BULLETIN No. Contribution from the States Relations Service Washington, D. C. A. C. TRUE, Director PROFESSIONAL PAPER July 26, 1917 SOME EXERCISES IN FARM HANDICRAFT FOR RURAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS1 By H. O. SAMPSON, Assistant in Agricultural Education. The purpose of this bulletin is to give instruction in the making of useful articles for the school, farm, and home. It is intended primarily for rural school teachers and for pupils of the seventh and eighth grades. The exercises have practical application to the agricultural work of the school and also to the various club projects in agriculture. In some States farm mechanics, or as it is termed, handicraft work, is conducted as a regular club project and is proving to be desirable for this purpose. Many of the exercises and drawings are compiled from extension bulletins of the different States. Bulletins published by Kansas and Iowa agricultural colleges have been used very freely. In these 1 Prepared under the direction of C. H. Lane, Chief Specialist in .gricultural Education, States Relations Service. NOTE. This bulletin furnishes elementary lessons in farm mechanics and is of interest to teachers and pupils of rural schools in all parts of the United States. 80746-Bull. 527—17—1 States the handicraft club work has received considerable attention. Others of the exercises are from publications of this department; still others are original with the author, being those he has used in giving instruction in agriculture in public schools and in his work on the farm. It is hoped that the exercises outlined will suggest many others. A large number of school, farm, and home appliances can be made by schoolboys, and the making of these things trains the hand and the eye and develops habits of accuracy and neatness. The work can be done as a part of the regular school work or during spare time at home. It will be a recreation as well as a benefit. TOOLS AND THEIR USES. A large investment in tools is not necessary to carry on this work, and many boys on farms will find all the necessary tools at home. FIG. 3.-Starting the saw. All farm boys have had more or less experience with tools and know how to use them fairly well; nevertheless a brief FIG. 2.-Position of hand, elbow, and shoulder, when using a saw. mention of the uses of the tools given in the list will be of value. The crosscut saw, as the name indicates, is used to cut across the grain of the wood. Its teeth are filed to sharp points, as shown at A, figure 1. The teeth are usually set or bent alternately so as to be at a slight angle with the body of the saw blade. The insides of the teeth are filed in sharpening, as indicated in the figure. The ripsawis used to cut with the grain of the wood. Its teeth are filed to the shape of chisels placed one behind the other, as shown at B, figure 1. Figure 2 shows the position of hand, elbow, and shoulder when using a saw. index finger should be along the top of the handle on the right side and the The 21 لسلسلسل ידידיוייזין 4 20 5 19 thumb on the left side. They are FIG. 4.-Divisions of a carpenter's rule. then in a position to guide the saw. The hand, elbow, and shoulder should be in a straight line, as shown in the drawing. To start sawing, place the left hand on the mark on the board, as shown in figure ייייח זיזיז 16 15 14 13 12 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 BLADE A BEAM measurements are necessary if good work is done. On the 2-foot rule one edge is divided into inches, halves, quarters, and eighths, and the other into inches, halves, quarters, eighths, and sixteenths, as shown in figure 4. To save time when measuring a number of pieces of the same length it is advisable to make a measuring stick of the length required and use this instead of the rule. Figure 5 shows the two kinds of squares in use: The carpen- a steel square are tongue and blade, FIG. 6.-—-Squaring up a board with and the parts of a try square are blade a steel square. and beam. The carpenter's square is used for measuring lumber and also for squaring across boards when cutting stock into lengths. Figure 6 shows how a steel square is used for squaring across a board. Notice that the long side is parallel with the |