on tubes and cylinders you can make a circular lap seam as shown at [I], or a circular folded seam as at [J] or a circular overfolded seam as shown at [K].

How to Solder Metals.

—The great secret in soldering metals is to have them perfectly clean and then if you use the right kind of flux and the proper solder you will not have any trouble.

Fluxes.

—After you have cleaned the surfaces to be soldered you must use a flux to prevent the metal from oxidizing and to make the solder stick. Different metals require fluxes of different kinds.

When soldering bright new tinware use powdered resin for the flux, but if the parts are old then scrape and clean them well and use a flux of zinc chloride solution. To make it dissolve 5 cents’ worth of zinc chloride—which is muriate of zinc—in a small clean inkbottle full of warm water; or you can make the muriate of zinc by dissolving some zinc clippings in muriatic acid and to make the soldering fluid add some water to it.

This kind of a soldering fluid is a good flux for tin, iron, steel, brass and copper. It is good for all ordinary work but it must be washed off from iron or steel as it will rust them very quickly. To solder copper sal ammoniac can be used.

The only kind of a flux to solder zinc with is a solution made of 10 per cent. of muriatic acid and 90 per cent. of water. For lead, pewter and any alloy with lead in it use tallow, Gallipoli oil or Venice turpentine. Resin can be used successfully for all metals provided they are scraped bright and clean before they are soldered.

Solders.

—Just as certain metals require given fluxes so also do these metals need special solders.

For soldering tinware a fine tinner’s solder made of 1 part of tin and 1 part of lead flows best. For soldering lead use a fine plumber’s solder which is formed of 1 part of tin and 2 parts of lead. To solder pewter which melts at a low temperature use a pewterer’s solder which is composed of 3 parts of lead and 1 part of bismuth.

Bolts and Rivets.

—Where two pieces of metal are to be fixed together so that they can be taken apart again, machine screws with nuts on them, or bolts,[23] will be found useful.

[23] Machine screws and bolts for model work can be bought of Luther H. Wightman, Boston, Mass.

A good kind of rivet for small work is known as tinner’s rivets; they are made of iron and have a length of ⁵⁄₃₂ of a inch. Now a rivet can either be hammered down so that the point spreads out and forms a burr, or a washer, which is called a burr, can be slipped down over it and the end then peined down. Copper-rivets as small as ¹⁄₄ inch in length can be bought at most hardware stores.

Bending Sheet Metal.

—To bend a metal sheet put it on a wood or metal form and pound it into shape with a wooden mallet.

The edges of a piece of sheet metal can be bent either by pounding it over the sharp corner of an iron bar, or if a very small part is to be bent use a pair of round or flat nose pliers. A thick piece of sheet metal can be bent by putting it in your vise and pounding over the edge with a hammer.

Finishing Up Metals.

—Of course all the rough parts must be smoothed up with a file; then use emery paper or emery cloth to rub out the file marks and finally finish off the surface by polishing it with crocus[24] put on with a cloth.

[24] Crocus is a powder made of iron rust.

Coloring Metals.

—Many things that you make of metal can be greatly improved in appearance by coloring them.

Bluing Steel.

—First polish the articles and clean them by immersing them in a hot solution of caustic soda. Now put the screws, or whatever it is you want to blue, in an iron pan half full of dry, clean sand and heat them over a fire.

Keep moving the articles around with a pair of tweezers until they are the color you want them and then drop them into clean oil.

Bluing Brass.

—Polished pieces of brass can be given a fine color by putting them in a solution made as follows:

Stir 1¹⁄₂ drams of antimony sulphide,[25] 2 ounces of calcined soda in ³⁄₄ of a pint of water; to this solution add 2¹⁄₄ drams of kermes. Stir well, filter it and then mix it with 2¹⁄₄ drams of tartar, 5¹⁄₂ drams of hyposulphite of soda dissolved in ³⁄₄ pint of water when it is ready to use.

[25] This and all other chemicals can be bought of Eimer and Amend, Fourth Ave. and 18th Street, New York.

Giving Brass a Green Color.

—Make a solution of 2 ounces of copper sulphate, ¹⁄₂ an ounce of sal ammoniac and 25 ounces of water. Suspend the articles to be greened in the solution and boil it until you get the color you want.

Giving Brass a Dull Look.

—First clean the articles thoroughly; then mix ¹⁄₄ ounce of iron rust and ¹⁄₄ ounce of white arsenic in 4 ounces of muriatic acid. Use a brush and paint the articles with this solution until it takes on the proper dull appearance. Then wipe it off, oil, dry and lacquer it.

Frosting Brass Articles.

—Hang the brass articles in a boiling solution of caustic potash, wash them off in clean water and dip them in nitric acid until the oxide is gone, wash them again and throw them in sawdust to dry; heat them a little and lacquer while they are warm.

Lacquering Brass and Copper.

—To lacquer a brass or a copper article dip it in a weak solution of sulphuric acid and water and then wash it in clean water. Next put the article on a piece of sheet iron and heat it over a gas jet or in an oven.

It must not be heated enough to color it but just so that when you place your moistened finger to it it will sizzle; now put on the lacquer and this can be done by brushing the article over with a camel’s hair brush or by dipping the article into the lacquer.

How to Make the Lacquer.

—Put 1 ounce of tumeric powder, 2 drams of annatto and 2 drams of saffron into 1 pint of alcohol.

Let it stand for a week or 10 days and shake it often; pour the clear liquid into a bottle and put in 3 ounces of yellow shellac; let it stand for a couple of weeks more; shake it often and pour off carefully. Then you can put it on. Lacquers can be bought ready made from Hanson and Van Winkle, Dealers in Electroplating Supplies, Newark, N. J.

CHAPTER IV
VENETIAN IRON, REPOUSSÉ, PIERCED BRASS AND PEWTER WORK

Venetian Bent Iron Work

A very pretty and most useful kind of ornamental iron work came into vogue in Venice, Italy, a long time ago, and as it is easy to do and you need only a few tools and inexpensive materials to do it with, you ought to try your hand at it.

Venetian iron work consists of bending thin, narrow strips of wrought iron into scrolls and other shapes and then fixing them together with little iron clamps called binders.

In this way objects such as egg boilers, candlestick sconces, lanterns and brackets to hang them on, photograph frames and helpful and artistic creations without end can be made.

The Tools You Must Have.

—You will need very few tools for making Venetian iron work and these are (1) a pair of flat nose 5 inch pliers;[26] (2) a pair of round nose 5 inch pliers; (3) a box-wood four-fold, 2-foot rule; (4) a vise; (5) a pair of tinner’s snips and (6) a small riveting hammer, all of which are shown in [Fig. 27].

[26] This means that the pliers are 5 inches long.

The Materials You Need.

—The work is made of ¹⁄₃₂ inch thick soft iron strips and this can be bought[27] in four different widths, namely ¹⁄₈, ³⁄₁₆, ¹⁄₄, and ³⁄₈ inch.

[27] Complete manual training outfits for Venetian bent iron work can be bought of Hammacher, Schlemmer and Co., Fourth Avenue and 13th St., New York.

In general it is the best practice to use the ³⁄₁₆ and ¹⁄₄ inch wide strips for all designs except the smallest and largest. The strip iron comes in coils of 50 feet and the prices range from 16 cents to 25 cents a coil.

	BINDERS
COIL OF WROUGHT IRON STRIP		LEAD WIRE FOR MEASURING

Fig. 30. materials you need for venetian iron work

Then you will need a package of binders—these are merely bits of strip iron cut off and bent as shown in [Fig. 30], they come in four widths and cost about 10 cents a hundred. Also get a couple of 3 foot pieces of lead wire for with these you can quickly form the scrolls and circles you intend to make of iron, then straighten them out and accurately measure off the length of iron you need. They cost 5 cents a strip.

What to Do First.

—Making a Simple Design.—The first thing to do after you get your tools and materials together is to draw on a sheet of paper the object you are to make of bent iron.

How to Make a Toaster.

—This is a good piece of work to start with because it is formed chiefly of straight lines. Draw a plan of it as shown in [Fig. 31], full size and then measure the frame and the inside strips—you will observe that there are two of the latter—and find out exactly how long each strip should be.

Now measure and cut off three strips of iron and allow an extra inch for lapping the long strip that forms the frame. This done mark off the points where the strips are to be bent and use your flat nose pliers to bend the sharp corners and your round nose pliers to bend the curved parts of the frame.

Lap the ends of the strip forming the frame on the side ¹⁄₂ an inch, fasten the joint by putting a binder on it with your pliers and a light tap with your hammer will tighten it up.

Now if you will look again at [Fig. 31], you will see that one end of the right inside strip projects up and beyond the rest of it and this end sets in the handle of the frame and strengthens it; put a binder on each place where it is shown in the drawing including the handle. Fix in the left inside bent strip with binders and put the binders on so that the rough ends will be inside, file down the rough places, rub the toaster all over with a piece of fine emery cloth until it is nice and smooth, rub it with some sweet oil, polish it off with a soft cloth and then present it to Pietro or Hilda or Wo Nang Fong or whoever it is that presides over the kitchen.

Fig. 31. a useful bent iron toaster

How to Make an Egg Boiler.

—Having made the toaster you are ready to try your hand at something a little harder and a good design for your next piece of work is an egg boiler.

The [picture] may look a little complicated but as a matter of fact there is very little to it. There are only three parts to the egg boiler and these are (a) the egg holders; (b) the legs, and (c) the handle. Each of the four egg holders is formed of a ring or strip of iron just large enough so that an egg will slip through it; lap the ends and put on a binder to hold the joint tight.

Fig. 32. how make an egg boiler

Mark, cut off and bend the ends of two strips over ¹⁄₂ an inch, for the half ovals on which the egg rests and then bend the strips to fit the shape of the egg. This done, loop the ends of each half oval over the ring and press them down hard with your pliers to hold them in place. The way an egg holder is made is shown at [A in Fig. 32].

Each leg is a short strip bent over and pressed on to the top of the ring. It is made rigid by putting a binder on it and to one of the half ovals as shown at [B]. To make the handle take a piece of lead wire and bend it to fit the outline shown at [C]; then straighten it out and cut off a strip of iron of the same length. Bend the ends of it over ¹⁄₂ an inch and shape it up with your round nose pliers.

Now join the four rings together with binders and loop and press the ends of the handle on to the rings that are furthest apart as shown at [B]. File, rub up and polish the egg boiler and give it to the chef with your compliments.

How to Make a Venetian Plate Holder.

—To make this plate holder you will have to add a hand drill, a ¹⁄₈ inch twist drill, and a center punch—which are described in [Chapter III]—to your list of tools.

Fig. 33. an artistic venetian plate holder

The plate holder is of more simple construction than the egg boiler but as you have emerged from the kitchen into the dining room you will have to do a very fine job. It consists of four legs as shown in [Fig. 33], riveted to a ring.

Draw the design on paper full size and this will depend on the diameter of the plate it is to hold. Find the length of the legs with your lead wire and measure and cut off the strips of iron accordingly. Likewise find the length of iron strips it will take for the ring and allow 1 inch or over for the lap joint.

Fig. 34. a sconce for a candle

Now drill ¹⁄₈ inch holes in each strip you intend to use for the legs, half way between the top and bottom of it and drill four holes in the ring at equi-distant points. Bend the strips into the artistic curves shown, using, of course, your round nose pliers to do it with, and bend the ring over a round form—a broomstick will do, but a larger form will work better.

Finally rivet the legs to the ring and see to it that you make a good job of it; slip the top of the legs into place over the plate and you will have a piece of Venetian iron work you can be proud of.

You can design and make pretty bent iron stands for vases in a manner very like that used for the plate holder; card racks, photograph frames, lamp shades, etc., can be made in the same manner; and as you become more adept at the work you can point and shape up the iron by heating it in an alcohol lamp, or a Bunsen burner and hammering it. When you can do this you will be able to make a sconce, that is, an ornamental mural[28] bracket for holding a candle as shown in [Fig. 34].

[28] Mural means anything that is supported by or has to do with a wall.

Further you can twist and weave the iron strips for the sides and doors of boxes and book-cases and either line them with silk or put stained glass back of them. In fact the most beautiful things imaginable can be wrought from bent iron strips especially when rivets are used to put the work together.

A Dead Black Finish for Iron Work.

—Get 25 cents’ worth of japan gold size and 10 cents’ worth of pure drop black ground in turpentine and mix them together.

If it is too thick thin it with turpentine and put it on with a soft brush. When dry it will be dead black and neither air nor moisture will spoil it.

Doing Repoussé Work

Repoussé (pronounced re-poo′-say) is a French word and means to form in relief, and repoussage (pronounced re-poo′-sazh) is the word you want to use when you mean the process of producing designs in relief on sheet metal by hammering it on the back.

Tools Needed for Repoussé Work.

—Very few tools are needed for this kind of work but it is important to use the right kind.

The repoussé hammer is a jeweler’s hammer which has one end, or face of it flat and the other rounded like a peining hammer; it is shown in [Fig. 35].

Fig. 35. how to hold a repoussé hammer

Then a number of blunt chisels and markers called repoussé tools as shown at [B, Fig. 35], are needed to emboss the design in the sheet metal. These tools cost about 30 cents apiece and a set of eight or ten tools will serve you well. For the bolder parts of the work boxwood punches can be used but steel punches are always used for the finer work.

Fig. 35b. a punch and punch designs for repoussé work

How to Prepare the Work.

—The kind of metal that is easiest to work is cold-rolled sheet copper[29] No. 32 Brown and Sharp gauge, but brass, aluminum and pewter can also be hammered.

[29] Can be bought of Patterson Brothers, Park Row, New York, or of the Frost and Adams Co., Cornhill, Boston, Mass.

Fig. 35c. how to hold a repoussé punch

To get the work ready fasten the piece of sheet metal to a wooden block with a cement made as follows: melt 1 pound of Burgundy pitch in an iron pan, or skillet, and stir in 1 pound of dental plaster of paris,[30] until they are thoroughly mixed. Then put in a tablespoonful each of tallow and of resin which will make the cement stick better.

[30] This is very fine plaster and can be bought of any dentist.

Take a board 1 inch thick, 10 inches wide and 12 inches long and make a tray of it by nailing a strip of wood around it so that it is ¹⁄₂ an inch higher than the surface of the board. Pour the cement while it is still hot on the board and press the sheet of metal hard down on it; let it get cold when it will be firmly cemented to it.

Tracing the Design.

—After you have drawn the design on the sheet of metal either with a pencil or by means of transfer paper you can begin to trace the design by punching it with the straight and curved edge chisels.

To hold a chisel right, grip it between your thumb and index finger, let your next, or medius, finger lie gently on the shank of the tool and your third, or annularis, finger rest on the sheet of metal as shown at [C in Fig. 35].

The handle of the hammer is long, thin and springy and you hold it by the end with your index finger laying on it as shown at [A in Fig. 35]. Do not strike the tool hard or the punch may go clear through the metal sheet but instead give it a succession of light, gentle taps at the rate of about 100 a minute or so and you will make the tracing nice and even.

Bossing the Work.

—After you have traced the outline of the design with the chisels hold the plate over an alcohol or a Bunsen flame and when it is hot enough you can take it off of the cement.

Then cement it to the block again, but this time put the other side down. Now use your boxwood or steel punches and hammer the copper, or other metal, into bold relief or you can matt the ground with any one of the numerous punches shown at [B].

	THE RING FOR THE CANDLE
		THE CANDLESTICK WHEN DONE
THE DESIGN ON THE METAL

Fig. 36. a repoussé candlestick

How to Make a Flat Candlestick.

—This is a good piece of work for you to start with because it is at once simple, artistic and more or less useful. To make it, cut out a sheet of brass 6¹⁄₂ inches square and draw a spider and his web and a poor little fly or two making a bee-line for it as shown at [A in Fig. 36].

Punch the outline with your chisels and raise the bodies of the insects with your molding tools. The ground can be left flat or you can put it in with a marker. When you have the bossing done scallop the edges with your snips and bend them up so that it is 5 inches square.

For the handle cut a strip of brass ³⁄₄ inch wide and 4³⁄₄ inches long; raise the middle of it by hammering it in a groove cut in a block of hard wood; bend it and then rivet it to a corner of the brass sheet.

To make the ring which holds the candle cut out a strip of brass 1 inch high and 3 inches long and cut out three tongues as shown at [B]. Scribe a circle in a corner of the sheet of brass, cut three slots on it, slip the tongues through the slots and bend them over.

Rub the candlestick all over with some brass polish and then cover the bottom with a piece of green billiard cloth if you can get it, or any other kind you may have at hand. It is shown complete at [C].

How to Make a Photo Frame.

—The front of this frame can be made of brass, copper or German silver and the back of it can be made of a sheet of tin or brass.

You can make the frame round, oblong or square and with a round or an oval opening in it to suit your fancy. Suppose you make the outside of it 7 × 9 inches and the oval opening 3¹⁄₂ × 5 inches as shown at [A in Fig. 37]. Draw or transfer the design to the surface of the metal and work it into shape as I have previously described.

Do not cut the opening or trim the metal sheet to the size you want them until after you have hammered it as this draws the metal out. After you have finished the front make a back for it of sheet tin or brass, 5 inches wide and 6 inches long, and bend over the edge of one end and both of the side edges ³⁄₈ inch as shown at [B].

Solder the edges to the back of the frame and then solder a stay, or stand on the back of it. This completes the frame and the photograph can be slipped in it between the front and the back.

THE HAMMERED FRONT

THE BACK OF THE FRAME

Fig. 37. a repoussé photo frame

Cleaning and Polishing Brass, Copper and German Silver.

—To clean any of these metals mix some powdered rotten stone with some machine oil and rub them with a pad made of a soft flannel rag.

To polish wipe off the rotten stone and oil perfectly clean and then rub the work with a chamois skin dampened with alcohol and on which you have put some red rouge.

Frosting, Coloring and Lacquering Metals.

—You will find recipes for finishing articles in these styles in [Chapter III].

Pierced Metal Work

This is by all odds the simplest and easiest of all art metal work and you won’t need any practice to make a good job; then the tools and materials cost but very little and the finished work is really pretty.

THE MALLET
A TRACING POINT
a MODELING TOOL
	THUMB TACK
b MODELING TOOL
STIPPLING AWLS

Fig. 38a. the tools you need for pierced brass work

The Outfit to Do It With.

—The Tools.

—These are very few indeed and include (1) a pear-shaped mallet for stippling; (2) a tracing point; (3) a couple of modeling tools; (4) an awl with a tempered point, and (5) a metal folder, all of which are shown at [A in Fig. 38].

You will also need (a) a sheet of designs; (b) a sheet of carbon, or impression paper; (c) a dozen or more split shanks to fasten the edges of the work together; (d) a drawing board about 12 × 18 inches on the sides of which the sheet metal is tacked while you are working it, and (e) some thumb tacks for tacking the work to the board.

A CANDLE SHADE
	THE FINISHEDCANDLE SHADE

Fig. 38b. a pierced brass candle shade

You will need too, of course, the sheet metal and this can be of brass, copper or German silver and you can buy sheets of these metals that are already cut out for candle shades, lanterns, photo-frames and numerous other articles with the designs marked on them ready to use[31] or you can buy the sheet metal and the designs separately and then transfer and cut them out yourself.

[31] All tools and materials for pierced metal work can be bought of Frost and Adams, Boston, Mass.

An outfit for pierced brass work can be bought for as little as 60 cents and you can buy any number of brass or copper cutouts with the designs stamped on them for 25 cents each, or of German silver for 50 cents each.

How to Do the Work.

—The first thing to do is to lay the sheet of metal with the design on it on your drawing board and fasten it there with thumb tacks.

Now with your stippling awl punch little holes about ¹⁄₁₆ inch apart all along the outline of the design. The background is then stippled with the awl, that is, dotted all over but not punched through, and the closer the dots are the prettier it will look.

Use a small modeling tool to put the veins in the leaves and after you have done this use a larger modeling tool and shape up the leaves or whatever the design may be.

To do this grip the tool in your hand and press it hard on the edge of the leaf and force it in toward the vein and at the same time ease up on it. This is all there is to the actual work of piercing brass.

After you have made the design take some brass polish, put it on a little wad of cheese cloth and rub off the remaining marks and then polish it with a clean cloth.

Since the brass or other metal for pierced brass work is very thin you will have to back it up with thin wood, although candle shades and other small articles can be used as they are. A design for a candle shade is shown at [B] and the finished candlestick at [C], while one for a toast panel that can be hung on the wall with a Venetian bent iron hanger which I described on [page 76] is shown at [D].

’Tis easy enough to be pleasant,
When life goes by with a song;
But the nan worth while,
is the man who will smile,
When everything else goes wrong.

Fig. 38d. a pierced brass toast sign

Casting and Working Pewter

Since nearly all metals excepting tin and lead have high melting points, it is hard to melt them unless you have a regular furnace.

Something About Pewter.

—But casting metals is a fascinating process and you can do it by melting 25 parts of lead and 75 parts of tin together which forms an alloy called pewter.

This alloy is as old as the hills and for ten or eleven centuries before the golden age of invention—that is to say the beginning of the 19th century—pewter utensils were used in nearly every home in every civilized country.

Then came the invention of cheap processes for making pottery and glass and those good old hard alloys known as britannia metal, which is formed of tin, copper and antimony, and German silver, which is German all right, for it was first made at Hildburghausen, Germany, but it is not silver at all for it is formed of nickel, zinc and copper, went entirely out of use.

But there is a dignity and a beauty about pewter that none of the other common metals have and it may be revived one of these days for efforts are now being made to produce it again in all its former glory.

How to Make Pewter.

—I do not know of any place where you can buy pewter but you can easily make the alloy yourself.

You can get the lead in your home town wherever you live at any plumbing shop but you may not be able to get the tin so easily. You can, however, get it by sending to the Conley Tin Foil Company, 521 West 25th Street, New York, and at the present time they are quoting pig tin in blocks at 75 cents a pound.

When you have the lead and the tin melt the lead in an iron ladle, see [Fig. 39], over the kitchen fire and skim off the dross, that is, the impurities in it that come to the surface, and then put in the tin. After both are melted stir them well and then pour the alloy thus formed, which is pewter, in a pan that is oiled with sweet oil, to keep it from sticking and so make sheets of it of whatever thickness you want.

Fig. 39. iron ladle for melting pewter

About Working Pewter.

—Pewter can be worked like any other malleable metal, only easier because it is softer and more ductile, hence it can be hammered into any shape.

It can be cast as you will presently see and it can be soldered by using a flux of tallow, Gallipoli oil or Venice turpentine and pewterer’s solder, which is made of 1 part of lead, 1 part of tin and 2 parts of bismuth.[32] This solder melts at 203 degrees Fahrenheit, that is at a temperature of 9 degrees less than that at which water boils.

[32] Bismuth is a reddish white metal.

How to Cast Pewter.

—The way in which pewter is usually cast is by making molds of iron and brass and pouring the metal into them. But you can do a very good job of casting pewter by making and using plaster of Paris molds.

In making any kind of castings you need a flask, that is a wooden frame made in halves, as shown in [Fig. 40]; the top half of the flask is called the cope and this must be fitted with pins that set in holes in the bottom of the frame or drag, as it is called.

Fig. 40. how a pewter casting is made

When these pins set in the holes they keep the top and bottom parts of the flask together so that after the mold is made they can be taken apart and the pattern removed and then when they are put together again ready for the metal to be poured they will be exactly even. Make the top and bottom halves of the flask a couple of inches larger all round and a couple of inches deeper than the size of the pattern you are going to cast.

The Patterns Necessary.

—You can saw or turn or carve out of wood anything you want to cast in pewter, provided it is not too intricate, and after sandpapering it nice and smooth all over give it a couple of coats of shellac varnish.[33]

[33] This can be bought already made at paint stores or you can make it by dissolving some yellow shellac in alcohol.

If it is your idea to make table-ware of pewter you can use ordinary china dishes for your patterns, provided they are without handles, but before making a mold with any kind of a pattern in plaster oil it well all over with sweet oil, using a brush for the purpose, so that it will not stick and then you can draw it easily.

Making the Mold.

—Lay the drag, that is the lower half of the flask, on a board or a table; mix dental plaster of Paris with water until it is about as thick as batter and fill the drag with it.

Just before the plaster begins to set, that is, harden, take your pattern, whether it is one you have made or a china dish, oil it and press it down into the plaster until it is nearly even with the top edge of the pattern and let it stay there until the plaster is hard, that is, over night.

Then brush sweet oil over the top of both the pattern and the hard plaster which must come about flush, that is even, with the top of the drag. Now put on the cope and fill it with plaster, smooth it off even with the top edge and let the plaster get hard.

Your next move is to lift the cope from the drag which you can do without trouble and then lift the pattern from the drag, using the point of a knife if it seems inclined to stick.

Drill a ¹⁄₄ inch hole through the plaster in the cope, fit the cope to the drag again and then pour in the pewter. When it is cold take the flask apart, take the casting out gently and don’t spoil it even if you have to break the mold.

Where cups, tankards or other hollow vessels are to be cast make a mold for it just as though it was a solid piece; now pour in the melted pewter and when it has cooled enough to form a solid layer turn the mold upside down and let the melted metal run out which will leave it hollow. If handles are needed cast them separately and solder them on to the body of the vessel. Some finished pewter ware is shown at [C].

Fig. 40c. home made pewter ware

Finishing the Ware.

—Plates and the like can be scraped with a steel scraper and when they are nice and smooth rub them with a rag dipped in oil and whiting, but do not polish them.

If you have a turning lathe of any kind you can put your cups and other round objects in it and turn it up with a bent inside turning tool, a flat tool and a round point tool such as is used for turning brass, ivory, etc., and which you can buy for a quarter apiece,[34] and this will leave the pewter bright and beautiful.

[34] These tools can be bought of Luther M. Wightman, Milk Street, Boston, Mass.

Engraving on Metal

Engraving on metal is a beautiful art. The method is simple and the effect is striking but it requires a good deal of patience and long practice to do really good work.

Fig. 41. tools for engraving on metal

A. Shapes of gravers.
B. Handles for gravers.

The Tools That Are Used.

—Engraving tools, or gravers as they are called, are made in ten or a dozen shapes but the knife, round and lozenge gravers will be enough to do all ordinary work with. The different shapes are shown at [A in Fig. 41].

All of the gravers are about the same length, that is 4¹⁄₂ or 5 inches, and they are fitted with knob shaped handles a third of which has been cut away as shown at [B], so that the graver can be gripped in the palm of the hand with the flat side against it which keeps the tool in the right position. The way to hold a graver is shown at [C].

Fig. 41c. how to hold a graver

How to Engrave on Metal.

—If the object to be engraved is very small it should be fixed to a block of wood with the Burgundy pitch compound above described, but if it is a large object it need not be mounted.

In either case an engraving pad, that is, a round, thick leather pad filled with sand, is a very great convenience to rest the work on because it permits the work to be easily turned in any direction and held at any angle while it is being engraved.

Fig. 41d. an engraving on a sheet of copper

Rolled sheet copper is a good metal to practice on and you can trace the design you want to engrave on it by dabbing a thin film of engraver’s wax[35] on the metal surface with your finger and then sketching the outline with a bone stylus, that is a piece of bone having a sharp point. An example of art engraving is shown at [D in Fig. 41].

[35] You can use beeswax but it is better to make a wax by melting together 3 parts of beeswax, 3 parts of tallow, 1 part of Canada balsam and 1 part of olive oil. Or you can buy a small cake of Chinese white, wet your finger, rub it on the white and then dab it on the metal surface.

CHAPTER V
DRAWING SIMPLY EXPLAINED

Free-hand Drawing

A picture made by the hand and eye and without the aid of a rule and compass is called free-hand drawing.

To be able to do free-hand drawing is one of the nicest accomplishments you can have for then you can sketch the things you see and want to remember; and, further, sketches made with a pencil or pen and ink are, to my way of thinking, just as interesting as photographs provided they are well done.

Talent versus Practice.

—Some fellows have a natural bent for sketching and are what you might call born artists, while others seem to be entirely minus this talent and the only way they can ever learn to sketch is by following certain rules and then practicing.

Now the chances are you have a little talent but whether you have or not if you will follow the simple instructions I have written down in this chapter you will be surprised to find what really clever pictures you can draw.

Pictures for You to Draw.

—There are two kinds of free-hand sketches for you to do and these are (1) of life models and (2) of still life, that is, fruit, flowers, furniture and inanimate objects of all kinds.

I shall tell you first how to make simple drawings of living figures including man and beast and by beginning where your savage ancestor left off you will be able to at least represent anything your fancy dictates.

Simple Line Sketches.

—As you will see by looking at A and B in [Fig. 42], the sketches of the man and horse consist of merely straight lines but you will also observe that A looks like a boxer because the action is there.

Fig. 42. a simple line drawing of a man and a horse

This is because when I sketched it I was careful to note the exact position of the boxer’s head, arms, legs and body as they appeared at that given moment. The keynote in sketching a figure in action is always to draw it, not as you wish or believe it to look but as it actually is.

The line sketches [A and B] only look as like a man landing a right, and a horse coming down the home stretch as they do because (a) all the lines are properly proportioned, that is, of the right length when compared with each other, and (b) they are set in the correct positions. The way to become a good judge of proportion is always to notice the relative sizes of the things you draw.

Sketching Simple Outline Figures.

—When you can sketch straight line figures to show men and animals in action you can then draw outlines around them and so make them much more realistic as shown at A and B in [Fig. 43].

Fig. 43. simple outline drawing of a boxer and a race horse

To do this draw a straight line sketch first and then draw the outline around it, when you can rub out the straight lines if you want to. In these outline sketches you will see that only the lines that are actually needed to give the picture the contour, that is, the shape of the figure, or body, are used.

The Proportions of the Human Figure.

—If you will remember when you are drawing a picture of the human form that the whole figure from neck to toe should be 7 times as long as the head; that the body proper, or torso as it is called, is 4 times as long as the head; that the arms are as long as the body, and that the legs should be 4 times the length of the head measured to the inside of the crotch, as you will see if you will look at [A in Fig. 44], you will have it in proportion.

Fig. 44a. the proportions of the human body

How to Draw Faces.

—You can easily draw fairly natural looking faces if you will rule off a number of squares on a sheet of paper as shown at [B] and [C in Fig. 44].

The full view of the head of a human being is shaped like an egg standing on its small end, and the profile (pronounced pro´-feel) view, that is the side view of the head, is more nearly square; if in the latter case the square is divided into two triangles, the face will be found to nearly fill one of them and the hair the other.

Fig. 44b. a full view of the face

Both of these figures show the right sizes to make the eyes, ears, nose and mouth, that the eyes are on a line with the helix, or upper border of the ears and that the top of the nose is on a line with the lobe, or lower edge of the ear. It is mighty good practice to sketch the faces of your friends in this fashion.

Sketching Still Life Objects.

—It is always more or less hard to sketch inanimate objects with anything like a true portrayal of them from memory but it is quite easy to do so if you have the object itself set up before you to pattern after and then draw it as you see it.

Fig. 44c. a profile view of the face

If you can do a creditable drawing in this manner with your eye and hand alone it is art, but if you use a rule or a pair of dividers to measure off the proportions and then mark them on your paper, it degenerates into a purely mechanical process; but you can take your choice and do it whichever way you want to.

Drawing in Perspective.

—The first thing to know about drawing in perspective is what perspective means. To do a drawing of an object or a view on a sheet of paper as it appears to the eye you must draw it in perspective.

As an illustration, when you look down a railroad track you will see that the rails look very far apart at your feet, but in the distance they seem to come to a point and then vanish; this is quite natural for nearby objects always look larger than when they are at a distance.

So too, when you look at the top of a box the edge a will seem longer than the edge b, which is farther away from the eye, and the lines c and d which form the other edges would meet if they were projected as shown by the dotted lines at [A in Fig. 45], and the same thing is true for the front and the side of the box.

Fig. 45a. the vanishing points of a perspective drawing

The Vanishing Point.

—So when you draw a box or any other object in perspective the lines will meet if you draw them out far enough and then vanish, and hence this is called the vanishing point.

To find the vanishing point of the surface of an object, such as the top of a box, hold a pencil out in front of yourself at arm’s length and shut one eye, as shown at [B]; then tilt the pencil until it follows the side line that you are going to draw; now open your eye and you will see that the line of the box that seemed at first to be straight is really slanting.

Draw a line on your paper at this slant, or angle as it is called, and do the same with the other line and draw it, when the two lines will meet and this is the vanishing point. You can draw in now the front and back lines of the top.

Fig. 45b. how to find the vanishing point

Houses and all other objects should be drawn with vanishing points if they are to conform to the first principles of art, but for certain kinds of mechanical drawing art is sacrificed for the sake of showing the sizes of the object and an abnormal picture results which is called an isometric perspective.

But houses and all other large objects should be drawn with vanishing points or they will not look real. A barn drawn in this way is shown at [C], and you will see that the roof looks perfectly natural since the lines forming it run to vanishing points.

Fig. 45c. the vanishing points put to use

How to Shade a Drawing.

—When you do a drawing from an object you will see that the light falling on certain parts of it seems white, or high lights, as they are called, and on other parts where it does not fall it is dark.

To shade your drawing so that it will show the lights and shadows exactly as the object does, you should study the latter, and put the shading, as it is called, on the former just as nearly like it as you can. But in shading a drawing there must be no sharp lines to show where the light leaves off and the shadow begins, but you must make them merge gradually one into the other, as shown at [A in Fig. 45].

Working Drawings

And now we come to drawings of another kind and these are not intended to please the eye but to work from, hence they are called working drawings.

When most boys, and many men, want to make anything of wood or metal they get busy with their tools forthwith and whack it out willy-nilly and of course a punk job results.

Now the right way to make an article—unless you are going to crochet a sweater—is to (1) see it in your mind’s eye, (2) then draw it out on paper to scale, and (3) build it up from the plan as the picture is called. By working this way you will be able to figure out just how much material you will need for it; see exactly how the various parts fit together, and know that it will look just right when it is done.

Drawing Tools You Should Have.

—Drawing instruments, or drawing tools as they are commonly called, consist for the most part of (1) one or more pairs of dividers; (2) one or more pairs of compasses with pen and pencil points, and (3) one or more ruling pens. One of each of the above tools will be enough for you to begin with. A cheap set is shown in [Fig. 46].

Fig. 46. the drawing tools you need

Then you will need (4) a rule, or scale as it is called; (5) a protractor; (6) a T square 20 inches long; (7) a 30 degree triangle 5 inches long; (8) some drawing paper[36] not less than 10 × 12 inches; (9) a couple of medium hard (HHH) lead pencils,[37] (10) a good rubber eraser;[38] (11) a bottle of Higgins’ India ink,[39] (12) a few thumb tacks, and (13) a drawing board about 12 × 17 inches. And now let’s see what these tools and other things are for and how they are used.

[36] Get a 2-ply bristol board with a medium or smooth surface.

[37] Koh-i-noor or Venus pencils are good ones.

[38] Get Faber’s red rubber Van Dyke.

[39] This is a prepared India ink but you can make your own by rubbing up stick India ink with water.

A pair of dividers is a tool having hinged legs, the free ends of which are pointed; they are used to take, mark off and subdivide distances.

The compasses are made like the dividers, but one end has a needle point and the other is hollow so that either a pencil or a drawing pen point can be slipped into it; this tool is used to draw curves and circles, either with a pencil or in ink.

A ruling pen is formed of two bowed steel blades having a screw adjustment so that they can be forced together or drawn apart and so make lines of varying widths. Not only is a ruling pen different from a writing pen but the ink that is used with it is thicker than an ordinary writing ink. This pen is used to make straight lines by running it along the edge of a rule or T square.

A protractor is a semi-circle of brass or of German silver and it is divided into 180 degrees—since it is half of a circle and there are 360 degrees in a circle. You can buy one for a quarter.

By placing the edge of your rule in the center of the straight edge of the protractor and laying it on any one of the lines—they are numbered from 0 to 180—you will find the number of degrees the edge of the rule is from the horizontal.

Fig. 47. the t square and triangle on the drawing board

The T square is laid with the head, that is the short thick piece, against the left hand edge of the drawing board which brings the blade, that is the long thin piece flat on and across the board. The triangle is placed against the straight edge. The triangle is laid on the board with one of its edges against the blade of the T square as shown in [Fig. 47].

Simple Working Drawings.

—There are two kinds of working drawings that will be of use to you and these are, (1) plan drawings, and (2) isometric (pronounced i-so-met´-ric) drawings and you will find both of these quite easy to do.

Making Plan Drawings.

—Suppose now you want to draw the plans of a box which, let’s imagine, is to be 5 inches high, 6 inches wide and 8 inches long. The first thing to do is to draw out a view of the bottom, which also serves as the top since they are alike, and you will have a rectangle like that shown at [A in Fig. 48], and mark the dimensions on it, that is, the width and the length of the box. This you do by running a couple of arrows in each direction and marking in the size.

Fig. 48a. the plan drawings for a box

Next draw one of the sides as shown at [B] and this will give you the height and the length of the box and mark in the sizes, that is 5 and 8 inches accordingly. Finally draw the end and you will have the height and width of the box as shown at [C] and again you mark in the dimensions.

It is easy to see now that if you have all three dimensions, namely length, breadth and thickness, and that if you make a box in wood or metal it will look like the picture shown at [D] which is in isometric perspective.

Fig. 48d. the box drawn in isometric perspective

Isometric Perspective Drawings.

—The kind of perspective drawings I told you how to do under the caption of Drawing in Perspective is true perspective but engineers do drawings which they call isometric perspective, that is, while the object seems to stand out in relief there are no vanishing points.

This kind of perspective is purely mechanical and not in the least artistic but it is a great aid when you intend to make anything, for you can still draw the lines to scale and see exactly how the finished object will look.

To make a drawing of this kind draw a line on a sheet of paper near the bottom and two 30 degree lines from the ends and a vertical line through them where they meet as shown at [A in Fig. 49].

Now there are four ways by which you can get the 30 degree lines on paper and these are (1) to buy isometric ruled paper, that is paper on which the lines are already ruled; you can buy this paper for 15 cents a quire of any dealer in drawing materials or of Keuffel and Esser, 127 Fulton Street, New York City. This is the easiest and best way.

Fig. 49a. how the lines for isometric drawings are made

(2) Take a sheet of white paper exactly 5¹⁄₈ inches wide and 10 inches long and draw two diagonal lines from corner to corner so that they will cross each other, then draw a vertical line through the middle and a horizontal line near the bottom. The diagonal and horizontal lines will be 30 degrees apart.

(3) By laying a 30 degree triangle on your T square and drawing a line along the 30 degree side of it as shown in [Fig. 47]; and (4) by laying off 30 degree lines with a protractor.

To do this tack a sheet of paper on your drawing board and draw a horizontal line near the bottom of the paper with your T square; put your protractor on the horizontal line near one end, lay the edge of the rule on the center of the protractor and exactly on the 30 degree scale mark and then draw a line.

Fig. 49b. a sheet of isometric drawing paper

Slide the protractor on the opposite side of the board, draw another 30 degree diagonal line so that it will cross the first one and draw a vertical line down through the middle of the paper.

Having, now, your sheet of isometric ruled paper you are ready to do the drawing. Whatever the picture is to be, all you need to do is to follow the 30 degree lines and the vertical lines and you simply can’t help getting it in perspective.

In drawing isometric perspective circles, such as wheels, disks and the like, they are always shown as ellipses, that is, closed oblong curves. To draw an isometric ellipse,[40] make it in the proportion of ⁵⁄₈ to 1, that is, if it is ⁵⁄₈ inch wide, as we will call its minor axis, then make it 1 inch long, as we will call its major axis, as shown at [C in Fig. 49], and you will have one that is near enough the right shape for your purpose; thus if you want to show a tube or a pipe, draw it as pictured at [C]. Now with these few principles well in mind you can make a working drawing of nearly anything you please.

[40] A more complete description of isometric ellipses will be found in Inventing for Boys by the present author and published by Frederick A. Stokes Co., of New York.

Fig. 49c. the proportions of an isometric ellipse

Some Simple Aids to Drawing

How to Draw a Circle.

—Should you ever want to draw a circle and have no compasses at hand or should you want to draw a larger circle than you can with your compasses tie a bit of strong thread to a pin, make a loop in the string at whatever length you want the radius—that is half of the diameter of the circle—to be.

This done, drive the pin in at the point where you want the center of the circle, put the point of a lead pencil in the loop and move it around the pin, as shown at [A in Fig. 50], keeping the thread taut and a perfect circle, nearly, will result.

Fig. 50a. how to draw a circle with a thread

How to Draw a Spiral.

—Make a loop in one end of a thread as before and tie the other end tightly to a large pin; wind the thread around the pin until all of it is on except the loop; push the pin through the paper on which you want to draw the spiral and into the drawing board as shown at [B].

Next put the point of the pencil in the loop and move it around the pin just as you did in making the circle and you will find that you have drawn a very pretty geometrical spiral which is known as the spiral of Archimedes. It is so called because Archimedes was the first to explain that it was caused by a point moving with uniform angular speed and receding from the center at a constant rate.

Fig. 50b. how to draw a spiral with a thread

How to Draw an Ellipse.

—An ellipse can be drawn in the same way as a circle, that is, by means of a string; but instead of one pin you will need two and each pin is driven in at the foci of the ellipse you are to draw as shown at [C]. Simply make a loop of the string, slip it over the pins, put the pencil point in the loop and move it around the pins when an ellipse will be formed.

How to Make and Use a Pantagraph.

—A pantagraph is a simple mechanical linkage for enlarging, copying or reducing the size of a picture. It is shown in [Fig. 51].

To make one of these instruments get four strips of wood about ¹⁄₈ inch thick, ¹⁄₂ an inch wide, and 18 or 20 inches long. Now drill ¹⁄₁₆ inch holes ¹⁄₄ inch apart in each stick the whole length of it. In the ends of three of the sticks make a hole the size of a lead pencil.

Fig. 50c. how to draw an ellipse with a thread

Fig. 51. how a pantagraph is made and used

Make two tin tubes each ¹⁄₂ an inch long and fit them into the holes in the ends of the sticks and push a bit of pencil through each tube; screw a block of wood ¹⁄₂ an inch thick to your drawing board and screw one end of another stick to the block and the sticks together with screw eyes.

Now tack a sheet of paper under the pencil in the free end of the stick and a picture under the pencil in the jointed ends of the sticks, then trace the picture with the latter, and the other pencil will make an enlargement of the picture. By changing the position of the sticks a picture can be copied or reduced in the same way. A pantagraph can be bought for as little as 25 cents or for as much as $125.00.[41]

[41] A pantagraph can be bought of any dealer in art supplies or drawing materials.

Fig. 52. how a reflecting drawing board is made and used

How to Make a Reflecting Drawing Board.

—This is a very simple and easily made optical apparatus for copying pictures and making drawings of flat objects. Get a smooth board, or your drawing board will do; make a wood frame and fit an 8 × 10 sheet of clear glass in it and screw the frame to the middle of the board as shown in [Fig. 52].

Now all you have to do is to lay a picture or a flat object, such as a leaf or a butterfly, on one side of the glass and a sheet of paper on the other side and look into the glass at a sharp slant, or acute angle would be the better term, and you will see the picture projected plainly on the paper so that you can easily draw it in with a pencil.

How to Make Tracings.

—A very easy and effective way to copy any picture already drawn, or even a photograph, in line, is to use tracing paper.

This kind of paper, which you can buy of any dealer in drawing materials, is quite transparent and very tough. To make a tracing lay the drawing you want to copy on your drawing board, then lay the tracing paper on top of it, rough side up, and push a thumb tack into each corner to hold them together.

Now trace the outline of the picture with a pencil and then draw in the lines with India ink. If the paper does not take the ink readily rub the surface of it with a little powdered chalk on a soft rag. You can make as many duplicate copies as you want by using a printing frame and blue paper according to the [directions] given in the [next chapter].

To Make Lasting Impressions.

—Here is an easy way to make lasting impressions of your own and your friends’ finger prints and hands.

Take a sheet of heavy glazed white paper, say 5 × 7 inches, and hold it over a kerosene lamp with the chimney removed and the top of the burner thrown back so that the flame will smoke like a locomotive. Keep moving the paper about to make the soot, which is simply particles of nearly pure carbon, cover the surface of the paper as evenly as possible.

Fig. 53. a lasting carbon (soot) impression of your hand

Lay the smoked paper on a table and then press the palm of your hand flat down on it; you must be careful not to press your fingers down too hard or the sharpness of the fine lines will be destroyed. To get a clear impression of the lines in the hollow of your hand press down on the back of it with the fingers of your other hand.

After you have made the print, as the impression is called, pour on some flint varnish, which is the kind that photographers use to cover the films of glass negatives. You can buy it at any photo supply house.

Pour a teaspoonful on one corner of the paper and let it flow down and across until the whole surface is evenly covered. As this is a genuine carbon process the prints cannot fade and they will last as long as the paper lasts. A print of this kind made by the author 18 years ago is shown in [Fig. 53].

The Ancient and Honored Art of Cutting Silhouettes.

—Since you are of the younger generation let me tell you just what a silhouette is, and why.

It is a profile, or side view, of the head of a person cut out of black paper and mounted on a white card, or else cut out of white paper with a piece of black silk back of it so that it looks like a shadow in miniature of the sitter.

It was so called after M. de Silhouette, a French Minister of Finance in 1759; his rigid economy in the conduct of his office caused his name to be tacked on to everything cheap and as photography had not yet been discovered and painted portraits were costly, the paper outlines filled in with black were the cheapest substitute known and hence the name.

But as the years rolled by silhouettes became a dignified and honored art and so when our great grandfather and grandmother wanted to have their pictures made—not taken—they went to a shears and paste artist who cut out their silhouettes.

Fig. 54. silhouettes of your great-grand-pa and great-grand-ma (when they were young)

While the art of cutting silhouettes is all but a lost one because photography is so easy and shows all the details, still you can make them with some black glazed paper and a pair of sharp shears with a little practice.

Take a sheet of black glazed paper[42] about 2 inches wide and 3 inches long and seat your sitter with the side of his or her face turned toward you. Now with a pair of sharp shears begin to cut the paper, starting at the chin and going on up the face to the hair, then around to the back of the head and finally cutting out the collar and bust.

[42] Glazed paper can be bought at stationery stores or you can get it from Dennison Mfg. Co., 5th Ave. and 26th St., N. Y. C.

All the time you are cutting you must keep your artistic eye on the profile of your sitter and your mechanical eye on your shears and paper and you will be truly surprised to find how little knack it takes to get a reasonably faithful likeness. A pair of silhouettes are shown in [Fig. 54].

Transfer Pictures, or Decalcomania.

—Of course you know what transfer pictures are. There are very few boys indeed who have not bought and used little 5 cent packages of jim-crow transfer pictures and you will remember that usually only about half of the picture transferred came off. But this was because they were made for fun and not for real work.

Now transfer pictures, or decalcomania (pronounced de-cal´-co-ma´-ni-a) or decalcomanie as the French call it, from the Latin de which means down, plus calquer, which is Latin for trace, plus mania which is Greek for madness, are used by hundreds of thousands by painters and decorators in every line of work. These pictures are made with skill and care and when used properly will not break or come off.

These transfer pictures can be bought in 10,000 different subjects and cost from 1¹⁄₂ cents to a couple of dollars each. The pictures include every subject imaginable from simple little flowers to birds with wonderful plumage and from cupids in groups to world’s fair buildings; then there are letters and monograms and beautiful crests and coats-of-arms in gold and brilliant colors.

When you get ready to do decalcomanie write to Palm, Fechteler and Company, 67 Fifth Avenue, New York, or to their western branch at 54 West Lake Street, Chicago, Ills., for a price-list and this will give you a description, the height and length of each picture, the number of pictures on a sheet and the price per sheet.

How to Transfer the Pictures.

—The regular pictures can be transferred to wood, metal, painted surfaces, etc., but instead of soaking them in water alone as you used to with the toy pictures you give the face of them a very thin coat of a good, quick drying, rubbing varnish which you can get at a paint store, or better, use a transfer varnish which you can buy of the above company for 35 cents for a ¹⁄₂ pint can.

After you have applied the varnish to the face of the picture let it dry until it is very tacky; now put the face of the transfer down on the surface, wet it with water on a sponge and roll it down hard with a felt roller.

In a couple of minutes wet the paper again thoroughly with water and peel it off; roll it down at once with a wet felt roller and tap it off with a piece of chamois skin. After the design or picture has dried for 20 minutes or so, the varnish around it can be removed by dampening it with dilute turpentine, ammonia or, better, with a detergent made of equal parts of turpentine and crude oil and immediately rubbing it away lightly and quickly with a dry, soft rag.

After the picture has been transferred as above, it should be given one or more protecting coats of varnish the next day.

CHAPTER VI
SOME KINKS IN PHOTOGRAPHY

Since the slogan you press the button and we’ll do the rest has come to be so well known everybody makes photographs. But there are a number of kinks in and side issues of photography that are amusing, instructive or useful and which if you do not already know about will prove of service to you.

How to Make Blue Prints.

—This is the very simplest and one of the most useful kinds of photography. You need but very little material to make the pictures with and the little you need will cost less than a dollar.

Fig. 55. a photo printing frame

The Materials Required.

—Buy, or you can make, (1) a 5 × 7 printing frame as shown in [Fig. 55] and get a sheet of clear glass to fit it, and (2) a couple of dozen sheets of 5 × 7 blue-paper[43] which you can buy at any photographic supply house.

[43] You can make blue print paper by dissolving ammonium ferric citrate in warm water and coating the surface of the paper with it by floating it on top of the solution.

Now take one of the drawings you have made on tracing paper or on tracing cloth with India ink as I [described] in the last chapter and lay it with its inked surface on the glass; lay on this a sheet of blue-paper with its sensitized side on the tracing paper or cloth; put the back of the printing frame on top of the blue-paper, press the springs into place and set the frame in the sunlight.

Every few minutes open a half of the hinged back of the printing frame and take a look at the blue paper to see if the printing is far enough along. When the lines of the drawing show plainly on it take the print out of the frame and wash it, as it is called, by letting water run on it or by putting it through several changes of water.

When it is well washed hang it up on a line by a corner to dry and you will have a good, clear print with white lines on a blue ground. In this way by using a negative that you have made with a camera, especially if it is a marine view, you can get some very pretty and artistic pictures.

Another Kind of Contact Printing.

—If you like nature you can use the above process of contact printing to fine advantage. Instead of blue paper it is better to use what is known as solio paper[44] or silver paper.[45]

[44] Solio paper is coated first with gelatin and then with silver.

[45] Silver paper is coated first with albumen and then with silver.

To make a contact silver print first put a finely veined leaf, the filmy wing of a butterfly, a piece of delicate lace or any other thin, translucent object on the glass in the printing frame, lay a sheet of solio, or silver paper over it, then put the back in the frame and fix the springs.

Set the frame so that the sunlight will fall full on the glass side of it. From time to time open half of the hinged back and see how the print is coming on; make the print a couple of shades darker than you want it when finished, but be careful not to overexpose it for silver paper prints much quicker than blue paper.

To Tone and Fix the Picture.

—To tone a silver print means to change its color and give it more brilliancy and this is done by putting it in a chemical solution made of chloride of gold, or toning bath as it is called.

To fix a print means to treat it so that the light will no longer act upon it and this is done with a solution of hyposulphite of soda or just hypo as it is called for short.

The easiest way to tone and fix your silver prints is to buy a bottle of solio toning solution[46] which is a combined toning and fixing bath. Take the print from the frame and do not wash it but put it into a tray in which you have mixed 2 ounces of solio toning solution and 4 ounces of cold water.

[46] It can be bought at any store where photographic materials are sold or you can make it yourself from the [formula] given on this page.

When the print takes on the proper color put it into another tray containing a solution made of 1 ounce of salt and 32 ounces of water; let it stay in this bath for 5 minutes to stop the toning. Now put the print into another tray and wash it in 16 changes of water or in running water for an hour. If you make a half or a dozen prints at once you can tone and fix them at the same time.

Recipe for a Combined Toning and Fixing Solution.

—To make a combined toning and fixing bath mix up two solutions, called stock solutions, as follows:

Stock Solution A.

—Dissolve in 20 ounces of cold water 2 ounces of hypo, 1¹⁄₂ ounces of alum in crystals and ¹⁄₂ an ounce of granulated sugar. Then dissolve ¹⁄₂ an ounce of borax in 2 ounces of hot water and mix it with the hypo solution; let it stand over night and then pour off the clear liquid.

Stock Solution B.

—Dissolve ³⁄₄ of a grain of pure chloride of gold and 32 grains of acetate of lead in 4 ounces of water.

Now when you want to tone a picture or half a dozen 4 × 5 prints, take 4 ounces of the stock solution A and ¹⁄₂ an ounce of the stock solution B and pour them into a tray and tone them as I have previously described.

The Simplest Kind of a Camera.

—When you can buy a real camera for two or three dollars it seems of little use to make one, so just consider the camera I shall describe as a scientific curiosity rather than an apparatus of utility.

Fig. 56. an easily made pin-hole camera

A. Cross section showing the notched strips.
B. The way the shutter works.

To make a pin-hole camera, so called because a pin hole takes the place of a lens, form a box of pasteboard or of thin wood 4 inches square and 8 inches long; cut a hole ³⁄₈ of an inch in diameter in one end for the pin hole. Fit a strip of wood ¹⁄₂ an inch thick and 4 inches long, having notches cut into it to a depth of ¹⁄₈ inch, to the sides of the box as shown at [A in Fig. 56]. These notched strips are to hold a sensitized dry plate.[47] Next make a shutter, that is, a little device to open and close the pin-hole; it is simply a bit of sheet brass 2¹⁄₂ inches long, ¹⁄₄ inch wide at one end and ¹⁄₂ an inch wide at the other end as shown at [B]. Drill a hole ¹⁄₈ inch in diameter in the center of the strip of brass and pivot this to the front of the box so that it is on a horizontal line with the center of the hole.

[47] A dry plate is a sheet of glass coated on one side with gelatin and bromide of silver which makes it sensitive to light.

Now to make the pin-hole, and certainly no pin-hole was ever more important than this one. Glue a thick piece of nice smooth tinfoil over the hole on the inside of the box and with a fairly good-sized pin, or better a needle, prick a smooth hole in the center of it.

You are ready now to take a picture and to do so slip a sheet of ground glass[48] into the grooves in the camera up close and then farther back until you can see the picture plain. This done take the camera into your dark-room,[49] and load a dry plate into it, put the cover on the box and fasten a black cloth over it with a rubber-band as shown at [C in Fig. 56].

[48] You will find [directions] for making it in [Chapter IX].

[49] A dark room must be used because a ray of any kind of light except red will spoil a dry plate the instant it strikes it. A red-lamp can be bought for a quarter or you can make one and either use a sheet of red glass or red dark-room paper.

Go out and point your camera at the object you want to photograph, be it a landscape, a seascape or a scapegoat, press down on the lever for a second, let go of it when it will drop back and cover the pin-hole again and the exposure is made.

How to Develop a Dry Plate.

—Next take your camera into your dark-room and develop the plate, that is, immerse it in a chemical solution called a developer to bring the picture out on it. To do this you must get a tray and put the exposed dry-plate in it, film side up, and pour the developer over it.

Fig. 56c. the pin-hole camera complete with cloth and rubber band

Rock the tray after you have poured the developer over the plate to keep the solution flowing forth and back evenly over it all the time. When you see the image very plainly take the plate out of the developer, wash it in clean water and then lay it with the film side up in a tray containing the fixing bath.

Let the negative—when the plate is exposed and developed it is called a negative—remain in the fixing bath until all the white parts, that is, the free silver which was not affected by the light, have disappeared and then let a gentle stream of water run on it for an hour or wash it in 16 changes of clean water. Stand it in a negative rack over night to dry and then you can make prints from it.

How to Make the Developer.

—You can make a good, tried and true developer in two solutions as follows:

Pyro Solution, A.—Take 1 ounce of pyrogallic acid, called pyro for short, dissolve it in 28 ounces of water and then add 20 minims of sulphuric acid.

Soda Solution, B.—Dissolve 2 ounces of desiccated[50] carbonate of soda and 3 ounces of sulphite of soda in 28 ounces of water.

[50] Desiccate means thoroughly dry.

When you want to develop a plate mix ¹⁄₂ an ounce of the pyro solution and ¹⁄₂ an ounce of the soda solution with 4 ounces of water and to do this you need a graduated glass.

How to Make a Fixing Bath.

—To make a good fixing bath for dry plates dissolve 1 ounce of hypo, 60 grains of sulphite of soda in crystals and ¹⁄₄ ounce of borax in 20 ounces of water. A developer can only be used for one or two plates but you can fix 50 plates in the same fixing bath.

A Good and Cheap Camera.

—To take real pictures you want a real camera. Now there are many kinds of hand cameras but there is only one size that I am going to try to interest you in and that is one which will make pictures 3¹⁄₂ × 4¹⁄₂ inches.

With a camera of this size you can take nicely proportioned little pictures to give to your friends, to keep in your album, to make enlargements of and to make lantern slides of by direct contact printing and this will save you a lot of trouble.

Fig. 57. two cheap and good cameras

A. A Brownie box kodak.
B. A folding kodak.

The cheapest 3¹⁄₄ × 4¹⁄₄ camera you can buy is a No. 3 Brownie box kodak,[51] see [A Fig. 57], which costs about $3.00. A folding No. 3 Brownie camera, shown at [B], will serve your needs much better and this one will cost you in the neighborhood of $5.50, or you can buy a Graflex camera[52] for $75.00 if father is rich and mother doesn’t care.

[51] These cameras can be bought most anywhere or you can send to the Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, N. Y.

[52] With this kind of a camera you can see the object you are photographing up to the very instant you snap the shutter.

Every good camera has what is called a rectilinear lens, that is, a compound lens formed of two achromatic lenses, which means that each acromatic lens is made up again of two lenses one of which is of crown glass and the other is of flint glass, and these two latter lenses are cemented together with Canada balsam.[53]

[53] This is a clear gum that is obtained from a tree called the Canada balsam.

Now whereas a common convex lens will produce all the colors of the rainbow around its edges when a ray of light passes through it, an acromatic lens lets through only the white light and while a single convex lens makes the straight lines of a building curved in the picture, an acromatic lens keeps all the lines straight, or rectilinear, and hence its name.

These little cameras are filled with mechanical snap shutters and they use roll films, that is the sensitive silver and gelatine emulsion is spread on a thin celluloid film instead of on glass plates. These roll films come on spools in lengths of ¹⁄₂ and 1 dozen each and they can be loaded into the camera in daylight. The same kind of developing and fixing solutions are used for films that are used for dry-plates.

How to Make an Enlarging Apparatus.

—To make an enlarged picture of a small negative take out the back of your camera and get two perfectly clear sheets of glass to fit the opening.

Make a box of ¹⁄₄ inch thick wood, 6 inches wide, 6 inches long and 7 inches high and have the top of it separate so that it can be lifted off and put on the box. In the middle of the top near one edge cut a hole 1¹⁄₄ inches in diameter and put an electric light socket—to which a cord and plug is fixed—in it as far as it will go and then screw in a nitrogen 100 watt electric lamp[54] which gives about 75 candle power, as shown at [A in Fig. 58].

[54] The Delco Light Co., 52 Park Place, New York, sells these lamps and all other electrical supplies.

Fig. 58a. a home-made enlarging apparatus
The lamp set in the top of the illuminating box.

Cut a hole out of the front board 3¹⁄₂ x 4¹⁄₂ inches and fasten a sheet of ground glass[55] or, better, of opal glass[56] over the opening. Get a sheet of bright tin 6 inches wide and 10 inches long, bend it into a semi-circle and set it in the box so that it will reflect the light from the lamp in front of it through the ground glass screen as shown at [B].

[55] Ground glass can be bought at a glazier’s or you can make it as [explained] in [Chapter IX].

[56] Opal glass.

Next make a stand for holding the bromide paper[57] which is to be used for the enlargement. About the easiest way to do this is to take a 1 inch thick board 6 inches wide and saw off a piece 12 inches long. Fasten your drawing board to it with a couple of angle blocks as shown at [D], and you are ready to make an enlargement.

[57] Bromide paper is a paper sensitized with a compound of silver and bromine.

How to Make an Enlargement.

—When you have the apparatus ready set the camera and the illuminator, as the box with the light in it is called, on another table. Put the negative between two plain sheets of glass and then fasten them to the camera with a couple of large rubber bands; set the illuminator with the ground-glass screen close up against the negative in the back of the camera, as shown at [C].

Now set the drawing board stand about 4 feet away from the lens of the camera to make an 8 × 10 enlargement. Open the shutter, turn on the light and focus the camera, that is, move the stand to and from the camera until the enlarged picture is sharp. When you get it so, close the shutter and cover up the cracks where the light leaks through with a dark cloth.

Make the room perfectly dark except for your dark-room light and then put a sheet of bromide paper on the drawing board with thumb tacks. Open the shutter of the lens and expose the paper to the light passing through the negative and then close it again. The bromide paper is developed and fixed just like a dry plate when your enlargement is done.

Fig. 58b. a home-made enlarging apparatus

B. The illuminator showing the tin reflector in it.
C. The camera.
D. The stand for holding the bromide paper.

In handling bromide paper you must be almost as careful as you are with dry plates or films. Before making a picture it is a good scheme to test the length of time to expose the paper. To do this take a sheet of bromide paper and cut it into strips 1 inch wide and 10 inches long; fasten a strip at a time diagonally across the board and expose the first one for say 5 minutes and then develop it, when you can usually tell about how long the exposure should be.

A Developer for Bromide Paper.

—A good stock solution developer for bromide paper, velox paper, films and dry plates can be made by adding these chemicals to 25 ounces of hot water in the order named and stirring in each one until it is dissolved; elon ¹⁄₈ ounce; desiccated sulphite of soda 1⁷⁄₈ ounces; hydrochinon ¹⁄₂ ounce; desiccated carbonate of soda 5¹⁄₄ ounces; potassium bromide 30 grains and wood alcohol 3 ounces.

Fig. 58c. a home-made enlarging apparatus

E. Cross section top view of the enlarging apparatus.

This developer will keep for a long time if the bottle containing it is kept full, otherwise the air will act on it. To develop six 8 × 10 bromide prints use 1 ounce of the stock solution and 6 ounces of water.

To fix bromide prints keep them moving in a bath made by dissolving 8 ounces of hypo in 2 quarts of water and then adding ¹⁄₄ ounce of metabisulphite of potassium and ¹⁄₄ ounce of powdered alum. Let the prints remain in this bath for about 10 minutes and then wash them thoroughly.

How to Make a Reflectoscope.

—A reflectoscope is a kind of magic lantern but instead of using transparent glass slides you can use any picture or opaque object such as the works of a watch, your hand, etc, and throw an image of it on the screen.

Fig. 59 a cheaply made reflectoscope

A. The projector.
B. The illuminator.

If you have a folding camera[58] you can convert it into a dandy reflectoscope, so get busy with your tools. Make a box—it is really two boxes fastened together—of the peculiar shape shown in [Fig. 59], and it can be of wood or of metal as you wish.

[58] A box camera can not be used because its focus is fixed.

First make the larger box, which we will call the projector, and this should be 4¹⁄₂ inches long, 5 inches wide and 5 inches high[59]—and leave the front, back and one side off. To the top and bottom fasten on two wood cleats ¹⁄₂ an inch square and 5 inches long to fix the projector to the camera with. This box is shown at [A in Fig. 59].

[59] It must fit the back of your camera.

Fig. 59c. a cross section top view of the reflectoscope

This done, make another box for the illuminator 3 inches wide, 3 inches long on one side, and 4³⁄₄ inches long on the other side, and 5 inches high. Bend a piece of bright tin for the reflector and set this in the back as shown at [B].

Cut a 1¹⁄₄ inch hole through the top for an electric lamp as [described] in the directions for making an enlarging lantern; the top should be tight fitting but so made that it can be taken off and put on at your pleasure.

Now glue, screw, solder or otherwise fix the two boxes together and the reflecting part of the apparatus is done. To complete it fasten the back of your camera to the cleats on the top and bottom of the box with strong rubber bands as shown at [C], which is a top view of the reflectoscope.

Fig. 59d. the reflectoscope ready for use

To Use the Reflectoscope.

—Tack a white sheet to the wall and set the reflectoscope at a distance of about 10 feet from it with the lens pointing toward it, of course.

Next turn on the light in the box and turn off all the lights in the room and make it as dark as you can. Hold a picture of any kind against the opening in the back of the projector box and then focus the camera until the picture on the screen is as sharp as you can get it.