CHAPTER XIX

THINGS BOYS CAN MAKE

$A Way to Bind Magazines.$--First, we must have a frame in which to stitch the sheets together. Here is mine in Fig. 1. I made it myself, and any handy lad can make one. The frame shown has an opening a foot long, so it is big enough to bind a book as long as that, or any smaller magazine. I have drawn it fitted with five strings, which would be the right number for a full-sized magazine; more or less strings are required according to the size of the book. They are, as may be seen, passed through holes bored opposite to each other above and below, and fixed tight with pegs. These strings are tapes 1/4 inch wide, which mother or sister will supply.

Now for the sewing. We have stripped off the wrappers, cleaned the backs of the sheets, and laid them in order, the last sheet on the top. But to make neat work, we should have what bookbinders call "end papers"--plain pieces of paper cut and folded to the size of the magazine--to go at the beginning and end of the volume; one leaf of each will be pasted down by-and-by to the inside of the cover adjoining it.

We begin by laying an end paper on the frame with its back against the tapes. We take a needle and thread, tie a knot at the end of the latter, and pass the needle, as in Fig. 2, through the middle of tape No. 1, and through the paper, drawing the thread to the knot. How we then go on is shown by the dotted line in Fig. 2; at the nearer side of tape No. 2 we pass the needle out again, carry it behind the tape, in again at the farther side of the tape, and so on, till we finally bring it out on the near side of tape No. 5. Please to notice that we do not pass the needle _through_ any tape except through No. 1 at first starting; with that exception, the thread merely _goes behind_ the tapes.

When we have reached the last tape and brought the needle out on the near side of it, we lay a sheet, in this case the _last_ sheet, of the magazine, on the frame, and pass the needle through it inwards on the farther side of tape No. 5, and then work back to the nearest side of tape No. 1. Another sheet is now laid on, and so we proceed till the whole volume, including the front end paper, is stitched together.

If we now lay a good heavy weight on our volume, we can squeeze it into narrower compass, for as the threads merely go round the tapes, they will slip down them; and we can then glue the back. Everybody has not a glue-pot, but everybody can get a 4d. bottle of Le Page's Liquid Glue, and nothing is better or more handy. Damp a strip of paper, or better, of thin muslin, and rub it down on the glue; it will strengthen the back. Leave the volume under pressure till the glue has set, and we may then take it out of the frame and cut off the tapes to, say, about two inches long on each side.

And now we are ready for our covers; a couple of pieces of stiff millboard, the wreckage of some old draper's box, will do very well. We cut them to size, and glue down the tapes upon them, as is shown in Fig. 3; and when the volume is heavy it is well to paste a strip of thin muslin over the hinge, as indicated by the dotted lines at _a_, to keep all tight.

I have just spoken of paste; we shall want it for everything else that we have to do, so I will tell you how to make it. Take a couple of tablespoonfuls of flour and half a teaspoonful of powdered alum, beat them carefully with cold water to the consistency of thin cream, and boil briskly for four minutes, stirring all the time.

What we want to do now is to put a back to our volume. We want something that will look well, and be strong, and nothing that I have tried has been equal to "window-blind holland." A dark green I prefer, but colour is a matter of taste. This material will not stretch out of place in pasting, as bookbinders' cloth is apt to do. Fig. 4 shows how the back piece is cut. The middle part _b_ has a strip of stiff paper pasted on it, which is not exactly the width of the back of the volume, but just a shade wider, that when pasted in place, it may have the proper curve outwards. The flap _c_ is to be turned and pasted down on this strip of paper, but the flaps _d_ and _d_ will be turned and pasted down inside the covers, after the back has been pasted in its place on the volume; and when that has been done, the volume should be kept under pressure till the paste is dry.

We must, of course, cover the sides of our volume; bookbinders' cloth or marbled paper, both of which are very inexpensive, are what I commonly use. After that, we can line the insides of the covers by pasting down on them a leaf of the end paper. And only one more thing now remains to be done, that is to letter a label neatly, and to paste it on the back.

$Scrap Book and Index.$--Keep _two_ scrap-books--one for cuttings and the other for notes. The scrap-book might be made of brown paper. Take an ordinary quarto exercise-book, with about 100 pages in it, and set apart the first fifteen pages for forming the index, for a scrap-book or a note-book without an index is as absurd as a public library without a catalogue. On the first page of your scrap-book write, in clear style, your name and address. Next, put the date on which you commenced to insert cuttings in the book. And then you might add an appropriate motto. How would this title-page do?

Having finished the all-important question of a title-page, which might be much more ornamental than the one above, begin the index on page 2 of the book.

Take a strip of paper of the same length as the pages in your book, and by doubling it in half twice and then dividing it into three equal parts, mark it off into twelve portions, as shown in Fig. B.

Now place your strip alongside of the edge of page 2, and rule a line on the page exactly where the figure 1 has been put. Only a tiny line, about three-quarters of an inch in length, is needed. On page 3, again place your strip along the edge, and rule a line where the figure 2 occurs. On page 4 rule a line where the figure 3 is; on page 5 rule a line where the figure 4 is; on page 6 rule a line where the figure 5 is; and so on, till on page 12 you rule a line where the figure 11 is. I expect you see why I have done this. Now neatly cut from the bottom of page 2 a strip, three-quarters of an inch wide, as far as the line you have ruled. This will leave at the top of the page a piece of paper jutting out. On this write the letters [A | B] in ink. Then on page 3 cut your strip three-quarters of an inch wide, up to the ruled line, and write [C | D] on the little square which projects underneath [A | B]; and continue to write two letters of the alphabet on each page till you get to page 12, when you must write [UV | W]. On page 13 you can write [XY | Z]. Now your index is complete so far as the lettering. The edge of your book should look something like Fig. C.

If you want the index to look still better, you should write the letters alternately in red and black ink.

On the first line of page 2 in your book put A, and turning over the leaf write B on the top line. On page 3 write C, and turning overleaf write D upon the top line. Thus you will have allotted a page to each letter in the alphabet, with the exception of the last six letters. I think I should put on the top line of page 12 U V, and overleaf write W, as W needs more room than U V. On page 13 write X Y, and overleaf Z.

Now that the mysteries of what the bookbinders call "index cutting" have been overcome, nothing remains to be done in the way of preparing your scrap-book for the reception of the numerous newspaper cuttings which I hope will find a home therein.

We will suppose you are interested in cricket. Here comes the usefulness of your book. When the averages of the County Cricket are published you can cut out the list and paste it in your book, and enter in your index, under C, the fact thus: "Cricket, County Averages, 25," the 25 referring to the page on which you have pasted the cutting. When Brown _minor_ is trying to prove that his county of Kent was third on the list, you will be able to convince him of his error by a reference to the page in your scrap-book, whereon you have pasted a cutting headed "County Championship." Reserve a few pages in your book for cuttings from the comic papers. You have no idea, until you commence, how interesting and engrossing your scrap-book will prove. In the newspapers there are so many curious little incidents recorded as to swimming, cycling, football, science, which you will be glad to preserve for future reference. Then, any little facts about your favourite hero may well find a place in your book. And when you have filled one book, commence another, and thus manufacture your own library of "best bits."

$Net Making.$--In Fig. 1 we have a netting needle and the way of filling it, in Fig. 2 a mesh stick. The stick may be almost any shape and about nine inches long. It regulates the mesh of the net, for the mesh is twice the circumference of the stick, so you may make a coarse net for tennis or a finer one to protect your strawberries, or a hammock net, or any kind you wish. Fix a hook into a wall or door, or in some other similar position. Take a piece of twine, a foot long will serve, tie the ends together, and hang the circle A thus made over the hook as in Fig. 3. Take the needle in your right hand and pass it through the loop. At B hold the loop and the twine that comes from the needle. Now cast a turn of the twine so that it rests on the upper part of your left hand and wrist, and also over loop A. Next pass the needle in an upward direction, pulling slowly and finishing with a tight knot. What makes the knot is shown at Fig. 4. In Fig. 5 the knot loose and tight is shown.

Slowly as this is done a time will come when you can do it rapidly. When you have tightened the knot, hold the mesh stick in the left hand, lay the twine over the stick with the knot resting at its edge, as in Fig. 6. Pass the needle through the loop that has thus been made, pull the twine firmly round your mesh stick, then throw a turn of the twine over your wrist and so make the same knot again. Throw the twine once more round the stick and make one more stitch through our old friend loop A. At this stage slip all you have done from your mesh stick, and you will find two half meshes attached to your loop A. In Fig. 7 these are shown as 1 and 2. Treat 1 and 2 as you treated loop A, that is first in 2 make 3 and 4 in 1. Now you have your first completed mesh, 4. Mesh 5 also is made on 1, the knots being one on the top of the other. Now go on in the same way, making the meshes in the order that you find them numbered in Fig. 7. The taking of two stitches through the last mesh of each row is the widening process, and this operation is maintained to the end of the net as far as the top edge is concerned. On the other edge, however, as soon as you have reached the width you need you must change this policy to that of taking the stitch through the last two meshes of the preceding row as in Fig. 8. When the net is as long as you need it this narrowing as it is called is applied to both edges, and the fourth corner is finished off by taking the stitch through the last two meshes. Then they should be tied fast. Do not widen or narrow at the wrong edges as you work. To prevent this mistake some netters lie a piece of ribbon upon the top or narrowing edge.

Nets for fishing and for such pursuits may be made in this way. First make a square, then go along the edges of the square, narrowing at regular intervals until the net is of the size needed. Gloves may be worn if the fingers become chafed, or the knots may be drawn tight in such a way that the strain is on the needle and not on the finger. When a new needleful is commenced be sure to make the first knot very firm. Among the useful articles that may be made in this way are tennis nets, onion bags, nets for the protection of growing fruit, and hammock nets.

$Photographic Enlargements.$--There are so many excellent sources, easily available, from which boys may learn how to use their cameras, so many developers, toners, and fixers ready to their hands at the chemist's, that we have not occupied space here with a general dissertation upon photography. We think, however, a chapter on enlargements will be welcome. The rapid development of bromide printing paper, and the ease by which enlargements may be produced thereon, has created quite a new era in amateur photography. No longer is it necessary to carry about an unwieldy heavy kit, which destroys half the pleasure of the amateur, when "on pictures bent," for now he may make use of even the smallest form of camera, and enlarge his pictures when he has returned from his meanderings. Enlargements may be produced in several ways. The negative itself may be enlarged, or what is simpler still a direct enlargement may be made on bromide paper. The latter may be easily effected in two ways--(1) by means of daylight, or (2) by artificial light. It is with the former that the writer intends to deal in the present paper. A word first as to the kind of negative best adapted for enlarging purposes. The quarter-plate size will be found most suitable, and these may be successfully enlarged to 12 by 10. The negative must be perfectly sharp, full of crisp detail, and perfect in every way. Any small defect in a negative is fatal to its enlargement, as it is made so much more apparent by magnification.

Most amateurs find a room at the top of the house the most convenient for enlarging purposes, and one with only one window is best, and that preferably with an uninterrupted view of the sky. The light must next be excluded by pasting brown paper over the entire window, or by having a tightly-fitting wooden frame made to answer the same purpose. Provision is then made to fit into the frame a quarter-plate printing frame, in which is placed the negative. By this means no light is permitted to enter the room, save that which filters through the negative. As a general rule, it will be found necessary to fit on the outside of the window frame a reflector of some sort, and a piece of white glazed board fixed at an angle will be found as effective as anything. This will concentrate the light and produce an equal amount of illumination over the entire negative.

The arrangement of the camera calls next for consideration. If the camera possessed by the would-be enlarger is one which focuses from the front, no adaptation of any sort will be required. All that is necessary is to place an oblong table close to the window, so arranging it that the camera when placed thereon will be on the same level as the negative. The ground-glass at the back of the camera being removed, place the camera as near to the negative as possible, which must have its film side facing the room. To prevent any escape of light through the body of the camera there should be as little space as possible between the negative and the camera, a black cloth being thrown over the end of the latter to make quite certain. At the other end of the table is fixed the enlarging board, on which the bromide is affixed by means of drawing pins. The farther this board is from the lens, the greater the enlargement, of course. A few experimental trials will soon show the tyro the proper distance the board should be placed, and this discovered, the place should be marked for future reference.

It will be found a great convenience to have a piece of ruby glass fixed in the end of the lens cap, as this will enable the operator to see the full size of the image on the enlarging board, and thus obviate any difficulty as to the exact spot in which the bromide paper should be. The greatest difficulty experienced by the beginner in enlarging is undoubtedly the gauging of the correct exposure. Light varies so, that it will be found necessary to give the same negative longer or shorter exposures at different times. The best plan is to make a table of approximate exposures by experimenting with a few strips of bromide paper, giving each a different exposure. These strips should then be pasted in a note-book for any future reference, together with the following particulars:--(1) Time of day and year; (2) intensity of the light; (3) density of negative; (4) brand of paper; and (5) size of the enlargement. An observant worker will soon master all these little difficulties, and when once success has been achieved, enlarging pictures from small negatives will be found to be one of the most interesting branches of photographic operations.

$Magic Lantern Slides.$--Draw first on paper the figures you wish to paint, lay the paper on the table, and cover it over with a piece of glass of the right size and shape. Draw the outlines with a fine camel's hair pencil or a pen, in black paint mixed with varnish, and when this is dry, add the proper colours. The transparent colours are alone to be used in this kind of painting, and these include aureolin, gamboge, Italian pink, Indian yellow, madder lake, crimson lake, Prussian blue, indigo, burnt sienna, madder brown, vandyke brown, lamp black. Ox gall will cause the colours to flow more easily on glass. Be careful that the glass is not greasy. Both water colours and oil colours are available.

An easy way to make diagrams and other outline drawings for the magic lantern is to take a piece of frosted glass of the right size and draw upon it, using Indian ink. The frost enables you to do this, but would prevent the maximum of light passing through the glass when it was in the lantern. Accordingly, to remove the frost now that it has served its purpose, pour Canada balsam upon it, cover with another piece of glass and bind the two pieces together as other magic lantern slides are bound.

A curious effect may be obtained by a magic lantern slide made as follows:--Tint vaseline with cochineal and place some between glasses of the magic lantern slide size, making a kind of vaseline sandwich. Put this slide in the lantern and focus it, and then insert a knife point a little way between the two pieces of glass and so let them be alternately forced asunder and drawn together. The effect upon the vaseline as seen upon the sheet is very peculiar.

$Three Ways of Making a Hectograph.$--It happens often that a boy, especially if he be the secretary of a cricket or football club, needs to send away many letters or notices, all alike; and few things are so wearisome as this writing of the same thing over and over again. If he will make for himself a hectograph he need write his notice no more than once and yet he may have more copies than he is likely to need. Here is the mixture that will prove so useful: gelatine, 4 ounces; glycerine, 15 fluid ounces; carbolic acid, 1/2 fluid ounce; water, 15 fluid ounces. First add the water to the gelatine and let it stand until the gelatine is quite soft. Now place all this in the glycerine and heat it over the fire until the gelatine has been dissolved, and then until the water has passed away in steam. The carbolic acid is to keep the mixture from turning sour, and it must be added gradually now, before cooling begins. Pour the whole into some shallow tray like the lid of one of those square tin boxes in which grocers keep biscuits. When the mixture has become firm and cold it is ready to be used.

Get a bottle of aniline ink and write or sketch whatever you desire to multiply. When the ink is dry place your letter or drawing face downwards upon the pad you have made with the gelatine. Rub the back of the paper with your hand to force the ink upon the gelatine. When the paper has been upon the hectograph for some time strip it off and you will find that your drawing or writing has been transferred to the gelatine. If you now press clean paper upon this drawing or writing it will be printed upon the paper, and so you may have copy after copy.

When you have as many as you need clean the surface of the hectograph for the next time you wish to use it. This may be done with a soft sponge and tepid water, but this process being rather tedious, most boys will be pleased to hear of an easier method, though it causes the hectograph in time to lose its clean appearance. Put it in the oven and let it melt, and when it is cold again it will be ready for the next letter or drawing.

The following is another way to make a hectograph: Take of pure glycerine, 9 parts; water, 6 parts; barium sulphate, 3 parts; sugar, 1-1/2 parts; gelatine, 1-1/2 parts. Mix well together, and allow all to stand for twenty-four hours; then heat gently over a slow fire until the whole is melted, stirring continuously until the various ingredients are thoroughly amalgamated. It may now be poured into the shallow tin or dish prepared to receive it, and allowed to stand for a day where it will be free from dust. It should not be used until absolutely cold and firm.

Here is another method we have found very successful. Take 2 ounces of fine Russian glue and 4 fluid ounces of cold water. Let the glue steep in the water until the water has been absorbed, or nearly so. Now place the glue and water in a vessel upon the fire until the glue melts. It need not boil. Add eight fluid ounces of common glycerine and six drops of carbolic acid, and also as much Paris white as will make the solution milky. Stir well and then pour the mixture into a shallow tray. In about twelve hours it will have set. For ink Judson's purple dye will serve.

$How to Make a Filter.$--You should procure a common flower-pot, nine or ten inches deep. Put in a layer of animal charcoal two inches thick. Wood charcoal may be used, but animal charcoal--that is charcoal made from bones--is best. On this put a layer of well washed sand. For the way to wash sand see page 132. The layer is two inches thick. Then comes a two-inch layer of small pebbles, each about as large as a pea. At the hole at the bottom of the flower-pot should be a fragment of brick which fits the hole loosely. Put the filter on a stool or on a shelf. There should be a hole in the stool or shelf to correspond with the hole in the flower-pot, and under the hole a vessel to catch the filtered water. The first drops that come through the filter may not be clear, but in about a quarter of an hour clear water will commence to issue from the hole in the bottom of the flower-pot. Take out the sand and the pebbles and wash them thoroughly once in six weeks, and once in four months replace the vegetable charcoal.

$The Syphon.$--In aquarium work and in other occupations it is necessary sometimes to empty water from a vessel by means of a syphon. Suppose that we wish to empty a bucket. The simplest thing would be to take the bucket and turn it upside down. Suppose, however, the bucket were fast and could not be moved, or suppose there were some dregs or sediment in the bucket which we did not wish to disturb, then we should find a syphon useful. Suppose a bucket is on a table. One end of a pipe is in the water in the bucket and the other end is dangling down. Now if we can once induce the water to flow through the pipe the water will continue to run, although at first it has to run up-hill a little, a most unwaterlike proceeding. There are two ways of inducing the flow. If you take the lower end of the pipe and suck, water will be brought over the elbow. Or if before you put the pipe in position you fill it with water, it will flow, and in each case it will continue to flow until it has emptied the bucket; that is, if the pipe reaches to the bottom of the bucket.

$How to Make a Fountain.$--A fountain is based on the principle that water strives to find its own level. The water tries to rise as high as the reservoir which feeds it, and would succeed, but the pressure of the air prevents it. In a U tube the water keeps at the same level in each part of the tube, but if you were to cork one arm of the tube it would not come so high there, because the air would not allow it. The writer of this article when he was a boy made fountains for a fern rockery and for a garden aquarium in the following simple way:--Upon the garden wall he placed a bucket. At the bottom of the bucket he punched a hole and inserted one end of a length of india-rubber tube bought from a shop where they sell the appliances for the teaching of chemistry. At the same place he bought some pieces of glass tubing of such a size that it would fit inside the rubber tubing. Explain to the man in the shop, and he will know exactly what you need. Take a few inches of the tube and hold the middle of it in the gas flame, or in a Bunsen burner if you have one. When the glass is soft draw the ends asunder gently, and you will find you have two pieces of glass shaped like a fountain-pen filler. It may be that one end of each of these two pieces of tube may have been closed by this process, but all that needs to be done is to file the sharp point until you have come to where the tube is open again. This serves for the nozzle of the fountain. There were no fountain pens when the author made his fountain, and it has just occurred to him that perhaps the best thing would be to buy a fountain pen-filler at once and have your nozzle ready-made. If you make your own you may not get it right first time. It may be crooked or the opening too large or too small. However, there will be this advantage, you may make many nozzles, and so by changing them have a variety of sprays. The finer the opening the higher will be the jet. It is not difficult to apply the fountain to an aquarium. For a rockery it will be easy to arrange the pipe and nozzle, and to fix it in position with the stones.

$Case for Shaving Papers.$--Decide upon the size of paper you like best. Cut a piece of millboard, celluloid, or even thin wood the same size, and upon this paint an attractive design. Now cut a strip of the same material as wide as this piece, but only an inch, or less, deep. Arrange piece, paper and strip as in the sketch. A is the piece of millboard, B the sheets of paper, C the strip. At D E F bore holes and secure the whole with paper fasteners put through these. This pad may hang upon the wall with ribbon, but the design and not the strip should hang outwards. When all the pieces of paper have been used the paper fasteners may be unfastened, and a new set of papers introduced. The turned-down ends of the paper fasteners are ugly and are liable to scratch. Paste over them very neatly a strip of brown paper or other suitable material.

$A Blotting Pad.$--A very serviceable blotting-pad may be made upon the same principle as the case for shaving papers. The measurements only will be different, and a pad of writing paper may be made in the same way.

$A Hygrometer.$--This is a Greek word made up of _hygros_ meaning moist, and _metron_ a measure. It indicates how much or how little moisture there is in the air. In the diagram is a small nail A, a thread B, or better still, a long hair begged from your mother, sister, or friend. C is a weight of some kind. The author had a penny that had a hole in it. Hang this on a wall in your bedroom or in an outhouse, or even in some sheltered place out of doors. When you hang it up rule a line at D, and put the date. In damp weather the weight will rise, in dry it will descend so you may rule other lines showing where it was at different times of the year. The hair should be as free from oil as possible. You may have noticed that the clothes line slackens in dry weather, and tightens on rainy days, and this applies also to the cords of the window blinds. There is a story that when some men were putting a London monument in position, by a miscalculation it needed to be raised just a few inches more, and this elevation the men were unable to bring about. At last, from the crowd that had gathered to watch the proceedings, a sailor bawled, "Wet the ropes." They wetted the ropes, and up went the heavy monument into its right place.