TO have a
workshop in one's own home, well supplied with tools, where simple
pieces of furniture can be made on the lines of one's own choosing, is
to have a source of unlimited pleasure always at hand. I have such a
shop, where I spend many hours, and find in it no little satisfaction.
When we
moved into our present home, a house of moderate size, the rear room on
the second floor was given to me for a den, and was furnished
according to the usually accepted idea of what a man's sanctum should
contain to soothe his weary nerves.
I had, also, the usual tools
which are to be found about almost any commuter's or suburban residence
-- a couple of saws, a hammer, a plane or two, and a square. These were
kept in a kitchen closet, and had as neighbors the pots, pans, and
other large and necessary culinary utensils. I suspect that my wife
begrudged the room which they occupied. Anyway, one evening she
suggested that the den be turned into a workshop for my benefit.
The
suggestion was acted upon at once, and inside of two hours the room had
been stripped of its comfortable furnishings, and the old bench from
the cellar and the few tools I owned substituted.
The giving
up of the den for a workshop may seem to some to have been a hardship,
but such was not the case. My business permits me to spend only the
weekend at home. When I had the den, I would occupy it only long enough
to attend to my mail, the balance of the time being spent with the
family in the general living-room, so that the den was really used for
only an hour or two each week.
The old bench which was moved up from the cellar
was not good enough for the new shop, so I made a better one by using
the iron legs of a sewing-machine and a two-inch plank two feet wide
and seven feet long. To this a wooden vise, such as is used by
carpenters, was attached. This is really a cheap bench, as the iron
legs cost me only fifty cents. It is as rigid and strong as if the
frame were of wood, and is heavy enough for any strain that I
probably shall ever subject it to. It was not
necessary, however, to use so wide a plank; one twelve inches
wide and two inches thick, for the front of the bench, would have been
sufficient. The balance of the top might have been made of
inch stuff, the top being brought flush with the two-inch plank by
putting small blocks under it.
The next piece of
furniture for the shop was a saw-table. No good shop should be
without a circular saw, as it saves a great deal of time, besides
lightening the work. Here, again, an old sewing-machine base was used.
I bought a heavy combination pulley and fly-wheel, to take the place of
the one already on the machine. The top I also made new from oak. It is
three feet square, and is hinged, so that it can be raised to any
height, enabling me to make grooves in the lumber to any required
depth. Any one who knows how hard it is to push a carpenter's plow will
readily understand what a saver of strength this device is.
Fastened to
the under side of the saw-table, directly under the saw, is a box to
catch the saw-dust. The guide for the saw rims in a groove, and it
needs only a gentle, steady push to travel as fast as the wood is cut,
for there are a couple of weights attached to it by means of a cord
which runs over a pulley; these weights are shown in the illustration.
The only
other large pieces of machinery in the room are a combined lathe and
scroll-saw, and it grindstone. The grindstone is a wonder. It is
mounted on an iron frame and on ball-bearings. On one end is a
seat in which I can sit, revolving the stone by means of a pair of
pedals, as though I were riding a bicycle. I wish, my father had had
one of them when I was a boy, so that the hired man could have turned
his own stone, when grinding 'scythes and mowing-machine
cutter-bars, for it would have saved me from hours of back-breaking
drudgery.
The saw and the lathe, like the grindstone, are
worked by foot-power. A little quarter-horsepower
motor would run any of these. I have one, but it requires a direct
current to drive it, and the electric wires in our street carry only
alternating currents.
I have now invested in this
shop something like $175. However, this sum was not expended all at one
time, for I have bought the different tools as I needed them. I have
even made a few articles, such as plane-stocks and chisel handles.
This stock
of tools has enabled me to make many little repairs about the house,
whereby we have saved carpenters' bills, but the chief use to which it
has been put has been in building furniture, such as chairs
and tables. The Morris-chair shown in the illustration is one of my own
productions; even the cushions are home-made. I have not had patterns
to go by in any of my work ; I had my idea of about what the result
should be, and have worked to that end.
In many cases the pieces have
been designed to fit particular needs. For instance, there is
a desk in the house which is too high to work at comfortably when one
is sitting in an ordinary chair; so I made a chair with a seat that was
high enough. To afford comfort, the back is made very straight, to give
support from behind. If such a chair had been bought at the store,
hours would undoubtedly have been consumed in finding it, and then the
chances are that it would not have matched the desk.
I believe
that a workshop in the home, particularly if one has growing
boys, is an essential part of the household equipment. One need not
necessarily devote a room to it, for a small house in the back
yard, or a corner in the cellar, if the latter is dry, can be
used equally well, In fact, in most houses there are no spare rooms.
I know one
cellar workshop that was light and dry, and which furnished an untold
amount of interest to a couple of growing boys, In that shop they
built, when still small, toy boats for sailing in the sink; and l a t e
r, as they grew older, they made real boats out of old
packing-cases, cheese-boxes and canvas, This shop kept them
off of the street altogether. A workshop at home may be made a means of
pleasant and profitable recreation, both for father and son.
For persons
who do not know just how to draw plans for furniture, various firms
have published what are called mill-plans. They include all kinds of
furniture such as tables, chairs, desks and smaller pieces in the
so-called mission and craftsman designs.
In making this furniture, the
work at home can be simplified some-what by having the lumber sawn out
into suitable sizes, at the mill where purchased, the charge for which
will be only nominal.
