This work has been compiled with the assistance of Mr. Walter Higgins, the well known instructor in woodwork. The volume fulfils a long-felt want in that it supplies fascinating amusement for evenings at home. The making of toys, is an engrossing pastime, and the home-made toy is invariably more novel than the shop bought article and of superior quality, besides which there is always a satisfaction in "I made it myself."

The purpose of the book is to give simple and easily understood instructions and plain diagrams and sketches for making toys from the odds and ends that are usually discarded as useless. Matches, Match Boxes, Cotton Reels, Cocoa Tins. Cigar Boxes, and even Egg Shells comprise the materials from which are evolved Shops, Working Models, Dolls' Furniture, Boats. Steam Engines, Windmills, and scores of other toys dear to the hearts of boys and girls. Perhaps the chief charm of the occupation is that literally dozens of toys can be made at a cost of less than a penny.

Every toy described in this book is practicable, and can be easily made by  anyone possessing the smallest amount of handicraft skill. At the same time the instructions are such as will prove of the utmost value to instructors of handicraft classes.

MORLEY ADAMS.

 

The Jig-saw Puzzle was at one time a very popular toy, and there are signs that its popularity is being revived. If it does not interest you particularly, it will provide a little brother or sister with endless amusement.

In reality the. puzzle consists merely of a picture (generally an interesting coloured one) glued very firmly to a piece of fretwood or cigar-box wood. This is then by means of a fret saw cut into a great many pieces, shaped as quaintly and awkwardly as possible (see Fig. 55). These pieces are then jumbled up into disorder, and passed on to the little one in order that the shapes may be fitted into place and the original picture reconstructed.

Somewhat after the style of the "jig-saw" puzzle just described is the Geometrical Puzzle shown in Fig. 56. Each of these consists of a capital letter divided up by one or two straight lines into right-angled triangles and other geometrical shapes. While very simple to look at when completed, these little puzzles are by no means easy to solve when the odd pieces are given in a jumbled state. The capital letters should be drawn on a piece of cigar-box wood, and then carefully cut out with a fret saw, or, better still, with a tenon saw if you have one. If you cannot manage wood, then the puzzle can be done in stout cardboard and cut out with a sharp thin knife.

Of other cheaply made puzzles The Reels and String Puzzle is highly entertaining. The only materials required for it are the lid of a cigar box, two cotton reels, two beads, and a length of smooth string or thin silk cord. The making is simplicity itself. All you need do is cut the lid in halves and bore three holes in a line in one of the halves. Of course you can ornament your wood as much as you like, but that will in no way increase or decrease the effectiveness of the puzzle.

When you have cut it out and finished it off nicely with glass-paper, thread the beads and reels as shown in Fig. 57. Take special care that you do not make any mistake in the arrangement, or your solution will result in a hopeless tangle.

The object of the puzzle is to get the two cotton reels, which, as you see, are now on quite separate loops, on to one loop. To solve it proceed as follows: Take hold of the centre loop, and pull it down, to its full extent. Now pass the right-hand reel through the loop. Taking care not to twist the cord, pass this loop through the hole on the right-hand side, over the bead, and then draw it back again.

Now if you follow the same procedure with the left-hand reel you will find that the centre loop is released and can be pulled through the centre hole. Then will the two reels slide down side by side.

One thoroughly entertaining and, to a certain extent, bewildering puzzle is The Three-hole Puzzle. Really the puzzle consists of a piece of thin wood with three holes cut in it. These three holes are respectively circular, square, and triangular (Fig. 58). The problem is to cut one block of wood which will pass through each hole and at the same time fit the holeexactly.

Can it be done? At first it looks to be quite impossible; but there is a very neat solution to the difficulty.

First cut out your holes. To do this get a cigar-box lid and draw out the three figures, taking care that the length of the side of the square and the length of the side of the triangle and the length of the diameter of the circle are equal. Now, using your fret saw, cut out these holes very neatly and precisely.

For the block you need a small cylinder of wood : an odd piece of broken broom handle will do admirably. This must be cut and finished with glass-paper so that it will fit the circular hole exactly. Now saw a piece just as long as the cylinder is wide. This looked at in one way gives an exact square which will fit the second hole. Thus two holes are catered for.

Finally, for the third hole the cylinder must be tapered on two sides. To do this draw a diameter at one end and then gradually pare away a flat surface till the triangular section is obtained.

Fig. 59 shows how the block, when turned in different ways, fits the three holes.