Part 3 (1/2)

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 56.--(1) Hardy. The anvil hardy is used more than any other anvil tool except the blacksmith's hammer and tongs. (2) A Cold-Shut Link that may be welded, riveted or simply pounded shut.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 57.--Calipers: (1) A pair of tight-joint inside calipers. (2) Its mate for taking outside dimensions. (3) A pair of spring-jointed, screw-adjustment inside calipers for machinists' use.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 58.--Blacksmith Tongs. Straight tongs made to hold 3/8” iron is the handiest size. Two or three pairs for larger sizes of iron and one pair smaller come in handy.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 59.--(1) Wire Splicer. The oval openings in the tool are of different sizes. They are made to hold two wires, close together, with ends projecting in opposite directions. Each end is wound around the other wire. The ends are then notched with a three-cornered file and broken off short and filed smooth. The splicing tool should be thin, about 1/8” or 3/16”, to bring the two twists close together. This is especially necessary in making hoops for wooden pails. (2) Blacksmith Shoeing Pincers, used to pull horseshoes. They should close together to catch a nail by the head.]

For heavier work pipe-wrenches are absolutely necessary. The reason for having so many wrenches is to save time when in the field. It often happens that men and horses stand idle waiting for what should be a quick repair job.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 60.--(1) Cotter Pin Tool. Handy for inserting or removing all sorts of cotter keys. (2) Nest of S Wrenches of different sizes. Farmers have never appreciated the value of light, handy wrenches to fit all sorts of nuts and bolt heads closely.]

For bench work a riveting hammer and a ball peen machinist's hammer are needed. A nest of S wrenches, two rivet sets, cold chisels, round punches and several files also are required.

The same twist drills up to three-eighths-inch will do for iron as well as wood. However, if much drilling is done, then round shank twist drills to fit the drill chuck will work better. Farmers seldom drill holes in iron larger than one-half inch. For particular work, to get the exact size, reamers are used to finish the holes after drilling. Screw holes in iron are countersunk in the drill-press.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 61.--Hack Saw. One handle and a dozen blades. The frame should be stiff enough either to push or pull the saw without binding. The teeth may point either way to suit the work in hand.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 62.--Powerful Bolt Cutter. It is intended for factory use.]

For small work, twist drills with square shanks for brace use should range in sizes from one thirty-second of an inch up to one-quarter inch, then every one-sixteenth inch up to one-half inch.

For boring screw holes in wood the quickest work is done with pod bits.

Not many sizes are needed, but they are cheap, so that a half dozen, ranging from one-sixteenth to one-quarter inch or thereabouts, will be found very useful. Pod bits belong to the wood department, but on account of being used princ.i.p.ally for screw sinking, they are just as useful in the iron working department as in the carpenter shop.

Sheet metal snips for cutting sheet metal properly belong with the iron working tools. Snips are from ten to fourteen inches in length. A medium size is best for miscellaneous work. If kept in good working order twelve-inch snips will cut 18-gauge galvanized or black iron. But a man would not care to do a great deal of such heavy cutting.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 63.--Cutting Nippers. For cutting the points from horseshoe nails after they are driven through the hoof to hold the shoe in place. These nippers are hard tempered and should not be used for any other purpose.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 64.--Two Shapes of Steel Crowbars.]

_Pipe-Fitting Tools._--Recent farm improvements require a few tools that rightfully belong to plumbers. Every farm has some kind of water supply for domestic use and for live-stock. A great many farm machines require pipe tools for repair work. Every year more plumbing reaches the farm.

Plumbing work is no more difficult than other mechanical work, if the tools are at hand to meet the different requirements. One job of plumbing that used to stand out as an impossibility was the soldering together of lead pipes, technically termed ”wiping a joint.” This operation has been discontinued. Every possible connection required in farm plumbing is now provided for in standardized fittings. Every pipe-fitting or connection that conducts supply water or waste water nowadays screws together. Sizes are all made to certain standards and the couplings are almost perfect, so that work formerly shrouded in mystery or hidden under trade secrets is now open to every schoolboy who has learned to read.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 65.--(1) Pipe Vise. Hinged to open for long pipes.

(2) Machinist's Vise. Made with a turntable to take any horizontal angle. The pipe jaws are removable.]

The necessary outfit to handle all the piping and plumbing on the farm is not very expensive, probably $25.00 will include every tool and all other appliances necessary to put in all the piping needed to carry water to the watering troughs and to supply hot and cold water to the kitchen and the bathroom, together with the waste pipes, ventilators and the sewer to the septic tank. The same outfit of tools will answer for repair work for a lifetime.

Farm water pipes usually are small. There may be a two-inch suction pipe to the force pump, and the discharge may be one and a half inch. But these pipes are not likely to make trouble.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 66.--Pipe Cutter. The most satisfactory pipe cutter has three knife-edge roller cutters which follow each other around the pipe. Some of these cutters have two flat face rollers and one cutter roller to prevent raising a burr on the end of the pipe. The flat face rollers iron out the burr and leave the freshly cut pipe the same size clear to the end.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 67.--Pipe-Wrench. This type of wrench is valuable for working with the heavier farm implements. It is intended more for holding than for turning. It is rather rough on nuts. Damaged nuts show signs of careless work.]

There should be a good pipe vise that will hold any size pipe up to three inches. At least two pipe wrenches are needed and they should be adjustable from one-quarter-inch up to two-inch pipe.

We must remember that water pipe sizes mean inside measurements.