The boy's book of trades and the tools used in them

by Anonymous

Saw. Compasses. Plumb Rule. Hammer. Square. Mallet.

Strictly speaking, the business of the Carpenter is only with the larger portions of buildings and the rough timber frameworks which support them, and his principal tools are the axe and the adze, for chopping and roughly smoothing timbers; the saw, for sawing beams and planks; the chisel, for making mortis holes for joining beams together, and for cutting and paring wood; the chalk line, a line rubbed with chalk, and used to make a straight line upon a board or beam, to mark the direction in which it is to be sawn; the plumb rule, already described amongst the Builder’s tools; the level; the square; the compasses; all of which have been described in previous trades; the hammer; the mallet, and various sorts of nails. The other tools represented in the engravings belong more properly to the Joiner, but as the trades of the Carpenter and the Joiner are almost always united, we will speak of all the tools as belonging to one business. Carpenter’s work, then, consists of the framing roofs, partitions, and floors, in making the various joints used in beams, ties, rafters, and joists for supporting floors, and the proper way of supporting buildings by posts and girders. The Carpenter requires to be strong and active, that he may properly handle the heavy timbers on which he has to work; he should have a knowledge of the science of mechanics, that he may be able to provide for the strains and thrusts to which the different parts of his work are exposed, and supply the proper means of resisting them; and he should also be able to understand how to make what are called “working drawings,” that he may “set out,” or properly draw a plan of the work he has to do, from the designs of the Architect.

The Carpenter being concerned with the portions of a building which are made of timber, you will be better able to understand his trade by a short description of what these are; and we will then speak a little of the Joiner, whose trade is generally confounded with that of the Carpenter.

First: Partitions, or inner divisions of a building, may be either of brick, stone, or wood; and, in the latter case, they are generally “framed,” or supported in a more solid framework, which should form a portion of the main building, that is, of the outer wall; and should be quite independent of the floors, which should not support, but be supported by them.

Second: Flooring is formed by joists or strong beams of timber reaching from wall to wall, where they rest upon other beams, called wall plates, which are built into the walls themselves. The floor boards are nailed over the upper edges of the joists, and the lower edges receive the laths and plaster, which form the ceilings of the rooms beneath. Large buildings are sometimes fitted with double framed floors, with two sets of joists, and building joists resting on girders; and in superior houses, the wall plates are often supported by “corbels,” or, portions of the timber projecting from the inside of the wall, which prevents the necessity of opening the wall to admit the ends of the joists.

Third: Roofing consists of the roof covering, which is laid upon rafters or slender beams, which are supported by stronger horizontal beams called purlins; and these, again, rest on upright trusses, or strong frames of timber, placed on the walls at regular distances from each other. Upon the strength and firmness of these trusses, and the skill of the carpenter’s work, depends the entire safety of the roof.

Large roofs are supported by cross beams, called collars, or tie beams; and they are further strengthened by an upright pillar in the centre, called a King post, from which slanting beams, called “struts,” support the rafters.

We have now only spoken of common roofs, but there are many roofs of open timber-work in churches and other public buildings, which are wonderful specimens of the skill of the Carpenter and the Joiner. One of these, perhaps the grandest as well as the most ancient, is that of Westminster Hall; but there is one also in the Great Hall, at Hampton Court Palace; and others may be seen in Churches and Halls in various parts of England.

The Joiner, as his name implies, frames and joins together the wooden finishings and decorations of buildings, such as floors, staircases, skirtings, door and window frames, sashes, or, the sliding parts of windows that contain the glass, shutters, doors, chimney-pieces, &c. This work requires much greater nicety and finish than that of the Carpenter, and is brought to a smooth surface with the plane wherever it is likely to be seen, while the carpenter’s work is left rough as it comes from the saw.

The principal cutting tools used by the Joiner are, saws, planes, and chisels.