It is only by labour that thought can be made healthy, and only by
thought that labour can be made happy--_John Ruskin_
The chief purpose of this chapter is to outline the most important
general facts upon which good furniture making is based and to give
specific directions for working out a number of typical problems,
following designs which have been proved in completed articles made,
for the most part, by school-boys and tested by use. No attempt is made
to give this great subject complete and systematic treatment; for this
would involve many problems in constructive design and a corresponding
number of working drawings, with specifications for the selection and
preparation of materials and for the work of construction--a subject so
extensive that it would easily overrun the limits of a single chapter.
The aim is rather to select a few of the most suggestive lessons of
experience in constructive work with special reference to our main
subject of household decoration.
It is taken for granted that the interested reader is familiar with
the use of the common hand tools for woodworking or that he can, with
some assistance, perhaps, easily command their use. It is not thought
necessary, therefore, to describe in detail the proper method of using
tools, but rather to offer practical suggestions on the selection,
preparation and constructive use of woodworking materials and, in the
series of problems which follow, to give some helpful hints on the way
woodworking tools should be used. It is also assumed that in most cases
the very great advantage of woodworking machinery may be utilized,
especially in preparing the materials and bringing them within easy
reach of the hand-tool processes. The true art-craft spirit, which
always honours handwork as the supreme method, may not hesitate
to command the services of machines so long as it does not become
slavishly dependent upon them.