Coasting Toboggan: Four Steamed Hardwood Boards Bent Over a Log Form (Boy Mechanic, 1919)

"Essentials of a good toboggan, whether for coasting or use in transportation, are strength and lightness." Woods in order of merit: hickory, birch and oak (not quarter-sawed).

Choose four 5/16 by 4 in by 10 ft boards straight in grain and free from knots. Plane the running side and bevel the edges so that, together, they form a wide V joint half the depth of the boards. Notch the seven 1 by 1 in cross cleats on one side, 1 in from each end, for the side ropes.

Bore a gimlet hole through the centre of each 1 by 2 by 18 in piece and two more 4-1/4 in each side of it. Nail one 6 ft common board to each end of the 12 in by 18 in log block so their ends run parallel. With 3 in nails fix one bored cleat to the block between them, held out 1/2 in by a temporary spacer.

Steam about 3 ft of the board ends, or boil them in a tank. Clamp or nail the dry ends together edge to edge between two of the 1 by 2 in pieces, about 1/4 in apart. Push the steamed ends under the cleat on the block (its nails slip between the boards), bear down and nail on another bored cleat as far as the floor allows. Turn it over and bend the boards round the block, nailing on more cleats, until the clamped end lies between the 6 ft boards; hold it with a piece nailed across. The closer the cleats, the less risk of splitting.

Dry at least four days on the form. Clamp the two 1/2 by 1 in pieces on each side of the bow ends, drill through and rivet them. Rivet a 1 by 1 in crossbar inside the bow at the extreme front and another under the end of the curl, and wire them together to hold the bend. Put the tail crossbar not nearer than 2-1/2 in from the board ends and space the rest evenly, notched side down. Trim, scrape and sandpaper the bottom, finish with oil, and run a 3/8 in rope through the notches under the cleat ends.

From "Making a Coasting Toboggan" by A. M. Parker, in **The Boy Mechanic, Book 3**, Popular Mechanics, 1919 (Project Gutenberg 71856; checked on the archive.org scan boymechanic0003unse, pp. 11-13). The tools and metric figures are ours.