258 
A RUSTIC PICTURE FRAME 
O NE of the most rustic and truly ar- 
tistic picture frames I ever saw was 
on the wall of a Rocky Mountain cabin. 
We had drifted across a jagged backbone 
of the earth’s crust and slipped into a 
beaten trail that led us to a single build- 
ing on the whole side of a gigantic moun- 
tain peak. We found there a man past 
his fiftieth birthday, yet in the full flower 
of manhood. From the moment we 
opened the door at his call, we wondered 
openly at his marvelous handiwork in 
evidence within. He was a craftsman. 
Each of the things we saw there would 
make a story in itself, so I will take but 
time to describe the way in which this 
skillful worker made the frames for his 
pictures. 
From one end of the room to the other 
they were all different, yet smacked of 
a similarity that showed the construction 
was the same. They were all coated 
with cement mortar and flakes of field- 
spar, quartz in various colors and other 
minerals sprinkled on before the mortar 
had set. One frame was covered with 
coal-black crystals and I have since come 
to the conclusion that it was covered 
with coal, hard, glittering bituminous. 
Another was coated with pieces of fool’s 
gold and looked very appropriate around 
the old green print. 
prisr/c p/rmpfi 
Straight fir strips were smoothed 
down and mitred at the corners in the 
form of the ordinary frame, with a 
groove for the glass and back. This 
frame was then covered with wire screen, 
tacks being used to hold the edges in place 
and the rest taut. After the wire screen 
was in place the whole frame w’as cov- 
ered with cement mixed with fine sand 
and wetted. The mortar was worked 
carefully about the edges (the back was 
not covered) and a putty knife used to 
E are depending upon the 
friends and admirers of our 
old correspondent Nessmuk to 
make this department worthy of 
his name. No man knew the u'oods 
better than Nessmuk or wrote of 
them with quainter charm. Many 
of his practical ideas on camp- 
ing and “going light" have been 
adopted by the United States 
Army; his canoe has been preserved 
in the Smithsonian Institution; and 
we hope that all good woodsmen 
IV ill contribute to this department 
their Hints and Kinks and trail- 
tested contrivances ^ — [Editor.] 
mould it at the edge of the glass. How- 
ever, the covering, with the exception of 
the edges and corners, was treated wfith 
a sort of happy abandon that added much 
to its looks. Then, as soon as the frame 
had been covered, the crystals were 
sifted on. If too much time is required 
in applying the cement, it will be neces- 
sary to sprinkle on the covering before 
the whole of the frame has been finished, 
because of the quick setting qualities of 
the cement used. 
For the average sportsman or any one 
who enjoys the touch of the artistic, 
such a frame will fit in well with others 
in your possession and it will be easy 
to make. In your case an old frame will 
do, and for the colored coating get a 
small amount of stucco surfacing from 
any cement dealer. The rest will be easy. 
Dale R. Van Horn, Nebraska. 
A HANDY AXE 
S E\'ERAL years ago I worked out a 
scheme on a camp axe that may be of 
interest to fellow sportsmen. The weight 
of a standard axe is against it on many 
trips, and the standard hand axe is sadly 
lacking for effective work. That they 
are a little better than a heavy knife is 
about the best you can say for them. 
To overcome the difficulty I purchased 
a hand axe of the “easy-chop” pattern, 
as the chip - breaker recesses would 
lighten it considerably. I took special 
pains to get one that was soft enough 
to sharpen with a fine file. An eight-inch 
flat file does not take much space or add 
appreciably to the weight of your kit and 
cuts faster than any stone. 
My axe, like most of them, gets care- 
less occasionally and brings up against 
a stone or a spike which blunts the edge 
instead of breaking out a chunk. 1 he 
softness is especially desirable in bitter 
cold weather, as a spruce knot or stone 
has ruined many an axe when the ther- 
mometer was flirting with twenty below 
zero. 
The second step was to remove the 
short handle and sort over the dealer’s 
stock of axe helves. I found a helve for 
a boy’s axe that was of fine straight-; 
grained hickory and about twenty-eight 
inches long. The axe was hung on this' 
helve and then the helve scraped and 
sandpapered till it was thin enough to 
whip slightly under the weight of the 
axe. 
This gives a combination that is 
twenty-seven inches over all and weighs 
thirty-two ounces. 
You can split wood or chop withoul! 
standing on your head and with your feel 
out of the danger zone. It’s a real surq 
prise what effective work you can dc 
with this tool. Of course, it won’t tak( 
the place of a standard axe for heavj 
work, but it is a vast improvement ovei 
the hand axe or hatchet, with very litth 
increase in weight. 
A sheath to slide down over the handk 
was made from an old piece of beltinjj 
riveted as shown in the attached sketchj 
Try it yourself, and you will find th( 
little axe will not only go on campint; 
A serviceable axe sheath 
trips but will be pressed into service fo- 
chopping kindling, cleaning ice out o 
the gutter and a hundred other thing:, 
around the house. 
N. L. Rea. 
CHOOSING YOUR PADDLE 
W HEN the beginner goes to a sport 
ing goods store and looks at tlfi 
racks of paddles of different sizes, shape 
and weights he is perplexed. Should hi 
take this one with the wide blade, o 
would he like that long one better? H 
is easily swayed by the salesman, for h 
is inexperienced along canoeing line: 
Perhaps a few suggestions will aid hin 
i 
