Table Of ContentACPL ITEM
DISCARDED
a
M82h
621.9
1362514
Morgan
How to use tools
PUBLIC LIBRARY
FORT WAYNE AND ALLEN COUNTY, SND
STORAGE
ACPL ITEM
DISCARDED
how to use tools
By Alfred P. Morgan
THE D O -1 T - Y OURSELF SERIES
eiroo publisliing oo., ino.
NEW YORK CITY IT, HEW YORK
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 56-11177
ARCO PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC.
480 LEXINGTON AVENUE
NEW YORK 17, N. Y.
SECOND PRINTING, 1955
This book is a reproduction
in part of the book TOOLS AND HOW TO USE THEM, copyright 1948
by Alfred P. Morgan, published by Crown Publishers, New York, N. Y.
Trademark of Fawcett Publications, Inc. Printed in U.S.A. Copyright
1952, 1955 by Fawcett Publications, Inc.
how to us
By Alfred P. Morgan I 3623-14:
A FAWCETT BOOK • NUMBER 260
LARRY EISINGER * EDITOR-IN-CHIEF • FAWCETT BOOKS
GEORGE TILTON • MANAGING EDITOR
W. H. Fawcett, Jr President
Roger Fawcett General Manager
Gordon Fawcett . Secretary-Treasurer
Roscoe Fawcett Circulation Director
Ralph Daigh Editorial Director
James B. Boynton Advertising Director
Al Allard Art Director
Ralph Mattison Assistant Art Director
Lee Wilson Production Director
HAROLD KELLY ART EDITOR
Nick Carlucci Art Associate
Silvio Lembo Art Associate
Jack Borgen Art Associate
Bob Thornton Art Associate
Donn Clingen Art Associate
Jean Galloway Associate Editor
Anne Buccheri Production Editor
Acknowledgment is made to Patterson Brothers Tool Shop and
staff, New York, N. Y., for cooperation and assistance in provid-
ing the tools illustrated in this book.
How To Use TOOLS, Fawcett Book 260, is publ'shed by Fawcett
Publications, Inc., Greenwich, Connecticut. Editorial and Advertising
Offices: 67 West 44th Street, New York 36, N. Y. General Offices:
Fawcett Bu'lding, Greenwich, Connecticut. This book is a reproduction
in part of the book TOOLS AND HOW TO USE THEM, copyright 1948
by Alfred P. Morgan, published by Crown Publishers, New York, N. Y.
Trademark of Fawcett Publications, Inc. Printed in U.S.A. Copyright
1952, 1955 by Fawcett Publications, Inc.
SECOND PRINTING, 1955
1
CONTENTS
Hammers and Nails 4
Screws and Screw Drivers . . . 14
How to Use a Hand Saw .... 24
How to Use Wood Chisels . . . 34
Drilling Holes in Wood . . . . 42
Planes 52
Laying Out and Measuring . . . 62
Scraping and Sanding 70
How to Cut Glass 76
Sharpening Woodworking Tools 80
Preparing and Using Glues . . . 96
Files and Filing 104
Drilling Holes in Metal 110
The Hack Saw 118
How to Solder 122
Wrenches 134
Pliers and Snips 140
2
A knowledge of the proper use of hand tools is the basic
requirement for all how-to operations in every craft and
hobby. It is well to remember this fact in the whirring
era of power tools, easy-to-assemble kits and prefabrica-
tion. Time and energy savers are excellent advances, but
no project that requires skill and work can be efficiently
accomplished without the elemental know-how that
comes from the ability to manipulate hand tools.
hammers and nails
It's easy to use a hammer correctly and to drive nails where
you want them to go once you master these simple techniques.
A
NYONE possessed of ordinary coordina- whack at a nail with it or push a saw back
. tion can easily learn to handle tools and forth to cut wood. We leam the tech-
efficiently. It is not difficult to use, or to nique of using each tool. Starting right is
learn how to use, most of the ordinary tools half the secret. If we start right, we soon
with skill. Do not be dismayed by the dex- acquire skill by practicing. If we start
terity of a skilled workman. Practice and wrong, practice will not bring skill.
instruction will make you skillful also. Striking a blow is not all there is to using
First, you must understand the tools you a hammer. There can be artistry in its use
propose to use, their purposes and limita- or in the use of a saw, a wrench, a screw
tions; then, the proper way to hold them driver, a plane, or in fact of any other tool.
and apply them to the work. The skilled mechanic is skilled in the use of
To get the most out of a tool, we do not, his tools because he knows more about his
for example, pick up a hammer and merely tools than the novice and has learned the
RIGHT WRONG
Grasp the handle firmly with the This is wrong way to hold
end nearly flush with lower edge a hammer. A grip half way
of the palm to gain best leverage. up makes hammering difficult.
4 JX
J
hammers and nails
technique of using them. His tools have
become extensions of his hands and brain. He chops kindling wood with a hatchet;
You can learn how to use tools properly he drives punches and cold chisels with a
from a good mechanic and from a good machinist’s hammer.
book. Not all mechanics are good teachers. We can divide nail hammers into two
It helps if you know why a tool is made other classifications: those sold in the dime
the way it is and how it does the job it was stores to the neophyte woodworker and
intended for. How to hold a tool correctly would-be interior decorator and the ham-
is very important. mers which mechanics use.
Some persons cannot drive a nail straight
with the result that sometimes they hit Specifications of a Good Hammer
fingers as well as the nail. That is because
there is something to be known in order The dime store hammer has a cast head,
to drive a nail properly, and they do not whose face is not accurately ground. It soon
know that something. chips and loses its shape. It slips off the
Let us consider first the three tools most heads of nails. It is an ideal tool for driving
commonly used in the household and by nails crooked and hammering fingers.
woodworkers, viz., hammers, screw drivers, Mechanics’ nail hammers may be ob-
and saws. tained from any tool and hardware sup-
plier. The head of a first-class hammer is
not cast. It is drop forged from tough alloy
The Nail or Claw Hammer
steel and is tempered and heat treated so
The nail or claw hammer is a woodwork- that it is twice as strong as ordinary steel.
er’s tool which mechanics use principally A cast head is made by pouring white hot
to drive nails, wedges and dowels. The steel into a sand mold. A drop-forged head
curved claws are used to pull out nails or is made by hammering red-hot steel into a
rip woodwork apart. If the claws have a steel die. A cast head is brittle; a drop-
pronounced curve, the hammer was de- forged head is really tough.
signed to be more efficient at pulling nails The head of a first-class hammer is ac-
than ripping woodwork apart. If the claws curately ground to shape. The face is us-
are only slightly curved the hammer is bet- ually ground smooth and slightly beveled
ter adapted to ripping than nail pulling. at the edge to prevent chipping, although
There is also a semi-ripping pattern of carpenters sometimes use a hammer hav-
hammer, intended as a happy medium be- ing a face roughened by cross checkering
tween the best ripper and the best nail which is often employed for nailing together
puller. the frame of a building. The smooth-faced
A claw hammer designed for nail pulling slightly convex or. “bell-face” hammer is
is usually part of the tool kit of every the most generally useful.
household. Here it is used not only to drive A hammer handle is tough, seasoned,
and pull nails but often serves a great va- straight-grained hickory shaped to fit the
riety of other purposes ranging from homi- hand at one end and tapered toward the
cide to cracking walnuts. A good mechanic head so as to give the hammer its “spring.”
does not put his hammer to quite such An important quality of a hammer handle
diversified use. He does not try to break is spring which gives the mechanic better
kindling wood or drive cold chisels with it. control of the tool and eases the strain on
Don't use metal face of nail hammer directly on Take good care of your hammer. Use oil on a soft
woodwork in pounding joints together. Use a soft cloth to clean and polish the head occasionally.
wood block to prevent marring woodwork surfaces. Oil a hammer which has been exposed to moisture.
Keep nail perpendicular to face of hammer. If
face is inclined at angle away from hammerer, a
nail bends away from him after several strokes.
When hammer meets nail like this, the nail's not
likely to bend. Keep wrist limber and relaxed for Last blow must meet the nail squarely to prevent
easy hammering. Note face is parallel to board. hammer leaving mark in surface and yet sink nail
head well into wood. Keep fingers away from nail.
his muscles. You can best appreciate t]
by driving a few nails with a hammer he job it will cause a nail to bend. It should
be so heavy that a large nail can be driven
htted with a solid metal handle. Not or
m completely with five blows. A 16 oz. ham-
will it not feel right, but your muscles w
mer is a good choice for general use.
soon be shocked and tired. That end of t
hickory handle which is fitted into a har
mer head is expanded into the tapered e Plain-Face and Bell-Face
usually by one wooden wedge and t\
A smooth-face nail hammer may have
metal wedges so it won’t come off easi]
either a bell face or a plain face. The face
is the part of the hammer head which
Hammer Sizes strikes against the nail. On a bell-face
hammer it is slightly more convex than on
The size of a nail hammer is the weig a plain-face hammer. The novice cannot
ot the head in ounces ranging from 5 oz.
drive nails straight as easily with a bell-
oz- V;e c°mmon sizes are 10 oz., 12 o' tace hammer as with a plain-face hammer.
14 oz, 16 oz. and 20 oz. The lighter han
However there is a good reason why a
mers are used for driving small nails. TP
bell-face hammer is frequently used. With
heaviest is used for driving large nails ini
aif experienced mechanic can drive a
wWlh eWn Tth*e ?hra mormdienra iuYs ed is tionoto l ihgahrtd f owro tol, nail flush, or even slightly below the sur-
face of the wood, without leaving marks. ;;
6
