Constructive Carpentry

By Charles A. King

Carpentry is a skilled trade where the main work performed is the shaping, cutting, and installation of building materials used for the things like ships, buildings, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. This vintage book contains a fantastic guide to all things carpentry, offering information on everything from foundation making to roof construction, plastering, and much more. “Constructive Carpentry” will appeal to those with a practical interest in carpentry and construction, and it would make for a worthy addition to collections of allied literature. “Masonry Foundations”, “Forms of Construction”, “Mill Construction”, The Carpenter's Steel Square, Carpenter's Geometry”, “Roof Construction”, “Boarding In”, “Roof Coverings”, “Plastering”, etc. Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in a modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially commissioned new introduction on wood working.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Old Hand Books
• Release date: Sep 17, 2020
• ISBN: 9781528768061

Book preview

KING’S SERIES IN WOODWORK AND CARPENTRY

CONSTRUCTIVE CARPENTRY

BY

CHARLES A. KING

DIRECTOR OF MANUAL TRAINING

EASTERN HIGH SCHOOL, BAY CITY, MICHIGAN

Copyright © 2018 Read Books Ltd.

This book is copyright and may not be

reproduced or copied in any way without

the express permission of the publisher in writing

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from

the British Library

Woodworking

Woodworking is the process of making items from wood. Along with stone, mud and animal parts, wood was one of the first materials worked by early humans. There are incredibly early examples of woodwork, evidenced in Mousterian stone tools used by Neanderthal man, which demonstrate our affinity with the wooden medium. In fact, the very development of civilisation is linked to the advancement of increasingly greater degrees of skill in working with these materials.

Examples of Bronze Age wood-carving include tree trunks worked into coffins from northern Germany and Denmark and wooden folding-chairs. The site of Fellbach-Schmieden in Germany has provided fine examples of wooden animal statues from the Iron Age. Woodworking is depicted in many ancient Egyptian drawings, and a considerable amount of ancient Egyptian furniture (such as stools, chairs, tables, beds, chests) has been preserved in tombs. The inner coffins found in the tombs were also made of wood. The metal used by the Egyptians for woodworking tools was originally copper and eventually, after 2000 BC, bronze - as ironworking was unknown until much later. Historically, woodworkers relied upon the woods native to their region, until transportation and trade innovations made more exotic woods available to the craftsman.

Today, often as a contemporary artistic and 'craft' medium, wood is used both in traditional and modern styles; an excellent material for delicate as well as forceful artworks. Wood is used in forms of sculpture, trade, and decoration including chip carving, wood burning, and marquetry, offering a fascination, beauty, and complexity in the grain that often shows even when the medium is painted. It is in some ways easier to shape than harder substances, but an artist or craftsman must develop specific skills to carve it properly. 'Wood carving' is really an entire genre itself, and involves cutting wood generally with a knife in one hand, or a chisel by two hands - or, with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet. The phrase may also refer to the finished product, from individual sculptures to hand-worked mouldings composing part of a tracery.

The making of sculpture in wood has been extremely widely practiced but survives much less well than the other main materials such as stone and bronze, as it is vulnerable to decay, insect damage, and fire. It therefore forms an important hidden element in the arts and crafts history of many cultures. Outdoor wood sculptures do not last long in most parts of the world, so we have little idea how the totem pole tradition developed. Many of the most important sculptures of China and Japan in particular are in wood, and the great majority of African sculptures and that of Oceania also use this medium. There are various forms of carving which can be utilised; 'chip carving' (a style of carving in which knives or chisels are used to remove small chips of the material), 'relief carving' (where figures are carved in a flat panel of wood), 'Scandinavian flat-plane' (where figures are carved in large flat planes, created primarily using a carving knife - and rarely rounded or sanded afterwards) and 'whittling' (simply carving shapes using just a knife). Each of these techniques will need slightly varying tools, but broadly speaking, a specialised 'carving knife' is essential, alongside a 'gouge' (a tool with a curved cutting edge used in a variety of forms and sizes for carving hollows, rounds and sweeping curves), a 'chisel' and a 'coping saw' (a small saw, used to cut off chunks of wood at once).

Wood turning is another common form of woodworking, used to create wooden objects on a lathe. Woodturning differs from most other forms of woodworking in that the wood is moving while a stationary tool is used to cut and shape it. There are two distinct methods of turning wood: 'spindle turning' and 'bowl' or 'faceplate turning'. Their key difference is in the orientation of the wood grain, relative to the axis of the lathe. This variation in orientation changes the tools and techniques used. In spindle turning, the grain runs lengthways along the lathe bed, as if a log was mounted in the lathe. Grain is thus always perpendicular to the direction of rotation under the tool. In bowl turning, the grain runs at right angles to the axis, as if a plank were mounted across the chuck. When a bowl blank rotates, the angle that the grain makes with the cutting tool continually changes between the easy cuts of lengthways and downwards across the grain to two places per rotation where the tool is cutting across the grain and even upwards across it. This varying grain angle limits some of the tools that may be used and requires additional skill in order to cope with it.

The origin of woodturning dates to around 1300 BC when the Egyptians first developed a two-person lathe. One person would turn the wood with a rope while the other used a sharp tool to cut shapes in the wood. The Romans improved the Egyptian design with the addition of a turning bow. Early bow lathes were also developed and used in Germany, France and Britain. In the Middle Ages a pedal replaced hand-operated turning, freeing both the craftsman's hands to hold the woodturning tools. The pedal was usually connected to a pole, often a straight-grained sapling. The system today is called the 'spring pole' lathe. Alternatively, a two-person lathe, called a 'great lathe', allowed a piece to turn continuously (like today's power lathes). A master would cut the wood while an apprentice turned the crank.

As an interesting aside, the term 'bodger' stems from pole lathe turners who used to make chair legs and spindles. A bodger would typically purchase all the trees on a plot of land, set up camp on the plot, and then fell the trees and turn the wood. The spindles and legs that were produced were sold in bulk, for pence per dozen. The bodger's job was considered unfinished because he only made component parts. The term now describes a person who leaves a job unfinished, or does it badly. This could not be more different from perceptions of modern carpentry; a highly skilled trade in which work involves the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges and concrete framework. The word 'carpenter' is the English rendering of the Old French word carpentier (later, charpentier) which is derived from the Latin carpentrius; '(maker) of a carriage.' Carpenters traditionally worked with natural wood and did the rougher work such as framing, but today many other materials are also used and sometimes the finer trades of cabinet-making and furniture building are considered carpentry.

As is evident from this brief historical and practical overview of woodwork, it is an incredibly varied and exciting genre of arts and crafts; an ancient tradition still relevant in the modern day. Woodworkers range from hobbyists, individuals operating from the home environment, to artisan professionals with specialist workshops, and eventually large-scale factory operations. We hope the reader is inspired by this book to create some woodwork of their own.

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.

The illustrations in this Series, with the exception of the photographs in Elements of Woodwork and Elements of Construction, are from drawings made by the author.

CHARLES A. KING.

BAY CITY, MICHIGAN.

PREFACE TO CONSTRUCTIVE CARPENTRY

BEFORE undertaking the work included in the following pages, the student should have passed through that contained in Elements of Woodwork and Elements of Construction, or their equivalent.

In preparing the material for this book, it has been the author’s first purpose to arrange and present the subjects in such a manner that they will be easily adaptable to use in technical schools for students of architecture and engineering, and in trade and industrial schools for the teaching of the principles and methods of building construction, to students who plan to make carpentry a means of livelihood.

The matter as arranged has special reference to the laying out and planning of the construction of wooden buildings, for the foreman as well as for the one who is to work under his direction. The important problems met with in preparing a house for the inside finish are discussed, and the relation between the carpenter and other mechanics is explained.

The teacher should see that there is a select library for the use of the students, including the leading trade periodicals, from which should be selected subjects for discussion, research, and essays bearing upon the different stages of the work.

The method of teaching the use of the steel square was devised by the author to meet classroom conditions; the formulas and instruction given may be applied to any pitch or plate angle or to any combination of them.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.MASONRY, FOUNDATIONS. — 1. Building sites; 2. Subsoil; 3. Laying out the foundation; 4. Excavations; 5. Ledges; 6. Footing courses; 7. Stonework; 8. Damp proofing; 9. Brickwork; 10. Bonding; 11. Anchors; 12. Openings; 13. Corbelling; 14. Brick walls; 15. Chimneys; 16. The carpenter and the mason

CHAPTER II.FORMS OF CONSTRUCTION. — 17. The full frame; 18. The half frame; 19. The balloon frame; 20. Sills; 21. Corner posts; 22. Braces; 23. Floor joists; 24. Studding; 25. Porch construction; 26. Trusses; 27. Timbers; 28. Selection of timber

CHAPTER III.MILL CONSTRUCTION. — 29. Introduction; 30. Details

CHAPTER IV.THE CARPENTER’S STEEL SQUARE, CARPENTER’S GEOMETRY. — 31. Steel square; 32. Bevel board; 33. To mark divisions; 34. To lay out regular polygons; 35. To bisect an angle; 36. To find the center of a circle from three given points; 37. To construct the greatest square within a given circle; 38. To construct a square; 39. To construct a circle which shall equal the area of two given circles; 40. To octagon a given timber; 41. Given the side of an octagon, to find the width; 42. Given the side of a hexagon, to find the width; 43. Given the side of an octagon, to find the diagonal; 44. Given the side of a hexagon, to find the diagonal; 45. Given the width of an octagon, to find the length of a side; 46. Given the width of a hexagon, to find the side

CHAPTER V.ROOF CONSTRUCTION. — 47. Pitches of roofs; 48. The different forms of roofs; 49. The plan of the roof; 50. The common rafter; 51. Lookouts; 52. The ridge; 53. Hip rafters; 54. Valley rafters; 55. Jack rafters; 56. Cripple rafters; 57. Collar beams; 58. Struts; 59. Purlins and hoppers; 60. Octagon rafters; 61. Hexagonal rafters; 62. The king-post roof; 63. Backing an octagon hip rafter; 64. Octagon cheek cuts; 65. Irregular roofs; 66. Curb roofs; 67. Curvilinear hips; 68. Flat roof; 69. Dormer windows

CHAPTER VI.BOARDING IN. OUTSIDE FINISH. — 70. Boarding in; 71. Cornices; 72. Gable finish; 73. Outside finish; 74. Conductors; 75. Finials; 76. Circular gutters; 77. Rake moldings; 78. Siding a circular tower; 79. Scribing; 80. Dome roof

CHAPTER VII.ROOF COVERINGS. — 81. Shingles; 82. Flashing; 83. Metal roofs; 84. Slate roof; 85. Gravel roofs

CHAPTER VIII.PLASTERING. — 86. Laths; 87. Corner finish; 88. Grounds; 89. Plastering; 90. Back plastering; 91. Deadening

GLOSSARY OF TERMS USED IN ARCHITECTURE AND CARPENTRY

INDEX

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

1.Location of a House upon an Irregularly Shaped Lot

2.Laying out the Foundation

3.Large Square for Laying out Foundations

4.Building a Foundation upon a Ledge

5.Rubble Foundation built upon a Hillside

6.Coursed Ashlar

7.Broken Ashlar

8.Damp Proofing

9.Inside Blind Drain

10.Inside Open Drain

11.English Bond

12.American Bond

13.Brick Veneering

14.Strap Anchor

15.Plate Anchor

16.Lintels and Rowlock Arches

17.Corbelling

18.Wooden Plate for the Top of a Brick Wall

19.Mortised Joint, Drawbored

20.Full Frame House

21.Balloon Frame

22.Framing of Sills at the Corners

23.Beveled Shoulder Joint

24.Joint between the Corner Post and Sills

25.Built Corner Posts

26.Ledger Board, or Ribband

27.Position of the Framing Square in Finding the Length of a Brace

28.Beveled Shoulder Brace Joint

29.Sizing Floor Joists to fit Sills and Girders

30.Bridging

31.Partitions

32.Straightening a Crooked Stud

33.Porch Construction

34.Ramped Rail

35.Trussed Girder

36.Girder stiffened by Rods

37.Built Trussed Girder

38.Flitch Plate Girder

39.Scissors Truss

40.Howe Truss

41.Floor Plan of a Section of a Mill

42.Cross Section of Above Mill

43.Longitudinal Section of Above Mill

44.Construction of Above Mill at Wall and Posts

45.The Carpenter’s Steel Square

46.Diagonal Scale of 100ths of an Inch

47.Dividing a Board into Equal Spaces

48.Construction of a Circle with a Steel Square

49.Construction of an Equilateral Triangle

50.Construction of a Hexagon

51.Construction of a Rectangle

52.Construction of an Octagon

53.Bisecting an Angle

54.Construction of a Circle from Three Given Points

55.Construction of the Greatest Possible Square within a Given Circle

56.Construction of a Square