Wood-working for Beginners: A Manual for Amateurs

Having made your working drawings for a canoe of the size and proportions which you may think best to adopt, begin the actual work by getting out moulds (Fig. 433) upon exactly the same principle as in the case of the flat-bottomed canoe just described, except that they will be of curved outline, as this is to be a round-bottomed boat. Get out also a bottom strip or keelson with stem-and stern-pieces, which can be alike.

The arrangement and method of fitting these parts is evident from the illustrations. The keelson can be laid along the edge of a plank or some flat surface and blocked up towards the ends to give the desired degree of curvature or rocker. First fit in place the centre mould and then the two at the ends of the well-hole (Fig. 434), with the stem- and stern-posts (Fig. 435). These can be temporarily tacked or stayed in place until you are sure the positions are right. The coaming frame or wash board around the well-hole can now be put on, which will hold the three middle frames securely, and the two deck-strips running lengthways from the well-coaming to the tops of the stem-and stern-posts can be attached (Fig. 435). Next fit the two gunwale-strips, putting in also the remaining moulds or frames. After this the lengthways ribbands are to be fitted around the moulds from bow to stern (Figs. 435 and 435a, showing section at end of well). This will complete the shape of the boat.

Great care must be taken with all this adjusting of the framework, measuring, sighting, and testing in every way you can think of, to see that all the curves are "fair," without sharp or irregular turns, and also to see that both sides of the boat are alike. This is very important. The pieces may be all of the correct lengths, but still the boat may be one-sided, or twisted, or have a list.

A glance at Fig. 436 will show (as an exaggerated example) that pieces of the right dimensions can easily be put together in such a way that the boat may be ill-shaped,—an unfortunate result which is sometimes seen in home-made boats, due to lack of care in testing the angles and curves when putting the work together.

The ends of these strips will be more securely fastened to the stem-and stern-posts if depressions or "gains" are cut in the posts to receive them (Fig. 437), but this is not absolutely necessary if the ends are properly bevelled and carefully screwed to the stem-and stern-posts.

For additional stiffness, insert a series of ribs (Fig. 435), from 3" to 6" apart, according to their size and stiffness, from bow to stern. Barrel-hooping can be used and if sound is excellent, or strips of ash, oak, or elm, about ⁷/₈" × ¼", can be used. It will not be necessary to bend these around a form. Those near the middle can be at once bent into place. As the ends of the boat are approached, the ribs will require to be rendered more pliable before being put in place (see Bending Wood). The ribs can be nailed or screwed to the keel and finally be fastened to the ribbands, at their intersection, with copper nails clinched or riveted. Cheaper fastenings can be used, however, but copper is the best.

To hold such pieces in place temporarily, clamps can be easily made which will be sufficiently strong for the purpose (see Fig. 548).

When all these parts are fastened together, the frame will be complete.

To make a first-class job, the entire frame should be thoroughly painted, or at least given a soaking coat of oil, or it can be varnished.

For the canvas, get firm, closely-woven duck or sail-cloth of good quality and of sufficient width to reach from gunwale to gunwale. It is not necessary or advantageous to get the heaviest-weight grade, but beware of covering your boat with light drilling or the like, which, although you can make it water-tight, will not be sufficiently durable for anything but a boat for temporary use.

Find the middle of the canvas, lengthways, and stretch it on this line directly along the keel, the frame of the boat being placed bottom up. Tack at each end, and then, starting at the middle, strain the canvas around the boat, working along a little way at a time towards each end alternately and tacking to the top or inside of the gunwale as you proceed. Do not try to cover the top with the same piece as the bottom. If you can get a large needle and some stout cord, you can pull the canvas into place by lacing the edges across the top or deck of the boat, working from the middle towards the ends. In lieu of a needle use an awl or a nail. By lacing in this way and by manipulating the canvas with the hands you can, if you are careful, stretch it to fit the frame so that it will be smooth to a point considerably above the water-line. At the upper part, as you approach the deck line or gunwale, you may be unable to prevent some fulness, which you can dispose of by pleating if necessary. At the ends some little folding under may also be required, but you need have no great difficulty in adjusting the canvas neatly and so as to make tight joints. It is a good plan to cut a shallow rabbet on each side of the stem-and stern-posts, just deep enough so that when the edge of the canvas is folded under and tacked, the surface of the canvas will be flush with the side of the post (Fig. 437). Small tacks should be used—not large carpet-tacks. Copper are best, but galvanized ones can be used. In all parts where leakage could occur, the tacks should be driven closely together, so that their heads touch, seeing that a good coat of lead is laid on the wood underneath. After the bottom of the canoe has been covered, the deck can be treated in the same way.

When the canvas is all on, dampen it slightly and paint thoroughly, painting, also, the coaming around the well-hole and the exposed parts of the stem-and stern-posts (see Painting). The dampening is supposed to cause the first coat of paint to penetrate the canvas more thoroughly than if the canvas is quite dry. Oil is sometimes applied before painting. After it has dried thoroughly, apply another coat. Do not spare the paint, for though the canvas absorbs a great deal, which adds to the weight of the boat as well as to the cost, it is really essential in making a good canvas-covered boat that it be well painted.

A light removable flooring, or grating of slats, should be placed on the bottom of the well, resting on the frames.

To make a canvas canoe with a keel, you have only to make the keel of a piece of 1¼" or 1½" stock (with a depth of, perhaps, 1¼" or 1½"), thinning it somewhat towards the ends so that it will join smoothly with the stem-and stern-posts. It can be fitted to these posts as shown in Fig. 438, and screwed directly to the keelson.

Particular care must be taken that the keel be got out straight and that it be fitted exactly on the centre line. In this case the canvas may be put on in two parts, being nailed to the keelson on each side of the keel; or the canoe can be made as previously described and the keel simply screwed on outside of the canvas, the latter being first thoroughly painted. Oak is excellent for a keel, but is rather heavy for a light canoe. Ash will do. Pine can be used. The keel will wear better if got out so that the concentric rings (annual rings) of the wood will be horizontal or parallel with the bottom of the boat and at right angles to the screws with which the keel is fastened on. If these layers incline slightly upward at the bow the keel will wear better.

A more advanced form of construction, and one more in line with the methods of a regular boat-builder, is shown in Fig. 439, the essential difference between this and the form previously described being that regular bent ribs are substituted for the frames made of board, and the latter, after serving as moulds around which to build the boat, are taken out, the bent ribs being sufficiently stout to ensure strength and stiffness.

If you attempt this method the ribs must be carefully bent (see Bending Wood). Oak, ash, or elm is suitable for ribs. If a cooper's shop is within reach you can get the material there. It must, of course, be of good grain and free from flaws.

The process of construction is similar to that already shown. A suggestion for the arrangement of deck timbers (which can be of oak, ash, spruce, or any strong wood) is shown in Figs. 439 and 440, and for putting in a curved wash board or coaming in Fig. 440. For the latter a thin piece of straight-grained oak, elm, or ash can be used.

An excellent way to make a canvas-covered canoe is shown in Fig. 441. The essential principle of this consists in having a stiff gunwale, stiff keelson (inside the ribs), and ribs stout and numerous enough to ensure a permanently strong and stiff framework without the assistance of the lengthways ribbands. The outside is then sheathed with very thin strips of basswood, pine, or any reasonably strong and light wood (perhaps ³/₁₆" thick and 2" or 3" wide), fitting them carefully to the shape, but without any attempt to make water-tight joints. If this boat, which is complete in all respects except that of being water-tight, is then covered with canvas as already described, the result will be a strong, smooth boat, without the irregularities of surface which are a necessary feature of the unsheathed form.

This method is adopted in making canvas-covered canoes after the model of the birch-bark canoe, and the result is an admirable boat, which, while perhaps hardly equal to a genuine "birch" of Indian manufacture, is certainly the next thing to it for an open paddling canoe. Of course, if you can work up your design after the model of a real birch, you will have accomplished as much as you could wish in this line—but to design and construct a good canoe upon the birch model is not an easy thing for the beginner to do, and had best not be attempted until after considerable experience in simpler and less graceful forms. This mode of construction can well be applied, however, to a canoe of almost any type. The sheathing can be painted and the canvas laid on the fresh paint.

Another form of construction is to omit the keelson and fasten the frames and ribs directly to the top of the keel, having previously cut a rabbet for the canvas (as in case of the stem-and stern-posts) on each side of the keel at the top; the canvas by this arrangement being put on in two parts, one on each side of the keel.

It is, of course, possible to construct a canoe with nothing but two gunwale-strips, stem-and stern-posts, a strip for a keelson, and a number of barrel-hoops for ribs; and such affairs are quite often put together by boys, but they are apt to be of light and flimsy construction and to lack sufficient stiffness to keep their shape after being used for a while. A certain degree of flexibility and lack of rigidity is desirable in a canvas-covered boat, and, in fact, it is to this quality that it owes much of its merit; but it should have enough stiffness to hold its general shape permanently.

An extremely simple method is to omit the stem-pieces and simply bend the keelson up at each end to meet the gunwales at bow and stern, where all the lengthways pieces can be fastened to a block, canvas being stretched over the whole as already described. A canoe which turns up so excessively on the bottom at bow and stern has some disadvantages, but still a useful and cheap boat can readily be made in this way. It should have a quite flat cross-section in the middle.

Most canoes can be sailed on the wind, often very successfully, by having a deep keel—which can be rockered or increased in depth towards the middle—or by adding a centre-board. But the latter is quite a nice operation, particularly so in case of making your first boat (see page 330).

The holes and the steps for the masts should be arranged before the canvas is put on, fitting extra thwarts across if needed, and it is a good plan to fit tubes for the masts. In case of sailing, the steering can be done with the paddle, or a rudder can be used (in which case a straight stern-post should be put in, for which a knee is good) and lines be led forward to the well-hole from a yoke at the top of the rudder. Many arrangements have been devised for steering sailing-canoes, but these details, as well as those for the rigging, can be found in any good book on the subject. If you are a novice, begin with a simple leg-of-mutton sail (Fig. 448).

It is better to buy oars than to try to make them. You may, however, have occasion to make a paddle. A good shape is shown in Fig. 442, but you can choose from a variety of forms.

The length can readily be determined from some paddle which suits you or you can experiment with a strip of wood. Five inches is a good width, and 5' to 5½' a good length, but these are matters of individual preference. Spruce is a good wood for your first attempt at paddle-making. It makes a good paddle and is easier to work than birch, beech, or maple, or any of the harder woods. Pine can be used. Use a centre line in making your pattern. After the pattern is marked on the wood have the outline sawed at a mill or do it yourself with the turning-saw, or make a series of saw-kerfs to the line with the hand-saw and remove the superfluous wood with the draw-knife, spoke-shave, or chisel (see Paring). Having the outline correct, mark a line along the middle of the edge of the blade, and gradually and carefully shave the surfaces down towards this middle line, also tapering the thickness towards the ends. The draw-knife, spoke-shave, plane, rasp, file, scraper, and sandpaper can be used (see all of these tools in Part V. and also Paring and Rounding Sticks). Great care is needed to trim a paddle nicely to shape. A little hasty cutting may ruin the work.

The double-bladed paddle can be made of a single piece, or two pieces can be joined by a ferrule (Fig. 443). The double-bladed paddle can be from about 7' to 8' or 9' long and the blades are made broader and shorter than that of the single paddle. A couple of round rubber rings on each end of the handle will stop some of the dripping of water from the blades as they are raised.

Small Sail-boat.—The boat shown in Fig. 444 is a good form for the amateur to attempt, and makes a serviceable craft for sheltered waters. From twelve to sixteen feet is a good length, and the beam should be wide, as shown. The depth can be from twelve to sixteen inches.

Before beginning work read carefully Marking, Rule, Square, Saw, Plane, Nailing, in Part V., and look up any other references.

Care should be taken to select clear, straight-grained stock, free from knots, checks, and other defects, and thoroughly dry. Pine is excellent.

The general principle of construction does not differ from that of the flat-bottomed boats already described, and detailed directions are therefore omitted. The sides should each be of one ¾" or ⁷/₈" board. The arrangement of the details is obvious. Knees can be used to good advantage. The deck should be of wood, the boards (½") resting on cross-beams or carlins, reaching from gunwale to gunwale (as already shown) and slightly arched. Around the well-hole, brackets can be used (Fig. 445). The deck can be covered with canvas.

This boat, as shown in the illustration, is planked across the bottom like the other flat-bottomed boats already described, but the bottom boards can run lengthways instead, if preferred. In this case knees should be inserted, or cross-frames of some kind, to reach across the bottom and to which the bottom boards can be nailed. The bottom boards should be not less than ¾" thick and the edges must be carefully jointed (see Jointing). They can be laid slightly apart and the seams caulked (see page 302). Strips of flannel laid in thick white-lead paint can be placed between the edges of the sides and stern and the bottom boards, or the edges can simply be painted.

The construction of the case or trunk for the centre-board can be understood from Figs. 446 and 447. By either method of construction the trunk consists of two upright posts, or "headledges," cut with shoulders at the lower end, and sides of board screwed to these posts. A slot is sawed through the bottom of the boat of sufficient width and length to give the centre-board free passage—that is, of the dimensions of the opening at the bottom of the trunk. To cut this slot several holes can be bored close together until an opening is made sufficiently large to start the saw. By the arrangement shown in Fig. 446, a plank is taken and a slot is cut in it enough longer than that in the bottom of the boat to include the lower ends of the headledges, which should fit snugly. The sides of the trunk are screwed to this plank from underneath, and the plank is in turn screwed to the bottom of the boat. The headledges can be additionally fastened from the edge of the plank, horizontally. Unless the bottom of the boat is straight, the plank must be accurately fitted to the curve on the under side,—not an easy task (see Scribing and Paring). All the joints should be laid in thick white-lead paint, and at the bottom flannel can be laid in the seam, with lead, or caulking can be resorted to.

By the method shown in Fig. 447, the headledges and sides are fitted to a board on the bottom, or to the keelson, and, after being put in place, strips of plank are fitted lengthways on each side at the bottom and bolted or screwed to the bottom and to the sides of the trunk. The lower edges of these strips must be fitted to the curve of the bottom and the whole made tight, as just shown. Much care must be taken with this work to make tight joints. The inside of the trunk should be painted before putting together, and holes be bored carefully for all the screws (see Boring and Screws).

The centre-board itself can be of wood or of galvanized plate iron and is pivoted at the forward lower corner, and can be raised and lowered by a rod attached to the after corner.

Remember to paint the inside of the boat carefully with at least two coats before putting on the deck, and also that copper nails and brass fittings are better than those of galvanized iron (particularly for salt water) if you can afford them.

The coaming or wash board can be of ½" oak, ash, or elm. The deck can first be laid, lapping slightly over the space to be left open. The line for the coaming can then be marked on the deck, and the projecting wood sawed or trimmed to the line, when the coaming can be bent into place and fastened.

The gunwale-strip, like the stern-post, the rudder, and the tiller, should be of hard wood, as oak. Hackmatack is good for the stem.

The mast should be of spruce. A strong thwart, with a hole in it, can be fitted across between the sides, just under the deck, and a block with another hole fastened to the bottom. The place at which to step the mast must depend upon the style of rig you adopt.

One who is used to sailing a boat will not seek for information on this subject in a manual on wood-working, but for the novice it may be well to state that a leg-of-mutton sail (Fig. 448) is undoubtedly the simplest, easiest, and safest rig for the beginner, and it will be wise to learn to manage this rig first. The spritsail (Fig. 449), with or without the boom, is an easily managed sail, which works well with this boat. Either of these rigs can be unshipped in a moment, the mast, sail and all being lifted out when desired. For other styles of rigging you should consult someone used to sailing or some book on the subject.

For the painting, see Painting, in Part V.

Small Ice-Boat.—The main framework of even the most elaborate ice-boat consists merely of a lengthways centre timber or "backbone" and a cross-piece or "runner-board" (Fig. 450), the whole resting on three runners, one of which acts as a rudder.

Before beginning work read carefully Marking, Rule, Square, Saw, Plane, in Part V., and look up any other references.

A small boat can be made as shown in Fig. 451. The dimensions can easily be altered. The particular rig given is merely for illustration, for this is not a book on sailing, and you can find all the facts you need about rigging in any good book on the subject. If you are a novice you had best be content with a simple leg-of-mutton sail (Fig. 448), which is, for the beginner, the safest and most easily managed. A spritsail (Fig. 449) or some other simple form can be used if desired. If you know how to sail a boat, you can adopt such rig as you think best.

First get out the backbone. Get a piece of clear spruce, or pine, perhaps 12' × 3" × 4". A round spar may be used. Be careful to select good lumber, as great strain is put upon it. A piece which has naturally sprung lengthways should be placed with the convex edge upwards. Next get out the runner-board, perhaps 6½' × 2" × 9", of spruce. Pine is also good, or any strong wood will do. Choose a clear, sound plank. If naturally sprung in a bow-like curve, put the convex side upwards. Smooth the pieces sufficiently to avoid splinters and roughness. Thin the runner-plank on top each way from the centre down to about an inch in thickness at each end, if you can have it sawed at the mill. It is hardly worth while to do this by hand. Fasten the runner-board, at exactly the middle of its length, across the backbone, at a point perhaps 6½' from the stern end, with a strap-hanger (Fig. 452) screwed up with nuts and broad washers on the under side. If you cannot afford this, put a bolt through both pieces (see Boring), tightening underneath with nut and washer, and putting cleats on the runner-board (Fig. 453). Be sure that one edge of the runner-board is straight and at right angles to the backbone. Nail a piece of board, 18" long and 3" wide, across the stern end of the centre timber. Add the two side pieces a b and c d (Fig. 450), of 2" spruce joist, nailing them firmly in place, thus forming the sides of an irregular box (see Nailing). Turn the frame over and nail a bottom on this box, laying the boards crosswise and nailing to the backbone as well as to the sides and end.

Next, to make the runners, get out six pieces of oak, or other hard, strong wood, 9" × 3" × 4". Mark with the square from the straightened edge of the runner-board the positions for the inner blocks, equally distant from the backbone, screwing them in place (Fig. 454), with one screw in each. Measure across with a stick from one to the other at each end to see that they are just parallel, and also test their being at right angles to the runner-plank, which in turn must be at right angles to the backbone, in order that the runners may be parallel and not slewed sideways. Having tightly screwed these inner blocks, brace them with angle blocks, as shown. The outer blocks can next be fitted, leaving just space enough for the runners to play freely, but not loosely, between the blocks. The holes for the pins for the runners can be bored in the outer pieces before they are screwed on. Then, using these holes as a guide, those in the inner blocks can be bored in line. The runners themselves should be carefully made and fitted, for they are a very vital part of the boat. On the large boats they have usually been made of oak, with a shoe of cast iron at the bottom attached by bolts, but this is quite a piece of work for a small boat and you can get the blacksmith to work out the whole runner, with a hole bored for the pin-bolt. Make a pattern about 18" or 20" long, rocking very slightly in the middle and more quickly near the ends. The hole for the pin should be back of the middle, so that more of the shoe will be in front of than behind the pin. This is to lessen the shock when the runner strikes an obstruction. The cutting edge may have an angle of about 45° for trial (Fig. 455). If too blunt or too sharp you can alter it. It will take considerable filing to get the edge true, straight, and uniform (see Filing). Finish with an oil-stone.

The rudder-runner can be a little shorter. Screw a piece of 2" oak plank on top of the rudder-blocks and on top of this fasten a plate or socket to which is attached a piece of gas-pipe about a foot long, for a rudder-post. At the top of the rudder-post screw an elbow and a short piece of pipe for a tiller (Fig. 456). If suitable gas-pipe cannot be found, the blacksmith can fix an arrangement that will answer, but it must be strongly fastened to the rudder-blocks, and there should be some kind of metal bearing between the wooden top of the rudder and the under side of the backbone, if nothing more than a washer. The two surfaces of wood should not rub against each other. Wind the handle of the tiller with cord, cloth, or bicycle tape.

Stay the bowsprit (or forward end of the backbone) by stout wires to the runner-plank. These can best be of wire rope passed through eye-bolts or attached to iron straps and tightened with turnbuckles, but to save that expense strong wire can be used. Notches can be cut at the edges of the runner-plank and the backbone, and wire be wound around to hold rings to which the wire guys can be fastened, but it is hard to make such an arrangement taut and to keep it so. Next fasten a mast step with square hole to the backbone (Fig. 457), forward of the front edge of the runner-plank. Put in eye-bolts at ends of the runner-plank and at the bow for shrouds and a few inches from the stern of the backbone for the main sheet. Wire rope is best for the shrouds, but common wire or rope can be used. For the mast and spars use natural sticks of spruce. The sides of the box can be built up higher at the stern with boards, if you wish, to prevent being thrown off by the sudden movements of the boat. A rubber washer under the backbone where the rudder-post passes through is sometimes used to lessen the jar when passing over obstructions. A curved piece of wood fastened on the under side of the backbone just in front of the rudder will act as a fender for the rudder, in case of slight obstructions.

The whole boat can be oiled, painted, or varnished if desired (see Finishing and Painting).

If you use a cat-rig, spritsail, or other rig without any head-sail before the mast, it would be well to place the runner-plank further forward.

The latest and best way to brace the frame of an ice-boat is to strain guys of wire rope (Fig. 458), tightened with turnbuckles, omitting the side pieces, and fastening a car or box to the backbone, but this arrangement, though lighter and more elastic, is more expensive and not so easy to make for a small boat as the one just described.

A somewhat simpler way to arrange the framework is shown in Figs. 459, 460, and 461. In place of the runners already described a cheaper arrangement can be made by the blacksmith of ⁵/₈" bar iron, steeled, and bent up at the ends, as shown in Fig. 461.

A much smaller affair can be made by simply arranging two pieces of joist or plank in the form of a cross (bracing them so far as may be necessary), putting cleats under each end of the shorter cross-piece or runner-board and fastening common skates to the cleats, using another pivoted skate at the stern for a rudder. The runners of the skates should be ground, or filed, as shown above.

The details of such a small ice-boat you can work out for yourself by modifying and simplifying according to your ingenuity the suggestions for a larger boat given above. The hardest part to fix is the rudder-post and tiller. Some iron arrangement is best, but something can be contrived in the following manner, which is not, however, recommended as very satisfactory. Fasten the rudder skate upon a piece of board in which is cut a mortise. Into this mortise a short piece of hard wood, like a large broomstick with squared end, is fitted for a rudder-post. The upper end of the rudder-post, squared just like the lower end, is fitted into a mortise cut in the tiller piece. A washer should be placed between the skate-block and the backbone, and the rudder-post should turn freely in the hole in the backbone, but not loosely enough to wobble around. Cut the mortise in the tiller and fit to the post before cutting off and shaping the tiller, to avoid danger of splitting. An extra block may have to be put under the backbone at the rudder to level the boat so that the skates will bear properly on the ice, for if the stern is much lower, so that they drag by the heels, the boat will not sail properly. Wooden arrangements of this sort are, however, only justifiable as makeshifts, and require good workmanship to be strong and effective.

House-Boat.—A house-boat consists of two parts, one of which (the boat) is essentially like the scow or flat boat already described, and the other (the house) is usually much the same as some of the little structures described in Part III. (House-building for Beginners), however expensively and elaborately it may be arranged and fitted up. The advantages of the house-boat for camping, shooting, fishing, and for some kinds of excursions are too well known to require explanation. It is an excellent thing for two or more to build together. It may not be out of place to suggest that, in the desire to have the house sufficiently large and convenient, you should not be misled into making plans which will necessitate building a large boat. Dimensions (on paper) for such things are quite deceptive, and to build a large boat, even of such a simple type as the scow or flatboat, is quite a serious undertaking for the beginner—as regards both labour and expense.

If you can find a scow or flatboat already built, of suitable dimensions and which is sufficiently tight, or can be made so by caulking, you have only to proceed to build the house upon it. If, however, the boat as well as the house is to be built, you can proceed to build the boat in the way already described (page 299). Additional suggestions may be found in Figs. 462 and 463.

Before beginning read carefully Marking, Rule, Square, Saw, Plane, Nailing, in Part V., and look up any other references.

Two-inch plank should be used for these boats, which are intended to be from 14' to 20' long. After putting together the sides, ends, and bottom, as already described, 2" × 4" joists can be laid lengthways on the bottom, as shown, which will afford an underpinning for the house, will distribute the weight over the bottom, keep the floor raised above the water which may leak in or collect from the rain, and also stiffen the structure of the boat. Before laying these joists, notches should be cut on the under edges with the saw or hatchet, in several places, to allow the water to pass through, as in the case of the boats already described.

The illustrations show a general system of construction for the house, which can be followed, or you can make such alterations as you think desirable. In addition to the suggestions in the accompanying illustrations, further details and suggestions will be found in Part III. (House-building for Beginners). Most of the details are matters of personal preference, and can readily be arranged without more detailed description. The roof had best be covered with canvas, put on as one piece (being sewed previously if necessary). If laid in paint and then given two or three coats of paint, much as in the case of the canvas-sheathed canoes already described, a tight and durable roof will be the result. After the edges of the canvas are tacked under the edge of the roof, strips of moulding can be nailed around under the edge.

An even simpler way to make the roof is to have it flat, but slanting slightly towards either bow or stern. An inclination of 3" is enough, with tight canvas roof, to shed the water.

The remaining details of the construction of the house have already been treated. The interior arrangements you can contrive as desired.

Either, or both, of the ends can be decked over, or the whole can first be decked over and the house built on the deck. In this case, access to the hull, for stowage, can be had by hatches, or trap-doors inside the house. If both the ends are to be decked, the hull can very well have one or two lengthways divisions of plank, for stiffness and strength,—that is, insert between the ends one or two pieces of the size and shape of the sides, in which case the lengthways joist already spoken of will be omitted. This is a good way. In case of decking, nail a strip of moulding on the outside along the juncture of the house and the deck, so as to make a tight joint, which should be well painted.

If one or both ends are undecked, a removable grating of slats (a part of which is shown in Fig. 462) will be useful.

It is well to have at least one window at the bow end of the house, for the boat will of course lie with bow towards the wind and it will be a good thing when housed in a storm to be able to see to windward, as you cannot well keep the door at that end open, while the after door will usually be sufficiently sheltered to be left open. Many modifications of these simple plans can be made. The roof can be extended over either end, which is easily done without altering the system of construction. This is very convenient under some circumstances, and will add but little to the expense. The frame can even be covered with canvas, but this will be inferior to wood, except in point of lightness. A solid roof is best, however, in any case.

Sweeps must, of course, be provided for rowing, sculling, or steering, and a mast can easily be added, on which sufficient sail can be hoisted to be quite a help in going before the wind. If a mast is used, the door at the bow end of the house can be at one side of the end so that the mast can be close to the house, to which it can be fastened. A rudder can be added, if desired, with a skag.

The whole craft should be thoroughly painted (see Painting).

Houses are sometimes built on rafts. This will do very well if the raft is a good one, like a float. A float can be easily made, if you have the materials, by laying a thick flooring on logs or heavy timbers and providing greater buoyancy than such a platform naturally has by fastening under it, between the timbers, as many empty and sealed barrels or casks (oil-barrels are good) as may be necessary. When the float is stationary and under ordinary circumstances, there is, of course, no need to fasten the casks in any way except to fence them around so that they cannot roll or slide out, as their buoyancy will prevent their escaping, but it is easy to fasten them by chains or otherwise if needed. This makes an excellent foundation on which to build a house, and has some advantages over a boat for a stationary arrangement, but is obviously not as well suited for moving around as a scow or flatboat.

PART V
COMMON TOOLS AND THEIR USE, WITH SOME EVERY-DAY OPERATIONS

Awl.—The Brad-awl is the simplest boring tool you will use. Unlike gimlets and bits, it does not take out any wood, but merely presses it aside out of the way, which is good for nail and screw holes, because the elasticity of the woody fibres tends to make them spring back and close around the nail or screw, thus helping to keep it in place. The awl should always be a trifle smaller than the nail. Bore with the cutting edge across the grain of the wood, on the same principle as in driving nails (Fig. 464), lest the wedge shape of the tool cause the wood to split (see Nailing). Press the awl straight down in this position until the point is well into the wood, when you can twist it a little, at the same time pushing it further into the wood. There is always risk of splitting thin wood near an edge, unless you use great care. The brad-awl can be sharpened easily. See Sharpening and also Boring.

Do not buy combination awls with "tool-chest handles," filled with an assortment of awls and little chisels, gouges, screw-drivers, saws, etc. Such affairs are sometimes useful, but the loose tools are apt to become lost or broken, and the money can be used to better advantage in other ways.

It is well to have a variety of sizes of awls, fitted into hardwood handles. An awl handle into which awls of various sizes can be fitted, somewhat as a brace holds bits, answers very well, if you have to carry your tools from place to place, but for shop-work it is more convenient to have each awl in a separate handle.

The Marking-awl or Scratch-awl is simply an awl with a round, sharp point used for marking in carpentry, but for very close work a knife or chisel is better. See Marking.

Axe.—This is such a common tool that it needs no description, and is, moreover, seldom required for amateur work.

Back-Saw.—See Saw.