Wood-working for Beginners: A Manual for Amateurs

by Charles G. Wheeler

Carving Tools.—A few carving tools are often very useful for general wood-work. It is convenient to have these carving tools fitted in handles of a different pattern from your other tools. An octagonal shape is good. A carving-chisel is very useful in working on odd-shaped pieces, because the cutting edge is bevelled on both sides. A carver's skew chisel will be, perhaps, more generally useful for your work than one ground squarely across. A parting-tool, sometimes called a "V tool," is occasionally convenient, though hardly a necessity for most plain work. A small veining-tool (like a very small gouge) is often useful.

Centre-Bit.—See Bits.

Chalk-Line.—See Marking.

Chamfering.—A chamfer is the surface formed by cutting away the angle made by two faces of a piece of wood.

Fig. 485.

In cutting the ends of a stop-chamfer (Fig. 485), take care not to cut quite down to the line at first, as you will be very apt to cut a little too deep and leave a tool mark which cannot be removed. In the case of long stop-chamfers, use the plane whenever you can, so far as it can be used without hitting the wood at the ends. The draw-knife can often be used to remove the wood, being followed by the plane. The plane can be used slantingly, so as to cut nearer the ends, and a bull-nosed plane will cut nearer still, but the extreme ends will have to be trimmed to shape with the chisel or other tool. See also Bevelling and Paring.

Chisel.—The firmer-chisel is meant for light hand-work, for paring off wood and trimming to shape, and can be used for light mortising, though the mortise-chisel is intended for that purpose. It is often an advantage to have the long edges of such a chisel bevelled on the same side as the cutting basil, as it can be used more conveniently in some places. Taking off the corner of the basil when grinding, often answers the purpose.

The framing-chisel is stouter than the firmer, has a stronger handle to stand heavy blows of the mallet, and is meant, as the name indicates, for framing, mortising, and other heavy work.[41] See Mortising.