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Show mm,mM'mCmemaa1Ln I !! Hill mi 1 1 I I III I I I u llllt BOYS' HANDICRAFT I By A. NEELY HALL Author of "Handicraft for Handy Eoys" ar,d"The Boy Craft.man" F1gT4. 1 Details - -Home-made, -writimg -desk- home-made WRITING DESK. The writing desk illustrated below, with its wide drop-leaf to write upon, plenty of pigeon-holes in which to stick letters, school papers, catalogues of boats, toys, athletic goods, etc., and other things that you wish to keep near to hand, and a "drawer" for writing materials, is just what you need for your room. The drawer ia really misnamed, because the one in this desk does not pull out. but is reached by raising a hinged leaf (E, Fig. 3). However, it serves the purpose pur-pose of a drawer and, besides being easier to construct, it is handier to get at. Where there is a regular drawer it is necessary to close the desk, or at least partly close the drop-leaf, drop-leaf, to gain access to it. A small packing case from the store room, grocery, or dry goods store, and a few boards from the wood pile or from another box, will be needed for the desk. After renailing all boards that show Eigns of loosening, cut two strips of wood three inches wide and of a length equal to the inside depth of the packing case. Fasten these in the ends of the box as shown at A and B, Fig. 1. Then cut a strip equal to the length of the box, and the width of strips A and B plus the thickness of the side of the box, and nail it to the top of the box on a level with strips A and B (C, Fig. 2). The, drawer space is cover"-1 with boards D and E (Fig. 3), each of which should have a width equal to one-half the inside depth of the box. Board E should be hinged to the edge of board D, and the latter should be nailed in place to the top edge of Etrips A and B. Fasten a brass ring to board E, near the front edge, by means of a small staple, to catch hold of in lifting the leaf. Partition off the box into pigeonholes, pigeon-holes, using as thin wood as you can get for the purpose. Fig. 5 will give you a suggestion as to how It may be done, but you can space them in any other way that you wish. The top '"' : Fig. i- -Fig. 2- row can extend out to the front of the desk, but the lower pigeon-holes must be kept far enough back of the hinged leaf E so It will not interfere with it opening. The front drop-leaf (F, Fig. 4) is made from the cover boards, battened together on the inside about one Inch from the ends, as in Fig. 5, and It should he hinged to board C as shown In Fig. 4. A dask mortise-lock can be purchased at a hardware store for 20 to 25 cents, and by examining any piece of cabinet work having such a lock you will understand how the lock should be put on. To keep the drop-leaf from dropping below the proper writing level, support it with pieces of brass chain, or tape, fastened fasten-ed to screw-eyes screwed into the battens of the drop-leaf and the inside in-side of the top of the desk. To cover the roughness of the boards used for the drop-leaf, tack either a piece of table oil cloth or heavy wrapping paper pa-per over the inside face of the boards. The height of the opened drop-leaf of a desk should be that of a table Biually 2 fact 4 inches. This dimen sion must he used in determining the length of the four leg strips. These strips should be inches wide. Nail them to the four coiners as shown in Fig. 0, being careful to get the lower projecting portions of equal lengths; then cut two wooden blocks for shoes, and nail one to each end pair of legs. The shoe blocks should be of the proper dimensions so there will be a projection of about one inch outside of the legs. The shoes will brace the legs and at the same time rest more solidly upon the floor than the four narrow legs would. Fasten two horizontal hori-zontal braces between the legs, one in front and the other in the back, as shown In Fig. 5. The strips should be 2y2 inches wide. Cut enough hoards of the proper dimensions di-mensions to form a desk-top with a projection of one inch over the box all around. These boards will conceal con-ceal the lops of the leg strips. When they have been nailed in place, the last constructive detail necessary to transform the packing case into an attractive at-tractive desk will have been completed. com-pleted. If the packing case used for the desk is stamped with a manufacturer's manufactur-er's trade-mark, and these cannot be removed, you must give the wood several sev-eral coats of oil paint to conceal these blemishes; hut if the wood is free from markings and other defects, finish fin-ish It with a prepared wood stain, : then give it a coat of white shellac, and finally wax it. (Copyright, l:12, ! A. Neely Hall.) |