There are so many ways in which a box may be made that it would be out of place here to enumerate them all. The joints used here are known as butt joints.

Fig. 113 is the working drawing; the details of the work are shown in Fig. 114.

The first step to be taken in making this exercise is to make out a bill of lumber. By the drawing we find the length of the box to be 12 inches, the width to be 7 inches, and the height to be 5 inches, allowing ⅛ inch on each end of the sides for finishing. The side pieces would be 12¼ inches. The thickness of the sides is ½ inch and the ends are let into the sides ¼ inch as shown in Fig. 114, A; this would make the length of the ends 6½ inches finished; one end being ½ inch narrower than the other to let the top slide over it in the groove on the sides. The width of one end would be 5 inches, and of the other 4½ inches. The bottom is to be let into the sides and ends in a groove which is ¼ inch deep. This would make the bottom 11½ inches long, 6½ inches wide, and ½ inch thick. The top slides in the groove shown in the section at B, Fig. 114, which is ¼ inch deep, and the end of the top goes into the groove in the end of the box, which is ¼ inch deep. This would make the length of the top 11¾ inches, the width 6½ inches, and the thickness ½ inch. The bill of lumber would be as follows:

The material used in this exercise will be planed nearly to the thickness by the planing machine, enough being left to smooth the work. Select and lay out on a board the pieces required (allowing enough for the work on the edges). Saw out the pieces; then plane the edges by the methods given, omitting the planing of the face side and the back, but select and mark the sides for the working faces.

The extremities of the end pieces are to be planed perfectly square to insure a close fit against the sides. The method of planing the ends is to plane half way through from the edge, then plane from the other edge, being careful not to let the plane go all the way across, as the corner will be liable to break off.

It will not be necessary to plane the ends of the sides until the box is glued together, when they can be finished off even with the end.

To lay out and prepare the sides, place the pieces together, faces out and edges up, draw a line across the edges at the ends for the full length of the box, then measure back the thickness of the ends. From these lines mark across the faces of each piece. It will be noticed that one end of each side can be sawed across, but the other end where the top enters the grooves will have to be cut partly with a saw and the rest of the way with a chisel. Prepare the ends the same as the shoulders of the tenon, being careful not to cut the groove all the way across where the top enters.

Gauge the depth to which the ends go into the sides, and after sawing across remove the pieces from the corners with a chisel. It will be necessary only to have the end pieces the correct length, as there will be no lines to be drawn on them.

Take the plow plane and put a ¼ inch iron into it, and set it for the grooves that are cut out of the sides and the ends.

The grooves are all the same distance in from the edges and are all the same depth. To protect the bench while using the plow, get a piece of board and on it fasten pieces to hold the work while running the groove. This is done by sawing out three or four pieces as shown in Fig. 115, and fastening them to the board as shown in Fig. 116.

The tongue on the edges of the top and the bottom can be made with the plow by fastening the pieces in the vise and rabbeting out the corners as shown in C, Fig. 114.

After all cutting and fitting has been done smooth the inside of each piece with the plane; then take the steel scraper (shown in Fig. 117), and scrape the surfaces; then finish with sand paper; glue the corners; put the bottom in place and fasten together with hand screws and let dry. There are no nails used in the construction of this exercise.

Finish the outside of the box in the same way that the inside was done.

After finishing the outside and the top, use filler or stain to color the wood. The filler is a mixture of fine whiting and linseed oil with a little turpentine to act as a dryer, colored with any of the pigments desired. A little experience is necessary in using the colors to obtain the desired shade.

The filler comes already prepared, of a cream color, and must be colored as required. Apply the filler with a brush, and let it stand on the wood for a short time; then rub it off with cotton waste or a rag; then set the work aside until the surfaces are perfectly hard; then give a coat of shellac varnish and let it dry. Repeat the operation two or three times, using sand paper to smooth each coat of varnish.

After the varnish is thoroughly hard, take powdered pumice and oil or water, using a soft rag, and rub the surfaces until they are smooth; then take rotten stone and oil and rub until it has a fairly bright gloss. Rub with a soft dry cloth, then finish with the palm of the hand until a bright glossy surface is obtained.

For polishing see note.

PROBLEM IN TRUSS WORK.

The preceding work is what might be termed joiner work; the carpenter also is called upon to join timbers, and uses to a great extent the same joints that the joiner does, but the joiner’s work is usually where it must bear inspection, whereas the carpenter’s work is generally covered over either by plaster or casings. A single mechanic may be able to perform every kind of work that is required in the construction of a building; thus the two trades are usually spoken of as one, i. e., carpenter work.

In Fig. 118 is shown a method that is sometimes used in the construction of trusses. A truss is that part of a roof which supports the purlines, rafters and sheathing. A roof is the covering or upper enclosure of a building with the frame work by which it is supported. It may be of almost any shape. A light roof is usually of moderate span, without trusses, the rafters being supported by the walls or partitions of the building. A heavy roof is employed for wider spans, and the rafters are then supported by the purlines and trusses. A truss is usually required for spans of more than 20 feet.[A]

The span of a roof is the horizontal distance between the external surfaces of the walls of the building; its rise is a vertical let fall from its ridge to a horizontal line joining the intersections of the external surfaces of the walls and the roof surfaces. The inclination of a roof equals the angles between its surface and a horizontal.

The span of a truss is the horizontal distance between the centers of its end joints, and is usually the same as that between the centers of the walls, which support the truss. Its rise is the vertical connecting its span line and the center of the joint at the apex or highest point of the truss.

A member of a truss is any straight or curved piece which connects two adjacent joints of the truss.

The upper chord is composed of the members which form the upper edge or margin of the truss. Each half of the upper chord of a triangular truss is often called a principal. The lower chord is composed of the members forming the lower edge of the truss. If straight, this is termed the tie-beam or tie-rod; the first being a wooden timber; the second, one or more rods of iron.

The web members connect the joints of one chord with those of the other, and may be radials in case of curved trusses, diagonals, or verticals. They are commonly called struts where they resist compression, ties where they resist tension, and strut-ties where they resist compression and tension.

A joint is the connection of two or more members whose center lines must intersect at a common point if possible, this common point being the center of the joint.

The rafters of light roofs are not trussed, but rest directly on the walls, and support the sheathing and covering of the roof.

Heavy roofs are supported by trusses resting on the side walls.

The sheathing is supported by rafters which rest on the purlines, these being supported by the trusses.

The drawing, Fig. 118, shows the half of a truss; the members are the upper chord, the lower chord, and a strut.

Although carpenter work is usually of a rough character, the joints of a truss should fit snugly so that there will be no room to give when loaded; so, for the practice, the student will plane the stock either to the sizes given in the drawing or double the sizes, making the whole truss as time and circumstances permit. (This to be determined by the instructor.)

Fig. 119 shows what is termed a truss diagram; the distance from point A, to B, is the distance between the center of the walls, and the angle A, C, D, is the inclination or pitch of the roof. The pitch of the roof is determined by the distance the peak of the roof rises above the walls; thus if a roof has a quarter pitch, the peak would rise above the walls one quarter the width of the building; if half pitch the peak would rise one half the width of the building, etc. For simplicity in laying out this problem we will make the pitch one half. The points A, B, represent the span of the walls; also the lines A, C, and B, C, show the outside margin of the upper chord of the truss. By bisecting A, B, and erecting a perpendicular at D, to C, we divide, the triangle A, B, C, into two triangles, A, D, C, and B, D, C. Now, the line A, C, is the hypotenuse of the right-angled triangle A, D, C. We had one example of finding the length of the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle in Exercise No. 4. The workman who lays out rafters or trusses rarely takes time to calculate the hypotenuse of the triangle, but uses the steel framing square in the following manner. He obtains the horizontal distance at the bottom of the rafters, and the pitch. Take for example a truss that is 30 feet across from point to point, and a pitch of one half; then the distance the peak would rise would be 15 feet. Take the framing square and lay it on the chord, taking 12 inches on the blade and 12 inches on the tongue and mark off 15 triangles as shown in Fig. 120, which is half the width of the building. The rise was also 15 feet; so by using the square as shown, we obtain the rise and the run of the rafter. The line on one side of the square gives the angle at which the chord or rafter is to be cut at the peak. The line at the other end of the chord gives the line from which to measure the distance the tenon and shoulders go down into the tie-beam. The strut shown in the drawing, Fig. 118, has one joint square, and the other at an angle of 45 degrees. Where the pitch is one half, the angles are 45 degrees and right angles.

The line E, D, on the diagram represents a tie-rod, which by the construction of this truss would naturally tend to stiffen the structure by supporting the center of the tie-beam.

Wire, nuts, and washers are supplied (where the student makes a whole model) to make the tie-strut.

The student in writing out notes will make two sketches of trusses he may have observed on shop visits. The buildings visited almost all have trussed roofs, either wood or iron.

PROBLEM IN STAIR BUILDING.

Two or three students may work together on this problem.

Read all through before commencing work.

The stair and the hand-rail may be considered as one problem, since the hand-rail forms part of the completed staircase, but they are separated into two distinct problems for convenience in working them out.

In Fig. 121, is shown the plan and the elevation of the stair, the dimensions for each piece required are calculated by the student from this drawing. The name of each piece also is found in Fig. 121. The nosing is to be added to the width of the tread. The nosing is the part which projects beyond the front of the riser.

The thickness of the stringers is to be ½ inch, the risers ⅜ inches, the treads ⅜ inches, and the well-hole is to be built up as in practical work, as shown in Fig. 122.

After the material is prepared, proceed to make the templets. The templets required are shown in Fig. 122.

Templet E, is used to lay out the brackets for the risers and treads on the wall and outside stringers; templet G, to lay out the housing for the treads on the wall stringer; templet H, for the housing for the risers on the wall stringer.

Now take the piece for the wall stringer, A, Fig. 122, and draw the line X, Y; proceed to lay it out.

Commencing at the bottom, lay templet E on the piece as shown at 1 A, and draw lines for the riser and the bottom of the tread; then place the templet as shown by 2 A, (remembering that in order to have the bottom step the same height as the others the bottom riser must be the thickness of the tread narrower than the others. This will be seen by looking at the drawing, Fig. 122, which shows the height of the risers). Then place templet E, in position as indicated by 3 A, and draw the line for the riser and the tread, and so on until all the lines have been drawn which will represent the front of the risers and the bottom side of the treads.

After having drawn these lines, take templet G, and place it on the tread line as shown at J, Fig. 122, and draw the lines for the top of the steps, the nosing, and the wedges; the thickness of the step is to be measured up from the tread line.

Now take templet H, place it in position on the riser lines, J, Fig. 122, draw lines back of the riser line for the thickness of the risers and the wedges; then proceed to cut out the housing in the following manner:

Take a center or auger bit the same size as the thickness of the step and bore the depth that the housing is to be, as shown at 5 A, Fig. 122; then take a chisel and cut out as shown at 4 A, Fig. 122. This will give room to use the back-saw to cut the rest of the lines. Now take a chisel and remove the pieces to the depth required, which, in this case, is ¼ inch; cut for the risers and remove in the same manner.

In larger work of this kind a router should be used.

To lay out the outside stringer take templet E, Fig. 122, and mark as at B, Fig. 122. The riser is to form a miter with the front of the bracket; so it will be necessary to begin at the top step and saw the stringer off square to the face; then take a bevel (which will be set at an angle of 45 degrees) and mark from the riser line so that it will form a miter. Saw down this line; then saw the next tread line square to the face. Repeat with the bevel as before, and saw the next riser line, and so on until the bottom is reached. C, and D, Fig. 122, show how the risers and the treads are to be cut. The ends of the risers are to be cut at an angle of 45 degrees to fit the bracket on the outside stringer. The end of the step is cut as shown in order to receive the return nosing. The dovetails on the end are to receive the baluster which supports the hand-rail.

The piece F, which is to form the well-hole, is built up of pieces, then planed out with a round bottom plane. The method of fastening this piece to the stringer is to halve the stringer and to cut out the well-hole piece to receive it; then glue and screw together.

I, Fig. 122, shows what the top or landing step is to be.

The curves that are shown at the bottom and the top of the stringers are known as easings. The student will use his own ingenuity in forming the easing, remembering that a little glue will fasten pieces together, and that it is not necessary to take a board the whole width at those points of the stringers to accomplish this.

To put the stairs together after all the pieces have been prepared, place the bottom riser in place and fasten it in with glue and a wedge; then toe-nail it into the stringer from the back. Now fasten the outside stringer to the riser, bracing it into position; then fit the second riser and the first tread into place; then fasten with glue and wedges, and toe-nail the riser and the tread to the stringer. The treads will be nailed to the risers so as to unite the work firmly together.

Another method of fastening the riser to the tread is to groove the front edge of the tread and have a tongue on the riser, an illustration of which is shown in Fig. 123.

To decorate stairways mouldings are used; generally a cove moulding is fastened under the front and the end of the tread, an illustration of which is shown at Fig. 124. The hammer is used in this problem; it is hardly necessary to explain its use.

Toe-nailing is the driving of nails obliquely in order to fasten two pieces that may be at an angle to each other, as illustrated by Fig. 125.

PROBLEM IN HAND RAILING.

The student, not having had wood turning as yet, will not consider the making of the turned balusters, such work being introduced in the course in wood turning.

In commencing work on the hand railing, notice the several parts that have to be made; first, the newel post; second, the easing at the bottom of the stairs; third, the straight piece of railing; fourth, the return or twist at the top.

Fig. 126 shows the working drawing for the newel post, the explanation of which will be unnecessary. The easing is the bend in the rail before it strikes the newel post. The method of laying out a graceful easing is shown in Fig. 127. The straight piece of rail is worked out with the hollow and the round planes which are to be found in the tool room.

The return or twist requires to be developed by descriptive geometry, and to do this we will refer to drawing Fig. 121 in order to find the diameter of the well. It will be noticed that one half of the twist is parallel with the landing and that the curve for that half would be a true quarter circle, while the other half of the twist, that part which follows the incline of the stairs, would be part of an ellipse.

To demonstrate this, take a cylinder and cut it at an angle to its axis; the section through which the cylinder was cut would be an ellipse, an illustration of which is shown by Fig. 128. To develop this part of the ellipse lay out, on a board, by the following method, a full sized drawing of the rail required.

On the board draw a straight line which will be the center line of the well, and on any convenient point placing the leg of the compass (which will be set at the required radius), describe a semi-circle, which will represent the diameter of the well given in the plan in Fig. 121. Now from the semi-circle draw lines parallel to the center line, which will represent the outside stringer of the stair and the casing on the landing. Fig. 129 shows the development thus far.

The rail is to be 1¼ inches wide and the balusters to be ½ inch square. The side of the balusters which come on the outside of the stairs comes even with the stringer, and the rail is to be placed so that the balusters are on its center.

From the line which is already drawn to show the part which is parallel to the landing, draw a line for the center of the rail, and on each side of the center line lay out half the width of the rail. On the other half, which represents the outside stringer (the incline of the twist), draw the center line of the rail for the straight part; then draw lines for the width of the rail as on the other half. Now, to obtain that part of the ellipse required, take the pitch-board E, Fig. 122, and place it on the drawing as shown in Fig. 130; then draw lines from points X, Y, Z, perpendicular to the center line. Now set the compass to the distance A, B, and mark the distance A, B, on each side of the point Y. This gives the width of the piece required for the twist on the center line.

Describe the ellipse. The major chord would be 2 (E, F,) for the outside ellipse, and the minor chord is G, H, for the inside.

There are several methods used in describing an ellipse which the student no doubt has used in studying geometry, but the practical stair builder uses a trammel and block. The block is grooved through its center as shown in Fig. 131, and the trammel is a strip of wood; a pencil is fastened on one end and pins are fixed at points to be found by trial near the middle. Fig. 132 shows how the trammel is made. The pins slide in the grooves of the block, and the pencil marks the curve required.

Fig. 133 gives a very comprehensive idea of the pieces before they are worked down. The pieces at the right and at the top are the moulds, and the mould for the rail is on the top of the piece which is seen in the front of the figure.

After having laid out the lines as directed make the moulds or templets out of thin stuff; then mark the stock (out of which the pieces of the rail are to be made), by the templets, and saw them out, either with a compass saw, or with the band-saw where it is convenient to do so.

It will be noticed that the piece out of which the curved or twisted piece is made is thicker than the piece which is parallel with the landing.

After the pieces are sawed out, proceed to lay out the lines by which the rail is to be worked out. The templet E, Fig. 122, is used to obtain the perpendicular and the horizontal lines, from which is drawn the rectangle that is seen on the end of the rail, (in Fig. 133,) and the templet seen on the right (in Fig. 133) is used to obtain the curved lines on the top. Work off the surplus stock on each side of the rectangle with the draw knife and the spokeshave, then work off the top and the bottom, taking care to make a graceful curve on the top and the bottom. Then mark the shape of the rail on the end and work out.

In Fig. 134 is seen the finished twist developed from the pieces shown at Fig. 133.