68 FLIGHT FROM THE CITY 



ing-machine, and drill. These combination machines 

 are, on the basis of my experience, a mistake. Separate 

 machines are better in the long run, even though the 

 investment in them is somewhat greater. We have 

 used the drill on this combination hardly at all, and a 

 separate band saw and separate planing-machine 

 would be better than the machine which we pur- 

 chased. The band saw can handle heavy timber as well 

 as ordinary lumber, timbers for which the circular 

 saw is too small. Nevertheless we have used our saw 

 machine on many jobs, though it is now relegated 

 mainly to the job of cutting wood for our fireplaces 

 and kitchen stove. Recently we managed to rig up an 

 attachment which enabled us to use a much larger saw 

 on this machine, and we have discovered that it is pos- 

 sible for us to rip boards up to six inches in width out 

 of logs grown in our own wood lot. In our section of 

 the country the blight has killed all the chestnut trees, 

 and we have quantities of this fine hardwood which 

 we were burning until it occurred to me that we 

 might use this chestnut for making furniture. By 

 this coming winter we shall have accumulated a quan- 

 tity of chestnut lumber and shall then turn in earnest 

 to furniture-making. 



Our circular-saw machine was supplemented after 

 a time with an electric hand saw one of the most 

 useful tools on our place. It has proved not only a 

 great time and muscle saver, but has added immensely 

 to the skill of everyone who has used it. It takes a 

 skilled carpenter to make a perfectly square cut with 



