Navel string

“ Then pluck the string with the fingers of your free hand. Just a little flick will sound like the booming of a heavy gun.
Keeping the pencil held in one hand, and pulling the string tight, now fold a small piece of paper over the string and move it—not roughly—up and down the length of the string. This will sound to your friend like the waves on the beach. If next you scrape the string with anything hard—like a knife or paper cutter—it will give your friend the impression of heavy thunder. ”

“ So far as dampness and rain go, these never interfere with the action of the string. A well-greased bow will stand considerable water, though arrows suffer considerably.
Wax your string every few days if in use; you should always carry an extra one with you.
Strings break most commonly at the nocking point beneath the serving. Here they sustain the greatest strain and are subject to most bending. An inspection at this point frequently should be done. An impending break is indicated by an uneven contour of the strands beneath the serving. ”

“ Now while being seated, slip the upper limb of your bow under your right knee and over the left, and drop the new formed loop of your string over the horn nock. Begin again the process of twisting each strand away from you while you pull it toward you. Continue the motion until you have run down the string a distance of eight inches. During the process you will see the wisdom of having rolled the excess string up into little skeins to keep them from being tangled. Thus the upper eye is formed. ”

“ Saw out of 3/16" stock one body, two arms and two legs. The arms are fastened to the body with three 3/4" brads and clenched. The legs have a loose hip joint on a 1" nail with the end bent back. The rubber band is held between arms and legs by two nails. The string is held between two thicknesses of felt or cardboard that are fastened between the hands with two brads to produce the required friction. Bore holes to avoid splitting. The string passes down between the two legs around two nails that pass thru both legs but do not pull them together. ”

“ Fasten the last row of the knots carefully, binding with strong strings the short loose ends of the strands securely to the string forming the mesh each side of the knot. Remove the net from the board and make
A Fringe
of string on each side of the hammock. In Fig. 30, T shows how to place a strand for the fringe under one side of the mesh on the edge of the net: and S gives the manner of bringing the ends of the strand down over the string forming the mesh and under the loop made by the centre of the fringe-strand. ”

“ A small silk spool should be fastened upon this for a belt-wheel (see B, Fig. 377) . The hole in one of these spools is about three-sixteenths of an inch in diameter, so, in order to make it fit tightly upon the nail, it is necessary to fill in around the nail with sealing-wax. To do this, turn the wooden frame upon its edge and place the spool over the nail, being careful to get the nail in the exact centre of the hole. Then hold a stick of sealing-wax over the spool, and with a lighted match melt the end and allow it to drip into the hole. ”

“ These strips, having been cut into pieces two or three feet in length, are heated to a red heat in a furnace, to be immediately converted into nails, when designed for those of a large size. For small nails, the iron does not require heating.
4. The end of the plate is presented to the machine by the workman, who turns the material over, first one way and then the other; and at each turn a nail is produced. The machine has a rapid reciprocating motion, and cuts off, at every stroke, a wedge-like piece of iron, constituting a nail without a head. ”

“ When attaching the side piece to the bottom, begin at the middle, and work first towards what will be the inside end of the lap, and then towards the outside end. Nails are driven in through the holes already drilled. When nailing is finished, clip the top of the overlap with a hand-vice or screw spanner, to prevent the tops of the ends sliding over one another, and bore a line of holes l/4 inch apart, and at the same distance from the outer end. Fine copper wire drawn to and fro through alternate holes from one end of the row to the other and back again, will secure the joint. ”

“ A tiny rod of steel—a needle the length of my finger—may hang motionless balanced upon a pivot. It is a material body which we would call three or four inches long, by one-hundredth of an inch thick and broad. We set it swinging—vibrating—whirling in a circle with the pivoted end as the center. With a swift enough movement that circle is impenetrable. In effect, out of that needle, we have created a steel disc, one-hundredth of an inch thick, with a diameter of say eight inches. ”

“ Put the wide end of the bracket up, and about two inches above the top of the bench.—Tom Ridley, you have got it four inches.—Ben, you are not more than one inch.—You must learn to measure distances with the eye. That will do.
“Here are several kegs of nails, which I opened this forenoon. We have spikes, tenpenny, eightpenny, sixpenny, shingle, and lath nails. There are two kinds of the same length, as a tenpenny or an eightpenny board-nail, or a finish-nail. Board-nails have a broader head, and are stouter than a finish-nail. Which kind shall we use for the shelves?” ”

“ Nail the arm through this hole to the post about 3⁄4 inches from the top, so that it moves freely on the nail. B is a piece of wood, 2" × 1⁄2" × 1⁄4". Make three holes in it. Nail it through the middle hole to the post, 3 inches from the ground, so that it turns freely on the nail. Take a piece of fairly strong wire, fasten one end to A and the other to B. A weight (a lead button) is needed to keep the arm of the signal up. Attach this weight, C, by a piece of thread to B, as in the figure. Tie a piece of thread to D, pass it through a small screw-eye, E, fixed on the stand. ”

“ Slots are burned or cut on opposite sides at a distance of an inch from the crack. With a spiral drill (see Fig. 218) bore a hole from a slot at right angles tothe crack. Make a similar hole on the opposite side. Make the holes continuous by introducing a straight hot wire. The rivet may be an ordinary round wire nail which has been softened by bringing it to a [Pg 199] yellow heat and allowing it to cool slowly. It is driven through and the ends firmly clinched. Such a nail is easily placed, need not press upon fleshy leaves, can not be stripped off or lost, and holds fast. ”

“ The keys made by me have levers 1 inch wide and 5-1/2 inches long, oak being chosen as material, on account of its toughness. K is in each case a small wooden knob on a piece of 3/16-inch brass rod; O a 1-1/2-inch brass screw; A a piece of sheet brass 3-1/2 inches long, marked off carefully, drilled 1/8 inch from the centre of each end for the pivot screws, and in four places for the holding-down screws, and bent up at the ends to form two standards. If you do not possess any brass strip, the lever may be supported on wooden uprights glued and screwed to the base. ”

“ Boat nails rivetted over burrs, clout-nails which are clinched, or plain copper nails will serve equally well, according to the purpose for which they are to be used. Where a nail is used to hold two pieces of wood together and does not pass entirely through, wire nails can be used to advantage, but if the nail goes entirely through both pieces, which is necessary to insure great strength, or where two thin pieces of wood are fastened together, rivets and burrs or clout-nails should be used. ”

“ A ring of hard rubber connects, yet separates and insulates these plates, and they are bound together with the ring into a firm structure by a tube of hard rubber, having a shoulder and knob at the top, and at the lower end a screw-thread engaging with a thin nut soldered to the upper side of the bottom plate. When the cover is in place, its lower plate is even with the top of the cell; and the contained water, which nearly fills the cell, is surrounded by polished, nickel-plated, brass plates 0.01 inch thick, insulated trom other metal by interposed hard rubber. ”

“ An indicator finger is fitted so that the ring can set to any of the divisions as desired, and when so set the screw can be locked by a lock nut. By proportioning the pitch of the thread it is clear that any desired lift can be obtained. The pitch adopted being 1⁄10th of an inch, a revolution of the screw one division on the ring would mean a vertical movement equal to 1⁄1000th of an inch. Now it is quite true that in a sense any vertical movement of the cylinder destroys the concentricity of the flats, but this, after all, is a relative matter. ”

“ These rods are then drawn with great force through a plate of hardened steel having a series of holes, gradually diminishing in size, bored through it, which is called the “draw-plate;” the wire (of whatever metal it be) has to be heated red-hot from time to time, to soften or “anneal” it, for the compression produced by the drawing so hardens it that it becomes brittle. A pair of nippers holds the end of the wire, and these are moved along a sort of bench by a “rack and pinion” (fig. 5) . When all has passed the first hole, it is drawn through the second, and so on to the size required. ”

“ This is done by having some one hold a hard surface, such as the head or blade of a hatchet, against the under side of the work, or by laying the hatchet down and resting the work upon it, while you drive the nail. The point of the nail will bend over when it strikes the hard surface and sink into the wood. This is the best method to use in fastening boards together with battens, in rough work, as the clinched nails act as rivets, preventing any possibility of the boards pulling apart. ”

“ Withdrawing Nails, especially nails whose heads are too small to be gripped with a claw hammer; but for removing large nails a stronger leverage is necessary. This can be obtained as shown in Fig. 30. The head of the nail is gripped in the claw of the hammer and a block of wood placed beneath the head. The handle of the hammer is then pulled toward you, as shown in the illustration. ”

“ If several of the nails be heated to bright redness they may be hammered on an anvil into one mass, and this may be flattened out into a thin plate, or it may be shaped into a slender rod and then drawn out into wire ”

“ The rear part of the needle—the loop—is passed between two bars of the spring frame, n, p, and held by the latter firmly, but with sufficient play for a longitudinal motion for pressing towards their springs. The pin, o, is inserted for holding the springs in their places. One pin is required for each vertical row of needles. The part of the spring frame, r, n, p, s, unshaded, is made of cast iron; the shaded part (extension) is constructed of wood. Below the upper crook of the hooks, the black sections represent a sectional cut of the griffe-bars ”

“ A piece of iron about six inches long, and of a width and thickness respectively of the finished nail, is inserted at a red heat to the feeder of the machine; a narrow strip is immediately cut off the lower side of the heated iron, and by the motion of the steel slide is carried to and pressed against a fixed die; while in this position another die rises at right angles and presses the partially formed nail against another fixed die. ”

“ In forcing matched boards together, do not pound directly upon the tongue edge of the board, but upon a waste piece of the same material, as the tongue will be bruised so that the next board will not form a good joint. Care should be used that the hammer does not strike the edge of the board when the nail is driven home. To guard against this, a nail set should be used to sink the head beneath the surface, as in Fig. ”

“ Fillets are applied in various ways over the body, forming horizontal, oblique, and vertical bands or ribs. When placed about the rim or base, these fillets are often indented with the finger or an implement in a way to imitate, rudely, a heavy twisted cord—a feature evidently borrowed from basketry. Nodes are likewise attached in various ways to the neck and body of the vessel. In some cases the entire surface of the larger vessels is varied by pinching up small bits of the clay between the nails of the fingers and thumb. An implement is sometimes used to produce a similar result. ”

“ But stipulate long wire nails; wire nails so long that they will go clear through and clinch on the other side, and then see that each and every nail is clinched. If you do this you will have no trouble with split lumber and not a board will work loose. ”

“ S is a half-leaf of heddles for the purpose of supporting the simple cords. Each simple cord is tied to a knot cord, and beyond T1 the simple is lashed according to the pattern. In working the machine the lashes are drawn by means of hooked [16] levers, wrought by a treadle connected with the pulley V, and those simple cords that are drawn down pull the knot cords into the notches or saw-cuts in the trap boards, so that when the trap board is raised the harness fastened to those knot cords that are drawn into the saw-cuts will also be raised. ”

“ In large nails the taper of the shank and point is secured by the sectional form to which the strips are rolled; brads, sprigs and small nails, on the other hand, are cut from uniform strips in an angular direction from head to point, the strip being turned over after each blank is cut so that the points and heads are taken from opposite sides alternately, and a uniform taper on two opposite sides of the nail, from head to point, is secured. The machines turn out nails with wonderful rapidity, varying with the size of the nails produced from about 100 to 1000 per minute. ”