Where the ends of two pieces come together and you wish to make a close joint, you will, of course, saw the pieces off as squarely as possible, using the square or perhaps the mitre-box. If you mark and saw them with exactness, and if everything about their arrangement is straight and square and true, the ends will come together exactly and make a close joint, but as a practical matter this frequently will not happen, however careful you may be. For nice work, the workmanlike way in such cases is to plane or pare the ends until they fit, but for rougher work the expedient of sawing the ends to fit can be resorted to. To do this, put the ends together as they are to go (Fig. 560), keep them from moving, and saw straight down through the joint. As the saw will leave a kerf of uniform thickness, the pieces can now be pushed together and the ends will fit, unless the joint was very much open, in which case you have only to saw again, and if necessary repeat the operation until the ends fit. This is a very useful expedient in case of need, but should not be relied on as a regular way to make joints, lest it engender a careless and inaccurate method of work. This applies also to joints which meet at any angle.
Fig. 560.
Fig. 561.
In some cases, where only one side of each piece shows, as in laying floor-boards, it is usual to undercut the ends slightly—that is, to make the joint a little open at the bottom, which gives a tight and neat joint on the side which shows (Fig. 561, which is exaggerated).
Another way to make an end joint is by bevelled scarfing or splaying (Fig. 562). You will see the ends of the clapboards on old houses joined in this way, and it doubtless makes a better joint in many cases than the common square or butt-joint, but it is more work. Strips of moulding are often cut in this way.
Fig. 562.
