Читать книгу A Boy's Workshop: With plans and designs for in-door and out-door work - Harry Craigin - Страница 5

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NOW that you have a fair assortment of tools to work with, the next thing is to have a work-bench; for even an accomplished carpenter can’t do much without a good, strong, firm bench. And of course you must have a sawhorse before you can have a bench; but a sawhorse is a simple affair to make, and I will tell you how to set about it right away, for you ought not to buy anything that with a little trouble you can make. Besides it will be good, plain practise with try-square, saw and plane.

Fig. 1

The sawhorse for the average boy ought to stand about twenty or twenty-two inches high, so that you can kneel with one knee on it easily.

You must get two pine boards:

A, 6 feet long, 6 inches wide, 1½ inches thick. B, 12 feet long, 6 inches wide, 1 inch thick.

Take A, cut off two and one half feet: if not already planed, plane nicely on all sides. (Unplaned boards are cheaper than planed boards.)

Take this two and one half foot board and measure four inches from the end. Lay on try-square and draw a line across the board at dotted line. (See right end of fig. 1.)

Then measure five and one half inches more from this line: with try-square extend second line across the board. Measure one inch on all these lines from the outer edge of board, and connect by lines b b and c c. With cross-cut saw cut carefully through the one inch from a to b; then with chisel cut out on line b b. Don’t cut quite as deep on the lower edge, for these openings are for the legs, and should slope out a trifle, that the legs may be farther apart on the floor than at the top when nailed on—one eighth of an inch will make difference enough for a good slant. All four leg sockets must be done alike, else your horse will be bow-legged and unsteady.

Now plane the twelve-foot board B (unless it is already planed). Square one end nicely; measure off twenty-two inches. Lay try-square and draw a line across the board. Take the cross-cut saw and saw neatly on the line. Smooth the end with a block-plane, bevelling it slightly, so it will fit firmly on the floor. This is for one leg. Do three more legs in the same way, always trimming the ends with block-plane, to make them stand upon the floor true and even.

Fig 2

One thing, boys, you must remember: In planing across the grain never plane to the end at first, for you will chip the corners and spoil the end. Keep reversing the block; i.e. first plane from A to B, then from B towards A. (See fig. 2.)

Before fitting the legs into their sockets, plane the legs to fit the five and one half inch spaces made in the first board. The inner upper edge of the legs must come exactly level with the top line of the board. The outer edge will of course be higher on account of the slope of the slot, and must be planed smooth with block-plane after the legs have been firmly nailed into place with three or four eight-penny nails.

To keep the legs from spreading apart at the ends, you must make a sort of brace.

Fig 3

Take a piece of the board left after cutting off the legs, and fit it across the legs under the top board in this way: Hold it close to the board and against the legs, then draw a pencil line, following the outside slant of the legs. (See fig. 3.) Now with cross-cut saw cut across on this line; trim with block-plane before nailing; put one piece on each end, nailing through to the legs.

One thing more and then your horse is done; ready to stand if not to go.

Find the middle of one end of top board, draw a line three inches long down the board, with try-square. Then on the end measure one inch each side of this centre line. (See fig. 4.) Draw line from a to b, and cut on lines with splitting-saw; this will leave a triangular space which you will find very useful by and by in cutting small pieces of wood.

From board A there ought to be left a piece about three and one half feet long, and from board B a piece about two feet long. These you will put aside for further use.

Now for the Bench (with a capital B, because it is the principal partner in the firm of Carpenter and Co.).

Buy three good two-inch pine planks. Say two planks ten feet long, one foot wide, and one eight feet long, six inches wide. Ready planed, at the sawmills around here, these cost about eight cents a foot; a little less unplaned. Besides these, you want one ten-foot inch board, one foot wide; this should cost about four cents a foot. Before you really start on your Bench, look around your workshop and decide where you will have it stand. There must be a space ten feet long against the wall, with plenty of light. A window at the left is the best.

One thing you must have which I didn’t reckon with the tools; but it is easy to prepare. I mean a chalk line. There are fancy ones, but the sort I’m going to describe does just as well.

Fig 4

Get a piece of curtain-cord twelve or fifteen feet long, and make a loop on one end; then provide yourself with a good piece of common chalk; when you want to use it, chalk the line well by passing the line over the chalk as you would wax thread; to use it put the loop over a nail at one end of the line you wish to chalk, hold the other taut, and snap the line smartly in the middle; it will leave a straight chalk line for a guide in cutting.

Now take the shorter of the two-inch planks, the one eight feet long, make a mark in the middle of each end, drive a small nail in the left-hand end exactly in the middle; having chalked your line well, slip the loop over the nail, draw the line taut down the middle of the board to the other or right-hand end, holding the line close to the board; pluck the string sharply in the middle and you will find an even chalk line the whole length of the board.

Put one end of the board over sawhorse, take the splitting-saw and cut carefully down the line, holding the saw a little more vertical than you would a cross-cut saw.

Having divided your board thus, lengthwise, you will have two strips eight feet long, three inches wide, two inches thick.

With large plane smooth the rough sides of these strips as well as you can, resting the boards on the sawhorse. One end of each strip must be good and square: if not so already, take small block-plane and square it as best you can.

From the squared end measure thirty inches; draw a line across the board. Then by aid of try-square make another line one eighth inch beyond. This makes it easy to saw straight across the wood with a cross-cut saw. Take block-plane and square the end nicely.

Fig 5

You have now prepared one leg of your bench Cut another thirty-inch length in the same way from the piece left. Repeat this with the other strip. You now have four legs for your bench just alike with nicely squared ends.

For cross-pieces cut from the pieces that remain two lengths of nineteen inches each; cut and trim as before.

Take one pair of legs (i.e. two of the thirty-inch strips), lay them on the floor on the two-inch side, just nineteen inches apart. At one end, between the legs, lay one of the nineteen-inch pieces also on the two-inch side, so it will be flush with the squared ends of the legs; hammer the legs on to the ends of the cross pieces with two or three twenty-penny nails. This job ought to be done very neatly and accurately, so that the shape will be exactly like fig. 5. If you are careless and let the legs spread while nailing, your Bench will be hopelessly rickety.