132 
THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
Three Amateur Workers— and What 
They Did— III. 
* BY FRED. T. HODGSON. 
'yHE next day being Friday, Jessie and 
tlie boys had some little messages to 
perform for their mother. They were 
soon relieved, however, and immediately 
repaired to the shop, where they found 
their father waiting for them. 
"Now, Pa," said Fred, "please show us 
how to complete the work-bench." 
"Well," said Mr. Carpenter, "we must 
nail two of the cross pieces on to the legs, 
minding to keep them even with the tops. 
See, also, Fred, that the cross i:>ieces are 
even at their ends with the sides or edges 
of the legs." 
" Now then," said Mr. Carpenter, after 
Fred had nailed the cross pieces well on 
to the legs, "we must get two pieces of 
inch boards, twelve or fourteen inches 
wide, and twelve feet long, for side 
pieces." Fred and Ellwood soon found 
the pieces required. With the aid of their 
father they nailed these pieces on the legs, 
keeping the latter about one foot from the 
ends of the side i^ieces, and even with its 
top edge. They also took care to have 
the legs placed at right angles with the 
top edges of the side pieces. 
Three cross pieces yet remained to be 
put in the bench between the two legs as 
now placed. This was an easy matter, as 
one was placed in the centre, and the other 
two midway between the legs and the 
centre one. These three cross pieces were 
kept in their places by being nailed fast 
to the side pieces. The bench was now | 
ready for the top, which was formed of j 
three pieces of plank, one and a halfl 
inches thick, and nearly thirteen inches 
wide, and -twelve feet long. These were | 
well nailed on, and the nail heads were 
driven deep into the wood by a small steel 
piinch, called a " nail-set." This process 
of sinking the heads of the nails in the 
wood, is to keep them out of the way of 
the plane irons, chisels, gouges, and other 
edge tools that will be used on the bench. 
The bench now looked like a large table 
three feet two inches wide by twelve feet 
long. Mr. Carpenter cut the ends of the 
side pieces beveling, and bored about 
twenty holes in them, for a movable peg 
of wood, to be inserted when the edge of 
long stuff is to be operated on. A bench 
screw that Mr. Carpenter had provided, 
at a cost of seventy-five cents, was next 
produced and fitted in a jaw-piece, on the 
lower end of which was a slide-piece to 
keep the jaw parallel when in use.* The 
slide-piece was perforated with half-inch 
holes, in which a loose iron pin is intended 
to be put when in use, to hold the jaw 
parallel with the leg of the bench. 
A round hole, large enough to allow the 
screw to pass through, was then made in 
the leg and side of the bench ; a mortise 
was also put through the leg near its bot- 
tom end, great care being taken that the 
two holes were the proper distance apart, 
and that the round hole was bored at the 
proper distance, so that the top of the 
bench and top of jaw would correspond. 
All being now ready, Mr. Carpenter put 
the jaw and screw in place, and Ellwood 
took the nut and held it on the inside of 
the bench leg, while his father inserted 
the screw and wound it up until the jaw 
was good and tight against the side of the 
bench. This brought the nut also tight 
against the inside of the leg and in proper 
place. It was fastened there with two 
long screws and a few nails. 
*rig. 6 shows how the screw and jaw were 
fitted together before being put in the bench, P 
is tlie screw, the arm of wliich goes loosely 
through the jaw, G. There is a groove turned in 
the neck of the screw, and a piece of hard wood 
with the end cut to lap round the neck in the 
groove, and of the exact thickness that the groove 
is wide, is driven through a mortise in the edge 
of the jaw, down in this groove. This holds the 
jaw and screw together, and, as the wooden nut 
is fastened on to the inside of the bench leg. it 
permits the jaw to move to and fro whenever the 
screw is turned in or out ; r shows how the slide 
is fastened into the jaw, and the holes forthe iron 
pin. 
