compass-saw, is used, and in cutting a very small hole a saw of a similar description, called a keyhole saw, is employed. All these saws have their plates longer and thinner, and their teeth finer, as they succeed each other in the order here mentioned, excepting the two last, which have thicker plates and coarser teeth than either the sash or dove-tail-saw. The external and internal angles of the teeth of all saws are generally formed at an angle of 60°, and the front edge teeth slope backward in a small degree, but incline to or recline from the straight line drawn from the interior angle perpendicular to the edge in the plane of the plate, as the saw may be employed in ripping or in cross-cutting, or cutting perpendicular to the fibres. The teeth of all saws, except turning and key-hole saws, are bent on contrary sides of the plate, each two teeth succeeding each other, being alike bent on the different sides of the plate; viz. the one as much to the one side as the other is to the other side, and consequently all the teeth on the same side alike bent throughout the length of the plate, for the purpose of clearing the sides of the cut which it makes in the wood. Of all cutting tools whatever, the saw is most useful to the joiner, as the timber or wood which he employs can be divided into slips or bars of any size, with no more waste of stuff than a slice, the breadth of which is equal to the depth of the piece to be cut through, and the thickness equal to the distance of the teeth between their extreme points on the alternate sides of the saw measured on a line perpendicular to the said sides; whereas, without the use of the saw, cylindrical trees could only be reduced to the intended size by means of the axe; in the use of which there would not only be an immense consumption of stuff, but also much greater labor would be required to straighten it. Joiners use a small axe, called a hatchet, for cutting off the superfluous wood from the edge of a piece of a board, when the waste is not of sufficient consequence to be sawn. The above are what are commonly denominated edge tools, but there are others required to regulate the forms. All angles whatever are formed by other reversed angles of the same number of degrees as an exterior angle by an interior one, and the contrary. The instrument for trying right angles is called a square, and those for trying oblique angles are called bevels. The two sides which form the edge of a square are always stationary, but those of bevels are generally moveable one leg upon the other round a joint. In some cases, where a great number of pieces are required to be worked to the same angle, a stationary bevel, called a joint hook, is used. When it is required to reduce a piece of stuff to a parallel breadth, an instrument called a gauge is used for the purpose. The gauge consists generally of a square piece with a square mortise, through which a bar at right angles thereto is fitted and made to slide. The bar, which is called the stem, has a sharp point, cutter, or tooth, at one extremity, projecting a little from the surface, so that when the side of the gauge, next to the end which has the point, is applied upon the vertical surface of the wood, with the flat side of the stem which has the tooth upon the horizontal surface, and pushed and drawn alternately by the workman from and towards him, the cutter will make an incision from the surface into the wood, at a parallel distance from the upper edge of the vertical side on the right hand. This line, so drawn, will mark out with precision, and show the superfluous stuff to be taken away. When a mortise is required to be cut in a piece of wood, a gauge with two teeth is used. The construction of this instrument is the same as the common gauge; but in addition to this instrument, the stem has a longitudinal slider with a tooth projecting from the end of the slider, so that the two teeth may be brought nearer, or to any remote distance from each other, at pleasure; and also to any distance from the face of the head or guide within the reach of the stem. When wood has been planed, and required to be sawn across the fibres, and as it is necessary to be kept stationary while sawing, in order to prevent the sides or the edges from being bruised, joiners use a flat piece of wood with two projecting knobs on the opposite sides, one at each end, called a side hook. The vertical side of the interior angle of one of the knobs is placed close to the vertical side, and the under side upon the top of the bench; then the wood is pressed against the knob which projects from the upper surface while it is cutting with the saw; but the use of two side hooks is better, as they keep the piece of wood to be sawn more steady. When it is required to cut a piece of wood to a mitre with one side; that is, to half a right angle, joiners use a trunk of wood with three sides, like a box without ends, or a top, the sides and bottom being parallel pieces, and the sides of equal heights: through each of the opposite sides is cut a kerf in a plane, perpendicular to the bottom, at oblique angles of 45° and 135°, with the planes of the sides; and another kerf is made in the same manner, so as to have its plane at right angles to the former. The trunk thus constructed is called a mitre-box. When the wood is to be cut, the mitre-box is fixed steadily against two side hooks, and the piece, which is always less than the interior breadth of the mitrebox, is laid within, and pressed against the farther interior angle of the mitre-box with the side downwards, to which the saw-kerf is intended to be perpendicular, and in this position it is to be cut. The two kerfs in the sides of the mitre-box are requisite, in order to form the acute angle on the right or left hand side of the piece, as may be required. When it is required to make a piece of wood straight in one direction, joiners use a slip of wood straightened on one edge, from which the slip of wood itself is called a straight-edge. Its use is obvious; by its application it will be seen whether there is a coincidence between the straight-edge and surface. When it is required to know whether the surface of a piece of wood is in the same plane, joiners use two slips of wood straightened each on one edge with the opposite edge parallel, and both pieces of the same breadth between the parallel edges: each piece has therefore two straight edges. Suppose it were required to know whether a board is twisted or its surface in a plane, the workman lays one of the slips across the one end, and the other across the other end of the board, with one of the straight edges of each upon the surface; then he looks in the longitudinal direction of the board, over the upper edges of the two slips, until his eye and the two upper edges of the slips are in one plane; or otherwise the intersection of the plane, passing through the eye and the upper edge of the nearest slip, intersect the upper edge of the farther slip. If it happen as in the former case, the ends of the wood under the slips are in the same plane; but should it happen as in the latter, they are not. In this last case the surface is said to wind; and when the surface is so reduced that every two lines are in one plane, it is said to be out of winding, which implies its being an entire plane: from the use of these slips they are denominated winding sticks. We may now direct the attention of our readers to the formation of doors, columns, and stair-cases. In forming the apertures of doors, whether arched or quadrangular, the height should, in general, be about their breadth, or a little more. It was necessity, most probably, that gave birth to this proportion, which habit has confirmed and rendered absolute. The disposition of doors and windows, and assigning to them their proper dimensions, according to the purposes for which they are intended, are not the business of the joiner, but of the architect; for which reason we shall here advert only to the common method of decorating doors and windows, the former of which have an architrave around the sides and top of the aperture, with a regular frieze and cornice upon it. In some cases, the cornice is supported by a console on each side of the door, and sometimes, besides an architrave, the aperture is adorned with columns, pilasters, &c., which support a regular entablature, with a pediment, or with some other termination, either in architecture or sculpture. Front doors, intended to be ornamented with any of the orders, should not be less than three feet six inches wide; the height should be twice the width and one-sixth part more, which might also be the height of the column; the abacus may be then taken out of that dimension, in order to separate the door from the fan light. The windows of the principal floor are generally most enriched. The simplest method of adorning them is with an architrave surrounding the aperture, and crowned with a frieze or cornice. The windows of the ground floor are sometimes left entirely destitute of any ornament; at other times are surrounded with rustics, or a regular architrave having a frieze or cornice. The windows of the second floor have generally an architrave carried entirely round the aperture; and the same method is adopted in adorning attic and mezzanine windows: but the two latter seldom possess either frieze or cornice; while the windows of the second floor are sometimes crowned with both. With regard to the hanging of doors, shutters, or flaps with hinges, care should always be taken VOL. XII. to place the centre of the hinge in the middle of the joint; but, as in many cases there is a necessity for throwing back a flap to some distance from the joint, the distance between the joint and the intended point must be divided into two equal parts, which point of division will denote the situation of the centre of the hinge. Sometimes doors are required to be hung in such a manner, that, when folded back, they shall be at a certain distance from each other, as is frequently desirable in churches and chapels; this may be easily effected by hinges, with knees projecting to half that distance. In all elegant rooms, it is necessary to contrive that the doors, when opened, should pass clear over the carpet; now, it is evident, that this cannot be the case, if the jamb on which the door hangs is truly perpendicular, and the bottom of the door is close to the floor, as the bottom of doors commonly are. An inconsiderate observer might recommend a part of the bottom of the door to be cut off, in order to permit its free passage over the carpet, but still, when the door is shut, an open space will intervene between it and the floor, unless, as in some cases, the carpet is continued through the opening to an adjoining passage or room. When this is not the case, the room will be rendered cold and uncomfortable; and the necessity of contriving some method to remedy the defect becomes immediately obvious. This remedy may always be found by hanging the door with rising hinges, constructed for the purpose, with a spiral groove, which, winding round the knuckle as the door opens, gives it a free passage over the carpet. Hinges, however, thus constructed, require that the door should be bevelled at the top next to the ledge or door catch, in proportion to their rise at one quarter of their revolution. This is an effectual mode of enabling a door to clear the carpet; but a combination of the following modes recommended by Nicholson are less objectionable. Raise the floor under the door, as much as the thickness of the carpet might require. Make the knuckle of the bottom hinge project an eighth of an inch beyond the perpendicular direction of the top hinge,-fix the jamb to which the door might be hung about the eighth of an inch out of the perpendicular; and place a common butt hinge at the top, and one with a projecting knee at the bottom. The introduction of rising hinges requires 2 notch to be cut out of the door where the hinged edge and the top edge meet, and, since this cannot be concealed on both sides of the door, this method is considered as defective; besides the hinges are liable to get out of order. A gib door is one which is intended to be concealed in the side of a room, and therefore partakes of the same surface and finish as the wall in which it is inserted. Therefore, the face of a gib door, and the face of the wall from which the aperture is made to receive the gib door, are in the same surface. Fig. 1, plate I, JOINERY, exhibits the elevation of a gib door, having the same moulding as the base and surbase of the room. A is a section of the base moulding to a large scale, and B that of the surbase to the same scale. A portion of K the plan of the door and of the surbase, as also a part of the jamb, is shown at fig. 2. In order to make the most perfect work, the door should be hung with centres, and not with hinges, and the centres should be inserted within the solid of the jamb lining. Let O be the centre of the hinge OD, a portion of the inner edge of the surbase in contact with the door, and CB a portion of the outer edge; let C be some point on the outside of the perpendicular OB opposite the jamb. Join OC, and draw CD perpendicular to OC; then CD will be the plan of the joint, in order that it may be a vertical plane. Though there is no absolute necessity, it is usual to make the distance BC equal to BO. The object of this is, to make the distance OD the least possible, so that the strength of the jamb may not be impaired by cutting away more wood than is necessary to effect the purpose. Palladio, after observing that 'great care ought to be taken in the placing of stair-cases,' so 'that they may not obstruct other places, nor be obstructed by them,' says that three openings are required in stair-cases; the first is the door through which one goes up to the stair-case, which, the less it is hid to those that enter into the house, so much the more it is to be commended. And it would please one much if it was in a place where, before that one comes to it, the most beautiful part of the house was seen; because it makes the house (although it should be little) seem very large; but, however, let it be manifest, and easily found. 'The second opening is the windows that are necessary to give light to the steps; they ought to be in the middle, and high, that the light may be spread equally, every where alike. "The third is the opening through which one enters into the floor above; this ought to lead us into ample, beautiful, and adorned places.' Stair-cases ought to be proportioned in width and commodiousness to the dimensions and use of the building in which they may be placed. The height of a step ought not to exceed seven inches, nor in any case should be less than four; but six inches is a general height. The breadth of the steps should not be less than twelve inches, if it can possibly be avoided; nor should they ever be more than eighteen; and, to render the ascent free from the interruption of persons descending, their length should not exceed twelve, nor be less than four, except in common and small buildings, whose area will not admit of a stair-case of more than three feet. That the ascent may be both safe and agreeable, it is requisite also to introduce some convenient aperture for light, which ought to be as nearly opposite to the first entrance to the stairs as the nature of the building will permit. An equal distribution of light to each flight of stairs ought to be particularly regarded; for which reason the apertures or windows are commonly placed at the landings or half spaces; though sometimes the whole is lighted from a dome. Stair-cases are of various kinds; some wind round a newel in the middle, while the risers of the steps are straight, and sometimes curved; others are of a circular plan, but form a well in the centre. The same may be observed of those whose plans are elliptical; the most common, however, are those whose plans form a square or parellelogram. The ancients entertained a singular notion, that the number of steps ought to be uneven, in order that, when the right foot was placed on the first stair in ascending, the ascent might terminate with the same foot. This was considered as a favorable omen on most occasions, and they imagined that, when they entered a temple in this way, it produced greater and more sincere devotion. Palladio, apparently actuated by this superstitious motive, allows the stair-case of a dwellinghouse eleven or thirteen steps to each flight. When a stair-case winds round a newel or column, whether its plan be circular or elliptical, the diameter is divided into three parts, two of which are set apart for the steps and one for the column. But in circular or elliptical stair-cases which are open, or form a well in the middle, the diameter is divided into four equal parts; two of which are assigned for the steps, and two for the well or void space in the centre. Modern stair-cases, however, have often a kind of well of a mixed form; straight on each side, and circular at the returns of each flight. The openings of these wells vary in the point of width, but seldom exceed eighteen or twenty inches. To most stair-cases it is absolutely necessary, both for convenience and ornament, to affix hand-rails; these generally begin from the ground by a twisted scroll, which produces a very good effect. Balustrades are sometimes of real use in buildings, and at other times they are only ornamental. Such as are intended for use, as when they are employed in stair-cases, before windows, or to enclose terraces, &c., must always be nearly of the same height; never exceeding three feet and a half, nor ever less than three. But those that are principally designed for ornament, as when they finish a building, should be proportioned to the architecture they accompany and their height ought never to exceed four-fifths of the height of the entablature on which they are placed; nor should it ever be less than twothirds thereof, without counting the zocholo, or plinth, the height of which must be sufficient to leave the whole balustrade exposed to view. : The best proportion for balustrades is to divide the whole given height into thirteen equal parts; eight of these for the height of the baluster, three for the base, and two for the cornice or rail; or into fourteen (if it be required to make the baluster less), giving eight parts to the baluster, four to the base, and two to the rail. One of these parts may be called a module; and, being divided into nine minutes, may serve to determine the dimensions of the particular members. In balustrades, the distance between two balusters should not exceed half the diameter of the baluster measured in its thickest part, nor be less than one-third of it. The breadth of the pedestals, when they are placed on columns or pilasters, is regulated by them; the dye never being made broader than the top of the shaft, nor much narrower; and, when there are neither columns nor pilasters' on the front, the dye should not be much lower than |
