To hold large sticks for this final shaping and smoothing you can put

them in the vise, but if there are several, and large, it is better to

contrive some way to hold them after the fashion of the centres of a

lathe. For one centre, drive a nail or screw through a block or stick of

wood and screw the block in the vise (Fig. 649). Make the other centre

in the same way and fasten it at such a distance from the first centre

that the stick will just fit in between the two. Just how to fasten this

second centre will depend on the length of the stick to be rounded and

the arrangements of your shop, but you can easily contrive some way to

hold it. The stick held between these centres will be clear of

everything and can be turned around without trouble. The middle can be

supported, if necessary, by a piece of board or a strip lightly nailed

to the bench-top.

Masts and spars should be "natural sticks," if possible, and the final

shaping and smoothing will be all they will require, for which some such

apparatus as that just described will save time and trouble.

[Illustration FIG. 649.]

To round small sticks, as spars for model boats, arrows, etc., the same

process should be followed so far as the small size of the sticks will

allow, as you can of course shave more accurately with the plane, on

account of the long guiding sole, for the same degree of effort, than

with any "free-hand" tool like the knife. But when the stick is quite

small it is hard to hold it firmly, and it is also too much covered by

the plane. In such cases turn Japanese. Fasten the plane bottom-up in

the vise (or even hold it in your lap if you have no vise) and pull the

stick along the sole of the plane instead of pushing the plane over the

stick. But _look out for your fingers_ when you do this, for a

plane-iron in this position has a great appetite for finger-tips.

In filing a short, round stick, one end can often be rested on the bench

and the stick turned around towards you as you file.

A good way to finish the shaping of such small sticks is to hold your

knife with the edge downward close against the side of your leg just

above the knee. Then pull the stick up steadily between your leg and the

knife. The leg acts as a sort of gauge to steady both the stick and the

knife and with care you can cut a very even shaving in this way.

One very important thing to bear in mind in _all_ these rounding

operations is that you will rarely find wood with absolutely straight

grain, except in "rift" stock or natural sticks (and in these there are

often seemingly unaccountable twists and crooked streaks); so you need

to _keep constant watch_ of the direction of the grain, for even a

slight turn of the stick will often bring the grain wrong with relation

to your tool, and one false cut running in too deep, or even across the

stick, will spoil the work.

=Router.=--See _Plane_.

=Rule.=--A rule with which to lay out your work and measure your stock

is one of the first tools of which you can make use. A two-foot rule,

folding once, is the most convenient for shop-work, but the more common

kind, folding to six inches in length, is more convenient to carry

around away from the shop. One brass-bound (with brass edges) is more

durable, but hardly as convenient to use as the common cheap kind, which

will answer every purpose until it breaks.

[Illustration FIG. 650.]

To mark distances with the rule for accurate work, lay the rule on edge

so that the divisions marked on it will touch the wood and not be an

eighth of an inch above it, as they are when the rule lies flat (Fig.

650). You can thus mark the points more accurately.

=Sandpaper.=--The fineness of sandpaper is indicated by numbers--00 (the

finest), 0, 1/2, 1, 1-1/2, 2, 2-1/2 and 3 (the coarsest). You will use

the fine and medium numbers more than the very coarse ones, and will

seldom require coarser than 1-1/2. Test sandpaper, when buying, by

rubbing the sand a little with your hand to see if it is securely stuck

on, and tear the paper a little to see if it is strong.

Never use sandpaper until all the cutting with the tools is done.

Sandpaper _with_ the grain, except for work which is to be painted.

The proper use of sandpaper, as a rule, for such work as you will do, is

merely to give a little extra smoothness, to take out little scratches,

to round edges, and the like, but _not_ to cut away the wood and scrub

it into the shape you wish. To use it much, except to skim over your

work, is apt to get you into a slovenly style of working, and the

result will lack the sharp accuracy of good work. Do not rely on the

sandpaper to remove the defects in your work. Do the work right and you

will need but little sandpaper, except in a few operations which will be

specified when there is occasion.

[Illustration FIG. 651.]

For flat surfaces it is well to fold the sandpaper over a flat block of

cork or wood (Fig. 651), the edges of which have been slightly rounded.

If the surface is curved, the block should be curved correspondingly. A

piece of thick rubber or leather which can be bent to fit the surface is

excellent. Care should be taken not to round the corners and edges of

the work when sandpapering.

In sandpapering any very delicate piece of work, when the edge might get

rounded or the surface scratched by the stiffness of even the finest

sandpaper, as in rubbing down finished work, split the paper, which you

can easily do by removing the outer layer of paper from the back, when

the remaining part to which the sand adheres will be much softer and

more flexible.

=Saw.=--Saws are used for cutting across the grain and with the grain

and there are various kinds for special purposes.

The _cross-cutting saw_ is used, as the name indicates, for cutting

across the grain of wood and for ordinary work. The blade is usually

thicker at the teeth than at the back, to stiffen it and to enable it to

pass through the wood more freely. From 18" to 24" is a good length for

a cross-cutting saw (or more commonly called _panel_-saw) for your work,

with about eight to ten teeth to the inch.

Examine the teeth (Fig. 652) and you will see that they are pointed and

sharp, somewhat like the point of your knife, and that they cut across

the fibres much the same as your knife does when you hold it upright and

draw it across a board.

[Illustration FIG. 652.]

[Illustration FIG. 653.]

You will notice, also, that the teeth are alternately bent

outwards,--one tooth being bent out to one side, the next to the other

side,--this spreading of the teeth (which is called the "set") making

the saw wider at the points of the teeth than elsewhere. You will also

notice that the sharp cutting edge of each tooth is on the outside. This

set, and the way the teeth are sharpened, makes the cut wider than the

thickness of the blade, thus giving the saw "clearance" and enabling it

to slip back and forth easily and without "binding" (Fig. 653). As a

practical matter of fact, however, it is nothing uncommon for a saw to

bind in the cut, either from not sawing straight or from the wood

closing on the saw (see Fig. 695). The teeth not only cut or break off

the fibres in parallel lines at the points of the teeth, but also tear

off and remove the bits of wood (_i.e._, the sawdust) between these

parallel cuts.

The degree to which the teeth are set and the number of teeth to the

inch depend upon the use to which the saw is to be put and the kind of

wood to be used. Of course the finer the teeth the smoother the cut.

Cross-cut saws are usually sharpened differently for soft and for hard

wood, but little set being required for the latter, while the former

needs a wider set to give the blade clearance, because the fibres of the

looser-textured soft wood are bent aside by the tearing action of the

saw teeth and are not so cleanly cut off as in the hard wood.

We have examined the teeth of the cross-cut saw and have seen that they

cut across the grain of the wood very much as the point and edge of a

knife, and that the fibres, being cut or broken or torn off in fine

pieces, are removed from the kerf by the teeth. Now to saw in the

direction of the grain, instead of across it, we use a saw based on a

different principle. As we used little knives to cut across the grain,

so we use little chisels to cut with the grain. Look at the teeth of the

_ripping-saw_ and you will see that they are little chisels sharp only

at the end (Fig. 654), though not as acute as chisels for obvious

reasons. These sharp ends, which are square (Fig. 655, showing set) or

may be oblique, cut or tear off the fibres, and the front edges of the

teeth push the pieces out of the cut. The teeth of the cross-cut saw

are filed so that the front cutting-edge is _drawn_ across the wood in

the most effective way, much as you would draw the knife-point across,

while the teeth of the ripping-saw are pointed forward at a more acute

angle so that the cutting-edge is _pushed_ through the wood, somewhat as

you push a chisel.

[Illustration FIG. 654.]

[Illustration FIG. 655.]

[Illustration FIG. 656.]

The ripping-saw cuts only on the down stroke. It is not suitable for use

directly across the grain, as it tears the fibres when pushed across

them much more than the cross-cut saw. The ripping-saw usually has

larger teeth than the cross-cut saw. From 5-1/2 to 8 points to the inch

will do for your work. The ripping-saw usually cuts best when held

slanting rather than at right angles with the board (Fig. 656), as you

can easily understand when you think how a chisel works best in paring

at the end of a board.

If the cut closes up after the saw so as to "bind" it, drive a wedge (or

even a screw-driver or chisel) into the crack so as to open it enough

for the saw to work freely. Binding of the saw from this cause is very

common in making long cuts. When you come to a hard knot in splitting

you can sometimes gain by taking the cross-cut saw to cut through it.

You will probably get most of your splitting done at a mill and will not

have to depend on hand ripping-saws so much as your grandfathers did.

The _back-saw_ should have, for your use, from 10 to 16 teeth to the

inch and be perhaps 12 inches long. The blade is very thin to insure a

finer and more accurate cut than can be made with the common saw, and

therefore requires care in using. It has a back (whence the name) made

of a thin piece of brass or iron put on so as to give the blade the

necessary firmness.

This is an exceedingly useful tool, with which and a common panel saw

you can do a great deal of work without any other. The back-saw must be

used with care, for the blade is so thin that a little wrenching will

spring it out of shape in spite of the strengthening back.

In the _compass-saw_ the blade is very narrow, being about one inch at

the broadest part and diminishing gradually to about a quarter of an

inch at the other end. It is about fifteen inches long and is employed

in cutting curved forms. As the blade is narrow and tapers towards the

back and the teeth have a wide set it will cut a small circle. Notice

that the teeth of the compass-saw are a sort of a compromise between

those of the ripping and cross-cut saws, which enables them to cut

freely either way of the grain, as is of course necessary in sawing

curves.

The _turning-_ or _bow-saw_ is much better for any work with which the

bow will not interfere, and is a very useful tool at times. Get one with

handles which turn so that the blade can be turned to saw at an angle

with the frame. You will need a few extra blades of different widths.

The main thing to be borne in mind is to make the cut square with the

surface. It is easier to follow the line than to secure a cut at right

angles to the surface.

The _keyhole-saw_, which is even smaller than the compass-saw, is used

for cutting quicker curves, as for a keyhole. It has a handle like that

of a chisel, with a slot cut through from end to end. There is a screw

on one side, so that the blade may be fixed at any length, according to

the size of the hole to be cut. A good kind, which can be used for both

compass- and keyhole-saws, has a handle into which various blades can be

fitted.

[Illustration FIG. 657.]

Compass- and keyhole-saws are difficult for beginners to use without

bending, twisting, or breaking their thin and narrow blades. Most of

your curved sawing can be done better with a turning-saw or at a mill by

a band- or jig-saw. If done at the mill, have a piece of waste wood put

on the under side to prevent the burr, or ragged edge, left by the

sawing.

A common way to test saws, when buying, is to take the handle in one

hand and bend the point of the saw around in a curve sideways and then

let the blade spring back, which it should do without being permanently

bent or sprung.

[Illustration FIG. 658.]

Do not saw from one side of the line. Have your eyes above the line so

that you can look on both sides of the saw (Fig. 657). This will help

you to keep the saw-blade at right angles with the surface of the wood.

Hold the saw firmly with the forefinger pressed against the side of the

handle to help guide and steady it (Fig. 657).

Having placed the saw just at the outside edge of the line and on the

farther side of the piece, seize the wood with the left hand and hold

the thumb against the blade (_above_ the teeth) to help start the cut in

the right place (Fig. 658). Aside from the danger of the saw jumping and

damaging the wood unless guided by the thumb, it is liable to cut your

left hand.

You can make a little notch with the knife or chisel on the outside of

the line, to help start the saw, in the case of nice work, if you wish.

Cut straight in just on the line and then make a sloping cut to meet

this from outside the line (Fig. 659). First draw the saw gently

backwards, guiding it by the thumb, with as little pressure on the wood

as possible until you see that the cut is started right, then push it

gently forward, and after a few easy strokes in this way to get the cut

started right, keep on with long, steady strokes, but not long enough so

that the end of the saw enters the kerf, lest it catch and the saw

buckle. The saw should cut most on the downward motion, not on the up

stroke.

[Illustration FIG. 659.]

With a sharp saw, there is nothing gained by bearing down heavily on the

teeth, which may spring the saw and make crooked work. Rather let the

saw run of itself with an easy, _light_ stroke, guiding it carefully,

and not letting it press on the wood on the up stroke. The more hastily

and furiously you saw the poorer the result will probably be.

When you _begin_ to run off the line, as you will be pretty sure to do,

twist the saw a little with the wrist as you go on, which will bring it

back to the line, because of the kerf being wider than the thickness of

the saw-blade.

[Illustration FIG. 660.]

Beginners are apt to bend the saw over to one side. You can tell whether

it is cutting at right angles with the face of the board by testing with

the try-square as shown in Fig. 660. Such a test as this is, however,

too inconvenient for ordinary practical work and you should learn as

quickly as you can to hold the saw-blade correctly.

At the end of the cut, as at the beginning, saw gently with quick, light

strokes, and hold the piece which is being cut off with the left hand,

lest it break off and splinter one of the two pieces.

If the saw "binds" or does not work easily, you can for your _rougher_

work put a little tallow, butter, lard, or lubricating oil on the blade,

but beware of doing this for your _nice_ work, or it will deface it

when done. If the binding is caused by the springing together of the

wood (Fig. 695) the crack should be wedged open.

Do not get into the habit of sawing a little way outside of the line and

then trimming off the superfluous wood with your knife or a chisel. That

is not a good way to learn to saw by a line. Try your best to make the

cut where it should be (even if you do make mistakes for a good while)

and thus get into the habit of doing it right without having to rely on

any other tool than the saw.

Many pieces of wood can better be screwed in the vise for sawing instead

of being laid on the horses, and this position is often preferable. In

this case you grasp the wood with the left hand and use the saw as

already described. (See _Sharpening_).

=Saw-Filing.=--See _Sharpening_.

=Sawing.=--See _Saw_.

=Saw-Set.=--Various contrivances can be bought for setting saw teeth.

When you get to the point of needing one you can easily find a variety

from which to select.

=Scraper.=--The scraper is made of saw-blade steel (frequently from an

old saw) and may be of any shape or size to suit the work required of

it. A common form for scraping flat surfaces is rectangular like a

postal-card, and a good size is from 2" × 4" to 3" × 5".

A piece of glass makes a good scraper for almost every purpose except

where a flat, true surface is required. It is good to smooth the handle

of a paddle, for instance, but not good for scraping the top of a nice

table. For many rounded surfaces glass is fully as good as a steel

scraper, but for general use the latter is much better. The following

directions may be of use when you wish to break glass to use for a

scraper: "Take the back of a knife, or the smooth, straight edge of any

piece of iron fixed with tolerable firmness for a moment, then, taking

the piece of glass in both hands, rest its edge midway between them on

the edge of the iron; let the upper edge of the glass lean from you,

and push it gently along the iron, so as slightly to indent the edge of

the glass; then, reversing its position so as to make it lean towards

you, draw it smartly along the iron, and you will find it separated by a

clean fracture directly across, forming a line more or less curved, and

leaving one edge of the glass much sharper than the other. By a little

practice, and by pressing a little more with one hand than the other,

almost any curvature that the work to be done may require may be

achieved" (Lord and Baines, _Shifts and Expedients of Camp Life_).

The edge of the scraper is turned over so as to form a sort of hooked

edge or angle (Fig. 661), which when pushed over the surface scrapes off

thin shavings. To smooth a flat surface the scraper can be held with

both hands, between the fingers and thumb (Fig. 662), and pushed along

in the direction towards which it is inclined. Sometimes one end of the

scraper is held between the thumb and fingers of the left hand and the

palm of the right hand applied below to push the tool along. As a rule

scrape with the grain, and it is often advantageous to hold the scraper

obliquely to the grain when pushing it forward. In case of some crooked

and twisted grain you will find it best to scrape in any and in all

directions.

[Illustration FIG. 661.]

[Illustration FIG. 662.]

You can make scrapers yourself by filing and grinding pieces of old

saw-blades. It is very convenient to have a number of them with edges of

various degrees of curvature (both convex and concave), but these you

can make as you need them. A scraper is sometimes set in a stock and

guided by handles like those of a spoke-shave, and sometimes set in a

stock like a plane and used in the same manner. A scraper of the latter

sort is often useful to assist in keeping the surface true when

scraping, as its flat sole prevents its following all the undulations of

the surface as readily as the hand-scraper, with which one is apt to

make depressions by scraping too much in some particular spot. But so

far as smoothing the surface goes there is nothing better than the

common hand-scraper or so easily taken care of. For sharpening the

scraper, see _Sharpening_.

In many large places you can get your wood for nice work scraped to a

satin-like finish by a machine made for the purpose, but this is hardly

worth while for ordinary work. You can also have it smoothed very nicely

by sandpapering machines, but this is not advisable if there is to be

any cutting of the wood afterwards, as the grit left in the pores of the

wood will quickly take the keen edge from your tools.

The best test for smoothness alone is to run the fingers over the

surface with a light touch. Great acuteness of touch can be acquired in

this way. Any experienced wood-worker can at once detect inequalities

with his fingers that he could not possibly see. Irregularities in

curves can be detected in the same way.

_Bead cutters_ or _scrapers_ and _reed scrapers_ and _fluters_ can be

bought of various patterns. You will hardly need to buy anything of the

sort for some time, as you can make one when required. See _Beading_.

=Scratch-Awl.=--See _Awl_.

=Screw-Driver.=--The screw-driver is too familiar to need description,

but in buying one see that the end is shaped like either of those shown

in Fig. 663 and not as shown in Fig. 664. Cheap screw-drivers are often

made in the latter way. If ground with a short bevel (Fig. 664) it will

bear only on the top of the slot in the screw and will be all the time

slipping out, on the principle of the inclined plane, while if the sides

are parallel or concaved slightly the end will remain at the bottom of

the nick of the screw. This is also a help in extracting screws, as it

saves the need of pressing against the screw so hard to keep the

screw-driver from slipping out of the slot. It is well to have

screw-drivers of different sizes, as it is difficult and often

impossible to use a screw-driver with an edge much too large or too

small.

[Illustration FIG. 663.]

[Illustration FIG. 664.]

Remember that a long screw-driver is always preferable to a short one,

except where lack of space makes a short one necessary. The reason for

this is in the fact that in using the screw-driver you do not, as a

practical matter, keep it exactly in the line of the screw, but keep

wobbling it round more or less, which gives a leverage in the form of a

crank-like action as you turn the handle. The longer the screw-driver

the larger the circle or wobbling curve you describe with your hand and

the greater the leverage (Fig. 665).

[Illustration FIG. 665.]

A screw-driver to be turned by the bit-brace is very useful for driving

screws rapidly and with force, on account of the greater leverage gained

by using the brace instead of the common handle. This is particularly

useful where they need to be driven in very hard or when tight screws

have to be loosened. It also saves much time when many screws are to be

used. It is not advisable to buy automatic screw-drivers. They work

satisfactorily for light work, but are not suitable for such wrenching

and straining as your screw-drivers are liable to be subjected to. You

want screw-drivers to which you can apply all your strength. See

_Screws_.

=Screws.=--There are many kinds of screws. You will use the common

wood-screws for most of your work. These are either flat-headed or

round-headed, and of steel (either bright or blue or bronzed or nickled)

or of brass. When others are required they will be mentioned. It is

doubtful economy to buy second-hand or waste screws, but a pound or two

of "mixed" screws, which you can get at any hardware store, will be

very useful when you want some odd screw for some special purpose. Many

of the screws in the "mixed" lots, which are sold very cheap, are

defective, but you can often find among them just the peculiar screw you

need, and so save time and money.

Nails are often used where it would be better to use screws, which will,

as a rule, hold the pieces more securely. When work becomes loose,

screws can be tightened, while nails usually have to be redriven.

To make a screw drive easily, rub the point on a piece of common soap.

Oil is objectionable for nice work on account of the spot made by it. If

screws are to be used in places where they may rust, it is a good plan

to warm them slightly and then dip them in melted tallow or lard. They

can also be inserted and removed more easily for this treatment. Try to

keep the screw-driver from slipping from the slot of the screw (see

_Screw-driver_).

[Illustration FIG. 666.]

In boring holes for screws, considerable discretion must be used. The

hole in the outer piece (the one nearer the head of the screw) should be

large enough to allow the screw to slip through freely--that is, you

should not screw it into both pieces, but only the inner one, the screw

acting somewhat in the nature of a clamp to bind the outer piece to the

inner by pinching it tight between the screw-head and the inner piece

(Fig. 666). How much of a hole to bore in the piece into which the point

of the screw enters depends on circumstances. The stouter the screw the

less hole required. The softer and larger the piece and the farther from

the edge the less hole required. If the piece is small or liable to

split, the hole must be carefully made--the more carefully in proportion

to the slenderness of the screw, as a slim screw is liable to twist off

in hard wood unless a sufficient hole is provided. Brass screws are very

apt to do this, and much care must be used, particularly with slender

ones in hard wood. If the hole is a bit too large, they will not hold.

If a trifle too small, they will twist off, which is very annoying,

especially in such cases as hinge-screws, for instance, where the place

for the screws cannot well be changed. The hole should be somewhat

smaller than the diameter of the screw. In good-sized pieces of soft

wood there is frequently no need of any hole.

In rough work, especially in soft wood, the screws may be pounded part

way with the hammer, driving them home with the screw-driver. Some

theoretical workman will be quite sure to tell you never to do such a

thing as that, so be sure to understand what is meant. Theoretically

there may be some loss of holding power by that process, but practically

the screws will hold just as well for the cases in which you are advised

to do that way. Judgment must be used about all such things and theories

are only of value when used by the light of common-sense. For example,

if you are screwing the top on a mahogany table or framing a nice boat

_never_ think of using a hammer to start your screws, but if you are

putting cleats on an old shed door or screwing up a packing-case do not

spend an hour and a lot of strength driving screws all the way with a

screw-driver when you can do the work in half an hour by driving the

screws three quarters of the way in with the hammer. Good practical

workmen are just as certain to use the hammer in such cases as they are

careful _not_ to use it for nice work or where the full holding power of

the screw is needed.

Flat-headed screws almost always should be countersunk (see

_Countersink_), for neatness if for no other reason, and in hard wood

you should cut the depression for the head of the screw with the regular

countersink made for the purpose. This should be done for nice work in

soft wood where a good surface is required, but for _common_ work in

soft wood there is no need, as a rule, for the head of the screw will

sink itself easily until flush with the surface.

If a screw hole requires to be moved a little, but not far enough so

that a new hole can be bored without the bit slipping into the old hole,

plug the old hole with a wooden pin dipped in glue, and when dry bore

the new hole where required.

See _Screw-driver_.

=Scribing.=--Compasses are often used for scribing a line parallel to

another line or surface, whether regular or irregular, in places where

the gauge cannot be used. Suppose, for instance, you wish to cut the

edge of a board to fit the undulating surface shown in Fig. 667. Run

the compasses along with one point on the surface and the other making a

mark on the board, and the line on the board will be parallel with the

surface.

[Illustration FIG. 667.]

[Illustration FIG. 668.]

[Illustration FIG. 669.]

Another example is that of making a table, bench, chair, horse, or any

four-legged object stand evenly. If it stands on three legs, which is a

common fault and likely to occur in your first attempts, do not hastily

saw one leg shorter by guess, and, making it too short, saw another and

so on until it stands firmly, when the top will probably be all out of

level. If there is any true surface on which you can stand the article

(right side up), you can level the top by wedging under the legs until

the corners of the top are equally distant from the surface on which the

object stands. Then setting the compasses at a distance equal to that at

which the end of the shortest leg is raised (Fig. 668), scribe around

the other legs, which can then be cut off.[50]

See also _Winding-Sticks_ and _Marking_.

=Setting Saws.=--See _Sharpening_.

=Sharpening.=--Before attempting to sharpen your tools yourself it would

be well to read the advice given on page 22 under _Care of Tools_.

The general process of sharpening edged tools is first to grind them to

as keen an edge as possible on the grindstone, or the emery-wheel, then

to smooth down the coarse edge left by the grindstone by rubbing on a

fine stone with oil or water, and finally stropping on leather. The

grindstone must be kept wet while grinding or the heat caused by the

friction of the tool on the dry stone will ruin the temper of the steel.

Besides, the water carries off the waste particles of stone and steel.

Stand on the side towards which the top of the stone turns. The tool can

be ground with the stone turning from you, and, in fact, this usually

seems the natural way to a novice, but it is usually more difficult to

grind uniformly in that way and too thin an edge (a "wire-edge," ragged

but not sharp) is apt to be produced, the removal of which is difficult

without further damaging the edge and delaying the final sharpening.

To grind the point of a knife, it can be moved back and forth lengthways

with a curving motion, while resting flat on the grindstone, and to

grind the straight part of the blade, it can be allowed to bear very

slightly harder near the edge of the stone than elsewhere, as it is

passed back and forth.

To grind a chisel, grasp the handle with the right hand, hold the blade

in the left hand with the fingers uppermost and near the cutting-edge.

The arms and wrists should be kept as rigid as possible, the former at

the sides of the body, so that the tool may be held firmly against the

motion of the stone. Lay the chisel with slight pressure quite flatly on

the stone and then raise the handle until the bevel touches the stone.

As you grind keep moving the tool slowly back and forth across the

stone, which helps keep the edge of the tool straight and prevents the

stone being worn away too much in one place. Use plenty of water.

The common way of holding the tool on the stone is the one just

described, but it can also be held at right angles to this position, so

that, in the case of a chisel, for instance, the grinding action of the

stone instead of being from the edge toward the handle is from side to

side of the blade. The tool is ground quicker and easier by this means,

and it is a good way to reduce the edge to shape, finishing the grinding

by the regular method.

You will see that the curvature of the stone will tend to give the bevel

a slight curve, in whatever position the tool is held, which is

advantageous in the common way of grinding. When held so that the stone

grinds from side to side of the blade the tool must be continually

turned a little in the hand so that each part of the edge will bear in

turn on the stone, as, the tool edge being flat, and the surface of the

stone rounding, the tool would otherwise be ground hollowing. It is

harder to hold the tool in this way, however, without its slipping or

making nicks or grooves in the stone, and you had best learn to grind in

the ordinary manner.

Try to grind squarely across the chisel--that is, to have the

cutting-edge at right angles to the lengthways edge of the tool. Apply

the square at intervals to test the accuracy of the grinding.

The angle for grinding the bevel of such tools as the chisel is about

twenty-five degrees, but when used for very hard wood the angle should

be slightly greater, or the edge may be broken.

Do all the grinding on the bevel. Do not apply the flat side of the tool

to the grindstone. Any slight burr or turning over of the edge on the

flat side should be taken off by the oil-stone.

If the edge is badly nicked or broken, you can first straighten or grind

it down roughly on the side of the stone or by holding it nearly at

right angles to the stone--but with the latter turning the other

way--before grinding in the regular way.

To tell when the tool is ground sufficiently, hold the edge in front of

you toward the light. If the edge can be seen as a bright shining line

it is a sign that the tool is dull. It will not be sharp until this

bright line has been removed, and the edge has become invisible, for a

really keen edge cannot be seen by the naked eye. Bear this in mind, as

it is the final test and the simplest way to tell when to stop grinding.

In grinding on a grindstone and in rubbing on an oil-stone, the great

difficulty is to keep the same angle between the tool and the stone, as

the natural tendency in moving the tool is to rock it back and forth and

thus alter the angle between the blade and the stone. An arrangement can

be bought which preserves the desired angle without effort on the part

of the grinder. A little ingenuity will enable you to rig up a guide or

gauge with a piece of board which will enable you to replace the tool on

the grindstone at the same angle.

The plane-iron is sharpened in the same way as the chisel, only, being

wider than most of the chisels you are likely to use, it requires more

care to sharpen. The plane-irons can be ground to a somewhat more acute

angle than the chisels, although the jack-plane, which is used for rough

work, may require more strength at the edge.

In rubbing the edge upon the _oil-stone_, do not attempt to smooth down

the whole bevel made by the grindstone, but first lay the tool lightly

on the stone as shown in Fig. 670_a_, then raise the handle until the

upper part of the bevel is very slightly raised,--barely enough to clear

the stone (Fig. 670_b_),--and then proceed with the whetting, thus

making a second or little bevel at the edge (Fig. 671).

The tool must be moved back and forth very steadily or instead of a

second bevel the whole edge will be rounded (Fig. 672) and will not have

the requisite keenness. The angle of this second bevel is usually about

ten degrees greater than the long bevel, or thirty-five degrees,

although the angles of sharpening should be varied slightly according to

the hardness of the wood and the kind of work to be done; but where you

have only few tools and must use them for all kinds of work you cannot

always, as a practical matter, pay much regard to such variations, as of

course you cannot keep regrinding your tools every time you begin on a

new piece of wood. Just how acute to make the edge you must learn by

experience, according to the conditions of your work. An edge suitable

for delicate work in white-pine would be immediately ruined if used upon

lignum-vitæ.

[Illustration FIG. 670.]

[Illustration FIG. 671.]

[Illustration FIG. 672.]

Any little wire edge which is produced on the flat side by the process

of rubbing on the oil-stone can be removed by drawing the flat side of

the iron over the stone once, but be sure that you do not raise the

handle at all, as the slightest bevel on the flat side of the edge will

spoil it. After the tool has been sharpened a good many times on the

oil-stone this smaller bevel (the oil-stone bevel, so to speak) will

become so wide that it is a waste of time and strength to rub it down.

The chisel must then be reground and a new bevel made on the oil-stone.

It is a good plan to have a separate stone or "slip" for the outside

bevel of gouges, because it is so hard to avoid rubbing hollows in the

stone, which injures it for the other tools. Care must be taken also

with very narrow or pointed tools lest the stone be grooved or nicked.

Gouges can be rubbed at right angles with the stone, rolling the tool

with the left hand, or by the use of a slip they can be rubbed as

described below. For rubbing gouges on the inside, _i.e._, on the

concave surface, rounded pieces of stone, called "slips," are used.

These can be bought of various sizes and shapes to fit the various

curves. Do not think, however, that you must try to find a slip that

will fit each gouge as exactly as if it had been shaped by the gouge

itself. The curve of the slip may be a little "quicker" or sharper than

that of the tool, but must not be flatter or of course it cannot be made

to bear on all parts of the curve.

In rubbing with the slip, hold the tool upright in the hand and rub the

slip up and down, moving the slip and not the tool. If you rest the

tool against the bench, it will steady it and also avoid any probability

of your finger slipping on to the edge. The more common "outside" gouges

are not rubbed on the inside, except the merest touch of the slip to

remove any wire edge or burr. The draw-knife is also rubbed with a flat

slip, in the same manner, resting it on the bench.

In rubbing the knife on the oil-stone give it a circular motion rather

than simply back and forth, particularly for the point. The straight

part can be allowed to bear a little more heavily near the edge of the

stone as it is passed back and forth.

It is much the best way to sharpen tools frequently, as soon as they

begin to get dull, when they will require but little rubbing on the

stone, rather than to let them get into such condition that it is a long

and hard job to whet them; and of course the more careful you are to

_keep_ them sharp, the better work you will do.

To test the sharpness of your tools, cut across the grain of a piece of

soft pine wood. If the cut is clean and smooth, the tools are sharp, but

if the cut is rough or the wood torn, further sharpening is needed. The

reason for using soft wood, which at first thought might not seem to

require as keen an edge as hard wood, is because the fibrous structure

of the soft wood, being more yielding, offers less resistance to the

tool and so is torn or crushed apart except by a very keen edge, while

the firmer structure of the hard wood can be cut smoothly by a tool

which would tear the soft wood. The difference is somewhat like that

between cutting a fresh loaf of bread or cake and a stale one.

The edge left by the oil-stone can be improved by _stropping_ on a piece

of leather on which a little paste of lard and emery or some similar

composition has been spread. This is better than to strop knives and

other tools on your boots. Any piece of leather such as barbers use, or

even a piece from an old boot, will answer. For flat edges see that the

strop rests on a flat surface, so as not to tend to round the edge, as

it may do if held carelessly in the hand. See _Oil-stone_ and _Strop_.

_Saw Filing_ is particularly hard for boys and amateurs to do

satisfactorily and you are advised not to undertake it until you have

become quite familiar with the use of tools, for it does not need to be

done very often, costs but little, and there are very few places where

you cannot get it done.

It is not difficult to understand the _theory_ of setting and filing saw

teeth, but to fix a saw in really good shape is hard for an

amateur,--and for that matter you will find but a small proportion of

good workmen who are experts in saw filing. Even in very small villages

there is almost always some mechanic who has the knack of putting saws

in order better than anyone else and who therefore makes quite a

business of such work and people bring their saws to him from all the

country round, even though they may be able to fix them tolerably well

themselves, so great is the advantage in the quality of the work and the

saving of time in having a saw in perfect condition. You had best do the

same, and have your saws fixed whenever they get dull. The expense is

but slight, and there is nothing that will conduce more to good work,

and to your own success and satisfaction, than to have your tools in

first-rate working order.

When you get to the point of filing and setting your saws you are

advised to take a lesson from a good saw-filer. There are few persons so

situated that they cannot do this, or at least watch someone go through

the process, and thus learn much more readily than by reading about the

process in a book. In fact, it is one of those things that it is so hard

to learn from a book that merely a few remarks on the subject are given

here.

The saw is firmly fastened in a saw-clamp, expressly for the purpose, so

that it will not shake or rattle. The teeth are "jointed," or reduced to

the same level, by lightly passing the flat side of a file over their

points, lengthways of the saw. The saw can also be jointed along the

sides after filing, but this is frequently omitted.

For a cross-cutting saw the file (a triangular saw-file) is held at an

angle with the blade depending upon the particular form of tooth

adopted, as you will see by examination. The handle being grasped in the

right hand, the point of the file should be held between the thumb and

forefinger of the left hand (Fig. 526). The file must be pushed across

with an even, straight stroke, without any rocking or up and down

motion, pressure being applied only on the forward or pushing stroke,

the tool being drawn back very lightly or lifted entirely on the back

stroke. The filing is begun at one end of the saw, filing only the teeth

which bend away from you (_i.e._, every alternate tooth), carefully

keeping the file at the proper angle, pressing only on the tooth you are

filing, but keeping the tool lightly touching the adjacent tooth, and

making allowance for the fact that when you file the alternate set the

passing file will take off a little from the teeth first filed. The saw

is then turned around and the process repeated with the other teeth. If

you look lengthways along the edge of a panel-saw that has been properly

filed and set, an angular trough or groove will be seen along the whole

length, so that you can slide a needle along in it from one end of the

saw to the other.

The ripping-saw is usually filed squarely across the saw (at

right-angles to the blade), as you will see at once on examination of

the teeth (Figs. 654 and 655), but sometimes at a more acute angle.

The teeth are set by bending every other tooth outward, first setting

those on one side and then those on the other. You should do this with

some one of the various adjustable tooth-setting contrivances sold for

the purpose, as it requires a skilled workman to set teeth in any other

way, and any attempt on your part to do so without some instrument

adjusted to the purpose will probably result in damaging the saw.

For soft and loose-fibred wood more set is needed than for hard wood,

because the fibres, which are quite cleanly cut or broken in the hard

wood, in the more yielding soft wood are bent aside by the teeth to

close in upon the blade with considerable binding force; and less set is

required by fine work than for coarse. The angles and points of saw

teeth can be more acute for soft than for hard wood.

To sharpen the scraper you must have a sharpener or burnisher. The edge

of a chisel or any piece of very hard steel can be used after a fashion,

but it is better to have a regular tool for the purpose, which can be

made easily from an old three-cornered file, such as is used for filing

saws, by grinding off the teeth and slightly rounding the angles on the

grindstone until the whole tool is smooth. Two opposite edges of the

scraper are ground or filed and the edge then turned over by the

burnisher. Some workmen grind the edges with an obtuse bevel and use

only one angle of each edge. Others grind the edges square and use both

angles of each edge. The bevel gives a slightly keener scraping edge

than to grind the steel square, but it requires more frequent sharpening

and the squared edge turned over on both sides is likely to be more

satisfactory.

[Illustration FIG. 673.]

First grind or file the two opposite edges squarely across and slightly

round each corner to prevent scratching the wood. If there is a burr at

the edge it can be removed by rubbing the scraper lightly on the

oil-stone, but this is advisable only for final scraping of very fine

work. Having thus got the edge at right angles and smooth, lay the

scraper flat on its side near the edge of the bench and rub the

burnisher back and forth a few times in the position shown in Fig. 673,

which is almost flat on the scraper. This rubbing bends a little of the

steel over the edge. Do this on each opposite edge of the two sides,

giving four edges thus curled over. Next, holding the scraper as shown

in Fig. 674, draw the burnisher with a firm, even stroke, once or twice,

lengthways of the edge, as shown. The scraper can be laid flat on the

bench, if preferred, slightly projecting over the edge. Notice that the

tool should be drawn with a slightly end to end motion, as shown, which

helps turn the edge. This turns a fine scraping edge, which will take

off shavings. All four edges are treated in the same way. After one edge

gets dull, use another. When all four are dull, resharpen with the

burnisher as before, without grinding or filing the edge. This can be

done a few times, but soon the edges will get worn off and rounded, and

the scraper then needs refiling.

[Illustration FIG. 674.]

=Shellac.=--See _Finishing_.

=Shell-Bit=.--See _Bits_.

=Shelves.=--Examples of shelves fitted permanently into place are given

in Chapter X. (on Furniture). Removable shelves can most easily be

fitted to rest on cleats screwed to the sides of the space, but this

arrangement does not always look very well and the position of the

shelves cannot be changed so readily as by using screw-eyes driven into

the sides under the shelves (Fig. 675), recesses of the right shape

being cut on the under side of the shelves so that the screw-eyes will

be sunk and not be conspicuous. The position of the shelves can quickly

be changed by screwing the supports higher or lower as may be required.

Pins and other contrivances to fit in a series of holes can be bought

for this purpose. A common way to adjust shelves is shown in Fig. 676.

The construction is obvious. The vertical strips can be laid on edge

side by side, clamped together, and the notches laid out and cut as if

there were but one piece. Where a circular saw is available the notches

are cut on the side of a narrow piece of board which is then sawed into

the desired strips or "ratchets."

[Illustration FIG. 675.]

[Illustration FIG. 676.]

=Shooting-Board.=--The shooting-board is very useful for jointing edges,

particularly for short, thin stock. The carpenter or cabinet-maker will

make you one for a moderate price, or you can make one yourself as soon

as you become a good enough workman (see page 93).

[Illustration FIG. 677.]

To use it, the board to be jointed is laid flat on the raised part of

the shooting-board, where it is firmly held with the left hand, with the

end of the board pressing against the stop of the shooting-board, and

the edge to be jointed lapping over the edge of the raised part. The

planing is done with the plane lying on its side on the lower part of

the shooting-board (Fig. 677). The cutting-edge of the plane thus being

at right angles with the surface of the board, the edge will be planed

squarely across. The shooting-board should be fastened on the bench in

some way, to prevent it from slipping around.

Attachments to keep the sole of the plane at right angles to the surface

of the piece can be had at any hardware store, and serve the same

purpose as a shooting-board for thick stock, but not equally well for

thin pieces.

You can reverse the sides of two pieces to be jointed for gluing, as

described on page 406, giving a joint like that shown in Fig. 678 (which

is exaggerated). The iron of the plane is sometimes purposely set to

project unevenly beyond the sole.

[Illustration FIG. 678.]

If you have many joints to make, you can have the edges jointed at

slight expense at any wood-working mill on a planer made for the

purpose. See _Jointing_.

=Smoothing-Plane.=--See _Plane_.

=Smoothing Surfaces.=--See _Plane_, _Scraper_, _Sandpaper_.

=Splices.=--See _Joints and Splices_.

=Spline.=--A flexible strip, used as a ruler, for drawing curves. See

_Marking_.

=Splitting-Saw.=--See _Saw_.

=Splitting Wood.=--We have seen how a log in drying cracks along the

radial lines (page 31), thus showing the natural lines of cleavage or

separation in the direction of the medullary rays, that is, radiating

from the centre. From this we see that the wood will, of course, split

most easily and smoothly on the radial lines. Like all wood-choppers you

can often make practical use of this fact in splitting wood with a knife

or chisel, or in splitting fuel with an axe. The next easiest way to

split wood is as nearly as may be on the line of the annual rings, or

tangential to the line of the medullary rays, in the same direction as

when the layers separate in forming "cup shakes" (see Appendix). This

way is sometimes easier than to rive a stout log through the centre.

=Spokeshave.=--The spoke-shave is very useful for smoothing small curved

and irregular surfaces. Metal spoke-shaves of various patterns can be

bought with various adjustments for different curves, etc. Also a

"universal" spoke-shave can be had, with movable handles and detachable

bottoms which can be adapted for curved or straight work, and a width

gauge by means of which it can be used for rabbeting.

The spoke-shave is a very useful tool and works upon the same general

principle as the plane, but lacking the long flat sole of the plane is

used only for irregular surfaces, which its short and sometimes curved

face enables it to smooth with great ease. It also acts on the same

principle as a draw-knife with the addition of a guiding stock. It bears

somewhat the same relation to the draw-knife that the plane does to the

chisel.

[Illustration FIG. 679.]

Grasp the tool firmly, bearing downward with both hands and pressing

forward with the thumbs, pushing the tool from you so as to cut like a

plane (Fig. 679). Of course it can also be drawn towards you when the

circumstances of the work render it advisable. See _Paring_ and

_Sharpening_.

=Spoon-Bit.=--See _Bits_.

=Square.=--This tool is one of the most useful in the list, for the

importance of having your work "square" can hardly be over-estimated.

The _try-square_ should have a metal strip on the inside edge of the

wooden arm, head, or beam, or the handle can be wholly of metal. Get a

medium-sized try-square (9- or 10-inch blade is good) rather than a very

small one, as it is much more useful; and a graduated scale, like a

rule, on the blade is sometimes serviceable.

[Illustration FIG. 680.]

The primary use of this tool is to test or "try" the accuracy of

right-angled work--hence the name. The one special point to bear in mind

in using it for this purpose is to be sure that the head or beam is

pressed _firmly_ against the edge or side to which it is applied,

determining the accuracy of the angle by the position of the blade (Fig.

680).

You will also use the try-square continually for marking straight lines

across boards or timbers at right angles to one side or one edge (Fig.

681). In using it for this purpose be sure not merely to press the head

of the square firmly against the edge of the board, but to _keep_ it

securely in the same position. When the blade is placed correctly on the

given point do the marking as by any straight-edge. Another way is to

place the point of the pencil or knife directly on the given point and

slide the square along until it bears on the pencil or knife. Then,

keeping the head of the square firmly against the edge, the line can be

drawn along the blade.

[Illustration FIG. 681.]

[Illustration FIG. 682.]

The try-square sometimes is made with the end of the head or beam next

the blade cut on a bevel. By placing this bevel against the edge a

try-square of this construction can also be used as a mitre-square (Fig.

682).

If you buy a second-hand square, or if a square has been wrenched, you

can test its accuracy by marking a line with it across a surface from a

straight edge, then turning the square over and repeating the operation;

the two lines should coincide. But the edge from which you rule must be

perfectly straight, or the test will be of no value. If, however, you

buy new squares made by the best makers they will be as accurate as any

test you can apply to them.

Beginners, particularly young beginners, are very apt to be so engrossed

in making the line along the blade that they forget to keep the head in

position, or let it slip, when the blade will of course cease to be at

right angles with the edge or side (Fig. 683).

[Illustration FIG. 683.]

The _framing-square_, "_steel-square_," or large two-foot carpenter's

square, is a very useful and important tool; not merely for framing and

large, heavy work but also for small work, and it is of great value in

many mechanical operations. Even an iron square is very useful, but a

nickel-plated steel-square is the best, as the figures are more distinct

and it is less likely to rust. The long arm makes a good straight-edge.

See also page 181.

=Staining.=--When you stain wood, do it for the sake of the colour,

preserving the beauty of the grain, and not to try to imitate a more

expensive wood. It is better, as a rule, to use good wood of a handsome

colour and leave it as it is to mellow with age than to stain or colour

it, but there are times when you will wish to stain wood.

The main point to bear in mind for successful staining is to colour the

wood itself, not to put on a superficial coat of coloured varnish. For

instance, the fumes of ammonia (or the liquid itself) will give oak in a

very short time the same dark colour which the ammonia in the air will

produce after years of exposure. This is a natural process--merely

anticipating the change caused by time.

There are a number of ways of staining dependent upon such chemical

processes carried on in the wood itself. These ways are the best, as you

can readily see. Having got the right colour, the wood can be oiled,

shellacked, varnished, or waxed in the usual way. By this method the

natural grain of the wood is not obscured. In fact, the figure of the

grain is sometimes made more conspicuous.

Another way is to wash the wood with some thin stain of the desired

colour, after which you can finish in the usual way. This is a good

method, for the wood itself is coloured to some distance below the

surface, and after it is finished it will take considerable bruising to

expose its original colour. This method also sometimes enhances the

beauty of the grain.

The poorest way to stain, but a very common one with amateurs and in

cheap work, is, instead of staining the wood itself, to cover the

surface with coloured varnish or shellac. This is often the cheapest and

quickest way of getting a desired colour, but it is decidedly the

poorest way. Of course, no coating of colour put on outside can be as

durable as colour imbedded in the substance of the wood itself, and

scarring or injury to the coating exposes the original colour beneath.

Besides this, the grain and character of the wood are necessarily

obscured by a coloured coating. Wood finished in this way almost always

has a cheap, artificial look, and you can usually detect the fraud at a

glance. There are many cheap "varnish stains" or coloured varnishes, but

you will do well to avoid them, unless for the cheapest and poorest

work.

There are two things you will wish to do in staining. One is simply to

darken or enrich the natural colour of the wood, so as to give it at

once the rich, deep, mellow tone produced by age. This is always the

best way to do when it will give the colour you want. But if you want to

change the colour entirely--to make pine wood red or green, or cherry

black, you must use some chemical process that will develop a new colour

in the wood, or must apply a regular stain.

Raw linseed oil alone, well rubbed in and allowed to stand before

applying shellac or varnish, will deepen and bring out the natural

colouring in time as well as anything else, but it takes a good while.

Repeated applications, each thoroughly rubbed in and the excess rubbed

off, and after standing some days or weeks, given a light rubbing down

with fine sandpaper, then another oiling, and so on, will in time give a

surface of beautiful colour, as well as a soft and attractive lustre.

But to carry out this process may take months, so that you will not be

very likely to practise it; but you see the result sometimes on old

wooden tool-handles and plane-stocks which have been so treated. If you

do not care about deepening the colour greatly, one or two applications,

allowed to stand a week or two before finishing, will often be

sufficient and will make a great difference in the looks of your work,

and take off that raw, fresh look peculiar to recently cut wood.

If your work is such that you can defer the shellacing for a year or so,

as in the case of some pretty piece of furniture to remain in the house,

there is no way you can develop the richness of the wood better than to

oil it and let it stand to mellow, with occasional applications of oil

and rubbing down. Then finally rub down with fine sandpaper and shellac

in the usual way.

To hasten the process we must apply something stronger than oil. If the

work is of oak, shut it up in a box or _tight_ closet, with a dish of

_strong_ ammonia on the floor. Do not stay in the box or closet

yourself, as it is dangerous. A simpler way is to wash the work with the

ammonia, more than once if necessary. Have the room well ventilated when

you do this, and do not inhale more of the fumes than necessary. Wetting

the wood is sometimes a disadvantage, however, in glued-up work, and it

"raises the grain," which must be rubbed down with fine sandpaper before

finishing.

To deepen the colour of mahogany or cherry, simply wash it with

lime-water (a simple solution of common lime in water) as many times as

may be necessary, which is cheap and effective. After this process,

thoroughly clean out all cracks and corners before sandpapering, for

particles of the lime which may be deposited will spoil the appearance

of the work when finished. This process preserves the natural appearance

of the wood. The only drawback is the necessity of getting the work so

wet. Some days should be allowed for the water to evaporate before

shellacking. To get a darker shade, apply in the same way a solution of

bichromate of potash in water.

Whitewood takes stains finely--much better than pine. Oak will stain

almost any colour, but the individuality of the wood--the character of

its grain and structure--is so strongly marked that it is poor taste to

attempt to stain it to imitate other woods. If you stain it, stain it

just as you would paint it, simply for the colour.

A good way for indoor work, such as a piece of furniture or anything of

the sort you may wish to colour, is to mix dry pigments with japan and

then thin the mixture with turpentine, or turpentine alone can be used.

After the work is coloured in this way put on a couple of coats of

varnish. For outside work you can use oil. This is a cheap way and wears

well. It applies only to the cheaper woods which you do not care to

leave of the natural colour. For black inside work you can use

ivory-black, ground in japan and thinned with turpentine. Ivory-black or

bone-black are superior to lampblack, but the latter will do very well

for most purposes. Dragon's blood in alcohol is used to give a colour

similar to mahogany. Alkanet root in raw linseed oil will give a warm

and mellow hue to mahogany or cherry.

There is an almost endless number of recipes for staining, but such

others as you need you can learn from some finisher or painter, for the

limits of this book do not allow fuller treatment of so extensive a

subject.

=Steel-Square.=--See _Square_.

=Steel-Wool.=--Long, fine steel shavings done up in bundles can be used

instead of sandpaper for some purposes. There are various degrees of

fineness. This is good for cleaning off paint and for smoothing curved

surfaces, but should not be used until all work with the edge-tools is

done, because of the particles of the metal. It can be used for "rubbing

down" in finishing.

=Straight-Bent Chisel.=--See _Chisel_.

=Straight-Edge.=--There are no definite dimensions for a straight-edge.

Any piece of wood that is straight and convenient to use can be so

called; the size and the length depending on the work for which it is

to be used, from a common ruler to a long board. The edge of a large

carpenter's square is handy for short work. Clear white pine or

straight-grained mahogany is good for straight-edges, but a

straight-edge is not the easiest thing for a beginner to make, and you

will do well to find something straight to use for a while until you

acquire the skill to make one--or get the carpenter to make you one,

which he will do for a very small sum or for nothing.

[Illustration FIG. 684.]

To test a straight-edge, mark a line by it, then turn the straight-edge

over and see if it still coincides with the line, or mark another line

and see if it coincides with the first one. Try your straight-edges by

this test once in a while, as they are liable to become crooked. In

turning the edge over, however, do not reverse the ends, as in case of

an undulating curvature the curves may agree and give you the impression

that the edge is straight when it is not. In the first case shown in

Fig. 684 (exaggerated) this would not happen, but in the second case

(also exaggerated) it might. See _Marking_.

=Strop.=--A piece of hard, smooth leather on which to strop your tools

you can easily procure. It can be fastened on a piece of wood (see page

85). Spread on it a paste of sweet oil and emery, lard oil and crocus

powder, or some similar preparation. A pine board on which "air-dust"

has accumulated can even be used. See remarks under _Sharpening_.

=Tacks.=--Tacks are sold as one-ounce, two-ounce, and so on according

to size.

Do not use tacks for fastening wood to wood, but only for fastening

leather or cloth or the like to wood. The pointed wedge-shape of the

tack tends to split thin wood, and is not at all suitable to fasten two

pieces of wood together, particularly in thin wood or near the edge.

Possibly you may have seen some disastrous results from the attempt to

tack pieces of wood together.

=Tape-Measure.=--This article (preferably of steel) is often useful,

though not nearly as important for an amateur to buy as many other

things.

=Tenon.=--See _Mortising_.

=Tenon-Saw.=--See _Saw_ (_Back-Saw_).

=Tool-Racks.=--See page 83.

=Toothed-Plane.=--See _Plane_.

[Illustration FIG. 685.]

[Illustration FIG. 686.]

=Truing Surfaces.=--To true a curved or warped surface, as of a board,

lay it on the bench with the rounded side down and wedge it firmly

underneath to make it as nearly level as possible. Then scribe a line

with the compasses across each end of the board at the height of the

lowest point of the surface (Fig. 685). Cut a depression or kind of

rabbet at each end down to this line (Fig. 686). Next, by the use of

winding-sticks placed on each of these rabbets you can easily see

whether they are in line (see _Winding-sticks_). Alter the rabbets if

necessary to get them in line. Draw lines on each edge connecting the

bottoms of the rabbets, and plane away the superfluous wood down to

these lines. When this is done the top of the board will be true or in

the same plane. Test it by placing the straight-edges in different

positions on the surface and sighting as before, correcting any errors.

One side of the board being made true in this way, the other can be made

parallel by gauging a line all around the edge, measuring by the

thinnest point of the board, and planing off the superfluous wood in the

same manner as the first side.

You can sometimes facilitate the process of planing off the superfluous

wood by making cuts with the saw and removing part of it with the

chisel, or by planing across the grain (the jack-plane is good for this

purpose), or paring across the grain with the chisel, or any such

method, always being careful not to cut quite as deep as the intended

surface, so that all the marks and cuts can be removed by the final

planing. See _Plane_, and also page 179.

=Try-Square.=--See _Square_.

=Turning-Saw.=--See _Saw_.

=Turpentine.=--See _Finishing_ and _Painting_.

=Twist-Drill.=--The twist-drill is much better than the gimlet-bit. It

makes a good hole, bores easily, is not easily dulled, can be used upon

metal, and one kind in common use can be easily kept in order by simply

sharpening the ends. There are various patterns. A little care is

necessary, however, particularly in hard wood, as they are liable to be

snapped by bending. See _Bits_.

=Varnish.=--See _Finishing_.

=Veining-Tool.=--See _Carving-Tools_.

=Vise.=--See page 65. For vise for metal-work, see page 70.

=Warping, To Remove.=--Of course the simplest way to straighten a warped

board is to put a weight on it, but the difficulty here is that it

usually will stay straight only while the weight is on it, unless you

leave it longer than the patience of the average amateur lasts. To do

this (or to warp a straight board either) with some chance of success,

(1) heat one side, or (2) wet one side, or (3) wet one side and heat the

other, or (4) wet both sides and expose one to the fire (Fig. 687). But

do not be too sure that the result will be lasting. Sometimes it will

and sometimes not. Another way is to thoroughly soak the board, press it

into shape between clamps or under a weight, and leave it until dry; a

week or more is none too long, and boiling water is better than cold.

Simply laying a board down on a flat surface will often cause it to

warp, because the two sides of the board will be unequally exposed to

the action of the atmosphere. Planing off one side only, or planing one

side more than the other, often produces the same effect. See pages

50-53 and Appendix.

[Illustration FIG. 687.]

=Wedges.=--Wedges are in constant use for lifting or separating heavy

bodies, as doubtless you know, and the principle of the wedge comes in

in using the axe, hatchet, chisel, knife, and the other edge-tools (see

page 25). Besides this use of the wedge you will often find it valuable

to tighten or clamp objects of various kinds, or to hold them firmly in

place.

If you wish to split objects or tear them apart, use a _single_ wedge,

for the increasing thickness of the wedge applied at one point tears or

splits the wood apart. But if you merely wish to squeeze, or press, or

hold firmly, or move, _without damaging the shape of the wood_, use

_double_ wedges,--that is, two wedges having the same inclination or

taper and pointing opposite ways. You will see that the sides of the

double wedge (that is, the outsides of the wedges) will be parallel no

matter how hard you drive the separate wedges, so that the pressure will

be exerted without injuring or jamming the surfaces against which the

wedge bears (see Fig. 333). Short, flaring wedges do the work more

quickly, but require harder blows to drive, and are more liable to slip.

Long, tapering wedges work more slowly, more easily, and are not liable

to slip. You will also use wedging to secure tenons and dowels (see

_Mortising_, etc.).

=Whittling.=--See _Knife_.

=Winding-Sticks.=--Two straight-edges, each of equal width throughout,

can be laid on edge, one across each end of the surface to be tested.

Stand back a little and look across the top edge of one to the top edge

of the other, and if these edges agree you may know at once that there

is no winding where you have placed the straight-edges (Fig. 688). By

putting them in different positions you can finally determine whether

the whole surface is true or not.

[Illustration FIG. 688.]

[Illustration FIG. 689.]

It is more accurate to use winding-sticks considerably longer than the

width of the piece to be tested, as then any warping or winding will be

exaggerated and more easily seen (Fig. 689). If the upper edges of the

sticks are thin, or "feather-edged," it is easier to tell exactly when

they are in line, but this does not ordinarily matter, except in work

requiring extreme accuracy.

To find, for example, when the legs of a table, chair, or the like are

cut so that the article will stand evenly, turn it over with the legs

sticking up, put straight-edges on the ends of the legs, sight across

these (Fig. 690), and trim one or two legs until the edges are in line.

See _Scribing_ for other methods.

[Illustration FIG. 690.]

Warping or winding of short pieces can be detected by simply laying one

straight-edge diagonally from corner to corner (Fig. 691). This will

show at once which parts require to be planed to make the surface true.

[Illustration FIG. 691.]

=Withdrawing Nails.=--When withdrawing nails place a block under the

hammer-head as shown (Fig. 692), using more blocks, if necessary, as the

nail is withdrawn.

To draw the nails from boxes, pry up a board, together with the nails, a

short distance--perhaps 1/4"--and then with a _sharp_, _quick_ blow of

the hammer pound the board back into place, not striking the nails but

the board between them. This will usually leave the nail-heads

projecting a little above the surface, so that you can draw them as

shown in Fig. 692, and thus save splitting or defacing the boards and

bending the nails, as usually results from smashing or wrenching boxes

apart. The quick blow drives the board back before the motion has time

to communicate itself to the nails, on somewhat the same principle that

a bullet makes a round hole in a window pane without smashing the glass.

[Illustration FIG. 692.]

=Wood-Filler.=--See _Finishing_.

=Wrench.=--A strong wrench is often very serviceable in wood-working

operations.

FOOTNOTES:

[41] _Mortise-chisels_ with great thickness of blade (Fig. 486) are not

likely to break, and the width of the sides bearing against the sides of

the mortise tends to make the cutting more accurate.

[42] You may be told that perfect joints do not require much clamping,

but a perfect joint is impossible, and as a practical matter, only the

skilled workman or the most accurate machinery can make even a _good_

joint of much length, so great is the difficulty of avoiding little

inaccuracies. Besides this, there is always the liability to more or

less springing or change of shape on the part of the pieces. The joint

which was good when you stopped planing may not be as good by the time

the glue has set, particularly if the gluing does not immediately follow

the jointing. In addition to this, the pressure from clamping at only

one or two points, or at points too far apart, may force the joint to

open elsewhere. Do not infer from this that even the beginner should be

content with a poor joint, with the idea that it can be squeezed and

jammed to a sufficiently good fit by applying muscle to the clamps. Of

course this jamming or mashing of the fibres to fit occurs, to a

microscopic degree, in even the best joint, and it can sometimes be done

to a perceptible extent with soft wood, but to do this intentionally is

very unworkmanlike, and the greatest care should be taken to make as

good a joint as possible before gluing and applying the clamps. Do not,

however, flatter yourself that you can make so accurate a joint that you

can afford to neglect proper clamping, unless, in such cases as that

shown in Fig. 488, you adopt the old-fashioned way of rubbing the two

edges together and then leaving the rest to the glue, but this is not so

good a process for the beginner, except with small pieces, such as

corner-blocks (see _Corner-blocks_). See _Jointing_.

[43] Shellac is, strictly speaking, a kind of varnish, but it is so

different from many kinds of varnish in common use that it is quite

commonly spoken of as shellac, in contradistinction from what is

popularly known as varnish, and the term is so used here.

[44] In shellacing doors or panel work, first shellac the panels, then

the rails, and finally the styles (see Fig. 505), because daubs or runs

can be wiped off and covered better when you thus follow the

construction of the work.

[45] As an extreme illustration, it may be interesting to note the way

the best lacquer work (which is so durable) is made by the Japanese, an

article being given, as Professor Morse tells us, one coat a year, the

finest work having twenty-one coats and the artist rowing out to sea for

miles each time to make sure that all dust is avoided.

[46] Two pieces properly glued are often stronger than one solid

piece--that is, the glued joint is stronger than the wood itself, as

you will probably discover some day when you have occasion to break

apart a piece of good gluing; but after a long time the glue is apt to

deteriorate in adhesive or cohesive force, particularly if the joint

has not been protected by paint or varnish, so do the best work you can

if you wish it to last. Nevertheless, in important work it is usually

safest to take a whole piece when you can, rather than glue up two or

more pieces, except in cases, perhaps, where the matter of warping,

etc., is concerned, when it may be better to build up the desired shape

of pieces selected for the purpose.

[47] It may be useful to know, although not suitable work for the

beginner, that there is no better way to joint edges (to make glued

joints, as in Fig. 552) than with a first-class circular saw, run by one

who knows how to use it. The minute roughnesses left by the saw assist

the glue to hold, and as inconspicuous and strong joints as possible can

be quickly produced in this way by a good workman with a first-class

saw, but do not expect a satisfactory result except under these

conditions.

[48] This seems to be the common opinion among experienced men. There

are, however, many painters of experience who prefer the prepared liquid

paint for outside work, and it certainly saves trouble.

[49] It is not a good plan to wipe brushes on the sharp edge of a tin

can, as it injures the bristles.

[50] Another method of doing this is to find a true surface to stand the

legs on and measure the distance the free leg rises from the surface--1"

for example. Do nothing to that leg, of course, or to the one

_diagonally_ opposite, but saw 1/2" from each of the two other legs.

Suppose, for example, the legs _a_, _b_, and _c_ touch (Fig. 669), and

_d_ rises 3/4" from the floor. Make _a_ and _c_ each 3/8" shorter. Of

course you cannot hit it exactly by this method, but a few strokes of a

tool will finish the work.

APPENDIX

=Collection of Specimens of Wood.=--Waste pieces of all the common woods

can easily be obtained at the wood working shops. Have some system about

the size and shape of the specimens. Some kinds you may be able to get

only in pieces of such shape as you can find among the odds and ends of

the shops, and many rare foreign and tropical woods you can obtain only

in quite small pieces, but even these will show the character of the

wood and add value to the collection. Waste scraps of veneers of rare

woods can be glued on blocks of pine.

The specimens will be most valuable if you can get them out so as to

show a longitudinal section along the medullary rays (or through the

heart), a longitudinal section at right angles to the medullary rays (or

tangential to the annual rings), and a cross section (Fig. 693). It will

be an advantage also to show not only the heartwood but the sapwood and

bark. If you cannot get such large pieces of even the common woods, a

collection of small flat blocks will be well worth making.

[Illustration FIG. 693.]

The specimens will show to best advantage if polished (one half of each

side can be polished) or finished with a dull lustre, and they will be

good objects on which to practise finishing (see _Finishing_ in Part

V.).

All the information you can pick up about the strength, durability,

toughness, elasticity, and uses of the various woods will be sure to

come in play sooner or later. The gradations of hardness, density,

weight, toughness, elasticity, etc., are almost endless.

Notice, therefore, the weight, colour, hardness, density, and

characteristic odour of the specimens; the proportion of heart to

sapwood, and the colour of each; the size and condition of the pith; the

character of the grain, whether coarse or fine, close or open and

porous; the number, arrangement, size, and colour of the medullary rays

(when visible); the width and character of the annual rings (when

visible), whether wide or narrow, with many or few ducts or resin

canals. You will find many things to notice in some woods. Use a

magnifying-glass if you can.

Notice also about the bark. Hunt up all the woody stems you can, compare

the bark of the different specimens, noting its colour, taste, odour,

surface, thickness, and the different ways it cracks and is cast off;

and notice how easily you can learn to tell the common trees by the bark

alone. Sections of small stems or branches will often show the character

of the wood well.

Note what you can about the character and habits of the trees

themselves; the height, diameter, age, and the shape and peculiarities

of the leaves. In this connection, a collection of leaves will also be

interesting to make. You can soon learn to tell the common trees by

their leaves.

Notice how, in some trees, as the pines, spruces, firs, the stem grows

right straight up to the top, forming a spire-shaped tree. This is

called an _excurrent_ trunk (Lat., _excurrere_, to run out). Notice how,

in other trees, like the elm, oak, etc., the stem branches again and

again until it is lost in the branches. This is called a _deliquescent_

stem (Lat., _deliquescere_, to melt away).

Study the shape and arrangement of the different kinds of trees as shown

in outline against the sky; best, perhaps, when the leaves are off. You

can learn to tell the common trees by their outline. Do they look stout,

firm, strong, and rugged, or delicate, yielding, and graceful? To a

certain extent you can thus form an idea of the character of the wood,

as in comparing the pine, with its comparatively light top and slender

leaves, with the heavy growth which the trunk of the oak has to sustain

in wind and snow.

=Preservation of Forests.=--Forests are of great value from their effect

upon the climate, making it more equable. They tend to cause abundant

and needed rainfall and to preserve the moisture when fallen, releasing

it to the rivers gradually, and thus preventing abnormal freshets and

extreme droughts. By absorbing and parting with heat slowly they cause

the changes of temperature to be less sudden than in the open country.

They temper the heat, and they serve as a protection, or "wind-break,"

to adjacent land. Trees, with other vegetation, are essential to the

purification of the air. All this is in addition to the obvious uses of

supplying fuel and wood for an almost endless variety of purposes, not

to speak of the value of trees for shade and as features of the

landscape.

The reckless rate at which the forests of the United States are being

destroyed is becoming a serious matter, not merely because of depriving

wood-workers of the materials with which to work, but because of the

influence of the forests upon the climate, the soil, etc., upon which so

much of the welfare of mankind depends. At the present rate of

destruction many generations cannot pass before the supply of wood will

be practically exhausted. It is every year becoming more difficult to

obtain native lumber of the best quality and large size.

One of the most serious aspects of the matter, however, is in regard to

the washing away of the soil, which owes not merely its origin but its

preservation to the forest and other vegetable growths. Professor Shaler

tells us that "it is in this action of the rain upon the bared surface

of the ground that we find the principal danger which menaces man in his

use of the earth."

The individual wood-worker may not have control of any forest or

wood-lot, but he can at least use his influence indirectly, when

opportunity offers, toward needed legislation to restrict, or at least

regulate, the improvident waste now going on, and he can in many cases

take advantage of Arbor Day to plant at least one tree toward preserving

the balance required by nature.

=Common Woods and Some of their Characteristics.=--There are many things

to be considered by the beginner when choosing his wood. Many of these

points have been treated in Chapter III. (to which the reader is

referred), but a few additional remarks about the various kinds may be

of use.

One important thing, however, to be borne in mind before beginning, is

to select straight-grained, plain, rather soft, and easily worked stock.

With this and with _sharp_ tools you will have every chance of success,

while with hard, crooked-grained wood and with _dull_ tools you will be

well started on the road to discouragement and failure.

It may be remarked, incidentally, that beginning with soft woods, such

as white pine, calls for even keener-edged tools than can be got along

with for harder woods, like oak. This, however, though it may seem a

disadvantage, is really a good thing, for it _compels_ one to keep his

tools sharp. You will soon find that it is impossible to do even

passable work in the softer woods without sharp tools, while with harder

wood you may succeed by brute force in mauling the work into tolerable

shape without being sufficiently impressed by the fact that your tools

are dull and require sharpening.

Besides the familiar fact that the heartwood is usually better than the

sapwood,[51] it may be useful to remember that, as a rule, the wood from

a young tree is tougher than that from an old one; the best, hardest,

and strongest in the young tree usually being nearest the heart, while

in an old tree the heart, having begun to deteriorate, is softer and not

as good as the more recently formed growths nearer the sapwood. If the

tree is in its prime the wood is more uniformly hard throughout. The

sapwood, as a rule, is tougher than the heartwood, though usually

inferior in other respects; and timber light in weight is sometimes

tougher than heavy wood, though the latter is often stronger and more

durable and preferable for some purposes. The application of these

statements varies much according to the kind of wood and different

circumstances, for the growth and structure of trees is a very complex

matter, and the diversities almost infinite.

It may be well to bear in mind, considering the great variety of

purposes for which the amateur uses wood, the distinction between the

_elasticity_ needed for such purposes as a bow or horizontal bar, and

the _toughness_ required for the ribs of a canoe, or the wattles of a

basket. In the former case the material must not merely bend without

breaking, but must spring back (or nearly so) to its former shape when

released, as with lancewood or white ash; while in the latter case it

must bend without breaking, but is not required to spring back to its

original form when released, as with many green sticks which can be

easily bent, but have not much resilience. These two qualities are found

combined in endlessly varying degrees in all woods. Elastic wood must

necessarily have toughness up to the breaking-point, but tough wood may

have but little elasticity.

Earliest of all trees, historically, come the pines--the conifers--and

then the broad-leaved trees. The conifers, or needle-leaved trees,

include the pines, firs, spruces, cypresses, larches, and cedars. As a

rule they contain turpentine, have a comparatively straight and regular

fibre and simple structure, are usually light, flexible, and elastic,

and the wood is more easily split or torn apart than that from the

broad-leaved trees, and is easily worked. The wood of the broad-leaved

trees is more complex in structure than that of the conifers and, as a

rule, harder, and for many purposes stronger and more durable.

Besides the woods in general use there are many which have merely a

local value where they grow, and a long list could be made of the woods

which have but very limited uses, as well as of those which, from their

scarcity, hardness, small size, or other peculiarities are practically

out of the question for the beginner or the amateur, except on rare

occasions.

The following list makes no claim to completeness, but may be of some

use to the beginner.

=Apple.=--This wood is used for turning, such as handles, etc., and for

other small work. It is handsome, fine-grained, and somewhat hard.

=Ash.=--This is a valuable wood, of which there are a number of

varieties. It is used for agricultural implements, carriage-building,

floors, interior finish, cabinet-work, etc. Ash is flexible, tough, and

elastic. It is good to stand a quick and violent strain, as that put on

a horizontal bar in the gymnasium, although in time it becomes brittle.

_White ash_ is the variety best suited for such purposes. It is good for

oars and the like. Ash is of a rather coarse and usually

straight-grained texture, and most varieties are not difficult to work.

=Basswood.=--The wood of the American linden, or basswood, is soft and

light in substance, white or light brown in colour, is easily bent but

not easily split, free from knots but prone to warp, and is used for

cabinet-work, carriage-work, and for various minor articles. It can be

obtained in boards of considerable width.

=Beech.=--This close-grained wood, hard, firm, strong, and taking a good

polish, is extensively used for machine-frames, handles, plane-stocks,

some kinds of furniture, and a variety of minor articles, but will not

often be needed by the amateur. The medullary rays are noticeable.

=Birch.=--The birch, of which there are many species, is widely

distributed in North America, and furnishes an important wood, which is

used for a great variety of purposes,--for furniture, floors, interior

finish, turning, and a long list of minor articles. It is close-grained,

and most varieties are hard and strong, but not difficult to work, and

are susceptible of being given a smooth satiny surface and a fine

finish. The uses of the bark of the canoe birch are familiar to all.

This tree is good not merely for canoes, but its wood is used for

paddles, skis, and the like.

The _black birch_ is especially esteemed for furniture and interior

work. It is of a beautiful reddish- or yellowish-brown colour, and much

of it is beautifully figured with wavy and curly grain. It is frequently

stained in imitation of mahogany, a deception much assisted by the

resemblance in grain, and not easily detected if skilfully done.

=Black Walnut.=--Large black-walnut trees are practically almost as

thoroughly exterminated in America as the bisons of the Western

prairies. The wood can be obtained, however, though it is not abundant

in very wide boards. It is durable, usually straight-grained, moderately

strong and hard, not difficult to work, holds glue well, and can be

given a fine finish. It holds its shape well, and is an excellent wood

for many purposes in interior finishing, cabinet-work, and for various

minor articles. It has been very extensively used for gun-stocks. Its

sombre colour is not always admired, but it is an excellent wood for

amateur work. When mottled or in the form of burl it is, of course,

harder to smooth. The English and Italian varieties of walnut have long

been used.

=Boxwood.=--This wood is distinguished for its extremely compact and

even grain. It is hard and heavy, is used in turning, wood-engraving,

and the like, but is not likely to be required by the amateur.

=Butternut.=--This wood, found in North America, has a rather coarsely

marked grain, is soft, light, of a yellowish-brown colour, and when

finished makes a handsome wood for furniture and interior work.

It is easily worked, but is not the easiest material for the amateur to

smooth satisfactorily, because of the peculiar texture of the wood,

which tends to "rough up" unless the tools are very keen.

=Buttonwood.=--See _Sycamore_.

=Cedar.=--This tree, found quite abundantly in the United States,

furnishes a wood which is exceedingly durable, particularly where

exposed to the alternations of moisture and dryness, as when inserted in

the ground or in situations near the ground, and is very valuable for

fence-posts, foundation-posts for buildings, railroad ties, shingles,

pails, and the like. Some varieties of cedar are used for building

purposes and interior fittings.

The varieties of _white cedar_ are light, of good grain and easy to

work, soft, and not particularly strong, but durable and admirably

adapted to such purposes as boat-building, for which it is largely used.

_Red cedar_, which is in many respects similar to the other varieties,

is distinguished by its colour and by its strong fragrance, which, being

obnoxious to insects, makes it excellent for chests and closets. It is

used for pencils.

=Cherry.=--This is a valuable wood for the amateur. It is found

extensively in the United States. It is fine-grained, of moderate

hardness, not difficult to work, and of a beautiful reddish-brown or

yellowish-brown colour. It has a satin-like surface when smoothed, and

can be given a beautiful finish. The _black cherry_ is especially

esteemed. It can be obtained, so far as it has not been exterminated, in

quite wide boards. Cherry mellows and grows richer in colour with age.

The varieties having a wavy texture are especially beautiful. It is much

used for cabinet-work, interior finish, and for many purposes. The

beginner should select only the softer and straight-grained varieties,

as some of the harder and denser kinds are exceedingly hard to smooth.

=Chestnut.=--The value of this wood to the amateur lies chiefly in its

durability. It lasts well in or near the ground or exposed to the

weather. It can be used for framing, for posts for a fence or to support

a building, and for similar purposes. It is soft, coarse-grained, not

very strong, but is not difficult to work.

=Cottonwood.=--This is a soft, light, close-grained wood, used for

woodenware, boxes, pulp, etc.

=Cypress.=--This wood is found in North America, Mexico, parts of Asia

and Europe. It is a valuable material, yellowish or yellowish-brown in

colour, very durable when exposed to the weather or in contact with the

soil, light, soft, easily worked, and is used for general lumber

purposes for which pine is used, but to which it is superior for

withstanding exposure. It is used for interior finish, doors,

clapboards, shingles, cabinet-work, boat-building, posts, and a great

variety of purposes. It takes a fine finish. The cypress of the Southern

United States is of large size, and the wood is of beautiful figure and

colouring. Valuable varieties are found upon the Pacific coast.

=Deal.=--See _Pine_ and _Spruce_.

=Ebony.=--The excessive hardness of ebony renders it unsuited for

amateur work. It is also expensive. It is very hard and solid, with

black heartwood and white sapwood, and is used for furniture, turning,

and small articles.

=Elm.=--This useful wood, strong, tough, and durable, usually flexible,

heavy and hard, is extensively used in some of its varieties for

boat-building, the frames of agricultural implements, yokes, wheel-hubs,

chairs, cooperage, and many other purposes. Some species are very good

for continued exposure to wet. The _rock elm_ is a valuable variety,

esteemed for flexibility and toughness as well as durability and

strength.

=Fir.=--See _Pine_ and _Spruce_.

=Hemlock.=--This wood, valuable for its bark, is cheap, coarse-grained

and subject to shakes, brittle and easily split, and somewhat soft, but

not easy to work. It is unfit for nice work, but can be used for rough

framing and rough boarding, for which its holding nails well renders it

suitable.

=Hickory.=--This wood, found in the eastern parts of North America, is

highly esteemed for its strength and great elasticity. It is hard,

tough, heavy, and close-grained. It is largely used for carriage-work,

agricultural implements, hoops, axe-helves, and the like. It is hard to

work. The _shagbark_ is especially valued for timber.

=Holly.=--This wood is quite hard, close-grained, and very white, though

it does not retain the purity of its colour. It is used for small

articles of cabinet-work and for turning.

=Lancewood.=--The use of this wood for bows, fishing-rods, and such

purposes has been extensive. It is distinguished for its elasticity.

=Lignum Vitæ.=--The extreme hardness, solidity, and durability of lignum

vitæ make it of great value for pulley-sheaves, balls for bowling,

mallets, small handles, and turned objects. It is too excessively hard

for the beginner to use.

=Locust.=--The wood of the locust of North America is hard, strong,

heavy, exceedingly durable, and of yellowish or brownish colour. It is a

valuable wood, and is used extensively for posts for fences and for the

support of buildings, for ship-building, and for other work to be

subjected to exposure or to contact with the ground. It is used in

turning, but not extensively for interior work.

=Mahogany.=--This highly valuable wood, which did not come into general

use until the eighteenth century, is found in the West Indies, Mexico,

Central America, and some other regions. It is very durable. The colour

is found in a great variety of shades from golden-brown to deep

reddish-brown. Some varieties are light and quite soft, even spongy,

while others (the best) are very hard and heavy, close-grained, and

strong. In some kinds the grain is quite straight, in others curved and

twisted into an endless variety of crooked shapes, the latter being the

most beautiful for ornamental work, but more liable to change of shape

than the straight-grained varieties.

The straight-grained varieties change their shape but little,--less than

most woods,--and are therefore excellently suited for the framework or

structural parts of cabinet-work, for pattern-making, and the like. The

so-called _baywood_ holds its shape well and is easily worked, but is

not especially beautiful. The better grades of mahogany grow darker and

richer in colour with age, but some varieties become bleached and

lustreless with exposure.

It is of the greatest value for interior finishing, for furniture, and

for cabinet-work generally, and is also used for many other purposes.

The term mahogany is used in commerce in a rather comprehensive way.

Mahogany from San Domingo has long been highly esteemed, but is now

difficult or impossible to obtain. The light-coloured variety known as

_white mahogany_ is much valued for its beauty.

Mahogany is excellent for holding glue. It can be obtained in wide

pieces, thus often saving the necessity of gluing. It can be given a

beautiful dull finish or a high polish, as may be desired.

The beginner should only attempt the plain, softer, straight-grained

kinds of mahogany at first. The other varieties require much skill to

smooth and, in case of the harder pieces, even to work at all; and

these, however beautiful they may be, should be deferred until

considerable proficiency has been attained.

=Maple.=--The maple grows freely in the United States, and is much used

for a great variety of purposes, the _sugar_ or _rock maple_ being

especially esteemed. It is close-grained, hard, strong, heavy, and of a

light yellowish-, reddish-, or brownish-white colour (sometimes almost

white, though found in varying shades), and can be smoothed to a

satin-like surface and be given a good finish. It can be stained

satisfactorily. The curly or wavy varieties furnish wood of much beauty,

the peculiar contortion of the grain known as "bird's-eye" being much

admired. Maple is extensively used for cabinet-work and interior

finishing, floors, machine-frames, work-benches, turning, and a great

variety of miscellaneous articles.

There are a number of varieties of the maple. The beginner should

confine himself at first to the softer and straight-grained specimens,

as the other kinds are hard to work and to smooth.

=Oak.=--Of all the broad-leaved trees the oak is probably the most

valuable, and has for ages stood as a type of strength. It is widely

scattered in various parts of the world, and nearly three hundred

varieties have been noted.

Oak is distinguished for its combination of useful qualities. It is

hard, tough, elastic, heavy, durable, stiff (except after steaming, when

it readily bends), and durable when exposed to the weather or to the

soil. Oak is more or less subject to checking. It is strongly

impregnated with tannic acid, which tends to destroy iron fastenings.

_American white oak._ This important variety is found in North America,

and from it is obtained most excellent timber. It is used for a variety

of purposes too great to be specified, from the construction of

buildings and ships to furniture and agricultural implements, carriages,

etc. It is an invaluable wood.

_British oak_ has long been held in the highest regard for its

combination of valuable qualities, and has been used for more purposes

than can be here mentioned.

The _live oak_, found in southern parts of North America, may be

mentioned as a valuable wood, very strong, tough, and durable, which,

before the introduction of iron and steel in ship-building, was

extensively used in that business; but it is excessively hard and

unsuited to amateur work.

Varieties of _red oak_ are extensively used, but, though valuable, are

of inferior quality to the white oak. Other varieties largely used in

England and on the Continent are seldom marketed in the United States.

=Pear.=--The wood of the pear tree is somewhat like that of the apple

tree. It can be readily carved.

=Pine.=--First and foremost among the needle-leaved trees comes the

pine, of which about seventy species are known. The _white pine_, known

in England as yellow pine and also as Weymouth pine, is widely

distributed in America, and is, or has been, our most valuable timber

tree, but seems to be doomed to rapid extinction, at least so far as the

wide, clear boards and planks of old-growth timber are concerned, which

are now exceedingly hard to obtain.

There is no better wood for the beginner than clear white pine for all

purposes to which it is suited.

It is light, stiff, straight-grained and of close fibre, easily worked,

can be easily nailed, and takes a good finish. When allowed to grow it

has reached a large size (as in the so-called "pumpkin" pine),

furnishing very wide, clear boards, of beautiful texture and with a

fine, satiny surface. It is of a light yellowish-brown colour, growing

darker with time. It is soft, resinous, and of moderate strength. Pine

is cut into lumber of many forms, and is used for inside finishing of

houses, for many purposes of carpentry and cabinet-making, for masts and

spars, for clapboards, shingles, and laths, doors, sashes, blinds,

patterns for castings, and a long list of different purposes. It holds

glue exceedingly well and takes paint well.

Other varieties, as the _sugar pine_, the _Canadian red pine_, the

_yellow pine_, etc., grow in America. White pine is also found in

Europe. The _Scotch pine_ or _Norway pine_, known also as _red_,

_Scotch_, or _yellow fir_, and as _yellow deal_ and _red deal_,[52] is

the common pine of the North of Europe, hence its name, _Pinus

sylvestris_, pine of the forest. It is hard, strong, not very resinous,

and is extensively used.

_Southern or Hard Pine._ This very important timber is found on the

Southern Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States. It is very hard,

heavy, and resinous, with coarse and strongly marked grain. It is

durable, strong, and not easily worked by the beginner, and is hard to

nail after seasoning. It is extensively used for girders, floor-timbers,

joists, and many kinds of heavy timber work, including trestles,

bridges, and roofs, for masts and spars, for general carpentry, floors,

decks, and interior finish, railway cars, railway ties, and many other

purposes, and, in addition, for the manufacture of turpentine.

Other varieties of hard pine are sold and used successfully for the same

purposes, all under the common name of hard pine, Southern pine, Georgia

pine, yellow hard pine, etc. Another variety of hard "pitch" pine

(_Pinus rigida_), often confused with the Southern pine, is heavy,

resinous, and durable, but not suited for the better class of work.

=Plum.=--This is a fine-grained, hard wood, used for turning, engraving,

etc.

=Redwood.=--The two varieties of the giant _Sequoia_ of the Pacific

coast are the _Sequoia sempervirens_ and the _Sequoia gigantea_ or

_Wellingtonia_. The former, the most important tree of the Pacific

coast, is of immense size (supposed to reach a height of even four

hundred feet), red in colour, rather soft, light, and moderately strong,

easily worked and finished, and very durable when exposed to the soil.

It is used for general lumber purposes, carpentry, interior finish,

posts, tanks, shingles, and a great variety of uses.

The _S. gigantea_ or _Wellingtonia_, which has the largest trunk in the

world, is also red in colour, coarse-grained, rather weak, soft and

light in texture, and of great durability when exposed to the soil. It

is used for lumber and general building purposes, posts, shingles, etc.

These are the "Big Trees," thought in some instances to be even five

thousand years old, and of which the familiar stories are told about a

stage-coach having been driven through a hollow tree, and about

twenty-five people having danced at one time upon a stump.

=Rosewood.=--This wood, of handsome grain and colouring, has been much

admired and extensively used for veneering. It is hard and heavy and of

a peculiar texture, which seems oily to the touch. It is not well suited

to amateur work, and is expensive.

=Satinwood.=--This handsome yellowish-brown wood is hardly to be

considered by the amateur except for the occasional use of a small

piece.

=Spruce.=--The wood of the spruce, of which there are a number of

varieties, is quite abundant, is light and straight-grained, and

comparatively free from large knots. It is largely used for many of the

same purposes as white pine, to which it is inferior for interior finish

and fine work, but superior in strength, hardness, and toughness. Both

white and black spruce are extensively used for carpentry, interior

finish, flooring, fencing, and inferior wood-work generally. It has the

great disadvantage of curling and twisting and springing badly, and is

not as nice to work as white pine. Spruce of good quality makes good

paddles, spars, and the like, and is valuable for such work. The wood of

the Norway spruce is known in England as _white deal_.

=Sycamore.=--This handsome wood, found in various parts of the world,

and of a light yellowish or reddish-brown colour, is esteemed for

interior work. The medullary rays are noticeable. It is rather hard, but

not very difficult to work. It is not durable for outside work exposed

to the weather. Known also as _Buttonwood_.

=Walnut.=--See _Black Walnut_.

=Whitewood.=--Like white pine, whitewood is an excellent wood for the

early attempts of the beginner.

Whitewood, which is by no means white, but greenish- or brownish-yellow,

is the name applied to the wood of the tulip tree. This tree attains a

large size, thus furnishing wide boards, which are of such straight and

even grain and so free from knots as to be of great use for many

purposes. It is brittle and soft, but light and very easily worked. It

is not, for most purposes, as reliable a wood as white pine, but is

extensively used in the wood-working arts. It is more liable to warp and

twist than pine. It takes a stain exceedingly well.

=Willow.=--An important use of this wood is for baskets. It will not

often be required by the beginner, except for whistles.

=Yew.=--This wood, like lancewood, is distinguished for its elasticity,

and is highly esteemed for bows and the like.

* * * * *

Many other woods can be alluded to, as catalpa (for posts and the like),

elder (for various small articles), dogwood (for turning and the like),

gum (for various common articles), hornbeam or ironwood (for mallets,

handles, wheel-cogs, etc.), poplar (for pulp), sassafras (for posts,

hoops, etc.), teak (from the East, strong and valuable), tupelo (hubs of

wheels, etc.), and a great variety of others which cannot be specified,

as they are but seldom required by the amateur and never needed by the

beginner.

=Felling and Seasoning.=--A tree should usually be cut for timber at or

near its maturity, as a young tree has too much sapwood and will not be

as strong and dense or durable, while an old one is likely to get

brittle and inelastic and the centre of the heartwood is liable to

decay, being the oldest portion. A young tree, though softer and not so

durable, furnishes a tougher and more elastic wood, and sometimes has a

finer grain.

Trees differ so much, and the uses to which the wood is to be put are so

various, that no exact ages can be set for cutting--probably from fifty

to one hundred years for good timber, to make a rough statement. Some

trees furnish excellent timber at a much greater age than one hundred

years. Pine is thought to be ripe for cutting at about seventy-five or

one hundred years of age, oak at from sixty to one hundred years or

more, and the various other woods mature at different ages.

Midwinter, or the dry season in tropical regions, is usually preferred

for felling, because the sap is quiet. Decay sets in more rapidly in the

sapwood and between the wood and the bark during the period of active

growth, because of the perishable nature of the substances involved in

the growth. Midsummer is considered equally good by some.

The various methods of cutting the log into the lumber of commerce have

been treated in Chapter III., to which the reader is referred. In this

connection it will be noticed that, although boards cut through or near

the middle are, as a rule, the best, when they contain the pith they are

sometimes valueless in the centre, as well as when, in the case of an

old tree, decay has begun at that point.

As the water evaporates gradually from green wood exposed to the air but

protected from the weather, one might infer that in time it would

evaporate entirely, leaving the wood absolutely dry, just as the water

will entirely disappear from a tumbler or a tea-kettle. This is not so,

however. The drying goes on until there is only about ten to twenty per

cent. of moisture left, but no amount of open-air seasoning will

entirely remove this small per cent. of moisture, the amount varying

with the temperature and the humidity of the atmosphere. It can be got

rid of only by applying heat, kiln-drying, baking, currents of hot air,

vacuum process, or some artificial method of seasoning. After having

completely dried the wood by any of these methods, if it is again

exposed to the atmosphere, it absorbs moisture quite rapidly until it

has taken up perhaps fifteen per cent., more or less, of its own weight.

So you see that, though you may by artificial means make wood entirely

dry, it will not stay in this unnatural condition unless in some way

entirely protected from the atmosphere _at once_, but will reabsorb the

moisture it has lost until it reaches a condition in harmony with the

atmosphere. Recent investigations show that the very fibre or substance

of the wood itself imbibes and holds moisture tenaciously, this being

additional to the water popularly understood to be contained in the

pores or cavities of the wood.

There are various other methods besides kiln-drying (referred to in

Chapter III.) of seasoning and of hastening the drying process. Wood is

sometimes soaked in water before being seasoned. This assists in

removing the soluble elements of the sap, but it is doubtful whether the

process improves the quality of the wood. Smoking and steaming are also

resorted to. Small pieces can readily be smoked, which hardens the wood

and adds to its durability,--a method which has been known for

centuries,--but care must be taken not to burn, scorch, or crack the

wood.

=Decay and Preservation.=--Timber decays fastest when alternately wet

and dry, as in the piles of a wharf, fence-posts, and the like, or when

subjected to a hot, moist, close atmosphere, as the sills and

floor-timbers situated over some damp and unventilated cellar. Fig. 694

shows the decay caused by alternate wetness and dryness, while the

parts above and below are still sound.

[Illustration FIG. 694.]

Wood lasts the best when kept dry and well ventilated. When kept

constantly wet it is somewhat softened, and will not resist so much, but

it does not decay. Recently, upon cutting a slab from the outside of a

large log taken from the bed of a river, where it had lain for one

hundred years or more, the interior proved as sound and clear as could

be found in any lumber-yard. Undoubtedly, however, such long submersion

lessens the elastic strength of timber after it is dried. That is not,

however, an extreme example of durability. Wood has been taken from bogs

and ancient lake-dwellings after being preserved for ages. Piles were

taken from the Old London Bridge after about 650 years of service. Piles

placed in the Rhine about 2000 years ago have been found quite sound

during the present century; and piles are now regularly used, as you

doubtless know, for the support of the most massive stone buildings and

piers, but only where they are driven deep in the ground or below the

low-water line. Many examples of the durability of wood kept dry are

found in European structures. Timbers put into the roof of Westminster

Abbey in the reign of Richard II. are still in place, and the

roof-timbers of some of the older Italian churches remain in good

condition.

Thorough seasoning, protection from the sun and rain, and the free

circulation of air are the essentials to the preservation of timber.

Many preparations and chemical processes have been tried for the

_preservation of wood_.

Creosote is one of the best preservatives known. Insects and fungi are

repelled by its odour. The modern so-called "creosote stains" are

excellent, not very expensive, and easily applied. They are only

suitable for outside work, however, on account of the odour.

Coal-tar and wood-tar or pitch, applied hot in thin coats, are also good

and cheap preservatives for exposed wood-work.

Charring the ends of fence-posts by holding them for a short time over a

fire and forming a protecting coating of charcoal is another method

which has been extensively used.

Oil paint will protect wood from moisture from without, and is the

method most commonly in use.

In the case of any external coating, however, which interferes with the

process of evaporation, as tar or paint, the wood must be _thoroughly

dry_ when it is applied, or the moisture within will be unable to

escape, and will cause decay.

Lumber as well as the living tree has enemies in the form of insects and

worms, but the conditions best for the preservation of the wood, as

referred to above, are also the least favourable for the attacks of

animal life and of fungi.

As soon as the tree has been felled and dies, decomposition begins, as

in all organic bodies, and sooner or later will totally destroy the

wood. The woody fibre itself will last for ages, but some of the

substances involved in the growth soon decay. The sap is liable to

fermentation, shown by a bluish tint, and decay sets in. Fungi are

liable to fasten upon the wood. Worms and insects also attack it,

preferring that which is richest in sap. Thus we see that the danger of

decay originates chiefly in the decomposition of the sap (although in

living trees past their prime decay begins in the heartwood while the

sapwood is sound), so the more the sap can be got rid of the better.

There are, however, some substances found in various trees, aside from

those elements especially required for their growth, which render the

wood more durable, like tannic acid, which abounds in oak and a number

of trees, particularly in the bark. There is no advantage in getting rid

of the turpentine and other volatile oils and the resinous deposits

found in needle-leaved trees, particularly in the case of those woods in

which they abound. Care should be taken, however, not to use a piece of

pine badly streaked or spotted with resinous deposits in a place where

it will be exposed, as the turpentine or resinous matter will be apt to

ooze out and blister the paint.

_Wet rot_ is a decay of the unseasoned wood, which may also be caused in

seasoned wood by moisture with a temperate degree of warmth. It occurs

in wood alternately exposed to dryness and moisture. _Dry rot_, which is

due to fungi, does not attack _dry_ wood, but is found where there is

dampness and lack of free circulation of air, as in warm, damp, and

unventilated situations, like cellars and the more confined parts of

ships, and in time results in the entire crumbling away of the wood.

There are several forms of dry rot. One of the most common and worst of

dry-rot fungi attacks pine and fir. Fungi also attack oak. Creosote is

used as a preventive, to the extent to which it saturates the wood.

=Effects of Expansion and Contraction.=--Cracks, curling, warping,

winding, or twisting are due to nothing but irregular and uneven

swelling and shrinking. Some kinds of wood shrink much in drying, others

but little. Some, after seasoning, swell or shrink and curl and warp to

a marked degree with every change in temperature and dryness. Others,

once thoroughly air-seasoned, alter much less in shape or size under

ordinary circumstances.

We have already seen that the heart side of a board tends to become

convex in seasoning, owing to the shrinkage of the other side, and that

if one part swells much more than another the wood becomes out of

shape,--warped, curled, or twisted. If one part shrinks much faster than

another, cracks usually result in the quicker shrinking portion. If you

stick one end of a green board into the hot oven of the kitchen stove,

the heated end will crack and split before the rest of the board has

fairly begun to dry. We have seen illustrations of this in the seasoning

process, as shown in Chapter III.

Exposure of one side of a seasoned piece to either dampness or heat will

thus cause the piece to curl. The dampness swells the side affected or

the heat shrinks it so that the convexity will be on the dampened side,

or the concavity on the heated side, as the case may be.

If lumber were of perfectly uniform texture, hung up where it would be

entirely unconfined and free to swell or shrink in all directions, and

equally exposed all over the surface to exactly the same degrees and

changes of heat and cold, dryness and moisture, it would simply grow

larger or smaller without changing its form or shape. There would then

be no curling, warping or winding. As a matter of fact, however, wood is

not uniform in texture, but exceedingly varied, some pieces being

extremely complex in structure; neither is it always free to expand and

contract in every direction, nor equally exposed on all sides to the

alternations of heat and cold, moisture and dryness.

To come to the practical application of these facts, we have seen (in

Chapter III.) that boards for nice work should be planed down equally,

as nearly as may be, from both sides; that the mere dressing off of the

surface by hand will sometimes cause a board to warp badly; and that it

is better to buy stock of as nearly the required thickness as possible,

than to plane it down or split it. It should also be noted that when a

board is being sawed in two or split lengthwise with a saw it sometimes

springs together behind the saw with so much force that the crack has to

be wedged open in order to continue sawing (Fig. 695). Sometimes the

crack opens wider instead of closing (Fig. 696). You see from this that

you cannot always be sure when you split a board that the parts will

retain the shape they had in the original board. In working up large

pieces into smaller ones, unexpected twists and crooks will often be

found in the smaller pieces which did not exist in the original stock.

Sometimes mahogany, for instance, will act in this way very markedly.

Strips sawed off from a board, for example, will sometimes immediately

spring into very crooked forms, as shown in Fig. 697 (which would not

be exaggerated if the pieces were drawn of greater proportionate

length).

[Illustration FIG. 695.]

[Illustration FIG. 696.]

[Illustration FIG. 697.]

[Illustration FIG. 698.]

In splitting stock flatwise, _i.e._, making two thinner boards out of a

thick board or plank, a similar result often follows. The latent power

set free, so to speak, by suddenly exposing the middle of a board,

plank, or other timber to the atmosphere sometimes causes curious

developments. It being necessary one day to split for a picture frame a

large mahogany board, 1" thick by 2' square, with a circular hole

already sawed from the centre, the pieces warped and twisted as the

sawing went on (Fig. 698), until, just as they were nearly separated,

the whole thing "went off" with a report like a toy pistol, breaking

into a dozen pieces and scattering them around the shop.

In very crooked-grained wood you will frequently find uneven and

undulating forms of warping and twisting that you do not find in

straight-grained pieces, but such wood is often of the most beautiful

figure for indoor work. Where the grain is crooked, cropping up to the

surface as in Fig. 701, the cut-off ends of the fibrous structure, so to

speak, are exposed in places to the atmosphere. These open ends, "end

wood," thus brought to the surface are more susceptible to moisture and

dryness than the sides of the bundles of fibrous tissue, which tends to

produce unequal swelling, shrinking, and warping.

You will see if you look at the ends of logs and stumps that the heart

is frequently not in the centre, in some cases taking such a devious

course throughout the stem as to make the grain so crooked that no

method of sawing will remove the tendency to warp or twist, just shown.

Such trees may show a beautiful grain. Even in straight trees the pith

is not usually quite straight, and is apt to take a somewhat zigzag

course, due to the crooked way the tree grew when young (Fig. 699).

[Illustration FIG. 699.]

Imagine, for an exaggerated illustration, that you could see with X-rays

the pith as crooked as Fig. 699. that shown in Fig. 700. Imagine that

from this tree you could saw out the board indicated, keeping with it

the whole pith or heart as if it were a wire rope woven in and out of

the board, so that the appearance would be somewhat like that shown in

Fig. 701. Bear in mind that the annual rings are layers of wood, so to

speak, which may vary in thickness, growing around the heart. You will

see that these layers, or rings, as they dip below or rise above the

surface of the board, will cause the grain to form various patterns,

perhaps somewhat as shown in Fig. 701, which makes no claim to

accurately showing the grain in this case. In fact, all such variations

of grain in lumber are due to the surface of the piece being at an angle

with the layers.

[Illustration FIG. 700.]

[Illustration FIG. 701.]

In addition, the knots caused by branches, the twisting of the stems

screw-fashion (as is seen in cedar), wounds, and other causes, often

produce very crooked and tangled grain, and the wood of many

broad-leaved trees is sometimes extremely complicated in texture,

especially when all these irregularities occur in the same piece. It is

the nature of some kinds of mahogany, from whatever cause, to have the

fibres strangely interlaced or running in very different directions in

layers which are quite near each other.

The warping, twisting, and cracking is obviated in many cases where it

is objectionable (as in the wooden frames of machines, the tops of

benches) by building up with a number of smaller pieces, of which you

will often see illustrations. To do this to the best advantage, the

pieces should be selected and put together so that, though the grain

will run in the same direction lengthways, the annual rings at the ends

will not run together as in a whole beam, but will be reversed or

arranged in various combinations, so that the tendencies of the

different parts to warp or twist will counteract each other. Instead of

a single board, which would naturally become warped in one large curve,

a number of strips can be glued up with the grain of the strips arranged

in alternate fashion (Fig. 559), so that in place of one large curve the

warping will merely result in a slightly wavy line.

Where but one side of a board is seen or used and where the full

strength is not needed, warping and twisting can be largely prevented by

lengthways saw-cuts on the back or under surface, as in a drawing-board,

the crossways strength required being secured by the cleats. Doors and

most forms of panelled work also illustrate these matters of swelling

and shrinking (see _Doors and Panels_).

_Shakes._--_Heart-shakes_ are cracks radiating from the centre in the

line of the medullary rays, widest at the pith and narrowing toward the

outside, and supposed to be chiefly caused by the shrinkage of the older

wood due to the beginning of decay while the tree is standing (Fig.

702). Slight heart-shakes are common, but if large and numerous or

twisting in the length of the log, they injure the timber seriously for

cutting up.

[Illustration FIG. 702.]

_Star-shakes_ are also radiating cracks, but, unlike the heart-shakes,

the cracks are widest at the outside, narrowing toward the centre (Fig.

703), and are often caused by the shrinkage of the outer part due to the

outside of the tree drying faster than the inside, as it naturally does

from being more exposed after being felled; but they are sometimes owing

to the beginning of decay and other causes.

[Illustration FIG. 703.]

_Cup-shakes_ are cracks between some of the annual rings, separating the

layers more or less (Fig. 704), sometimes reaching entirely around,

separating the centre from the outer portion, and are supposed to be

caused by the swaying of the tree in the wind (hence sometimes known as

_wind-shakes_), or to some shock or extreme changes of temperature, or

other causes.

[Illustration FIG. 704.]

Combinations of the various shakes may be found in the same log.

=A Few Suggestions about Working-Drawings.=--Drawing is far too

extensive a subject to be even briefly treated in a manual on

wood-working, but a few general remarks on matters connected with

working-drawings may be of help to some.

While an ordinary picture gives a correct idea of how an object looks,

we cannot take accurate measurements from it. When we need dimensions,

as in practical work, we must have some drawings which will show us at

once the exact shapes, sizes, and positions of the various parts. In

addition to the picture to give us the general idea, we have for working

purposes what are called _elevations_, _plans_, _sections_, etc.

In such a case as that of the little house shown on page 242, the

picture (Fig. 363) shows us the appearance of the building, but for

purposes of construction, working-drawings should also be made. The view

of what you would see if you stood directly in front of this house, with

only the front visible, is shown in Fig. 364, and is called the _front

elevation_. Stand opposite either side or end, and the view seen is

represented in Fig. 364 as the _side elevation_. In the same manner

the _rear elevation_ is given. Next imagine yourself in the air directly

above the house. This view is called the _plan_.[53] In this case, as

the view of the interior is desired, the view is shown as if the roof

were removed. If the sides or ends are not alike, as is sometimes the

case, two side or end views may be needed. In the case illustrated,

inside elevations are also given, to show the construction.

Elevations, whether one or several, must always be taken at right angles

to the plan. Although commonly, in simple work, confined to

representations of each side or end, they can be taken from any point of

view that may be at right angles to the plan. They may be taken from the

corners or at any angles that may best show any complicated details of

the object. If the object is quite simple, one elevation and the plan,

or two elevations without the plan, may be quite sufficient, as the

elevation or plan omitted can in such cases be understood at once.

Always make your drawings full-sized when the object to be made is not

too large. You are much less likely to make mistakes in taking your

dimensions and measurements from a drawing the actual size of the object

than where you have to take them from a smaller drawing, and you also

can get a better idea from a full-sized drawing just how the object will

look. It is a safe-guard, with a drawing which is symmetrical, to lay it

out from a centre line, measuring to the right and left.

If you make a drawing of which each line is one half the length of the

same line in the real object, it is called a "half-size" drawing, and

is said to be drawn on a scale of 6" to the foot. If "one fourth size,"

the scale is 3" to the foot. The scale is often expressed as an

equation, viz.: 2 in. = 1 ft., or 1/4" = 1'.

If the drawing is not made with accuracy, it is necessary to put the

dimensions upon it, and this is often done for convenience and quickness

of execution in the case of drawings which are accurate.

Details inside of an object, that is, such parts as cannot be seen or

properly shown in the elevations or plan, are often shown by dotted

lines, as in Fig. 597. Sometimes dotted lines are used in the same way

to show the back of an object, to save making extra drawings. Too many

dotted lines, however, are confusing, so if the parts that do not show

on the surface are not quite simple and cannot be clearly shown by

dotted lines on the plan and elevations, it is usual to make another

kind of drawing especially to show such details. This is called a

"section" (Lat., _sectio_, from _secare_, to cut), and represents what

would be shown if the object were cut apart or sawed through at the

place where the view of the details is wanted. The surface supposed to

be cut is usually indicated by parallel lines crossing the surface,

independent parts, as those of different pieces, frequently being shown

by changing the direction of the parallel lines, as in Fig. 504.

When both sides of an object are alike, labour and space are often saved

by making a drawing of one side or one half only, from a centre line.

The same way is sometimes adopted in making sections, and an elevation

and section can sometimes be combined in this way in one drawing.

As soon as you become used to plans and elevations, you can by combining

the plan and elevations in your mind quickly imagine the form of the

object represented, and often, unless it is complicated, get fully as

good a conception of it as from a picture, and a more accurate knowledge

of its proportions and details, so that in many cases there is no need

of having a picture at all in order to construct the object. It is often

a convenience to have a picture, however, and frequently an assistance

in forming a correct idea of something you have never seen. Where the

appearance of the object is of consequence, as in the case of a house or

bookcase, for instance, the picture is of the first consequence, for you

must have a correct representation of the general appearance of the

object before you begin to make the working-drawings. You will soon find

that merely having an idea in your mind is not always sufficient from

which to make working-drawings, although the first step in the process.

You will often find that when the idea in your mind is put into the form

of a picture, it does not look at all as you thought it would, and that

if you had started at once on the working-drawings without first making

a sketch or picture, the result would have been unsatisfactory and

sometimes entirely impracticable.

Even making a sketch or picture that just expresses your idea will not

always result in the completed object being just what you wish. Strange

though it may seem, it is a fact, practically, that the completed object

often looks quite different from what the sketch leads you to expect.

That result, however, is something which cannot be helped, so you need

not give it any attention, only do not be surprised if once in a while

you find that what you have made is not just what you thought it would

be. First make the best design you can, then accurate working-drawings,

then work carefully by the drawings, and if the result is not always

exactly what you expected, you can console yourself with the thought

that your experience is only that of architects, designers, carpenters,

and workmen in all lines, and that no one can foresee _all_ the

conditions by which a piece of projected work will be affected.

Oblique or parallel projections are often used, from which measurements

can be made. Such projections are not true representations of the

objects as they appear to the eye, but they are often used because

readily understood and easily drawn. They often answer every purpose

from a practical point of view. Figs. 120 and 344 are examples.

Another way of representing objects for practical purposes is that shown

in Figs. 121 and 407, and known as "isometric[54] projection" or

"isometric perspective." This method is incorrect so far as giving an

accurate picture is concerned, for the object is always represented as

being too large in the farther parts, because the inclined lines are

drawn parallel instead of converging; but it is often very useful from a

practical point of view, because by it all that is required can

frequently be expressed in one drawing.

Isometric perspective will not readily give the correct dimensions

except in the lines which are vertical or which slant either way at an

angle of 30° with the horizontal,--_i.e._, you cannot take the other

dimensions right off with a rule as from a plan, and therefore, so far

as obtaining correct dimensions is concerned, it is practically not

useful for other than rectangular objects; but so far as merely showing

the general shape or conveying the idea of the form it can often be

advantageously used in representing many objects containing curved

lines. Isometric projection has the advantage of being easy of

execution, and of being so pictorial that it is almost always easy to

see what is meant.

=A First-Class Bench.=--The construction of the bench shown on page 101

is not difficult to understand, but considerable skill is required to

make a really good one. The arrangement of the vise is shown in Fig.

705, which is an inverted view (as if looking up from underneath). The

vise is kept parallel by the stout bars of hard wood, parallel to the

screw, which slide through mortises cut in the front of the bench-top,

and are further guided by the cleats screwed to the under side of the

top, where it is thinner than at the front edge. In case of using such a

vise where the bench-top is not so thick in front, the thickness can

easily be made sufficient by screwing a stout cleat on the under side

where the vise comes. In this cleat can be cut the mortises for the

slide-bars. The end-vise or "tail-screw" shown in Fig. 143 involves

rather more work, but slides upon a similar principle. Perhaps the best

way for the amateur is to make the end-vise in the same way as the main

vise, adding the movable stop.

[Illustration FIG. 705.]

There is no better way to make the front of this bench-top than to build

it up of narrow boards on edge, planed true, and thoroughly glued and

bolted together. The planing and truing can best be done by machine,

however. If well put together, such a bench-top will defy changes of

weather and will stand a great deal of hard usage. The back part of the

top can be thinner, but can very well be built up if desired. An

excellent way to fasten the frame of such a bench together is with

bolts, by which the parts can be drawn to a firm bearing.

It is impossible to make such a bench too rigid. If so stiffly framed

that it cannot change its shape, and if the top is carefully trued, you

will have something which will be a great help to good work.

FOOTNOTES:

[51] In elm, ash, and hickory the sapwood is sometimes considered better

than the heart.

[52] The term deal, though often loosely applied to the wood of the pine

and fir, properly refers to planks of these woods cut more than 7" wide

and 6' long--usually 3" thick and 9" wide. The term is common in Great

Britain but not in the United States.

[53] This definition of elevations and plan as being representations of

what you would see if you stood opposite the sides or above the top of

the object, is merely a rough explanation of the general meaning of the

terms. As a matter of scientific accuracy the elevation is, strictly

speaking, not the way the side would appear if you looked at it from one

position, but the way it would appear if you could look at it from

directly opposite every point of it--as if you could have an infinite

number of eyes, one being opposite every point of the object. The

elevation shows the front or side or end as it really is, not as it

looks, either in the form of an exact copy if the object is small, or of

a small copy made in the same proportion if the object is too large to

be represented full size.