th.
--Contributed by A. Levinson, Saginaw, Michigan.

** Easy Designs in Ornamental Iron Work [370]

Many an industrious lad has made money manufacturing the common
forms of wood brackets, shelves, boxes, stands, etc., but the day
of the scroll

[Illustration: Fig. 1 to 6]

saw and the cigar-box wood bracket and picture frame has given way
to the more advanced and more profitable work of metal
construction. Metal brackets, stands for lamps, gates, parts of
artistic fences for gardens, supporting arms for signs, etc., are
among the articles of modern times that come under the head of
things possible to construct of iron in the back room or attic
shop. The accompanying sketches present some of the articles
possible to manufacture.

First, it is essential that a light room be available, or a
portion of the cellar where there is light, or a workshop may be
built in the yard. Buy a moderate sized anvil, a vise and a few
other tools, including bell hammer, and this is all required for
cold bending. If you go into a forge for hot bending, other
devices will be needed. Figure 1 shows how to make the square
bend, getting the shoulder even. The strip metal is secured at the
hardware store or the iron works. Often the strips can be secured
at low cost from junk dealers. Metal strips about 1/2 in. wide and
1/8 in. thick are preferable. The letter A indicates a square
section of iron, though an anvil would do, or the base of a
section of railroad iron. The bend is worked on the corner as at
B, cold. If a rounded bend is desired, the same process is applied
on the circular piece of iron or the horn of an anvil. This is
shown in Fig. 2, at C. This piece of iron can be purchased at any
junk store, where various pieces are always strewn about. A piece
about 20 in. long and 4 in. in diameter is about the right size.
The bend in the metal begins at D and is made according to the
requirements. Occasionally where sharp bends or abrupt corners are
needed, the metal is heated previous to bending.

Although the worker may produce various forms of strip-metal work,
the bracket is, as a rule, the most profitable to handle. The
plain bracket is shown in Fig. 3, and is made by bending the strip
at the proper angle on form A, after which the brace is adjusted
by means of rivets. A rivet hole boring tool will be needed. A
small metal turning or drilling lathe can be purchased for a few
dollars and operated by hand for the boring, or a