Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/528

476 BUILDING [CARPENTRY. Guide to Railway Masonry, 8vo, 1839-46 ; and Practical Masonry, Bricklaying, &c., 4to, 1830; Dobson, Rudimentary Treatise on Masonry, 1849, 1856 ; Robson, Masons , Bricklayers , and Decora tors Guide, 4to, 1862. Foreign. DC 1 Onnc 1 , Nouvelles inventions pour Men bastir, &c., fol., 1561 ; JoussedelaFleche, Secrets d Architecture, fol., 1642 ; J3osse, La Pratiqu^ du trait pour la Coupe dcs Picrres, fol., 1643 ; Demand, DCS Traits ct Coupe des Voutes, fol., 1643 ; De la Rue, Traite de la Coupe dcs Pierrcs, fol., 1728 ; Frezier, Traite de Stereotomie, 4to, 1737 ; and Elements de Stereotomie, 17f>9 ; Sinionin ct Delagardette, Traite de la Coupe des Pierres, 4to, 1792 ; Douliot, Traite specialc du Coupe dcs Picrres, 4to, 1825 ; Vorlegeblatter fur Maurer, fol., 1835 ; Adhernar, Traite dcla Coupe dcs Picrres, fol., 1836-40 ; Normand, pures d Escaliers en Pierre, 4to, 1838 ; Le Hoy, Traite dc Geometric descriptive, 4to, 1850 ; Claudel et Laroque, Ma<;onncrie Pratique, 8vo, no date ; the article Maqonnerie in the various Encydopedies ; and the general treatise by Rondelet, L Art de lien bdtir, with supplement by Blonet, fol., 1842-46. SAWYER-WORK. The labour of the sawyer is applied to the division of large pieces of timber or logs into forms and sizes to suit the purposes of the carpenter and joiner. His working-place is called a saw-pit, and his almost only important tool a pit-saw. A. cross-cut saw, axes, dogs, tiles, compasses, lines, lamp-black, black-lead, chalk, and a rule, are all accessories which may be considered necessary to him. The facility with which sawing whole timber is now done by the aid of the upright saw-frame, and smaller timber by the circular-saw bench, has in large factories and workshops caused the saw-pits to be out of date ; timber after it has been cut at the mills can be again reduced into sizes and scantlings at a rapid rate, and with great exactitude and little labour. In some country parts, however, the saw-pit is still used. Unlike most other artificers, the sawyer can do absolutely nothing alone; sawyers are therefore always in pairs, one of the two standing on the work, and the other in the pit under it. The log or baulk of timber being carefully and firmly fixed on the pit, and lined for the cuts which are to be made in it, the top-man standing on it, and the pit-man below or off from its end, a cut is commenced, the former holding the saw with his two hands by the handle above, and the other in the same manner by the box handle below. The attention of the top-man is directed to keeping the saw in the direction of and out of winding with the line to be cut upon, and that of the pit-man to cut down in a truly vertical line. The saw being correctly entered, very little more is required than steadiness of hand and eye in keep ing it correctly on throughout the whole length. In the operations of the carpenter and joiner much depends on the manner in which the sawyers have performed their part. The best work on the part of the carpenter cannot retrieve the radical defects in his materials from bad sawing ; and although the joiner need not allow his work to suffer, bad sawing causes him great loss of wood and immense additional and otherwise unnecessary labour. Planks or boards, and scantlings, on coming from the saw- pit, should be as straight and true in every particular, except mere smoothness of surface, as if they had been tried upon the joiner s bench ; and good workmen actually produce them so. Saw-mills, too, by the truth and beauty with which they operate, show the sawyer what may be effected ; for though he can hardly hope to equal their effect, he may seek to approach it. CARPENTRY. Carpentry or carpenter s work has been divided into three principal heads, namely, descriptive, constructive, and mechanical. The first shows the lines or methods for form ing every species of work by the rules of geometry ; the second comprises the practice of reducing the timber into particular forms, and joining the forms so produced so as to make a complete whole according to the intention or design; and the third displays the relative strength of the timbers and the strains to which they are subjected by their disposition. Here, we have merely to describe the practical details of carpenters work in the operations of building. The carpenter works in wood, which he receives from the sawyer in beams, scantlings, and planks or boards, which he cuts and combines into bond-timbers, wall-plates, floors, and roofs. He is distinguished from the, joiner by his operations being directed to the mere carcass of a building to things which have reference to structure only. Almost everything the carpenter does in and to an edifice is abso lutely necessary to its stability and efficiency, whereas the joiner does not begin his operations until the carcass is complete; and every article of joiners work might at any time be removed from a building without undermining it or affecting its most important qualities. Certainly, iu the practice of building, a few things do occur regarding which it is difficult to determine to whose immediate province they belong ; but the distinction is sufficiently broad for general purposes. The carpenter, with the bricklayer or mason and some of the minor artificers, constructs the frame or hull ; and the joiner, with the plasterer and others, decorates and rigs the vessel. On the former the actual existence of the ship depends, and on the latter depends her fitness for use. The carpenter frames or combines separate pieces of timber by scarfing, notching, cogging, tenoning, pinning, and wedging. The tools he uses are the rule, the axe, the Tools. adze, the saw, the mallet, hammers, chisels, gouges, augers, wimbles, pincers, hook-pins, a square, a bevel, a pair of compasses, and a gauge, together with the level, square, and plumb-rule ; besides these, planes (for making grooves, rebates, and mouldings), gimlets, pincers, a sledge-hammer, a maul or beetle, wedges, and a crow-bar may be con sidered useful auxiliaries, though they are not absolutely necessary to the performance of works of carpentry. Planing and other machines are used to diminish the great manual labour of working the surface of planks and boards, and of moulding, tenoning, and other similar oper ations ; and so elaborate are some of these machines, that a four-panelled door can now be made complete in a couple of hours, which formerly was considered a good day s work for a man. Circular-saws are employed for working up larger timbers ; and for ripping up boards or scantlings of moderate thickness, they are now used in all work shops. The fir timber in general use is imported from Mcmel, Tunic Riga, Dantzig, and Sweden. Memel timber is the most convenient for size, Riga the best in quality, Dantzig the strongest, and Swedish the toughest. Riga timber can always be depended upon. Red pine may be used wher ever durability and strength are objects ; Quebec yellow pine for light dry purposes. In selecting timber, spongy heart, porous grain, and dead knots are to be avoided ; the brightest in colour, and where the strong red grain appears to rise on the surface, are the best to be chosen. For joists and main timbers, the best woods are from Dantzig, Memel, or Riga ; for partitions and minor timbers, American red wood, which not being so strong as the Baltic timber, must be cut to a little larger size. For sleepers, window-sills, and some parts of a roof, oak is used ; for framing, Christiania deals or battens ; for panelling, Christiania white deal 01 American yellow pine ; for upper floors, Dram or Dram- men and Christiania whites ; for ground floors, Stockholm and Gefle yellows ; for warehouse floors and staircases, Archangel and Onega planks ; for best floors, St Petersburg,

Onega, Dram, and Christiania battens. American deals