St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1885-02-26
Handy Boy and Handy Man

IOuOh . NOih HstIlIOu.
Handy Boy and Handy Man.
The other day hoop on wash-tub
cracked in two, and was asked to
have the the tub sent to the cooper
shop for repairs. To do that | must
pay an eXpressman % cents to take ii
over, the same to return it some day,
and 20 cents to the cooper to mend it.
That would figure 20 cents, while the
tub only cost 60 cents when new. The
cooper might repair it at once, or leave
it kicking around for week. 1t would
be cheaper to buy a new one, but still
cheaper to fix the old one myself. How
| did / do it Well, three or four weeks
ago / picked up an iron tub hoop in
the alley and laid it away. 1t now
came in play. | took off piece about
two inches long and drilled hole in
either end. Then 1 drilled holes in
the broken hoop to match. When the
holes were ready, brought the end Ot
the hoop together, laid on the splice,
and with two soft rivets and the help
of hammer and IL small anvil had d
hoop as good as new and had made
| the repairs at cost of not over one
cent.
use this incident as a preface fol
urging every father to supply his boys
! with il workshop and a few handy
tools. Room can be found in the house
or barn, and little money will put 4
| boy in the way of becoming n handy
man. In my Workshop l have two
hand saws, a hammer, two chisels, d
small anvil, large and small wise, Il
jack plane and II smoother, inter
box, maliet, gimlets, screw driver,
brace and several bits, nail-set, try
| square, drills, rule and avis. With
these tools You can do almost any jolt
required about the house. There may
be one boy out of 50 who doesn't care
to "putter" with tools, but the other
40 do, and there is more in it than APP
pears at first sight.
was in locksmith's the other day
when a gentleman drove up in IA car
riage and said 81 want this sewing
awl sharpened. My man uses it abOut
the barn, and I've been trying for the
past two weeks to bring it down." He
was Il rich man, but what of it ? Hadn't
he brains enough to pick up file or
rub that awl to a point on a milestone
If his time was worth anything he
spent 81 worth and paid Is cents for
what he could have done himself in 30
seconds.
The handy boy is going to make the
handy man, and the handy man is go
ing to save himself many dollars and
many veXatiOus delays by being able
to handle different tools. In pulling
the table around q castor comes off.
Are you going to send it to the shop or
get a carpenter to come up? If you
are not a handy man you will have to !;
if you have screw-driver and two or
three screws about you can fix it in
five minutes. door says and shuts
hard. Let it go for while and you'll
break the lock aud have the knobs off.
If you are not handy man you will
go from two to six blocks out of your
way to carpenter shop. A workman
will come up that day or that day
week. He'll lift the door off its hinges,
run his plane over the sagging end il
few times, and your bill is seventy-five
cents. Ten minutes of your own time
would have accomplished the work.
A door lock refuses to work. Some
thing is the matter with the bolt. You
are not handy man and so you have
no tools to remove the lock and take it
must have him come up. The lock is
fixed and your bill is at least 80 cents.
Now, the wire spring had slipped out
of place or got bent by jar. A handy
man would have fixed it with no other
help than screw driver.
When you have your ork-shOp take
care of your tools. In that you can
learn the value of order and time.
Have n nlape for oyary tool and Keen If
there when not in use. Have every
article where yOn can find it at mid
night without a light. If the handle
of your hammer becomes lOossned don't
drop the whole thing into pail of
water to swell the wood. Don't drive
nails into the end to fill up the eye.
Knock the handle out, split the end
which goes into the eye, and when You
have replaced it drive a wedge into the
slit. If one of your bits should get
dull place it in the wise, point up, and
study the idea which the inventor had.
You will see how much like a knife
blade the cutters are, and just where
to draw your file to restore the lost
edge. Three drills, taking different
sizes, are all you need.
If the ear comes off a pail, tub or
coal scuttle you can replace it by drill
ing hole and using a soft rivet. With
a screw driver and hammer You can
put one of the patent fasteners on a
garden hose in two minutes. You will
find glue pot an Indispensable article
in your work shop. Whenever you are
making a joint whick is not to be ex
posed to the weather glue will hold al
most like nails. After a while get a
pair of timers hand shears. They not
only come handy to cut all sizes of
wire, but You can peel off the end of "a
joint ofstove- pipe like pairing an apple,
work over piece of old cave trough,
or make use of tin cans kicking about.
] would add to your work shop Il
timers soldering iron, IA bar of solder,
a penny's worth of rosin aud bottle
of muriatic acid. III venture to say
that in nine houses out of ten there's a
job awaiting the tinker. There's a.
leak in the wash boiler-in some of
the pabs-tbe wash dish-the dipper,
or some other much-used article. This
leak bOthers and anneys, but to get it,
mended you must carry the article IA
mile and back. / should simply take
the leaky dish aud scrape the tin
around the LEAK. This TO remove the
grease. Your acid ia in a bottle, aud
yen put il on with brush made of a
stick and rag. Your iron is heated
in the stove or range, and when you
have wiped it off touch your bar of
solder and pass the iron over the leak.
In 30 seconds you have saved yourself
a visit to the timer. In soldering on
new tin use powdered rosin in place of
tile acid. Ii your iron gets overheated
and wont take the solder, let it cool
till you can almost hold it in yonr
fsgers. Then rub it snattly with Il
file and after that buPnislit with yOur