A Needle Drill

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THE accompanying fgure illustrates a simple way to make small drills. Insert a common needle in a small chuck, and fle or break off the point. These homemade drills are excellent for all kinds of WOOd, and will cut thin lead and unglazed porcelain. The handy man will welcome them as an aid in starting small screws in baird wood and for many other uses. Workshop Notes Solder for Soft Metal -The following method will be found very handy for soldering soft metal at low temperature: Add three drops of mercury to each one-half ounce of solder. The solder will then fuse at a low temperature.-H. D. C. Drilling Compound. -In drilling tool steel such as dies, use a compound made of one pound common soda to four quarts of water, and one quart machine oil. Let it stand for about one-half hour, and it will be ready for use.-A. C. To Remove a Broken Amber Pipe Stem.-When an amber pipe stem is broken of, the amber part of the stem is very likely to stick in the bone sleeve, and if one attempts to take it out by force, the bone sleeve will probably be twisted out of the neck of the pipe. To overcome this difficulty, soak the broken stem and sleeve in alcohol. This will soften the amber stem slightly, and it can then easily be unscrewed from the sleve.-H. M. NICHOLS.

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