Ideal Home Life - online book

A valuable and well-organized system for home education(homeschooling) 3 to 12 years.

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290                          IDEAL HOME LIFE
The pieces fastened to the legs around the top are called rails. These rails should be made of 7/8 inch by 8-inch for the front ends and 7/8 inch by 10-inch for the back. The operation of putting a piece of work together is called assembling. In assembling this work-bench it is well to complete the ends first. This should be done by placing the legs on the floor and fastening the end rails to them, using thin brads in the upper edge only. After "squaring" up the legs with the lower edge of the rail, these parts can be fastened permanently either with 8-penny nails or with screws.
The diagonal braces, also shown in Figure 1, should be fastened before going any further with the assembling. These are made of planed 1 x 2-inch pine. These pieces will have to be joined together at the middle with a "half lap" joint and fastened to the legs with 2-inch screws or nails. Screws are always more satisfactory in assembling a piece of work made of wood.
The boy worker will notice that thus far some words have been used which he may not understand. The author hopes that these words, such as "square up," "half lap joint," and many others to come, will be interesting enough to the youthful contractor to cause him to look them up either in the encyclo­pedia or in the list of books mentioned at the end of this volume.
After the ends are assembled complete, we are ready to fasten the front and back rails. These rails should be cut 48 inches long, same as the top, and the bottom corners either rounded off or sawed off, as shown in the drawing. The front rail should be fastened even with the end rails, both at top and bottom. The back rail, which was 10 inches wide, should be made even with the bottom edge of the end rails, which will mean that it will extend 2 inches above the legs at the back. The reason for this will be apparent when the bench is completed.
We are now ready to complete the table by attaching the top. For the thick, heavy part of this top, the boy contractor should purchase at any hardware store six 2-inch angle braces. These are usually made of iron 1/8 inch thick, 1/2 inch wide
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