168 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 



MODE OF SHARPENING FENCE POSTS. 



will drive very hard, because they are too Hunt. When they 

 76, 77, 78, are sharpened like Fig. 77, it is 

 almost impossible to keep them, 

 when driving them, in a perpen 

 dicular position. Sometimes, when 

 posts are not entirely straight, the 

 sharpening must all be done on 

 two or three sides of it only, as 

 the case may require. Fig. 79 

 will furnish a very good idea of 

 the most proper manner of sharp 

 ening a crooked post, in order to 

 have it drive true. The dotted 

 lines will show on which side the 

 post should be sharpened. The idea to be kept in mind in sharpen 

 ing a crooked post is, to work by a line drawn from the centre of 

 the top of the post, Fig. 79, at a to &, and then bevel the end on 

 both sides of this line, so that the angle of the bevelling will be 

 nearly the same on both sides of the line a I. It will be per 

 ceived by the figure that the sharpening is almost all done on 

 one side, at b ; but a thin chip only was taken from the other side. 

 A workman who has a mechanical eye, will sharpen posts with 

 all desirable accuracy without a line. lie will cast his eye from 

 end to end of a crooked post, and at a glance observe about how 

 much must be cut off on each side, in order to make it of a true 

 taper, and then will snatch up his axe and cut it off while an 

 other man would be getting ready to sharpen it. In sharpening 

 straight posts, a workman must calculate to have the point at the 

 centre of the post, and to have the cut on each side of the post 

 of a true taper, from fifteen or twenty inches from the end, 

 according to the size of the post, to the point, like Fig. 76. If 

 these rules, which may seem trivial to some, are observed, the 

 beginner will soon be able to sharpen his posts with necessary accu 

 racy. If the ends of posts are of a true taper from the points to 

 that part which is at the surface of the ground, they will enter 

 the ground much easier ; but they will not stand as well as 



