Problems in Farm Woodwork by Samuel A. Blackburn brings manual training into the farmyard, garden and household. This third edition, issued by The Manual Arts Press in 1919, presents working drawings and directions for a varied collection of useful wooden objects.
Learning through useful work
The preface connects the collection with agricultural teaching, rural schools and short courses. Its projects give students a reason to measure, lay out joints and assemble wood carefully: the finished object has a recognizable purpose outside the classroom.
The organization follows places and activities around a farm rather than a sequence of decorative styles. Shop equipment comes first, followed by poultry, seed corn, yard, house, garden, livestock and other work.
This makes the book useful for browsing as well as systematic study. A reader interested in a particular household or growing task can find the relevant group and compare the drawings with the written directions.
Equipping the small workshop
The opening group includes a sack holder, nail box, tool carrier, sawhorse and handles for several tools. It continues with a drawing board, miter box, tool chests, cabinets for nails and screws, and a workbench.
These projects treat organization as part of practical workmanship. Storage, carrying and supporting work all receive attention before the reader reaches many of the larger farm objects.
The drawings show views and dimensions, while the accompanying directions guide construction. Their combination rewards close reading: the shape of a component and its relation to the rest of an assembly often become clearer when text and drawing are studied together.
Poultry and seed-corn equipment
The poultry section covers laying and sitting nests, two forms of coop, a feeder, water trough, oat sprouter, shipping crate and egg tester. These preserve a compact picture of the equipment associated with small poultry keeping in the period.
Seed-corn projects include a testing tray and frame, exhibition tray, crates, racks, a cabinet for seed and small grain, and a seed-corn sled. They connect woodworking with selection, testing, handling and storage.
For readers studying self-sufficiency, this relationship is particularly interesting. The shop is presented as a place that supplies the tools and fixtures needed by other parts of the holding.
House, yard and garden
Yard projects range from birdhouses to gates, steps, a sawbuck, porch swing and doghouse. Separate birdhouse designs are assigned to different birds, including wrens, tree swallows, chickadees and martins.
The household group includes a bread board, ironing board, screens, kitchen table, sink and cabinet. The garden section adds tomato and vine supports, row markers, shrub labels, a transplanter, ladders and a cold frame.
Such variety distinguishes the volume from a furniture manual. Many of its objects are modest pieces of working equipment whose value lies in making a recurring task easier or providing a particular support, enclosure or container.
Livestock, bees and concrete forms
Later groups address feeding troughs, an unloading chute and an individual hog cot. Barnyard work includes milking stools, wagon equipment, jacks, a hay frame, pigeon house and storage for brushes and currycombs.
The bee section provides hive drawings and details. A further group turns to wooden forms used for concrete work, including a mixing box, post form and silo-related forms.
These sections broaden the book’s view of woodwork. A wooden object may be a finished fixture, a repair component, a storage aid or a temporary form used to produce something in another material.
Using the illustrated plans
This free ebook suits rural-craft readers, woodworking historians and teachers researching project-based manual training. Modern builders can study the design ideas while checking dimensions, materials and suitability for their own circumstances; historical livestock arrangements and tool practices reflect the date of publication.
The PDF contains 144 digital pages, including the original cover, preliminary leaves, contents, working directions and dimensioned drawings. Printed page numbers differ from the digital counter. Enlarge the plans when following dimensions, and consult the instructions adjoining each drawing rather than treating an isolated figure as a complete specification.
Book details
- Author: Samuel A. Blackburn
- Publisher: The Manual Arts Press, Peoria, Illinois
- Year: 1919
- Edition: Third edition; copyright 1915
- Digital length: 144 PDF pages
- Language: English
- File size: 14.61 MB
