Читать книгу Carpentry and Woodwork - Edwin W. Foster - Страница 20

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"I like this new work better than anything we have ever done," said Harry one day when he and Ralph were up to their ears in carving, whittling, and designing.

Ralph smiled as he remembered Harry's intense interest in making moving toys. "As I told you once before," he replied, "this is not new but old. The people of northern Europe have done it for centuries, and the reason is not hard to find. In Norway during the long winter it gets dark very early, in some places at three o'clock in the afternoon, and does not become light again until nine o'clock in the morning. The result is very, very long evenings, when it is much more comfortable to work indoors.

"At an early era the people developed this beautiful art of carving, and spent their long evenings in working at it. They became very skilful and as most of the household utensils were of wood, it was not at all unusual to see the household furniture, even to their bread boards, beautifully carved."

"By the way," said Harry, "can't I make a paper knife now? You know you said I could after I had learned to use the knife!"

"Yes, I think you might try your skill on something of that character now. It will be quite a change from this flat work we have been doing. It will require a harder wood, however, than you have been using, as a paper knife must be thin and strong at the same time.

"The Swedish carvers use apple wood a great deal for their paper knives, but as this is rare with us, suppose we try rock maple. It is white in colour, close grained, and hard."

As usual, they worked up their design on paper first and sketched in the carving shown in Fig. 79.

A piece of rock or sugar maple was first squared up and laid out in pencil as shown at B. In order to get the outline to conform exactly to the drawing, the form was cut out of paper and traced on the face of the wood. The blank form was then whittled out to the pencil line, and sand-papered smooth as shown at c.

Maple proved to be a hard wood to whittle.

Notches were cut at d d after drawing the edge view on front and back edges. The blade and handle were then whittled down to lines e and f.

Fig. 79. Two designs for paper knives

"Whew!" exclaimed Harry, "don't ever give me any maple to whittle again."

"Well, you wanted to make a paper knife, didn't you? A paper knife that would break when it fell on the floor wouldn't be of much use, and you are not through yet. The blade must be cut down to a fairly sharp edge on both sides now."

This was done by bevelling the edges as shown in h and the bevel gradually cut back to the centre line, as shown at i and j. Harry concluded that this was the hardest work that he had ever done.

Fig. 80. Key rack designs

"Now you understand," said Ralph, "why I couldn't allow you to make a knife at first. All the training I have given you was necessary before you had the requisite skill and control of your hands. The carving will be easy for you because of all this practice. Skill is something which comes that way. Why, if I should give you the problem of making that first key rack over again, you would do it in about one third of the time, and very much better than at your first attempt. You have been gaining skill without knowing it.

"Just to show you how much you have advanced, I will give you one or two key rack designs to be decorated with chip carving. When they are finished, take them into the house and compare them with the first you made. I think you will be amused at the difference. That original piece of which you were so proud will seem a very crude affair now."

"All right," said Harry, "but I should like to make one more paper knife first if you don't mind."

"Very well; make up a new design, because no artist ever duplicates his work," said Ralph with a mischievous smile.

The smile was premature, however. The boy had not been designing woodwork for nothing. The design is shown at No. 2, Fig. 79, and even Ralph, severe critic though he was, had to admit that it was "pretty fair."

"Looks like a table knife," he said seriously. "However, it is your own design, so go ahead and make it. Try a piece of cherry this time. It makes a good wood for carving, and is not quite so hard to whittle as maple."

The different steps in the process of cutting this out were the same as in No. 1, Fig. 79.

Fig. 81. The blotter pad

The key rack shown in Fig. 80 was comparatively easy after making paper knives. The bevelling of the curves at the ends was the only new feature of the knife work.

Fig. 82. Method of using the spokeshave

The making of presents went rapidly onward from this time. The next article to engage our woodworkers' attention was the blotting pad, made of two pieces of black walnut fastened together with the screw handle. (Fig. 81.) The blotter is bent around the curved face of the lower part, and the ends gripped between the two parts by tightening the screw. These handles with screw attached are of brass, and can be obtained at any hardware store.

The upper piece was bevelled, and a circular space in the centre left plain to provide for the handle, the rest of the space being carved.

The making of the curved face on the bottom was too difficult for the knife, so the boy worked it out with the plane and spokeshave shown in (Fig. 82).

When these blotter pads are finished with the brass handle, coloured blotter and hand-carved top, they are very attractive, and make acceptable presents.

Toilet boxes were next in order, and there seemed no end to them; glove boxes, collar boxes, handkerchief boxes, boxes for storing away photographs, etc. Those for collars were square, viewed from the top, while glove boxes were made long and narrow.

The construction of these called for the use of carpenters' tools, and Ralph was not ready to start his pupil on this branch of woodwork yet, for several reasons.

In the first place, it meant a halt in the fascinating work of carving, and they had not yet exhausted the possibilities of knife work. So they tried the plan of buying ready-made boxes from the stores. This was not entirely satisfactory, as most of them were of basswood, soft, and easily carved, but so white that it became soiled too readily. This difficulty finally led to a unique scheme. They stained the wood a dull ebony, and found that the design showed very clearly in gray pencil lines, easily carved.

The carving came out white on a black background, and proved quite satisfactory for the coarser designs. The finer work, however, did not show to advantage, and the method was adopted of leaving certain portions of the surface plain.

One of the glove box designs is shown in Fig. 83.

The lines made in this black and white carving by the veining tool are very effective.

Fig. 83. Design for glove box

The boys had just gotten nicely at work one afternoon when Harry remarked very seriously: "On what subject shall our lecture be this afternoon, professor?"

A block of white pine hurtled across the shop, but Harry ducked and no one was hurt.

"No," said Ralph, "you can't start a discussion to-day. I've been thinking that you will have to take up the use of bench tools pretty soon, because you are really doing this work backward."

"What do you mean?"

"Why, you should never decorate anything which you haven't actually made."

"Well, haven't I made everything we have carved so far?"

Fig. 84. Double photo frame

"All except the boxes. When we bought those boxes, that was a signal that it was time for you to begin constructive work. It has been a big problem to give you carving to do on articles in the flat that you could make with the knife. We will make a few picture frames, carve them, and then leave our carving until you can construct anything in wood. You will always be able now to design carved work for any given space; one of these picture frames, however, is going to be a rather severe test of your skill."

Fig. 84 shows the first photograph frame they took up, a simple design in one piece.

The openings for the pictures were cut out with coping saw and knife and bevelled. The bevels on the outer edges of the frame were planed.

Fig. 85. Carved picture frame

Fig. 85 shows a problem in designing for irregular spaces, and the design is a typical Swedish form. In both of these frames it was necessary to provide a method of holding the photo on the back.

This was accomplished by tacking on two strips of ¹⁄₈-inch basswood on each side, and the bottom as shown in Fig. 85, the narrow strip being ¹⁄₄ inch wide, and the top one ¹⁄₂ inch wide, making a groove ¹⁄₈ inch deep to receive the picture. If it is designed to have glass in front of the photo, the narrow strip must be ¹⁄₄ inch thick in place of ¹⁄₈ inch.

The problem of polishing carved work is rather a difficult one. Ordinary varnish or shellac cannot be used to advantage, as on flat surfaces, because it fills up the spaces and ruins the effect. Perhaps the best method is to dissolve a small quantity of beeswax in turpentine, and rub in with an old tooth or nail brush, which is comparatively soft. This will not injure the carving, and will protect it from dampness and dust, as the wax hardens. It should be put on when about the consistency of soft putty.

Fig. 86. Palette photograph frame

The photo frame shown (Fig. 86) was the last form our boys attempted in the flat.

It has the advantage of simplicity, only one kind of cut being used; but the long flowing lines, which must be first drawn on the wood free-hand, require all the patience and skill one can command.

The form in outline is the artist's palette, and the opening for the picture an ellipse.

All the lines in the carving converge to a point to the left of the centre of the opening.