Читать книгу Boys' Make-at-Home Things - Carolyn Sherwin Bailey - Страница 7

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WHEN you have made yourself this fine, big workbench you will find out very soon that there are a number of workbench accessories which will make it much more convenient and desirable.

The first thing that will be missed is a tool rack. With tools scattered all over the bench it is difficult to do good work. It means a waste of time and sometimes a waste of temper, while, if the tools are hanging right before one’s eyes in an orderly row, each one may be taken as it is needed, and replaced again when one is through, and the work will go on smoothly.

A single pine board six inches wide, one inch thick and sixteen feet long will make all the accessories one can want. It is better to procure a finished board from the planing mill. It will cost three or four cents a running foot—a total cost at the most of sixty-four cents.

For the tool rack cut from the board two fifty-six-inch lengths. Cut one of these in two lengthwise with a rip saw and plane the sawed edge smooth and square with the face or wide, flat side of the board. With a pencil and scale mark the positions on the centers of the holes shown in Fig. 1. Then when the centers have been determined, drill them according to the sizes indicated, with a bit and brace. The first three holes at the left are to hold bits; the next two, chisel and gouge, and the others are for screw-drivers. These latter four, after the holes are drilled, are made open clear to the edge of the rack by sawing out a section from the front. This makes it possible to take the tools out without lifting them entirely out of the rack. From the right-hand end mark off a distance of twelve inches. Then, from the end to this line, cut two grooves as shown in the drawing. The forward one is rounded out with a gouge to hold a pencil while the back one is square and flat, cut with a chisel, to hold either a twelve-inch scale or a folded two-foot rule. In the front edge of this piece, about six inches from the right-hand end is driven a nail to hold the claw hammer.

Diagrams of Work-bench Accessories.

The fifty-six-inch length which was not ripped in two is fitted at right angles to the back of this rack, lapping over the edge and flush with the top. It is nailed in position and two supporting brackets like Fig. 2 are fitted under each end of the rack for strength. When this is all fastened together, the whole rack is set up on top of the back pieces of the workbench and held in place by two cleats, three inches by eight which are screwed to both the back piece of the bench and the back piece of the rack.

Underneath the holes for the bits there should be two nails to hold the brace. The jack plane, block plane, and spoke shave may stand on the bench underneath the rack, and screws or nails at the end of the bench will hold rip saw, cross-cut saw, and dust brush.

Next in usefulness is the bench block shown in Fig. 3. For this cut one piece of wood six inches by eleven, and two pieces, six inches by two inches. All these pieces must have the grain running in the longest direction. When these are trued up, fit them together as shown, and fasten with one-and-three-quarter-inch wood screws. After completing this the corners are cut off. The block fits over the front edge of the bench near the right-hand end and forms a brace when one wants to hold a piece of wood steady for sawing.

Next comes the bench stop, Fig. 4. When one is planing a wide, flat board the vise is useless. So holes are drilled in pairs in the top of the bench itself, and these bench stops are slipped in to form a buffer. A little piece of wood one by one by two is used, the grain of course running the long way. For half of the distance the stop remains square, while the other inch is rounded with a chisel to fit into the hole, which should be slightly more than an inch deep. Two of these stops will be needed.

Every workbench needs a nail box. A good one may be made from two pieces three inches wide by fourteen inches long, which form the sides, two ends three inches by three, and a bottom piece five inches by fourteen. The side pieces are nailed to the end pieces, fitting over them, and the bottom fits over all. This makes the inside measurements three inches by twelve. Of course it is desirable to keep the different sizes of nails separate, so this is divided into as many compartments as are desired by partitions. These can be made from any old piece of wood about a half inch thick. They measure three by three inches and may be spaced however you like, except the one which is shown in Fig. 5. This is to be placed in the middle and forms a handle as well as a partition. Just as convenient, though not quite as necessary, is a miter box. It consists of two side pieces five inches by twelve, and one bottom piece four inches by twelve. The side pieces fit down over the edges of the bottom piece and are nailed fast. There are no ends. When this much is done, take a forty-five degree triangle, and mark across the two top edges one perpendicular line, and one forty-five degree line in each direction, making them so that they do not overlap. Then saw straight down from these lines to the bottom piece. A miter box will prove itself a great convenience in sawing the corners of molding or anything which requires a fitted corner. The piece to be sawed is held firmly in the box and the saw guided through the slots.

When a boy has made the bench and all these accessories, and has some tools, he will be equipped for big practical work.