Of all branches of manual training there is none more generally useful than carpentry. A knowledge of how to use carpenter's tools properly and how to make simple articles from lumber will never come amiss, and there is scarcely a man, woman or boy who at one time or another has not had occasion to use some sort of carpenter's tool. It may seem a very simple matter to use a saw, hammer, screw-driver or other similar tool, but nine times out of ten the amateur does not use such tools properly.

The value of the “handy man about the house” is well recognised, and as a rule the handiest man is the man who possesses the best knowledge of simple carpentry; and it is to tell just how he may become handy in the use of tools, how he should care for them and what he may accomplish with them, that this book has been written.

It is a pleasure and a delight to use well-kept, keen-edged tools, and there is something absolutely fascinating in transforming plain pieces of wood into various useful and ornamental articles.

There is no mystery about making wooden articles, nothing difficult; and no complicated principles are involved in simple carpentry. Once the use of the tools is thoroughly mastered any person can make neat, attractive, simple furniture or can even construct good-sized buildings.

During the long winter evenings carpentry work will provide a never-ending source of pleasure and one can while away hour after hour at the bench while constructing useful and attractive gifts, repairing furniture or making the various fixtures for an indoors gymnasium. Out-of-doors carpentry is also a fine field for the amateur carpenter, and in making rustic furniture, plant stands and boxes, lawn seats, summer houses, pergolas or even garages and workshops, there is room for a great deal of inventiveness, originality and individual taste, as well as a splendid opportunity for the amateur carpenter to exhibit his skill as an artisan in an enjoyable manner.

Although this volume has been prepared primarily for boys, yet it will prove equally valuable for many “grown-ups” who are not familiar with the use of carpenter's tools, and even those who know how to use the tools will find much of interest and many useful hints in its pages. It is always wise to commence at the very beginning, and in this book the author has endeavoured to start at the A B C of carpentry and to cover the subject step by step from the simple matter of sawing off a piece of board to the construction of furniture and small buildings.

The illustrations are so numerous and so comprehensive that even without the text the amateur carpenter should be able to construct nearly every article described, but in each and every case the cuts have been supplemented by full and detailed directions for each step of the work. The drawings are more or less diagrammatic and no attempt has been made to reduce them to uniform scale. Where some particular point is to be illustrated that portion of the work has been made more prominent than others and out of proportion to the rest, but as exact measurements are given in the text in every case, scale-plans or drawings are not deemed necessary.

Every effort has been made to avoid technicalities and trade terms and complicated or intricate work and elaborate methods have been purposely omitted, the object being to produce a book so simple, so complete and so practical that any person may readily accomplish excellent results in carpentry with this volume as his sole guide and teacher.

Necessary tools. Other tools. Caring for tools.

CHAPTER II
HOW TO MAKE A WORKBENCH
Materials required. Learning to use your tools. Completing the bench.

CHAPTER III
FITTING UP THE WORKSHOP
The bench-vise. Bench-plates. Places for tools. Making a shelf. Learning to use other tools. Setting planes. How to use saws.

CHAPTER IV
HOW TO MAKE A TOOL TRAY AND A MITER BOX
Materials. Making the tool tray. Making the mitre box. How to use the mitre box.

CHAPTER V
LEARNING TO MAKE JOINTS
Half-and-half joints. Tenons. Dovetail joints. Mortises. Blind joints. Dowel joints. Tongue and-groove joints. Matching timber joints. Using glue. Preparation. Use. Liquid and waterproof glues. Frozen glue. Coloured glues.

CHAPTER VI
SHARPENING TOOLS
Principles of sharpening tools. Cutting tools. Edged tools. Saw edges. Wire edges. Feather edges. Sharpening chisels and planes. Setting and filing saws.
Sharpening screw-drivers.

CHAPTER VII
WOODS AND THEIR PROPERTIES
Hard and soft woods. Common commercial woods. Properties and uses of ordinary woods. Ornamental woods. Staining woods. Formulas for various stains. Ebony, rosewood, walnut, oak, mahogany, maple, beech, cherry, Spanish cedar and other imitations. Spirit stains. Water stains. Graining. Ornamental finishes. Finishes. Oiling. Varnishing. French polishing. Waxes. Rubbed finish.

CHAPTER VIII
CARPENTRY ABOUT THE HOUSE
Putting up shelves. Corner shelves. Brackets. Portable shelves. Cupboards. Hinges. Butts. Ornamental hinges. Setting hinges. Locks and fastenings. Handles. Repairing furniture. Glued joints. Cement fillers. Repairing broken rockers. Tightening loose joints. Broken uprights. Broken seats. Broken backs.
Broken legs. Using dowels. Uneven legs.

CHAPTER IX
MAKING SIMPLE FURNITURE
How to make a stove truck. Making window ventilators. Home-made a.sh-sifters. Making shoe-brush holders and shoe-polishing benches. Making shelves for books. Handy umbrella-holders. Making window-seats. Simple stands. Tables.

CHAPTER X
FITTING UP A GYMNASIUM
Vaulting horses. Jumping hurdles. Parallel bars. Punching-bag disks. Other appliances.

CHAPTER XI
RUSTIC CARPENTRY
Woods and materials to use. Rustic seats and how to make them. Rustic garden furniture. Finishing. Making joints in rustic work. Making a plant stool. Seats. Flower stands. Pot stands and flower tubs. Plant boxes. Rustic armchairs. Making ugly fences attractive. Rustic gates. Trellises and arbours. Rustic bridges. Making a rustic summer house. Thatching. Making slab buildings.

CHAPTER XII
MAKING SMALL BUILDINGS
Materials required. Building a little workshop. Making the windows and doors. Shutters. Roofs. Shingling. Tarred and rubberoid paper.

CHAPTER XIII
VARIOUS USEFUL HINTS AND RECIPES
Finishing floors. Veneering. Wood-carving tools and their care. Soldering. Working glass. Ornamental and frosted glass. Waterproofing wood. Fireproofing wood. Fastening metal, etc., to wood. To prevent wood from warping.

CHAPTER XIV
WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY
Jig-saws. Scroll-saws. Turning-lathes. Boring and moulding machines. Planers, sanders and other machinery'. Hand-, foot- and power-driven machines. Running a little shop with power.