KING’S SERIES IN WOODWORK AND CARPENTRY
ELEMENTS OF WOODWORK
BY
CHARLES A. KING
DIRECTOR OF MANUAL TRAINING
EASTERN HIGH SCHOOL, BAY CITY, MICHIGAN
[Illustration]
NEW YORK ·:· CINCINNATI ·:· CHICAGO
AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY
KING’S SERIES IN WOODWORK AND CARPENTRY
ELEMENTS OF WOODWORK
ELEMENTS OF CONSTRUCTION
CONSTRUCTIVE CARPENTRY
INSIDE FINISHING
HANDBOOK FOR TEACHERS
COPYRIGHT, 1911, BY
CHARLES A. KING.
ENTERED AT STATIONERS’ HALL, LONDON.
W. P. I.
PREFACE TO THE SERIES
This series consists of five volumes, four of which are intended as
textbooks for pupils in manual-training, industrial, trade, technical,
or normal schools. The fifth book of the series, the “Handbook in
Woodwork and Carpentry,” is for the use of teachers and of normal
students who expect to teach the subjects treated in the other four
volumes.
Of the pupils’ volumes, the first two, “Elements of Woodwork” and
“Elements of Construction,” are adapted to the needs of students in
manual-training schools, or in any institution in which elementary
woodwork is taught, whether as purely educational handwork, or as
preparatory to a high, or trade, school course in carpentry or
vocational training.
The volumes “Constructive Carpentry” and “Inside Finishing” are planned
with special reference to the students of technical, industrial, or
trade schools, who have passed through the work of the first two
volumes, or their equivalent. The subjects treated are those which will
be of greatest value to both the prospective and the finished workman.
For the many teachers who are obliged to follow a required course,
but who are allowed to introduce supplementary or optional models
under certain conditions, and for others who have more liberty and are
able to make such changes as they see fit, this series will be found
perfectly adaptable, regardless of the grades taught. To accomplish
this, the material has been arranged by topics, which may be used by
the teacher irrespective of the sequence, as each topic has to the
greatest extent possible been treated independently.
The author is indebted to Dr. George A. Hubbell, Ph.D., now President
of the Lincoln Memorial University, for encouragement and advice
in preparing for and planning the series, and to George R. Swain,
Principal of the Eastern High School of Bay City, Michigan, for
valuable aid in revising the manuscript.
Acknowledgment is due various educational and trade periodicals, and
the publications of the United States Departments of Education and of
Forestry, for the helpful suggestions that the author has gleaned from
their pages.
CHARLES A. KING.
BAY CITY, MICHIGAN.
PREFACE TO ELEMENTS OF WOODWORK
In preparing this book, it has been the author’s purpose to present,
in as complete and concise form as possible, the knowledge which every
wood-worker should possess regarding the care and use of his tools and
the material upon which he employs them.
Whether an amateur, apprentice, or skilled workman, whether a
carpenter, boat builder, pattern maker, or wood carver, the elementary
knowledge of the construction of tools, of sharpening them, and
of their adjustment and manipulation is practically the same. The
structure of wood, and the necessity of applying its peculiarities of
grain and texture to the advantage of the work in hand, also is the
same upon all branches of woodwork.
While innumerable tools and cutting devices have been invented to
enable the wood-worker to accomplish special results economically
both as to time and material, a study of them will prove that they
all operate upon a few simple principles, a knowledge of which is not
difficult to acquire, though skill and judgment in the application of
the tools can be attained only by continuous and properly directed
practice.
It would be both impossible and unnecessary in a book of this sort to
describe these various devices, though in a schoolroom it is a great
advantage to have as many of them as practicable, not for their use
only, but that the students may become familiar with their purposes and
the applications of the fundamental principles upon which each is based.
The actual use of tools may be considered the A B C of woodwork, as it
bears the same relation to the finished product of the workman as the
alphabet bears to literature, the space between the mere mechanical
facility in the use of either tools or alphabet, being the result of
the judgment, skill, and individuality of either the workman or the
author.
Thus, if a student acquires the facility to use the tools described in
this volume, he will have little difficulty in using other and more
complex tools; and when he has mastered the principles of construction
involved in the exercises explained in the following book of this
series, the “Elements of Construction,” and the correct use of the
tools involved in making these, together with their applications
and combinations, he has acquired the fundamental knowledge of all
construction in wood.
CHARLES A. KING.
BAY CITY, MICHIGAN.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I. GROWTH OF WOOD.--Kinds of trees used for lumber;
The formation of wood; Tissues; The medullary rays; The grain
in trees; Defects found in lumber; When to cut lumber 1
CHAPTER II. LUMBERING AND VARIETIES OF WOOD.--The manufacture
of lumber; To saw lumber of irregular dimensions; The
grading of lumber; The testing of lumber; Surveying or estimating
lumber; Qualities of wood 12
CHAPTER III. CARE OF LUMBER.--The piling of lumber; Permanent
lumber ways; To minimize the warping of lumber; Weather-dried
lumber; Kiln-dried lumber; Moist air kilns; Induced draft kilns;
Results of the two systems; Filling a kiln; Length of time lumber
should be left in the kiln; The care of kiln-dried lumber;
Steaming wood; Preserving wood 45
CHAPTER IV. TOOLS.--How to purchase tools; Benches; Rules;
The try-square; The steel, or framing, square; The bevel; The
gauge; The hammer; The hatchet; The mallet; Saws; The knife
blade; Planes; Sharpening a plane; The jack plane; The jointer;
The smoothing plane; The block plane; The correct position;
Chisels; Gouges; The drawshave; The spokeshave; Bits; The
bitbrace, or stock; The screwdriver; Compasses, or dividers; Pliers;
The scraper; Edges; Nail sets; Wrenches; Handscrews; A grindstone;
Emery, corundum, carborundum; Whetstones; Files;
Saw filing 57
CHAPTER V. GLUE AND SANDPAPER.--Different kinds of glue; How
to use glue; The testing of sandpaper; How to use sandpaper 118
CHAPTER VI. WOOD FINISHING.--Filling; Staining wood; Shellac;
Wax finishing; Oil finish; Varnish; Polishing; Brushes 128
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FIG. PAGE
1. Section of Yellow Pine 2
2. Section of Oak Tree Trunk 5
3. Defects in Lumber 7
4. Felling a Tree 12
5. Cutting Small Branches from Felled Spruce 13
6. Skidway of Spruce Logs 14
7. Load of White Pine Logs 14
8. Hauling Logs by Steel Cable 15
9. Loading Logs from Shedway to Train 16
10. Boom of Logs 16
11. Log Jam 17
12. Sawmill in the Big Tree District 18
13. Circular Saw 20
14. Double Cut Band Saw 21
15. Plain, Slash, or Bastard Sawing 22
16. Four Methods of Quartering 22
17. Lumber Scale 27
18. Beech and Sugar Maple Forest 31
19. White Pine Forest 39
20. Douglas Spruce Forest 41
21. Red Spruce and Balsam Fir Killed by Fire 43
22. Permanent Lumber Ways 46
23. Warping of Lumber 48
24. Lumber piled in Double Courses 49
25. Manual-training Bench 58
26. Carpenter’s Bench 58
27. Two-foot, Four-fold Rule 59
28. Zigzag Rule 59
29. Position of Try-square in Squaring an Edge 60
30. Use of Two Try-squares to see if Piece of Wood is “Out of Wind” 60
31. Position of Try-square when Making Line 61
32. Steel, or Framing, Square 62
33. Bevel and Steel Square 62
34. Marking Gauge 63
35. Marking Gauge in Use 64
36. Claw Hammer 64
37. Toenailing and Tacking 65
38. Blind Nailing and Use of a Nail Set 66
39. Hatchet and Handaxe 67
40. Mallets (Square-faced and Round) 67
41. Saws--Rip-, Cutting-off, and Compass, or Keyhole 68
42. Backsaw 69
43. Use of the Saw 71
44. Reset Saw Handle 72
45. Knife Blades 72
46. Section of an Iron Plane 73
47. Result of Using Plane with Improperly Adjusted Cap Iron 74
48. Result of Using Plane with Cap Iron Adjusted Properly 74
49. Setting a Plane 76
50. Whetting and Grinding of Plane 77
51. Whetting or Oilstoning the Beveled Side of a Cutter 78
52. Whetting or Oilstoning the Plain Side of the Plane Iron 79
53. Shape of Edge of Plane Iron 80
54. Jack Plane 81
55. Method of Guiding a Jointer 83
56. Knuckle Joint Block Plane 84
57. Use of the Block Plane 84
58. Using Block Plane upon Small Pieces 85
59. Incorrect Use of Jack Plane 86
60. Beginning the Stroke with a Jack Plane 87
61. Ending the Stroke with a Jack Plane 87
62. Chisels 89
63. Drawshave 90
64. Spokeshave 90
65. Auger Bit 91
66. Cross-handled Auger 91
67. German Bit and Twist Drill 92
68. Extension Bit and Center Bit 92
69. Filing an Auger Bit 93
70. Ratchet Bitbrace 94
71. Compasses 95
72. Calipers 95
73. Pliers 95
74. Nippers 95
75. Scraper 96
76. Edges of Scrapers 97
77. Angle of Burnisher with Sides of Scraper 97
78. Method of Grasping Scraper for Sharpening 98
79. Top Views of the Angles of the Burnisher 99
80. Angle to be avoided in Sharpening Scraper 100
81. Turning back the Edge of a Scraper 100
82. Method of Grasping the Scraper when Working upon a
Broad Surface 101
83. Method of Grasping the Scraper when Working within
Small Area 101
84. Method of Grasping the Scraper when Working upon an Edge 102
85. Monkey Wrench 103
86. Effect of the Unskillful Use of a Handscrew 103
87. Correct Use of Handscrew 104
88. Emery Wheel Dresser 106
89. Jointing a Saw 109
90. Hand Saw Set 110
91. Anvil Saw Set 110
92. Angle of the File with the Edge of the Saw 111
93. Angle of the File with the Sides of the Saw 111
94. Results of Filings as shown in Fig. 93 112
95. Method of Carrying a File to obtain the Hook of a
Cutting-off Saw 112
96. Removing the Burr after Filing a Saw 113
97. Use of Sandpaper upon a Broad Surface 124
98. Sandpapering Panel Work 126
99. Method of Grasping Sandpaper in Rubbing down Shellac Finish 134
ELEMENTS OF WOODWORK
CHAPTER I
GROWTH OF WOOD
=1. Kinds of trees used for lumber.=--(=A.=) The classification of
trees here considered is based upon the method by which the trunk, or
stem, of a tree is formed. The term _exogenous_ is applied to outside
growers, around which a layer of wood grows each year, and from which
is cut the lumber of commerce. As the wood-worker is interested mainly
in trees which grow by this method, we will do no more than mention the
_endogenous_, or inside-growing, trees or plants of the nature of palm
trees, cornstalks, etc., in which the woody fiber is formed upon the
inside of the stem.
(=B.=) The new wood formed each year upon exogenous trees is known
as the _annual layer_, or _ring_; the separate layers being more
prominent in open-grained woods, such as oak, ash, and chestnut, than
in close-grained woods, such as maple, cherry, poplar, and birch. It
is the difference in the character and structure of these layers which
makes some woods hard and others soft, some with open and others with
close grain, and which also, with the coloring matter peculiar to each
kind of wood, causes its individuality and adaptability to certain
uses. (The color and odor of wood are caused by chemical combinations,
and are not part of the substance of the wood.)
Each of these annual layers is composed of two parts, the formation
being shown in Fig. 1, in which the grain of yellow pine is depicted.
The soft, cellular, or open, grain, _a_, is formed as the sap moves
upward in the spring, and the hard, compact grain, _b_, is formed later
in the year. In soft woods the open grain predominates, while in hard
woods the compact grain is more in evidence.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--SECTION OF YELLOW PINE.
_a_, soft, cellular grain; _b_, hard, compact grain.]
The age of a tree may be determined by counting these annual rings
upon the stump, though a drouth during the growing season may have at
some time so affected its growth as to make some layers indistinct,
rendering it impossible to be absolutely sure of the count. In a young
tree the annual layers are thicker than when the tree becomes more
mature.
(=C.=) The different kinds of timber which the carpenter uses are cut
from _deciduous_, or broad-leaf, trees, and from _coniferous_, or
needle-leaf, trees. This classification of trees is based upon the
difference in the forms of their leaves, the former kind furnishing the
ash, oak, walnut, beech, birch, and other woods that are hard to work,
as well as poplar or white wood, linn or bass wood, and others which
are called hard woods, not in the sense that they are hard to work, but
because their method of growth is the same.
The _coniferous_ or _evergreen_ trees furnish the cedars, pines,
hemlocks, spruces, firs, redwood, tamarack, cypress, and a few other
woods of the same nature. These woods have a resin which is always
present, no matter how old or dry the wood may be, which explains their
superior weather-resisting qualities.
=2. The formation of wood.=--(=A.=) In the spring the sap begins to
flow upward, mainly through the open cells of the cambium (the new
growth in the stem, by which the diameter of the tree is increased),
and to some extent through the sapwood. As it comes in contact with the
air by means of the leaves and the green shoots of the tree, (=B.=)
it gives off water and oxygen, and absorbs carbonic acid gas from the
air, (=C.=) which is formed into starch, sugar, oil, etc.; this in turn
becomes part of the sapwood, and forms the compact part of the annual
ring, completing the layer for that year.
(=D.=) The wood is formed by a deposit of matter from the sap, which
gradually thickens the cell walls until the cells are filled, when that
layer becomes a part of the heartwood, or that part of the tree which
is inclosed within the annual layers of sapwood.
(=E.=) Both the fibers and the cells of the sapwood are filled with
water or sap, which may be removed by seasoning, but the sapwood of
most trees used for building purposes is not as good lumber as the
heartwood, as it is always susceptible to moisture. The exceptions to
this will be mentioned elsewhere.
(=F.=) In all unseasoned lumber from 20 to 60 per cent of its weight
is moisture, which must be evaporated before the lumber has its highest
commercial value. This may be done by weather drying or by artificial
means, the lumber being treated in a specially constructed kiln.
=3. Tissues.=--(=A.=) A tree trunk is composed of four different
tissues, viz.:
1. The _pith_ (Fig. 2, _a_), a cellular tissue: this is worthless and
its presence in lumber is considered a defect.
2. The _wood_, which includes the heartwood (_b_), the sapwood
(_c_), and the medullary rays (_g_). From this part of the tree the
commercially valuable lumber is taken.
3. The _cambium_ (_d_), which is a thin layer between the sapwood (_c_)
and the bast (_e_).
4. The _bark_, which includes both the bast (_e_) and the outer bark
(_f_). The bark of most trees is worthless, but that of chestnut, oak,
hemlock, and other trees which are rich in tannic acid is used in large
quantities by tanneries.
(=B.=) The heartwood (_b_), or _duramen_, of most trees is the part
generally used by carpenters upon the best work. It is firm, compact,
and of the color and qualities characteristic of the wood.
(=C.=) The sapwood (_c_), or _alburnum_, is generally light-colored,
and in most building woods its presence is considered a defect, though
not in hickory, ash, maple, or yellow pine, and a few other woods;
in fact, in these woods it is often preferred to the heartwood for
many kinds of work on account of its color. The alburnum is filled
with the active elements of the sap, which are deposited as the sap
passes through the trees, and in time becomes part of the duramen, or
heartwood. The time required for sapwood to attain maturity ranges
from thirty to one hundred years, according to its kind and age.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--SECTION OF OAK TREE TRUNK.
_a_, pith; _b_, heartwood, or duramen; _c_, sapwood, or alburnum; _d_,
cambium; _e_, bast, or inner bark; _f_, outer bark, or corky layer;
_g_, medullary rays, or silver grain; _po_, plain oak; _qo_, quartered
oak.]
(=D.=) Outside of the sapwood (Fig. 2, _c_) is the cambium (_d_), which
furnishes the substance upon which the life of the tree depends. Here,
nourished by the richest sap, new cells are formed, which become either
sapwood or a part of the bast. (=E.=) At (_e_) is shown the bast or
inner bark, which is composed of a woody fiber combined with a tissue
of cells. This is elastic, which allows it to expand as the wood grows
beneath it. Outside of the bast is the bark (_f_), or outer covering,
which is of a corky nature, and protects the delicate vital parts of
the tree.
=4. The medullary rays.=--Every tree has _medullary rays_ (Fig. 2,
_g_), usually spoken of by wood-workers as the “silver streak,” or
“silver grain.” These rays connect the center of the tree with the
outside, and are more prominent in such woods as oak, beech, and
sycamore than in other woods. It is to take advantage of the beauty
which these medullary rays impart that so much quarter-sawed lumber is
used, though lumber sawed in this way is preferred for other reasons,
which will be discussed later.
In many woods these rays are so small as to be invisible to the naked
eye, as in pine, for instance, which has fifteen thousand to the square
inch. Aside from adding much to the beauty of the lumber, they also
give strength; if lumber is dried out too rapidly by artificial heat,
it is apt to _check_, or crack, upon the line of the medullary rays.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--DEFECTS IN LUMBER.
_a_, wind shakes or cup shakes; _b_, heart shakes; _c_, star shakes;
_d_, branch broken off, showing the method by which the annual layers
gradually cover broken branches; _e_, hard knot.]
=5. The grain in trees.=--In open or exposed situations trees usually
grow more or less gnarled or crooked, which tends to improve the
grain. The strength of lumber cut from trees grown as described is
impaired, however, as the wood is more cross-grained than that from
trees which grow in the heart of a forest, with practically the same
conditions on all sides. As forest trees are continually reaching up
for the sunlight, they grow taller and straighter, which makes it
possible for straighter-grained lumber to be cut from them, and as the
branches are at the top, where they receive the sunlight and air, there
are few cross-grained places.
When the annual rings are large, the grain is said to be _coarse_, and
if the rings are fine, the term _fine-grained_ is used to describe it.
When the direction of the fibers is nearly parallel with the sides and
the edges of the board, it is said to be _straight-grained_; when the
lumber is taken from a crooked tree, it is said to be _cross-grained_,
as the grain follows the shape of the log, while the board is sawed
straight. Cross-grained lumber is the handsomer; in this the fibers,
being at different angles with the surface of the board, form a variety
of figures, which add much to the beauty of the wood.
=6. Defects found in lumber.=--(=A.=) Some of the most common defects
found in lumber are _wind shakes_, or _cup shakes_ (Fig. 3, _a_), which
are cracks following the line of the porous part of the annual rings.
These are caused by the action of severe winds. (=B.=) _Heart shakes_
(Fig. 3, _b_) are cracks radiating from the center of the tree, and
may be found in any kind of wood, as they are the result of deficient
nutrition, or loss of vitality. (=C.=) _Star shakes_ (Fig. 3, _c_) are
caused by the shrinkage of the tree upon the outside, which is the
result of a long dry spell of intense cold, or of the deficient action
of the sap. Star shakes differ from heart shakes in being larger upon
the outside of the tree; the heart shakes are larger at the center.
Shakes of all kinds are common defects and sometimes are so numerous as
to make the log worthless.
(=D.=) _Discolorations_ are caused by decay which has at some time
gained a foothold, but which the tree was sufficiently vigorous to
overcome; or they may be due to imperfect or insufficient nutrition,
which generally results in the entire tree being affected instead of
small places upon the tree.
(=E.=) Timber grown in a damp, marshy locality is generally of a
poorer quality than that grown upon higher ground, as more water is
taken up by the roots than can be well assimilated, which prevents the
formation of healthy compact wood. Some woods are adapted to such soil,
the poplar or whitewood, willow, basswood, buckeye, and cypress being
denizens of moist or swampy places.
Trees growing where they are exposed to winds from one direction
are apt to assume a spiral growth, which renders the timber almost
worthless, as it is weak, and twists badly in drying.
(=F.=) Trees which have lumps appearing like growths upon them are
usually unhealthy. These lumps, or tumors, may be caused by defective
nutrition, checks, or shakes, or by the depredations of animals or
insects.
(=G.=) _Clefts_, or _splits_, in a tree may be caused by extreme cold,
heat, or drouth. They may extend into the tree several inches, and
while the blemish will always remain, showing a discoloration or other
defect, nature often repairs it so that the strength of the timber is
but slightly affected. If these clefts are not healed, rain may find
lodgment there, and the sap be so affected that the adjacent wood will
be destroyed, and this in time will destroy the tree.
(=H.=) Eggs of certain insects are also deposited in these clefts, the
larvæ of which bore into the wood and destroy it. (=I.=) If it were
not for the birds and other natural enemies of these insects, they
would increase so rapidly that the lumber supply would be seriously
affected, and, as it is, there are very few trees which are not injured
to some extent by wood borers. The United States Bureau of Entomology
estimates that the damage to trees by these pests amounts to at least
$100,000,000 annually.
(=K.=) Sometimes (as at _d_, Fig. 3) branches die or are broken off;
this gives the elements access to the heart of the tree and usually
causes a permanent injury, as the birds and other denizens of the
forest frequently dig out the rotten wood as soon as the weather has
had time to do its work, thus giving further opportunity for decay to
continue its destructive action. If this does not happen, the wood
will grow over the break after several years and leave a loose knot in
the heart of the tree, which will be a decided blemish when the log is
made into lumber. The sketch shows the endeavor of nature to repair the
defect, as the annual rings will eventually close over the break.
The hard knot at _e_, Fig. 3, is not a serious defect, unless the wood
is to be used for finish or where great strength is required.
=7. When to cut lumber.=--Trees which are intended for the use of
wood-workers should not be felled while the sap is in motion. If cut
at any other time than midsummer or in winter, the active sap is apt
to sour and to cause decay. Owing to the scarcity of lumber, or from
avarice, this precaution often is ignored, and trees are felled at any
time of year, regardless of their age; in such cases, much of the
lumber lacks the essential qualities of its kind.
When a tree shows signs of dying at the top, it should be cut down, as
the quality of the lumber it contains will deteriorate rapidly.
SUGGESTIVE EXERCISES
1. What is meant by exogenous trees? In what kinds of wood are the
annual layers most prominent? Describe the formation of annual layers.
What causes the difference in the degrees of hardness of wood? In the
color and odor of wood? How may the age of a tree be determined? Are
the broadest annual layers found in young or in old trees? From what
class of trees does soft wood come? Hard wood?
2. Describe the motion of sap. What forms the sapwood? With what are
the cells of the sapwood filled? Compare sapwood and heartwood.
3. Describe the four different tissues in a tree. Describe the inner
bark.
4. What are the medullary rays? In what woods are they most prominent?
How do they affect the strength of timber?
5. What is the nature of trees which grow in exposed situations? Where
are the straightest trees found? Why does the location of a tree
affect the grain? What is meant by _coarse_, _fine_, _straight_, and
_cross-grained_ lumber?
6. What causes wind shakes? Heart shakes? Star shakes? How may they
be distinguished from each other? What causes discolorations? What is
the usual character of timber grown upon marshy ground? What woods
are adapted to low ground? What sometimes causes spiral growth? What
do lumps and excrescences upon a tree generally signify? What causes
clefts in trees? What are the results of clefts? Does nature perfectly
repair the cleft? What is the usual result of a branch being broken
off?
7. What is the per cent of moisture in green wood? Should very young
trees be cut? Why? How may the top of a tree show when it should be
felled? At what time of year should trees be cut?