THE BEE-ITEEPERS' REVIEW 



361 



wood to receive an awl; and, to keep the 

 awl firmly in place, from beinpf forced 

 farther into the socket, or from 

 being' pulled out, the back end of the 

 shank is heated red hot, bent at rig-ht 

 angfles, and then driven down into a 

 hole made with a brad awl in the back, 

 or long: piece of wood. To do this 

 bending of the shank I drove the point 

 of the awl into the end of a soft piece 

 of pine stick. This held the awl, and 

 still farther, prevented the point from 

 becoming heated, and thus losing its 

 temper. I then thrust the point of the 

 shank into the hot coals of the coal fire, 

 took it out quickly and bent it with a 

 pair of pliers. If it is not bent suffi- 

 ciently at the first trial, re-heat the 

 shank, as it is quite likely to break un- 

 less it is red hot when the bending is 

 done. After the bent portions of the 

 shanks of the awls have been driven 

 in, the crosspiece of wood that goes on 



longer, which allows the lever to be 

 raised up and down. Four nails are 

 driven part way into the upright board 

 just about ^s above the little shelf, and 

 when an end bar is put in place to be 

 pierced, it goes under those projecting 

 nails, which hold it down when the 

 awls are withdrawn. A piece of wide 

 elastic (rubber) extends from the lever 

 to the top of the machine to hold up the 

 lever while an end bar is being pnt in 

 place. An end bar is put in under the 

 awls, the lever depressed, and then 

 raised, when the end bar can be re- 

 removed. All of this seems like a 

 lengthy description, yet I made the 

 piachine in a day, and one of my 

 daughters has pierced 800 end bars in 

 an hour. If any of my readers should 

 try piercing end bars with awls, let me 

 tell them to be sure and have them 

 made of soft white pine. While the 

 awls will pierce Norway pine, or 



Nailing on the Top Bar. 



over them is put in place, and the nuts 

 of the bolts screwed up tight, which 

 holds the awls firmly in place. A 

 mortise is made through both the slid- 

 ing piece, and the board back of it. 

 The mortise in the sliding piece is only 

 long enough to admit a lever, but that 

 in the board back of it is several inches 



whitewood, there is too great a tend- 

 ency to splitting. 



After the end bars are pierced, then 

 comes the nailing up of the frames, 

 and the only way in which frames of 

 this style, those made of just plain, 

 square ended sticks, can be nailed up, 

 is by the use of a form or rack in 



