# St. Nicholas/Volume 32/Number 1/Practical Boy

Illustrated by the Author.
THE PRACTICAL BOY.
By Joseph H. Adams.
I. Carpentry
Introduction.
Among the applied arts and crafts, carpentry yields to none in importance.
One of man’s first instincts was that of shelter, and all through the ages the development of construction has been undergoing its evolution until our present methods bear little resemblance to the ancient.
The boy who is interested in carpentry can have many hours of pleasure with his tools and materials, and the average boy, we believe, is interested in the craft, at least to some extent.
The object of this article is to persuade the young craftsman to work systematically and accurately, and to understand the possibilities and limitations of tools; not to use a chisel for a screw-driver, of to drive nails with the butt-end of a plane, or to use a tack-hammer to drive a tenpenny nail when a larger hammer is within easy reach. These and other things have to be learned by experience or by watching others, and when the lessons have been learned and the proper care is taken and judgment exercised, it will be possible for the boy to make a great many useful things for his own amusement and for the convenience and pleasure of others,
On the subject of tools themselves it enough to say that they should always be taken good care of and never misused; for, inanimate though they are, they resent misuse and retaliate by becoming dull and useless.
I. The work-bench.
Flat-headed iron screws, two inches and a half long, should be used for the unions. A ​more secure joint can be had by using glue also.
At the back of the bench arrange two braces of wood three inches wide and seven eighths of an inch thick, as shown in Fig. 1, A. Beveled laps are to be cut in the side of two legs, as shown in B of Fig. 1, into which the ends of the strips will fit flush. The upper ends of the strips are to be mitered and attached to the inside of the apron, as shown in Fig. 1, A.
For the top of the bench use clear pine planking not less than one inch in thickness; this should be fitted closely together and fastened to the crosspieces with stout screws.
From hard wood a piece should be cut for a vise-jaw thirty-two inches long, three inches wide at the bottom, and seven inches wide at the top (Fig. 2). Near the bottom of the jaw an oblong hole is cut to receive the end of a sliding piece, which, in turn, is provided with some holes for a peg. A corresponding oblong hole is cut near the foot of one leg, through which the piece containing the holes will pass, so that the whole vise-jaw can be kept nearly vertical no matter how thick the piece of wood to be clamped. The final position is shown in the finished bench. Near the top of the jaw a hole is cut to receive the screw that is turned with the lever-stick to tighten the jaw. A bench screw and nut can be purchased at almost any hardware-store and fitted to the work-bench; but if this fitting should be too much of an undertaking for a youthful workman, a carpenter will put it in place. The wood screws are cheapest, but those of steel are the most satisfactory. A small steel one will cost about a dollar.
A planing-stop with teeth can be purchased at a hardware-store and set in place near the vise-jaw, and the complete bench will then be ready for use.
II. A Tool-rack.
will be a very convenient receptacle to fasten against the wall over the work-bench, Such a rack is shown below.
The ledge is made from two sticks; one of them, one inch and a half in width, is cut with a saw, and notches are cut with a chisel by removing the wood between the saw-cuts, as shown in Fig. 4. When all the notches are cut, the narrow strip, half an inch in width, is screwed fast to the notched stick, and with long screws the ledge is attached to the lower edge of the board.
III. A Tool-cabinet.
A very convenient tool-cabinet that will hang against the wall may be made with two doors of nearly equal size, so that there will be four instead of two surfaces against which to hang tools. The body of the chest is thirty inches high, twenty inches wide, and nine inches deep, outside measure, It is made of wood three quarters of an inch in thickness, fastened together with screws and glue, and varnished to improve its appearance, One side of the cabinet is but ​three inches and a half wide, and to this side the inner door is made fast with hinges, so it will swing in against a stop-molding on the opposite side, as shown at A in Fig. 5.
With a little careful planning and figuring it will not be a difficult matter to construct this cabinet and the doors so that they will fit
snugly and close easily. The doors will keep their shape better if made from narrow matched boards and held together at the ends with battens or strips nailed across the ends of the boards, as shown in C of Fig. 5. Two-inch wrought butts will be heavy enough for the hinges of the doors. Provide a cabinet lock at the edge of the outer door.
IV. Joints.
One of the first lessons to learn will be that of making wood joints; for no matter what object is to be made, its construction will require some joiner work. There are, of course, a great variety of joints employed in carpentry, but many of them would be too complicated for the boy carpenter.
The easiest joint to make is the straight or box joint, made by butting the end of a board against the edge of another and nailing or screwing them fast, as in C of Fig. 5.
Fig. 6 shows a lap-joint made by cutting ​away a portion of the wood on opposite sides of the ends which are to be joined, so that, when fastened, the wood will appear as a continuous piece. For corners and angles where a miter-box is not available the lap-joint is a very good substitute, and for many things it is stronger than the mitered joint, and much to be preferred.
Fig. 7 is another form of lap-joint, when the end of a strip is embedded in the surface of a stout piece of wood. This joint is very useful to the carpenter when making furniture, and for frame construction in general. Fig. 8 is a beveled lap-joint, and is used for timbers and posts under certain conditions where the joint can be strengthened by another piece of wood at one or two sides, Fig, 9 shows a tenon and mortise; the hole in the upright piece is the mortise, A Low Bench. and the shaped end on the stick is the tenon. The shaped end should fit the hole accurately, and the joint is usually held with a pin or nails driven through the side of the upright piece and into the side of the tenon when embedded in the mortise.
V. A Low Bench.
Small benches are always very useful to work upon when sawing, nailing, and matching boards; and the uses to which benches can be put are too numerous to mention, for they are quite as useful about the house as they are for a part of the carpentry outfit.
The low bench is fifteen inches high and twelve inches wide, and the top is twenty-two inches long, The foot pieces are cut as shown in Fig, 14, and at the upper end at each side a piece is cut out to let in the side aprons. The aprons are three inches wide and seven eighths of an inch thick, and are held to the foot pieces with glue and screws. In the top a finger-hole is cut, so as to lift the bench easily.
V. A Step-bench.
From the details given above it will be an easy matter to make the step-bench shown on the next page. This is thirty inches high and fifteen inches wide. The top step is eight inches wide and the lower steps six inches.
VII. A Shoe-box.
VIII. A Shoe-blacking Box.
A bottom sixteen and a half inches square is fastened inside the frame, where it is held in place with steel-wire nails driven through the lower edge of the sideboards and into the edge of the bottom all around. Four brackets are fastencd with screws at each side, under the side-boards, and a cover is hinged to the box; it is prevented from falling too far back by a chain attached to the under side of the lid and to the inside of the box. Over the front edge of the box bend a strip of zine, and tack it fast to both the inside and outside of the front board. This will prevent shoes from chafing the wood away, and is easily cleaned when muddied by dirty shoes.
A few thin coats of olive-green or light-brown paint will add to the appearance of this shoe-blacking box; and the owner should take pride in keeping it clean, and the brushes in good order.
IX. A Chair.
The construction of a chair is perhaps as interesting as anything in carpentry. and a plain chair like the one shown in the illustration can easily be made from soft or hard wood, the joints being all open and simple to cut, as you can see by looking carefully at the drawing. The legs are two inches square, the seat is sixteen inches square and eighteen inches high, and the back posts are thirty-six inches long. The front and back posts are cut out, as shown in Fig. 17, to receive the crosspieces that bind the legs and back together. These strips are two inches wide and three quarters of an inch thick. The side strips are two inches up from the floor, and the back one is four inches high, while that at the front is let into the rear of the posts, and its lower edge is eight inches from the floor. The seat is made A Chair.from matched boards, and the back is ten inches wide, made from a single board, and all the joints are glued and screwed together. Chairs that are made in shops have the joints doweled or mortised and tenoned; but the lap-joint is much the easiest and strongest one to make if the cuts are accurately sawed, and if the cross-pieces fit the laps so snugly that a mallet is necessary to help drive the strips home. The seat and back of this chair can be covered with denim, leather, or other suitable fabric drawn over some curled hair or cotton that can be used for padding, and fastened down around the edges ​with large flat-headed tacks or upholstery nails. Shellac, varnish, or paint may be used to give the woodwork a good appearance, and when completed this chair will surely be the pride of the boy who made it.
X. A Table.
A Settle.
To finish this top nicely, it can be covered with felt or some of the effective imitation leathers in old red, green, or brown shades, caught on the under side with ordinary tacks, and made fast on the edge with stout ornamental tacks, ​
XI. A Settle.
XII. Coal and Wood Box.
A Plant-box on the piazza rail.
XIII. A Plant-box.
For growing plants and flowers, a plant-box for the piazza rail can be made and arranged ​as shown in the illustration, This can be very easily made from pine boards an inch thick, eight inches wide, and six inches deep, outside measure, and as long as desired to fill the spaces between posts. Straight joints or box-joints are made at the corners and fastened with screws, and the inside of the box is treated to several successive coats of asphaltum varnish to render it waterproof. Several small holes are bored in the bottom of the box to drain off surplus moisture, and the box and supports can be painted a color to match the trimmings of the house. To anchor the box, screw a board to the balustrade on which the inner bottom edge of the box may rest; and support the outer edge by means of braces attached firmly to the under side, and to the piazza floor, as shown in the illustration. Two small brackets nailed to the under side of the box and to the batten will hold the box in place and prevent it from slipping off the top of the batten. This is a necessary precaution to prevent the whole contrivance from falling in the event of its becoming dislodged at any time by the wind or by a possible jarring against the piazza rail.
XIV. A Suspended Settle.
A Suspended Settle.
The December article will show, with many illustrations, “How a Boy can Decorate His Room.” (See page 94.)