258 THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 



manlike manner. Beetles should always be turned true, and the 

 -p , , ,_ handle turned of an oval 



form, (see SLEDGE HAM 

 MER, paragraph 332,) 

 and put in very true, so 

 that a line cutting the 

 centre of the handle will 

 be exactly parallel with 

 lines continued square 



A WOODEX BEETLE. . i j f 



across the ends or face 



of the beetle, as shown by the dotted lines, Fig. 117. The beetle 

 should hang as nearly like the sledge hammer as possible; and 

 the reader can refer to that paragraph (333) for the information 

 which seems to be lacking in this place. 



340. Beetles should be made of very firm, tough wood, such as 

 the butt end of a small locust, iron-wood, or apple-wood. If a 

 beetle is to be made of a round stick, which has the heart of the 

 tree in the centre, when the timber is green, a lot of beetles 

 should be sawed off, about eight or nine inches long, in late 

 autumn, and an inch and a half hole bored lengthwise through the 

 centre of the sticks ; and they should be allowed to season during 

 the winter, not in a stove room, lest they check badly, but under 

 shelter. The object of the hole in the centre is, to allow the 

 timber to settle together, without cracking or checking. When 

 they are made of split pieces of wood, it will not be necessary to 

 bore them, as they will not check like a stick with the heart in it. 

 (See SEASONING TIMBER, in next vol.) When they are seasoned 

 thoroughly, turn out a tough stick, just large enough to drive 

 through the beetle, and turn out the beetle like the figure, with a 

 shoulder two inches from each end, leaving the ends just large 

 enough to receive the rings when they are red hot. (See EX 

 PANSIVE FORCE, in next vol.) By heating the rings before put 

 ting them on, and driving them down to the shoulder while hot, 

 and then by cooling them quickly, before they have time to burn 

 the beetle but little, they will, by contracting, become so tight 

 that they will remain tight until the beetle is worn out, without 



