Fig. 137. Fresh Tools Used. - Trying And Smoothing Planes And Bevel

Material Required

A piece of bass-wood 14 1/2 ins. by 2 1/2 ins. by 3/4 in. and a strip of some darker-coloured wood, say walnut or mahogany, 1 ft. by 7/8 in. by 1/4 in., and a similar strip of some light-coloured wood, such as sycamore, for the ribbon pattern, to afford a contrast. The beads on the top and bottom should be made from a piece of walnut or bass-wood, 13 ins. by 2 1/4 ins. by 3/8 in.

The drawing to be made on paper should be the full elevation, the vertical section, and the plan and horizontal section. The enlarged detail of elevation need not be drawn, it is inserted to make the drawing clearer.

Plane up the large piece of wood true to 2 1/4 ins. width. Some care is required in planing this piece of wood true, as much depends on the good surface to be obtained. To assist in doing this the jack plane should not be much used, but the latter part of the planing should be done with the more reliable trying plane. From the face edge gauge two lines, one at 1/8 in. and the other at 2 1/8 ins. distance, clown the whole length of the wood, as seen in fig. 138. Now, with the aid of the set-square set the bevel to 60°, and take care then, to screw the blade up tight. Commence about 1 1/2 in. from the end, and mark a cut line completely across the wood (see fig. 138) in the manner shown in the illustration (fig. 139). Set out projectors 5/8 in. long from this cut line, and make another parallel cut line with chisel and bevel.

Elevation.

Enlarged detailed elevation.

Plan.

Fig. 137.

Fig. 138.

From the points where the cut lines cross the gauged line 1/8 in. from the face edge, the next pair of inclined lines can be made by reversing the bevel, and in this way the whole of the lines can be drawn.

Fig. 139.

It must be borne in mind, however, that they must all be drawn from the face edge, and only the outside edge of the bevel blade should be used to mark against. Now gauge the depth of the grooves 3/16 in. full, on both edges, and saw out all the parallel grooves in one direction, keeping about 1/32 in. inside the lines, but do not touch the others at present. Cut out the grooves very carefully by horizontal and vertical paring, making them as smooth as possible. Now take the two similar strips of walnut and sycamore and shoot them true to dimensions (5/8 in. by 3/16 in.) and try the dark-coloured piece in the grooves to see if it fits. When satisfactory in this respect it can be cut up into pieces which will quite fit the grooves - though it will be noticed from the drawing of the complete model (fig. 137) that triangular pieces at the ends are afterwards removed to make room for the full-length strips of sycamore.

The walnut strips can now be glued in, taking care to squeeze out the glue well, and the model may be left till dry.

This will take about eight hours, and consequently it must be left till the next lesson.

On resuming, complete the marking of the remaining grooves by finishing the old cut lines across the dark inlaid strips, and cut them out with the tenon saw, as in the first set of grooves. Glue in the light-coloured strips after preparing the material in the same way as before. Now the difference in length of the coloured strips gives them somewhat the appearance of a bent ribbon in alternate light and shade.

Plane the edges of the model when dry down to the gauged line 1/8 in. in from the edges (fig. 138), and as slight irregularities in the face surface will probably exist, just run the trying plane over, to 'flush' it down, putting a little linseed oil on the face of the plane to assist in removing any small projecting pieces of hard glue.

The model should now be reduced to the proper thickness, 5/8 in., by planing the back down, with a jack and trying plane.

Draw the curved ends of the model on the wood, and at the same time mark out the centre of the hole at each end.

"With the tenon saw cut off the waste outside the extreme limits of the ends, and then saw off small pieces of the waste at various angles, as in fig. 138, in order to roughly give the curve, which may then be further completed by vertical paring, and if not absolutely true, the flat face of a file may be used to finish it.

Fig. 140.

In filing care must be taken to give good, long, steady, horizontal strokes, using almost the whole length of the tool, and grasping the front end with the fingers of the left hand, as in illustration (fig. 140), the wood being screwed up in the vice. Now bore the two holes by which the model is to be suspended.

Though the face was 'flushed' down with the trying plane, it may now be rendered as smooth as a plane can make it, and the smoothing plane is introduced to do this. If the iron of the plane requires adjustment or sharpening, it can be loosened or removed by tapping it on the rear end with a hammer, as in fig. 141, while the plane, irons, and wedge are held in the hand somewhat in the same way as the jack plane; and except for this peculiarity of tapping the back end, instead of the nose of the plane, in loosening the irons, there is no great difference in their preparation for use. The smoothing plane is always set as fine as is possible.

Fig. 141.

The smoothing plane not having a handle must be grasped firmly with both hands, which should hold it very tightly down on the wood to be planed, as in fig. 142.

There is a liability for beginners in using this plane to give short spasmodic strokes, but it must be borne in mind that this plane, like the others already taken up, should be used with good free strokes extending the whole length of the wood. After the smoothing plane has been used, there might still be almost imperceptible imperfection from the planing. A piece of very fine glass-paper may be folded round a piece of smooth cork, and rubbed up and down the face to remove these imperfections, but this should not be relied on, as it is of small value as a tool, and should not be resorted to as a means of covering defects in prior work. Indeed, no amount of glass-papering can ever do this. Now turn to the remaining strip of walnut and shoot this true to dimensions. It will be noticed from fig. 143 that both beads are obtained by cutting this strip in halves, but first round the edges with the jack plane and the ends with the chisel, and then finish them with file and glass-paper. These rounded edges, it will be noticed, are 1/8 in. deep, and the limits of the curve should be marked with a pencil and thumb-gauge before commencing.

Fig. 142.

Fig. 143.

It must not be overlooked that the top bead projects Jin. more than the bottom. Mark out the depth of these beads with the gauge, allowing a shade over the dimensions, 7/8 in. from one side and 3/4 in. from the other. This allows a trifling waste to be planed down afterwards, but in order to obtain a little more as a precautionary measure, saw down between the two gauged lines.

Now glue the strips on in their proper places - i.e., the top strip projecting 1/4 in. and the bottom one 1/8 in., and nail down also, with |-in. oval steel brads. Three nails through each piece will be sufficient, and care should be taken to drive them in between the ends of two grooves, where the substance is in one piece, or otherwise some of the strips might be disturbed. Finish off the model by planing the back down flush, and put in the nails to carry any articles which may be hung on them. These nails should be of brass, and about l 1/2 in. long. One should be driven into the middle of each of the top row of equilateral triangles, and in order that anything put on them may be held more securely, they should be put in 10° out of the upright - i.e., the stem should make 80° with the surface.

Be careful to make the angles of inclination of the nails similar, and to drive them in to the same depth, so that a good even row of nails appears.

Carelessness in putting in these nails may mar the appearance of a model which might be very well finished in every other respect.