1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



237 



done. A door that extends to the roof comes 

 down on top of the bench; and when this is 

 swung up out of the way the whole tcp of 

 the bench is clear. Another door from the 

 ground up is right beside the bench A 

 third door or, rather, shutter, that extends 

 from the top of the bench up under the 

 eaves can be dropped down so as to get day- 

 light and air from the west. This shutter 

 is 10 feet long horizontally, and 3 J feet wide. 

 With these three doors our workbench is all 

 outdoors when the weather will permit; but 

 in a twinkling we can have every thing safe- 

 ly housed at night or when a storm comes 

 up. 



In order to have all tools and materials 

 nicely put away I copied Mrs Root's cup- 

 boards made of drygoods-boxes. These are 

 nailed against the wall and in corners, at a 

 convenient height. In this way all my ma- 

 terials for nucleus hives are neatly stacked 

 up, convenient to hand, without the neces- 

 sity of stooping over to pick up the different 

 parts. Our friends who are over 60 will ap- 

 preciate this idea, even if the younger ones 

 do not. Elderly people ought to learn the 

 importance of having every tool constantly 

 in place. Suppose you were holding some- 

 thing in a cramped place until it could be 

 nailed fast, and all at once the hammer dis- 

 appears You twist your neck, and kick 

 around in the rubbish, "Where in the world 

 can that hammer have gone to?" Well, 

 Mrs. Root fixed two nails so the hammer 

 would just hang between them, right by the 

 door that leads from shop to kitchen, and 

 we both agreed the hammer should be hung 

 up in place when not actually in use; and I 

 have found by experience it is cheaper to 

 take a step or two to put it in place than to 

 be annoyed by ' ' hunting for the hammer ' ' 

 Just so with hatchet, saws, and a lot of oth- 

 er tools. 



A GOOD PLACE TO NAIL UP WORK. 



An ideal workbench would be one with a 

 planed cast iron top. In the factory at home 

 we have planed iron slabs that can be car- 

 ried about, on which small work is to be placed 

 when nailed I have seen a bench-top made 

 of 3X4 maple studding, bolted together so as 

 to make a four- inch plank. A two-inch hard- 

 wood plank, bolted or r ailed so it can not 

 warp, makes a fair bench-top. Do the best 

 you can to get something solid, but don't 

 think of trying to drive nails on a springy 

 inch board, with every thing rattling and 

 bouncing up and down at every blow of the 

 hammer. One of the nicest nailing-places 

 is a slice of a log s-o as to make a block 2 or 

 2^ feet high If you have never tried such 

 a block, just see how nice it is for nailing, 

 or for using an ax or hatchet 



Have a good assortment of all sizes and 

 all kinds of nails. Keep each kind in a tin 

 can and don't have them mixed all sizes. 

 You'd better throw away mixed nails and buy 

 new ones if your time is worth any thing. 



You may have the nicest lumber, the best 

 cutting tools, and do a first class job, and 

 then spoil it all by bad nailing, because you 

 have not the proper nails or a good solid 



place to rest your work. When my work 

 finishes up complete just as I had planned it 

 (or better still), I feel like singing Gospel 

 Hymns; but when the boards split, the nails 

 double up and go the wrong way, and I get 

 my fingers pounded in trying in vain to rem- 

 edy matters, I don't think (or feel like) 

 Hymns at all. 



Learn to cut boards square as machinery 

 does it; and if your stuff is small, say boards 

 six inches or less wide, use a well-made 

 miter-box. It saves time, for you do not 

 need a square or try- square, and every cut 

 is exactly right. Another thing, if jou use 

 a miter-box, all odds and ends of lumber, all 

 remnants, can be classified and stored over- 

 head, or under the workbench; and when 

 such a piece is needed, it is thoroughly sea- 

 soned. The pieces left in building our cot- 

 tage, when assorted and put away, have 

 helped us to make a lot of ' ' household con- 

 veniences." As an illustration: 



My correspondence was getting all in a 

 heap; letters answered and unanswered were 

 all mixed up. I told Mrs. Root I must have 

 some sort of desk or secretary. She said 

 I could make something that would do for 

 the short time we had to stay, etc. Well, I 

 put up a wide shelf in one corner of our best 

 room. On this shelf I placed some empty 

 "twin mating-boxes" (seep 18, Jan. l),laid 

 down on their sides, and I have the nicest 

 kind of pigeonholes for letters, etc. By 

 leaving off the bottoms you have a very neat 

 and convenient "sectional book- case" on a 

 small scale. Each little hive has two com- 

 partments for letters, and the feeder- slots 

 make two more. For instance, put your 

 answered letters in the left-hand lower shelf; 

 right-hand, unanswered; postal cards in low- 

 er feeding- slot; stamped envelopes in the 

 left-hand upper shelf; postal cards, right- 

 hand; stamps, upper slot; mail ready for of- 

 fice, on top. Eight places in each box. An- 

 other box will hold all your stationery in an 

 orderly manner. If your shop has a stove it 

 will be a nice quiet place to attend to your 

 correspondence. 



Last, but not least, if you are as old as I 

 am jou will need a comfortable seat of just 

 the right height for your nailing-block; and 

 when you are lired of sitting down, stand 

 up and work at the workbench. 



Now, friends, I hope you may find as much 

 happiness and real enjoyment in your work- 

 shop as I have found in mine; and I am sure 

 it will save you money that might otherwise 

 go to a carpenter or to buy expensive furni- 

 ture. May God bless these suggestions in 

 regard to a humbler adjunct to "OurHomes;" 

 and while you are learning (even in your old 

 age) to be an expert carpenter, keep in 

 mind it was the occupation our Lord and 

 Savior followed in his early manhood, while 

 here in this world of ours. 



*Tin cans are very good nail-boxes, but small shallow 

 tin pans are better because they can be nested and oc- 

 cupy less space, using a very small size for the smallest 

 nails, and larger pans for the large sizes. Two if not 

 three sizes of hammers are needed, according tolthe 

 sizes of the nails to do the best work. 



