BILLY BOYS’ WORKSHOP

Taranaki Daily News, 10 February 1934, Page 21 (Supplement)

BILLY BOYS’ WORKSHOP

A HOME-MADE DRAUGHTS-BOARD.

The draughts-board shown in the top diagram is quite easy to make. For the top-obtain a piece of black and white chequered lino with squares about one and a half inches across. There must, of course, be eight squares each way of the piece, and an extra half inch all round which is to be covered by the beading, as indicated at A. Now get a piece of three-eighths plywood and saw it to the same size as the lino. Glue the lino on to this wood base, and keep under pressure till the glue has set Cut four pieces of half-inch by quar-ter-inch stripwood, each equal in length to one of the sides of the board. With the aid of a set-square and a tenon saw, mitre the ends as shown at B, so that when the strips, are nailed round the edges of the lino the comers make neat joints, lilce a picture frame. Coat the wood strips with varnish stain, before nailing them in place wi|ji half-inch panel pins. A set of draughtsmen can be purchased quite cheaply at any toyshop, or you can easily make the set from a piece of broom handle or dowel rod, about one inch in diameter. - To enable you to . cut the twenty-four pieces the same thickness, make a simple sawing jig, like that shown in diagram C- Nail two blocks of wood (D,D) oh to another piece of thick wood, leaving a space between them just sufficient to allow the wood rod to slide in, as shown in the diagram. Make a saw cut at right angles through

the middle of these blocks, then fix another block of wood so that the end is a quarter of ah inch from the saw cut. By pushing the end of the round rod against the stop E, and using the saw cuts a guide for-, your tenon saw, slices of equal thickness can be sawn off for the draughts. Rub both sides of each piece with , fine glasspaper, dip twelve pieces in ebony stain, and, when dry, the set will be ready. The Hut Carpenter. " A HUT IN NOVA ZEMBLA. A BRAVE OLD STORY RETOLD.. Russian explorers have found the William Barents hut in 'Nova Zembla. Although the story is nearly 400 years old it seems as fresh as the snows. . Three - times the Dutch explorer tried to find a north-eastern passage to Asia. On the third attempt,. after rounding the north of Nova Zembla,. his. vessel was beset by ice. . .. .. He told his men they , must winter in the North. ' It was a terrible and wonderful tune. They built a ’ hut of driftwood, with a cask for a bath, a chimney through the roof, and plank beds for 18 men along the walls. Snow buried the hut, and bears tried to tear open the roof; but the men climbed up the'chimney and fought them off. Blue foxes served for food and clothes, but the ice was “two fingers thick” inside the hut. How terrible those, long,. monotonous months must have been; how homesick and quarrelsome and weary of each other they must have become; and how great a strain rested on the leader who had brought them to this pass. “When the spring comes,” he must have said a thousand times, the ship will be released.” . But at last spring came, and still the ship was in prison.. On June 13, 1597, William Barents bid his men set forth in the open boats, By now he knew that the ship' would never sail back to Amsterdam. Those open boats actually brought most of the men to safety; but not the leader. He died toward the end of the month and was buried at sea, not far from the place where he had endured so much, hardship and misery. PIGGY LOST. Has anyone here seen Piggy ? Piggy, with the ample waist? I Has anyone here seen Piggy ? Piggy, who has got misplaced ? For a week the police of New Southgate were hoping to hear that song. They found a pig wandering about without visible means of support, and they “arrested” him. In an hour or two, they thought, someone will ring up the police-station to inquire about a lost pig. But day after day went by, and no one asked “Has anyone here seen Piggy ?” Meanwhile Piggy’s appetite was very hearty, and the police got rather worried about his food bill. To their immense relief Piggy was claimed at last by a farmer from Buntingford. He had fallen from a cart on the way to market: how much wiser was the little pig who stayed at home I JOKE. Uncle: “Do the questions the masters ask you at school puzzle you, Tommy ?” Tommy: “No, uncle; the questions don’t, but the answers do.” (Sent by Irene SaywelL)