Читать книгу The Boy Craftsman - A. Neely Hall - Страница 11

There are generally repairs of some kind to be made about the house—such as mending screens, renewing window-ropes, repairing wooden walks, patching fences, etc.—which a boy can do, besides many ingenious articles for the house which he can make in his workshop. Ideas for labor-saving devices which cannot be bought upon the market present themselves now and then, and if there is a boy in the neighborhood to carry them out, the housekeeper will be only too glad to pay him for doing the work.

For general jobbing you will require a carpenter's carrying-box (Fig. 17, Chap. I) in which to carry your tools, and a nail-box (Fig. 18) for nails, screws, hinges, and such hardware as you will need upon the job. With these you will have a complete outfit.

Fig. 44.—The Hinge Window Lock.

A few suggestions as to what you can do and what you can make are described and illustrated in this chapter, and should give you plenty of material to work upon when you open up your carpenter-shop. Besides these ideas, you will find most of the articles in the following chapter suitable for the house and pieces of furniture for which it will be easy to secure orders.

The Hinge-lock, in Fig. 44, is one of the most serviceable window-locks that can be had, for it can be so placed as to allow the window to be opened a few inches for ventilation, and at the same time prevent further opening.

The hinge is screwed to the upper sash-frame several inches above the centre sash-bar, according to the distance the window is to be opened (see illustration).

It will be seen that when the hinge is opened, as in the drawing, neither sash can be opened past the hinge; but when the hinge is folded flat it will not interfere with the opening of either sash.

This lock would probably be more extensively used if people knew how simple and satisfactory it is. As the hinges cost but a few cents a pair, and are put on very quickly, a boy should realize a fair sum of money in a short time supplying these locks.

A Clothes-line Reel, such as shown in Fig. 45, is an article no housekeeper should be without. Its use does away with twisted, tangled, and knotted clothes-lines.

As they require but little material, and the cost of that amounts to almost nothing, the manufacture of these time-saving devices, for the neighbors, should prove profitable.

Fig. 45.—A Clothes-line Reel.

The reel consists of two strips of wood sixteen inches long by three inches wide for the sides, and two pieces of broom-handles sixteen inches long for the horizontal rods (see Fig. 45). Five inches from each end of the side-pieces, bore a hole the size of the broom-handle.

With the pieces thus prepared it is a simple matter to fit them together, as in the illustration, placing the broom-handles in the holes bored for them, and fastening them so the side-pieces are nine inches apart and a handle five inches long projects on either side. It is probably needless to say that the ends of the broom-sticks are held in the hands when operating the reel.

Fig. 46.—Broom and Dust-pan Rack.

A Broom and Dust-pan Rack is a handy article for the kitchen or broom-closet, and can be made as shown in Fig. 46.

A rack to hold a large and small broom, dust-pan, and brush, should measure three feet long, three inches wide, and be made out of a seven-eighths-inch board. Bevel the edges and place four brass hooks in the front, as shown in the drawing, from which to hang the broom, dust-pan, etc.

Brooms should always be dampened and put away, handle down, according to the advice of an old broom-maker, who claims that by so doing the straws are kept from becoming brittle and the broom lasts much longer. The brooms should therefore have screw-eyes placed in the handle, just above the tin binding, to hang upon the hooks, as shown in the illustration.

The rack should be screwed to the wall.

Fig. 47.—A Fly-killer.

Fly-papers and poisons are deadly enemies to the house-fly, but none are as effectual or as quick acting as

The Fly-killer, shown in Fig. 47. This simple device consists of a piece of screen-wire, about four by five inches, stuck into a slot made in the end of a stick, and fastened in place with tacks driven through the end of the handle and clinched upon the under side.

If possible, cut the wire with a selvage along the front edge, and trim the roughness from the other edges to prevent scratching.

The fly-killer is hung up by a screw-eye placed in the end of the handle.

Fig. 48.—An Ash-sifter.

With the fly-killer a person can strike at a fly with almost a certainty of killing it. As the screen-wire is not easily seen by the fly, and the mesh allows the air to pass through, there is nothing to alarm him.

These little things are quickly made, and when you show your customer how effective they are, you will find no trouble in disposing of them.

An Ash-sifter that is dust-proof and very satisfactory is shown in Fig. 48. It is made out of a packing-case about three feet long, eighteen inches wide, and twenty-four inches deep.

Set the box upon two-by-four stilts in the shed or yard (braced as shown in the illustration), in such a position that the bottom of the box will be on a level with the top of the alley ash-box. Then cut an opening through the shed wall and end of the box, as shown at AB, for the removal of ashes. Two strips are nailed to the sides of the box (seven inches below the top) for tracks for the sifter to run upon, and below this, at C, a board slide is placed to dump the ashes, which shake through the sifter, out of the opening in the end of the box into the ash-box. Nail one half of the cover to the top of the box and hinge the other half to it.

Fig. 49.—The Sifter.

Make the sifter eighteen inches square by six inches deep, using six-inch boards for the frame and one-third or one-half inch wire-mesh for the bottom (see Fig. 49) Fasten four trunk-casters, such as are shown in Fig. 50, to the bottom of the frame, and fit a broom-stick in one side for a handle. A slot must be cut in the end of the box for the handle to fit in.

Fig. 50.

Trunk-caster.

A Bread-board may be made out of a seven-eighths inch maple board about ten by eighteen inches, with the surface planed perfectly smooth and the edges bevelled or rounded. A hole should be bored near one edge, so it may be hung up in the pantry.

The dining-room is not complete without

A Plate-rack for the display of pretty pieces of china. Figures 51 and 52 show the details for the construction of a rack of three shelves, and in size three feet long and two feet ten inches high. Although the design is very simple in outline, it is such as will make a pleasing piece of furniture when neatly carried out.

Fig. 51.—A Plate-rack.

Prepare the two side-pieces the shape and size shown in Fig. 52, and cut the shelves two feet ten inches long by the widths given in the drawing (Fig. 52). One groove should be made in shelf A and two in shelves B and C, for the edges of plates to stand in. These grooves are cut with a chisel, and should be made V-shaped as shown. Narrow strips of wood may be nailed along the shelves as substitutes for the grooves if you wish, but the work required to plane up the strips will amount to about as much, and they do not present as neat an appearance.

Fig. 52.

Having cut out the shelves and side-pieces, you are ready to put the rack together. For this purpose you should use finishing-nails so their heads will not make very large holes in the surface of the wood. Fasten the bottom shelf (C) between the side-pieces seven inches above the bottom, the middle shelf (B) ten inches above that, and the top shelf (A) nine inches above the middle shelf. The inner edges of the shelves should be fastened flush with the edges of the sides. In the bottom shelf place a row of brass hooks for cups to hang upon.

It is necessary to fasten three strips two inches wide between the sides in the back of the rack (as shown in the drawing) for the tops of the plates to rest against. Two holes should be bored in the top strip, by which to hang the rack on nails or hooks fastened in the wall.

After completing the carpenter-work, finish the rack with a stain which will harmonize with the color scheme of the room in which it is to hang.