CHAPTER V

THE WORKSHOP

If you have a place where you can build a workshop you will find one described in Part III. If not, try to find a well-lighted shop, both on account of your eyes and your work; one that is dry, or your tools will rust and your work be injured; and one that can be heated, for there will be no time you will wish to use it more than on cold, stormy days.

As a rule, an outbuilding is better than a basement or attic, other things being equal, because a basement is liable to be damp and dark, and an attic is bad about carrying materials and finished work up- and down-stairs. Noise in the top story of a house is usually more disturbing to the occupants than noise in the basement; but all these conditions vary in different places.

Have a lock on the door of your workshop, partly to keep small children from getting cut if they should come in without leave, and partly to prevent your work being interfered with in your absence and the edge-tools used for various domestic purposes by your feminine relatives, who might, in their innocence, mistake your best gouge for a tack-puller or the quarter-inch chisel for a screw-driver.

Of course you will have overalls and jumper or a work-man's apron made of denim, ticking, or some strong cloth. If you use an apron, have a pocket in it. A small slip of a pocket on the outside seam of your overalls above the right knee is also useful for holding a rule. When you have a long job of dirty work before you, a good way is to change your clothes for any "old duds" that you may have. This saves your clothes, and in warm weather is more comfortable and healthful than to wear overalls.

Your shop can be all fitted up for you by a carpenter, but it will be better, and better fun, to do it yourself. After the workshop itself is ready the first important thing is the work-bench.

=The Work-Bench.=--A very simple one (Fig. 37) will answer your purpose for a long time. When you become a pretty good workman and feel the need of something better (for a first-class bench with the best attachments is really a great help toward doing good work), you will still find this first simple affair very useful in some part of your shop.[14] There is no need of a bench being made of stock of exactly the dimensions given, so if you have a pile of boards and joists to draw from without buying, you can, of course, substitute other-sized pieces, provided you use stock heavy enough to make a firm bench. Heavier legs and top (front board) would be better, and in fact _there is little danger of making a bench too solid_.

* * * * *

Before beginning to work read carefully _Marking_, _Square_, _Rule_, _Saw_, in Part V., and look up any other references.

The design is for a small bench, 5' 10" long, 2' wide, and 2' 6" high. A larger one can be made on the same principle.[15]

You will require for stock:

1 piece of 3" X 4" joist 10' long. 1 board, 7/8" thick, planed, 12" wide, 12' long. 1 " " " " 10" " 12' " 1 " " " " 10" " 6' " 1 plank, 1-1/2" or 2" thick, planed, 5" or 6" wide, 2' 9" long. 1 strip, 1/2" to 7/8" thick, 3" or 4" wide, 15" long.

Pine is good, and almost any cheap wood can be used. Hemlock is not very suitable, unless for the legs. Spruce is cheaper than pine or whitewood, and can be used for economy, but is prone to warp and twist and should be thoroughly nailed.

First make the legs and fasten them together. To do this, take the joist and lay it on two boxes or old chairs (Fig. 38), which you can use temporarily for horses, until you make a pair. See whether either end is cut off squarely. If neither is, mark a line by the square a short distance (perhaps half an inch, according to the condition of the end of the joist) from one end, on one side of the joist. Carry this line around the joist by applying the square to each side successively, and saw off the waste end with the cross-cutting saw. Having one end square, measure from that end 2' 5" and mark a line around the joist as before. Saw this piece off, and using it as a measure (but not as a square), mark and saw off three more pieces. These are for the legs.

Next, from the short 10" board, mark and cut off two pieces 1' 10-1/4" long in the same manner (Fig. 39), seeing first that the end from which you begin to measure is square. You do not need to mark the under side of the boards, but only the top and the edges. Now square a line 1" from each end of each of these short boards, and start three nails on each of the lines by driving them nearly through the board (Fig. 40). (See _Nailing_.) Next, place the end of one of these boards on the narrow side of one of the legs, and, holding it firmly in position, nail it securely to the leg. You must take pains to keep the leg and the cross-piece "square." Nail only one nail first and then adjust, testing with the try-square before driving the other nails (Fig. 41). Then nail the other end to another leg, and repeat the process with the other board and the remaining legs. This will give two frames like Fig. 42.

Next, fasten the sides to the legs. Take the 10" board and mark and saw off two pieces 5' 10" long in the same way as before (Fig. 43). At distances of 7" and 12" from each end of each board, mark lines across the side with the square and start nails between these lines (Fig. 44). Then, fitting these lines at the outside edges of the legs, nail the sides securely to the legs, as shown in Fig. 45. But drive only one nail through into each leg at first, until you are sure that the frame is coming together square and true throughout. Test the angles with the square. Stand the frame on as level a surface as you can find and sight across the top endways and crossways to see if either corner sticks up or down. If the top is not true, twist the frame enough to make it so, which you can easily do if you have but one nail in each corner. When the top is true and the legs at right angles, drive in the rest of the nails (Fig. 45). Be sure to test the top for winding, as just said (see