BOW--PLATE 8.

Almost any tough stick that will bend to a good curve will answer for a bow, but white ash such as is used in hoe- and rake-handles is probably best and easiest to get. A brittle wood like hemlock can be used, if used with great care; indeed, some Eskimos, who can get only dry, brittle driftwood, still make a splendid bow by wrapping it completely with sinew. The bow should be shorter than the archer. Plane each end tapering, first on the bottom, then on the two edges. Leave 6" in the middle straight for a handle. Notice the shape, Plate 8, of the three steps in the planing of the bow. Be especially careful to get the second step right, then the third will come easily. File notches near each end somewhat the shape of the loop on the bowstring. Before the bow can be finished, it must be strung and pulled a little to test it,--to see if both ends bend the same good curve,--not the curve of a circle, but that of the broad side of an ellipse. The ends should curve more than the middle. When it bends true, smooth it well with a coa.r.s.e file, or gla.s.s, and sandpaper. Do not be tempted to pull the bow too far and so break it; one that bends easily is less apt to break than one that is too strong. When the bow is strung, the center of it and of the bowstring should be marked with thread or color.

A piece of strong fish-line makes a good bowstring. A good one can be made of linen thread on the string machine shown on Plate 34. Tie knots as shown in Fig. 2. The timber-hitch should be kept in place on the bow, and the bowline-knot slipped back on the bow when it is unstrung. The best way to string a bow is to place the end having the timber-hitch on the ground against one's left foot, then to pull the middle of the bow with the left hand, and to push the upper part with the right hand, allowing this hand to slide upward so as to shove the bowline-knot into the upper notch. When finished the bow can be improved by rubbing it well with grease.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 2 Timber-hitch knot and Bowline-knot]

[Ill.u.s.tration: ARROW

BOW

PLATE 8]

SWORD--PLATE 9.

Plane the blade to size, then draw a center line on each side, and lay out the curves for the point and handle. Shape these ends with the draw-knife, spokeshave, or block-plane. Now measure 5" for the handle, and draw a line along the center of each edge to mark the cutting edges of the sword. A workman would do this with his pencil resting over his finger-nail as mentioned on page 32. Use the spokeshave to pare off the four corners (to sharpen the sword), and finish them with a plane. Try to take broad, flat chips so as to make the blade a good diamond shape.

Where the blade and handle meet a good square shoulder must be made. A boy can do this best, perhaps, with a wide, flat file, though a workman would use a back-saw and chisel.

Saw out the guard 5" 3" 1/2"; then draw the diamond 1-1/2" long and 1/2" wide. It is not easy for a boy to cut this out, so be careful and guard against splitting the board. First drill small holes at each end of the diamond, then bore other holes as large as will go within the diamond, Plate 9. With a thin chisel pare straight thru the board onto a cutting board. When the diamond will fit the blade, draw the shape of the guard freehand and pare the edges as explained for the buzzer on page 20. Sandpaper both parts of the sword, and fasten the guard with glue and two 2" brads, driven from each edge of the guard in holes drilled for the purpose.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SWORD

PLATE 9]

MAGIC BOX--PLATE 10.

This is truly a magic box to those who do not understand how it works.

Who would ever think that these little bits of people would hop up and down inside their house just because their window was rubbed with a piece of leather? Try it and see how excited they get.

If the worker can cut gla.s.s, make the box first, otherwise he must get a piece of gla.s.s 5-1/2" 3" and build the box to fit it. It requires careful work to make a good box, so be sure that all ends and edges are square and that corresponding parts are the same size before nailing it together. Plane all such small boards in the bench-hook. Make the ends first 1" wide and as _long_ as the gla.s.s is _wide_. Make the sides the same width and as long as the gla.s.s, _plus_ the thickness of the two ends. Glue and nail these to the ends, keeping the bottom edges flush.

Set all nails with a nail-set.

One edge and one end only of the bottom should now be planed square, the other edge and end being left to plane after the bottom is nailed in place. Cut a piece of tin 1/16" smaller than the gla.s.s, or glue some tinfoil on the inside of the bottom. If tinfoil is to be used, smooth it on a piece of paper carefully with the fingers; then spread some glue thinly over the bottom, and lay the tinfoil on it. The squared edge and end of the bottom are to be nailed first, having them fit nicely; then the other edge and end. Never drive a nail too near the corner of the bottom lest it strike the nails driven thru the sides of the box. Now plane the end and then the side of the bottom to fit. If tin is used instead of tinfoil put it inside the box after the bottom has been nailed in place. Make the two supports fit inside the box lengthwise and just wide enough to hold the top of the gla.s.s flush with the top edges of the box. To hold the supports, drive nails thru the ends of the box into them.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MAGIC BOX

PENCIL BOX

PLATE 10]

Everything about electrical apparatus should be clean and dry, so, as this is really an electric box, have the gla.s.s and tin clean before using it. Put some bits of charcoal, paper, straw, or sawdust into the box, have it warm and dry, rub the gla.s.s with a piece of leather (glove, shoe), and then see how the little people jump! The explanation is as follows: Rubbing gla.s.s with leather, fur, woolen, or silk _generates_ electricity; this electricity _attracts_ non-electrified bodies, thus lifting the little people to the gla.s.s; as soon as they become _charged_ with the electricity on the gla.s.s, they are _repelled_ and thrown down to the tin; the tin _conducts_ their charge of electricity away, and they are ready to begin their circus over again.

PENCIL-BOX--PLATE 10.

To make this box, saw out one long piece for the sides and ends, 22"

1-7/8" 1/4", or two shorter pieces, 12" 1-7/8" 1/4". The reason for having them so long is because it is difficult to make the groove nicely to the end of the board; and they are wide enough to try twice to make the groove.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 3]

File a nail (about 3/32" in diameter) sharp like a chisel, and drive it tightly into a small hole, drilled in a block of wood which has one corner rabbeted, that is, sawed away as shown in Fig. 3. The outside of the nail, measured from the shoulder of the rabbet, must be exactly 1/4"

away, so that the lower edge of the groove will be 1/4" from the top of the box. Practice with this tool till a good groove can be made in waste lumber, then make the groove along one edge of the board. When well done, plane the board 1-3/8" wide, and saw it to the proper lengths for sides and ends. In the front end there is no groove, so plane it away from one piece just sawed. Sandpaper the flat sides before gluing and nailing them together. Prepare the bottom as directed for the magic box, page 38, then sandpaper, glue and nail it in place. Set all nails. Plane the bottom to fit. Prepare the cover somewhat too long but exactly the width between the grooves. As in making the whistle, page 32, so here draw pencil lines for the bevel 3/8" wide on the cover. Practice planing a bevel on waste wood first. The bevel at the further end of the cover can be planed by holding the cover upright in the vise. When it slides smoothly in the grooves, saw it the right length. For the notch, make a deep cut with a gouge, and cut the chip straight across with knife point or small chisel. Hold it in the bench-hook while doing this.

TELEPHONE--PLATE 11.

In these days when even boys are using wireless telegraphy, this may seem a humble telephone, but it is a surprisingly good one, and it is very easily made and operated. The drum should be hard and tight, the string should be a small, hard cord (tho the common pink cord thoroly waxed with paraffin will do), and the cord should be supported by nothing but the drums when the telephone is being used.

After preparing the eight sides, observe in Plate 11, the method of nailing four boards of equal width together to form a square,--each one is nailed to another one. The ends of the boxes should be well rounded with sandpaper before the drum is stretched over them.

The best material for the drum is rawhide,--the dried skin of an animal.

The skin of a small animal like the cat, rabbit, or woodchuck is best.

Country boys will not have much difficulty in securing such rawhide, but city boys may. To remove the hair, or fur, from a skin, slack a lump of lime as large as a hen's egg in a basin of water and soak the skin in it until the hair can be pulled off readily (usually a few minutes); then thoroly wash the skin, stretch it over one end of a box, and tack it every 3/8" with 2 oz. tacks. When thoroly dry it will be "tight as a drum" and ready to use. A good drum can also be made of an old (dressed) kid glove or shoe. Soak a piece 4" sq. in water a few minutes then stretch it while still wet, tightly over the box. When dry, coat it on both sides with melted paraffin. Fasten the cord to the drum simply by a knot on the inside. If common pink cord is used, drive the paraffin in with a hot flat-iron.

To use the telephone, a boy at each end of the line holds his box so that the string will not touch anything, then one talks into his box while the other listens in his. The telephone may be stretched from one house to another if the houses are within several hundred feet of each other and have a free s.p.a.ce between. If two telephones were provided, a person could talk and listen at the same time.

[Ill.u.s.tration: TELEPHONE

PLATE 11]

HAPPY JACK WINDMILL--PLATE 12.

On a windy day "Happy Jack" will be a whole circus out on the clothes-line post. If he can be painted in bright colors so much the better, otherwise he should be decorated with colored pencils.

The body is drawn on a board, 9" 2" 1/2", by measuring all the figures from the hat down, and at these points drawing lines square across the board; also, draw a center-line from head to heel. The toes and hat rim split easily, so be careful of these parts. If no scroll-saw is at hand, saw every 3/8" with the back-saw straight across from the edge of the board to the outline of the body; then pare these little pieces away with a knife or chisel. The curves at the neck are best made with a No. 6 bit before sawing. The curves may be finished with half-round file or sandpaper. Take great care in boring the hole up the legs and across the shoulders; if a hole is started crooked, glue in a dowel of the same wood (see Dowels, page 11), let it dry, and then try again. Use a straight-edge as a guide, as for the whistle, page 32. A No. 3 bit is used thru the shoulders, and a No. 4 bit up the legs. To make the arms, use a 1/2" hard wood dowel 6" long. Bore 1/4" holes for the vanes 1/2" each side the center of the dowel and file the wrists, before sawing it in two. Round the ends some with sandpaper. Flatten the 4" wire which goes thru the shoulders enough to keep it from turning in the arms. Drill holes in the arms to hold the wire firmly. To plane the vanes thin at the broad end, use the board mentioned at the bottom of page 19. When gluing and nailing the vanes in the arms, remember that one lies flat and the other nearly edgewise; also remember to make them balance. Bore a 3/16" hole in the center of the base and glue the dowel into it. Before trying to fasten "Happy Jack" to a post, drill holes in the base for nails or screws.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HAPPY JACK WINDMILL