From ‘Every Man his own Mechanic’ by Francis Young, 1891.
‘A complete and comprehensive guide to every description of constructive and decorative work that may be done by the amateur artisan, at home and in the colonies’.
“Much wood that can be made available for a variety of purposes and bought at a merely nominal price, can be got out of such goods as these ; but the operator in nine cases out of ten will spoil half the boards in taking the box or case to pieces. Naturally enough. he will set to work with hammer and screwdriver, wrenching and forcing bottom from sides, and sides from ends, and when the work is accomplished he will find that half the boards are spoilt, or broken, or cracked part way down their length, and therefore far less useful than they were before he commenced operations. And he has spoilt the handle of his screwdriver, too, by striking it with the hammer, forgetting that wooden handles should be struck with a mallet instead of a hammer, and that a cold chisel would have been far more suitable than a screwdriver.
There is, however, a capital implement by which the box may be taken to pieces without injury to either nails or wood. This useful tool, shown in fig. 92, is called the "Victor" Nail Puller. The following directions are given for using it: " Grasp the instrument in the manner represented in the cut, taking care to have the left hand as low down as convenient. Place the jaws astride the nail in the wood, with the foot-lever parallel with the grain of the wood, drawing the top of the tool towards you, till they come close up beside the nail; lift the rammer with the right hand, plunging it down suddenly. This operation embeds the jaws beside the nail, then pull horizontally, which brings the nail out." The price of the "Victor" Nail Puller is 10s.; but the amateur who uses up plenty of packing-cases in his work for rough fencing, sheds, fowl-houses, etc., will soon save the cost in the boards that are not split and damaged past using, as when hammer and screwdriver are used, and in the nails which are not deprived of their heads and can be used again. The nails with which these cases are nailed together are for the most part wire nails, generally known as French nails. They are very tenacious, and well suited for most of the work that the amateur will do. The rapidity with which nails can be withdrawn by means of this nail puller is wonderful. When once the jaws are set about the nail one blow of the rammer sends them into the wood, and one pull of the instrument towards the operator brings out the nail. A slight indentation in the wood, where the head of the nail was, is the only injury that the wood receives, and this is so trifling as to be inappreciable. The ends of the board are not split, and can therefore be worked up again in any way that the operator may desire.”
Picture 4
