Book Description

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: 78 THE JOINER. The business of the joiner is distinct from that of the carpenter, for it has relation to the more ornamental parts of the art of building;?the construction of woodwork is designed to please the eye, rather than to add to the stability of an edifice; whereas, the carpenter is concerned more with the solidity and stability, than the beauty or decoration. It will therefore be necessary that sogie remarks should be made, calculated to assist the student in the attainment of this branch of the art of working in wood, that beauty and solidity may be united. Nor must it be supposed that, in the introduction of facts already well known to some of our readers, we are writing that which everybody knows; for, in the preparation of this volume, we have aimed to render ourselves intelligible to those who are least acquainted with the subjects we explain. Woods. White and yellow deal, wainscot, or American oak, and mahogany, are more frequently used by the joiner than any other woods. Having already spoken of these in the former chapter, it will be unnecessary that we should now do more than mention some of their qualities, and the uses to which they are applied. Deal is generally imported into this country in lengths of from six to fourteen feet, though the most common length is twelve feet, being then generally cut to thegreatest advantage. The blocks are about three inches thick, and nine inches wide. In choosing deals, those must be selected which are most free from knots and shakes, and appear to have the closest grain, the coarser ones being reserved for common work. The yellow deals are in general straighter in grain, and have a smaller, number of knots than the white; this wood should therefore be chosen for the styles of doors, and for framing; and it wo...