Page:The American Boy's Handy Book edition 1.djvu/122

the string the contents can be dumped out in less time than it takes to tell of it.

There is a sort of flat sheet-iron pan used in the kitchen for holding bread or biscuit while baking. It is seldom that the cook cannot show you one of these pans (Fig. 62) that has served its time and been discarded. Such a one will make a first-rate frame for a dredge. The only difficulty will be found in cutting the bottom out neatly. If there be a tin shop in the neighborhood it is best to take the pan there and have the tinner cut it for you; or you may do it yourself with a can opener or some other convenient instrument. Cut as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 62, which represents the pan bottom upwards. This will leave a margin of about an inch and a half still adhering to the pan; with a strong nail and a hammer punch holes all around the marginal piece of the bottom. Make two larger holes in each end to admit the ropes forming the handles.

Bend the bottom pieces out as illustrated by Fig. 63, and it will produce a compact and handy frame for a small dredge.

An old coffee sack can be readily adapted so as to serve as a net, but if the canvas cover be used as in Fig. 65, mosquito netting of double thickness will answer for the inner pouch.

Fig. 64 shows a "bake-pan dredge" with ropes attached ready for use. Although the framework of a "regular" dredge can be made by any blacksmith at trifling cost, it is more fun to make a dredge for one's self. When once the principles upon which a machine is made are thoroughly understood, it requires but little ingenuity to produce home-made substitutes that will perhaps answer as well, if not better, than the originals.