THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
5 
form a fair surface if the jointing edges 
are not square as well as straight. 
Mr. Carpenter fully explained this 
matter to Fred and EUwood, and both 
boys seemed to understand their father 
quite well; so after instructing them a 
little further in the use of the three planes 
tmd the two saws, he took from a shelf, 
where he had previously placed it, an- 
other plane much larger than either of 
the ones the boys had been using. " Now," 
lie said, " I will show you how to use this 
long plane; though, in your amateur 
work, you will not have much need to use 
it, for the short jointer will nearly do all 
the jointing you will have to do." 
"Is that the long jointer, Pa?" said 
EUwood. 
"Yes," said Mr. Carpenter, "this is a 
long jointer, and great care must be taken 
of it, for it is so long that it is easily 
warped or twisted on the face. It is 
chiefly used for jointing long stuff, and 
in the hands of a good workman is capa- 
ble of doing good service. When this 
plane is as near " true " as it can be made, 
and the iron is in proper condition, it can 
be run along the edge of a board four or 
five feet long, and if it takes off a fine rib- 
bon shaving from end to end without a 
break, the edge is as nearly straight as it 
can be made, providing it was first hol- 
lowed out a little, tor you can see, that if 
the edge was slightly rounded, or high, 
the iron could cut it, even if the wood of 
the plane did not touch the edge." 
" If I hold this plane in a similar man- 
ner to the way I hold the short jointer, 
won't it be all right Pa ?" said Fred. 
"Well," said Mr. Carpenter, "some 
persons do hold the long jointer the same 
way they hold the shorter one, but I don't 
think they get such good results when 
they adopt the latter method. You will 
soon discover which method suits you the 
best, and, of course, that is the one you 
will adopt." 
" I think," he continued, "that you are 
pretty well informed as to the use of the 
bench planes now, so far as.regards ordin- 
ary work. As you proceed, new con- 
ditions will arise in which the plane will 
be made to i)erform work under some- 
what different circumstances than the 
ones we have been discussing, and when 
they do, I will show you how to use 
the tool in such a way that the conditions 
will be fully met ; in the mean time we 
will take up some other matter." 
" One of the first things you v/ill re- 
quire," continued Mr. Carpenter, "is a 
mitre box." 
"Very well," said Fred, "if you will 
show me how to make one, I will com- 
mence at it at once." 
" To make a good mitre box," said Mr. 
Carpenter, "you will require two sides 
made from inch stuff, five inches wide and 
two feet four inches long. Dress these 
up nicely, and guage them to an equal 
thickness and width. You see this gauge, 
it is figured in inches and eighths of an 
inch, the spur being on the first mark. 
The head is movable, and can be made 
fexst at any point by the wooden thumb- 
screw. When you have made a straight 
edge, or planed one side of a piece of stuff 
true, you can set your gauge to the width 
or thickness required; then fasten the 
head in place, and press the head against 
the planed edge or side, and the spur will 
mark off the desired thickness or width." 
" Now then," Mr. Carpenter continued, 
"you have got the two sides ready; 
now get a piece of stuff two feet four 
inches long, and four and a half inches 
wide, and one and a half inches thick. 
True it up, and make it square. This 
is for the bottom piece. Now nail the 
two sides on the bottom piece, keeping 
the ends all even. Now you have a box 
without ends or top ; to make it into a 
Fiff. 22. 
mitre box, you must square across with 
the steel square I bought you, and the 
uses of which I will explain to you some 
other time. Mark with a knife, then take 
the exact distance across the box ; meas- 
Fig. 22 shows how the saw kerfs may be cut 
if desired. Some workmen like this method, 
others like the one shown at Fig. 21. 
