Brackets are often required about the house for many purposes, and their size, shape, and decoration are infinite. There is even more fun in designing them than in making them. Tastes differ in this respect, as in everything else, and, given the problem, no two people will bring out the same design unless they simply copy something they have seen, which is not designing.

When our boys started to make brackets in response to urgent demands from the family, Ralph blocked out the sketch shown in Fig. 151 at a.

"There is a bracket," he said; "it consists of three pieces, and properly put together it will hold what it is designed to hold. It is not a thing of beauty, and we must improve it. How? By changing its outline without impairing its strength. In other words, we must 'design' a bracket constructed of three pieces of wood put together at right angles. There's your problem; now take paper and pencil and let us see what you can do."

"What size?" asked Harry.

"Oh, in this case, I'll leave it to your judgment."

For fully an hour, no sound was heard in the shop but that of two lead pencils. Harry was getting experience.

"Let me give you a pointer," said Ralph. "Don't try to draw both sides alike, as it is very difficult where you have free-hand lines. Draw a vertical line representing the centre. Sketch one half of the design, and when you have it about right, fold the paper on this centre line and trace the other half."

Harry went to work again and at the end of another hour produced the sketches shown in Fig. 151.

Ralph criticised them all rather severely, and as Harry was tired, this treatment made him sulky.

"Don't get mad," said Ralph kindly; "you know designing is hard work and the only way you can learn is to have me help you by pointing out your weak spots. Artists are obliged to pay for criticism; you know I'm not finding fault."

"All right," said Harry, brightening up, "which one shall I make?"

"I think the one marked x is the best. Work it up more carefully, design the shelf and bracket and put on all the dimensions."

"The bracket? Why, what is this I have drawn?""That's the back piece that goes against the wall; the bracket piece supports the shelf, and remember when you make it in wood, the grain must always run the long way of each piece."

"Why?"

"I'll show you," said Ralph.

He cut out two pieces of wood about 8 × 1 × ¹/₂ inches, one with the grain running lengthwise and on the other the grain running the one-inch way. Handing the first piece to Harry, he said, "Let me see you break it with your hands."

The boy tried and failed. Handing him the second piece he said, "Now try this."

It broke so readily that Harry was astonished.

"That's why," said Ralph, "and that's all."

The three pieces as finally drawn are shown in Fig. 151 at x. They were all cut out of gum wood with a coping saw, finished to the lines with chisel, spokeshave and sand-paper block, and put together with ³/₄-inch brads. The nails were driven through the back into the bracket, the latter piece being held in the vise in a horizontal position. It was then shifted to a vertical position with the back piece to the left of the vise and the shelf nailed to the bracket. Two brads were also driven through the back into the shelf.Brackets may be ornamented in many ways; by chip carving, pyrography, or by staining, but the decoration should be put on before assembling.

Another form is shown at b in which the back piece is not carried above the shelf, the latter piece resting on the top of the back. From a constructive standpoint this is a stronger form than the other, as part of the weight is carried by the back instead of by the brads alone.

Corner brackets are sometimes used and may be made in the form shown at c. Here we have two wall pieces and a V-shaped shelf, the V being a right angle. Again, the form may be so long as to require two brackets and it may then be considered a shelf.

In fastening any of these forms to a plastered wall, considerable care must be taken in placing the nails or screws so that they will engage in a stud instead of just in the plaster. The location of the studs can be found by tapping on the wall with the knuckle or lightly with a hammer. A surer way, however, is to find the nails in the picture moulding or base board and plumb from either of these places with a small weight—such as a nail—on a string.

The designing and making of book racks offer an almost endless field for the imagination. The rack may have a fixed length or be adjustable and either of these forms may have fixed or folding ends, and again the shapes of the ends may be varied in form and decorated in several ways.

Perhaps one of the simplest forms of folding book rack is shown in Fig. 152, at a. The ends are sawed out of the bottom piece, pivoted with two ¹/₄-inch dowels and when stood upright the lower part strikes against a cleat, which acts as a rest for the rack and a stop for the end piece.

The weakness of most book racks lies in the gradual weakening of the ends at the joint so that the weight of the books makes them lean outward. This should be considered carefully in working up the design. One of the weakest forms perhaps is shown at b. Theoretically, this is all right, but in practice the ends soon bend or lean out. A skeleton form, making use of the halved joint, is shown at c.

The two long sides and two short ends are squared up and halved as shown. All the ends are bevelled. Holes are bored for the pivots—¹/₄-inch dowels—a distance from the cross pieces equal to half the thickness of the folding ends. This is to insure the ends standing perfectly upright against cross pieces. If this distance is greater than half the thickness, the ends will lean out, and if less than half, the ends cannot be gotten in place. The bottom of the ends must be rounded, or they will not fold over.

The construction is very simple, and requires little material. Another very ordinary method is shown at d. It is as common and simple as it is weak and unsatisfactory. The ends are placed on the bottom piece and hinged. If a cheap and quick method is desired, it would be better to place the hinges as shown at e, because then the tendency to tilt out is prevented by the pressure against the bottom piece as long as the screws hold.

A far better method is to mortise the shelf through the end pieces and fasten it with a good, healthy pin or wedge, as shown at f; and a still better plan is to have two mortises and two wedges, as shown at g.

In constructive design, nothing is lost by honesty. The ends in this case are held in place by pins, so instead of hiding the fact, emphasize it by making these pins big and strong enough to do their work. The rack may be further strengthened by adding corner brackets at h.

Having decided on the construction, the form of the ends may be taken up. This is affected somewhat by the construction, but some of the outlines tried by our boys and suggestive to other boys are shown at 1, 2, 3.

They used two distinct kinds. One was characterized by straight lines. These they decorated with chip carving. The other style was distinguished by curved outlines, and decorated by outlines made with the veining tool, and by staining the figures in various colours.

The stains they used were oil colours thinned with turpentine so as to bring out the grain of the wood, rather than to hide it, as in painting, and care was taken to tone down these colours to dull reds, browns, greens, and grays. For staining and polishing, turn to Chapter XLIX.