Page:Popular Mechanics 1928 01.pdf/163

 

In many locations, especially in the cities, small garden spots need a great deal of fertilizing to make plants and flowers grow successfully. Take an old lime barrel or a metal can and clean it out well with water. It should be perforated with $1/2$-in. holes along the sides and bottom, and is then half filled with some good fertilizer. Pour in water enough to fill the barrel. The fertilizer should be churned up every day. It has been found that the most stubborn soil conditions have been corrected in this way so that almost anything could be made to grow.—L. H. Georger, Buffalo, N. Y.

 

Soft wire up to $1/8$ in. in diameter can be most conveniently bent with the aid of a pair of pliers and a simple stop piece, clamped in place as shown in the drawing. As an example of what can be done with this device, a number of wire squares can be made exactly the same size. The stop is made and attached in a few moments and the whole batch of pieces finished quickly. A length of strip metal is bent at right angles at both ends and clamped to the side of one of the plier jaws. To make a right-angle bend, push the wire tip to the stop and bend it close over the other jaw.



 



Draftsmen making sketches and pencil plans will find that a cloth fastened to the T-square with thumbtacks, as shown in the illustration, is of considerable service in protecting drawings from being soiled. The cloth does not interfere with the work and covers the section of the drawing not being worked on, permitting the draftsman to rest his arms on it without any risk of smudging the work.

 

For sandpapering a smooth surface where it is necessary to keep the paper absolutely flat so that no hollow places will be rubbed into the surface, a common plane can be used to advantage. Remove the blade and cut a strip of sandpaper sufficiently narrow to fit through the slot in the plane, then double it over so that it will remain fixed under the clamp that is used to hold the blade in position. The free end of the paper can be brought around under the plane and up over the front to be held down by the hand grasping the knob in front. By pushing and pulling the plane over the surface it can be sanded flat and with the least exertion.

