Elementary Course in Woodwork / Designed for use in high and technical schools, with one hundred and thirty-four illustrations: First Edition

by George Alexander Ross

Now take the piece for the wall stringer, [A, Fig. 122], and draw the line X, Y; proceed to lay it out.

Commencing at the bottom, lay templet E on the piece as shown at 1 A, and draw lines for the riser and the bottom of the tread; then place the templet as shown by 2 A, (remembering that in order to have the bottom step the same height as the others the bottom riser must be the thickness of the tread narrower than the others. This will be seen by looking at the drawing, [Fig. 122], which shows the height of the risers). Then place templet E, in position as indicated by 3 A, and draw the line for the riser and the tread, and so on until all the lines have been drawn which will represent the front of the risers and the bottom side of the treads.

After having drawn these lines, take templet G, and place it on the tread line as shown at [J, Fig. 122], and draw the lines for the top of the steps, the nosing, and the wedges; the thickness of the step is to be measured up from the tread line.

Now take templet H, place it in position on the riser lines, [J, Fig. 122], draw lines back of the riser line for the thickness of the risers and the wedges; then proceed to cut out the housing in the following manner:

Take a center or auger bit the same size as the thickness of the step and bore the depth that the housing is to be, as shown at [5 A, Fig. 122]; then take a chisel and cut out as shown at [4 A, Fig. 122]. This will give room to use the back-saw to cut the rest of the lines. Now take a chisel and remove the pieces to the depth required, which, in this case, is ¼ inch; cut for the risers and remove in the same manner.

In larger work of this kind a router should be used.

To lay out the outside stringer take templet [E, Fig. 122], and mark as at [B, Fig. 122]. The riser is to form a miter with the front of the bracket; so it will be necessary to begin at the top step and saw the stringer off square to the face; then take a bevel (which will be set at an angle of 45 degrees) and mark from the riser line so that it will form a miter. Saw down this line; then saw the next tread line square to the face. Repeat with the bevel as before, and saw the next riser line, and so on until the bottom is reached. [C, and D, Fig. 122], show how the risers and the treads are to be cut. The ends of the risers are to be cut at an angle of 45 degrees to fit the bracket on the outside stringer. The end of the step is cut as shown in order to receive the return nosing. The dovetails on the end are to receive the baluster which supports the hand-rail.

The piece F, which is to form the well-hole, is built up of pieces, then planed out with a round bottom plane. The method of fastening this piece to the stringer is to halve the stringer and to cut out the well-hole piece to receive it; then glue and screw together.

[I, Fig. 122], shows what the top or landing step is to be.

The curves that are shown at the bottom and the top of the stringers are known as easings. The student will use his own ingenuity in forming the easing, remembering that a little glue will fasten pieces together, and that it is not necessary to take a board the whole width at those points of the stringers to accomplish this.