The Equipment

The equipment for the woodwork, or carpenter's, shop consists of a complete set of the usual cutting tools for each boy, which he should be required to keep in order and at all times ready for use or inspection. This method of equipping a shop requires that each bench should have a set of drawers or a closet in which the tools of each student may be kept under lock and key.

Aside from the cutting tools, are the try-square, rule, hammer, etc., which need no special care. In some schools these are included in each student's equipment, but in others there is one set of these for each bench, which is used by all the students who use the bench, the edge tools being kept guardedly for each individual student.

Besides the bench equiqment, there should be a set of tools for general use, which should include all the different sizes of bits, chisels, etc., and other tools which will be used only occasionally. These should be kept in racks which they will just fill, so that the teacher may with a glance detect a vacant space, and hold the class until the missing tool is in its place.

Economical Equipment

In schools where it is necessary to use economy in purchasing the equipment, there may be a set of tools for each bench, which will be used by all the classes. This method of equipping a shop should be avoided if it is possible, as it is far better that each student should have his own tools, for which he may be held responsible, which is practicable to but a limited extent, if all classes use the same equipment.

Comparisons Of Tools

We will discuss here the reasons why certain forms of tools have been recommended instead of others.

The iron planes are listed because they are easier to adjust and to use. A wooden plane is heavy and clumsy, and for young students especially unsuitable, as their hands are not large enough to grasp and to control it properly. Another advantage of iron planes is that they are kept in order more easily, as the face holds its shape under conditions which would cause enough change to the face of a wooden plane to require its rejointing. An iron plane also lies down, or " hugs the wood" closer than does a wooden plane, and is for that reason preferred by many. Equally as good work may be done with one type of plane as with the other.

The knuckle-joint block plane is better designed than are some other forms, because the lever that keeps the iron in place is more positive in its action, and holds the iron more firmly. If the plane falls from the bench, or is dropped, the grip, or the top of the cap lever, is not so apt to break as if it were of one piece of light cast iron.

If some manufacturer should make a form of gauge which had no graduations upon it, he would find a ready sale for it among manual-training schools, because unless the scratcher is exactly opposite the beginning of the graduations, the entire rule is inaccurate. However accurately the point may be placed originally, it will be out of place after the gauge has been in use a short time and different students have endeavored to satisfy their curiosity regarding its construction.

The form of bitbrace in which the jaws are tightened by a thumb-screw instead of by a grip nut is best adapted to the use of manual-training classes, for the reason that the only part to be lost is the screw that sets up the jaws. In the common form of brace, - that which grips the bit by the tightening of a grip nut which forces the jaws together until the bit is held firmly, - there are three parts, which are apt to be lost by the attempts of the students to study the tool's construction. Bitbraces of small swing should be selected, as they are better adapted to the small bits that are generally used in manual-training classes, though there should be two or more braces of the larger sizes for occasional use.

In purchasing try-squares, secure, if possible, those upon which there are no graduations, because the average student will use his try-square as a rule, which is awkward, especially after the tool has been in use a considerable time, when it is much more difficult to read the marks than when it is new, and at all times it is more difficult than to read a rule.

A 24" straight rule is better than a folding rule for several reasons; the chief of which is, perhaps, that it is not easy for the student to drop a straight rule into his pocket and carry it off. Neither is there the temptation with a straight rule, that there is with a four- or two-fold rule, to see how far it can be bent without breaking, nor is it so apt to be broken by falling open on the floor and being stepped upon.

The type of auger bit known as the " Jennings " is perhaps the most satisfactory for the use of manual-training schools, as the shape of its worm, its cutters, and the smoothness of the finish of the twist, in the best makes, all aid in making it smooth-running and clean-cutting. The cheaper grades of the tool are not satisfactory in finish or in ease of working, nor will they stand boring more than a very few holes in oak or in other hard woods.

The bell-faced claw hammer is more satisfactory than the older flat-faced pattern. Its face being slightly convex, it is not so apt to bruise the wood badly if the nail is missed, and in outside finishing and in common work the nail may be driven a little below the surface of the wood without the use of a nail set. In general, the older pattern has not the long neck of the bell-faced hammer, which extends upon the handle far enough to be valuable in strengthening the connection between them, and which allows a much greater strain upon the handle in pulling a nail than if the neck were not a part of the head. More skill is required in using a bell-faced hammer than one of the flat-faced type.

For a manual-training class, the divisions of the edges of the steel square are not important, as the use of the tool will be that of a large try-square, but if the class is studying roof construction, it will be of great advantage if the squares have the octagon, brace, and lumber measures on them, and still more advantageous if one edge is divided into 12ths of an inch which will be used as a scale of 1" to 1', in laying out the angles and lengths of rafters, braces, and other parts of a building.

Countersinks that may be taken apart and sharpened are preferred by most workmen. The teacher should be careful that the students do not use a wooden countersink upon metal, as it will be destroyed. The lightning countersink is made to stand any metal but tempered steel, and works well upon wood.

The turning or frame saws are to be preferred to the compass saws for cutting curves, because they are not nearly so liable to catch in the wood and break. They can be turned around a very much smaller curve than can the compass saw, though of course they are not so efficient for some purposes.