68 
Forest and Stream 
A PRINTING BOX FOR YOUR 
DARKROOM 
HERE is something uncannily fas¬ 
cinating about photography that 
prompts one to stand hour after hour 
in a chilly room, wiping wet hands on 
a damp, icy towel—and enjoy it! You 
fellows who have got the bug, and your 
name is legion, also enjoy the construct¬ 
ing of equipment. Whether the result¬ 
ing article surpasses or even equals the 
market product, you do enjoy its use 
far more for having made it. 
One such piece of apparatus which 
is almost indispensable to the amateur 
photographer and one which will pay 
for itself many times over is a printing 
box. Such a box takes all guesswork 
out of exposures of different negatives 
and films and once its operation be¬ 
comes familiar considerable time can be 
saved over the usual method. 
Bright sunlight, of course, is ideal. 
But when you are in school and doing 
odd jobs before and after school hours 
there is seldom occasion for utilizing 
sunlight. A bright incandescent is the 
next best thing. It will be noticed, how¬ 
ever. that when the printing frame is 
set close to the light, that it is easy to 
under-expose the edges and corners or 
over-expose the center of the paper. 
The exposing box does away with this 
trouble by throwing the light rays 
through a screen which diffuses the 
light evenly over the entire negative. 
The dimensions of the box need not 
be exact, though we will assume that it 
measures twenty-two inches long, twelve 
inches wide and about ten inches high, 
for convenience. This box should be 
of sound construction and of lumber 
which is dovetailed together, pr the 
tongue-and-groove variety. 
The first step will be to remove the 
top. Then attach a seventy-five watt 
E are depending upon the friends 
and admirers of our old corre¬ 
spondent Nessmuk to make this de¬ 
partment worthy of his name. No man 
knew the woods 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 will contribute to this de¬ 
partment their Hints and Kinks and 
trail-tested contrivances .— [Editor.] 
light bulb to the rear end with a socket 
and connected to a convenient switch on 
the side as shown in figure one. 
Slightly past the center of the box 
fasten the screen, a pane of ground or 
opal glass, of the size of the inside di¬ 
mensions of the box cross-section. 
While the opal glass is superior, ground 
glass will be a little cheaper. This is 
held in place by narrow cleats on each 
side of it as shown. 
The top of the box is now tacked back 
in place and the end carefully removed 
and the lower edge hinged to the box. 
A three-cornered strip of wood 
marked “X” serves as a support for the 
printing frame while two tin strips bent 
to shape form grooves for it to slide up 
and down in. The arrangement can be 
seen in the detail drawing in figure 
three. Figure two shows a side section 
and the way the door opens. 
With a little practice the correct time 
to allow each negative can be found. 
Figure four shows a handy little meter 
which will eliminate any guesswork, 
however. 'This is a cardboard disk four 
inches in diameter with a cardboard 
hand. The circumference is divided into 
16 parts, each numbered from one to 
ninety seconds in the units shown. Once 
the known density of a negative or film 
is known, the length of exposure can 
be marked in one edge of the film and 
when other prints are made from it at 
a later date all you have to do is to ex¬ 
pose the time thus indicated. Then, 
with a watch handy you will know the 
exact time required for each and every 
print. 
Dale R. Van Horn, 
Nebraska. 
A POLELESS TENT 
T HE single hiker is often confrontec 
by the problem of just how to earn 
an adequate tent, with the ridge and en< 
poles. Even the small tent requires on< 
pole. 
Where the hike is to carry hin 
through wooded country, there is n< 
need of taking anything but the ten 
itself. The poles can be found on th< 
spot. Figure one shows how two sap 
lings can be selected and cut off at th< 
proper height, deprived of the remain 
ing branches, and used. Since thes< 
small tree trunks are firmly secured b} 
their roots, no ridge pole is necessary 
the spring in them will keep the ten 
ridge straight. 
Figure two shows how the saitu 
method can be used for the smallei 
tent. In this case the raising of thr 
tent will be comparatively easy. 
It might be well to provide the tenl 
with an additional thickness or two ol 
canvas or medium thickness leather 
sewed on the under side to take the 
F \ & X (Ao vtdqe pole necessatxj) 
brunt of the cut-off poles. Or larg 
pieces can be sewed together and car 
ried in the pocket, to be slipped ove 
the cut-off end of the tree trunks 01 
the spot, not unlike the application of ; 
finger cot. 
D. H. 
