Part 26 (1/2)

[Footnote *: For general bibliography see p. 4.]

CHAPTER IX.

PRINCIPLES OF JOINERY.[11]

[Footnote 11: Professor Rankine's Five Principles:

1. To cut the joints and arrange the fastenings so as to weaken the pieces of timber they connect as little as possible.

2. To place each ab.u.t.ting surface in a joint as nearly as possible perpendicular to the pressure which it has to transmit.

3. To proportion the area of each surface to the pressure which it has to bear so that the timber may be safe against injury under the heaviest load which occurs in practice, and to form and fit every pair of such surfaces accurately in order to distribute the stress uniformly.

4. To proportion the fastenings so that they may be of equal strength with the pieces which they connect.

5. To place the fastenings in each piece of timber so that there shall be sufficient resistance to the giving way of the joint by the fastenings shearing or crus.h.i.+ng their way thru the timber.]

1. _Avoid multiplication of errors by making all measurements (as far as possible) from a common starting point, and laying off all angles from the same line or surface._ Ill.u.s.trations of this principle are as follows: Before proceeding with other processes, a working face and working edge and as many other surfaces as will finally appear in the finished piece, should be trued up. At least the working face and working edge are essential to the proper ”lay-out” of the piece, whenever measurements are made from an edge.

In laying out a series of measurements, it is important, when possible, that the rule be laid down once for all, and the additions be made on that, rather than that the rule should be moved along for each new member of the series.

In scoring around a board with knife and try-square, the head of the try-square should be held against the working face in scoring both edges, and against the working edge in scoring both faces, and not pa.s.sed from one surface to another in succession.

In the laying out of a halved joint, Fig. 265, Nos. 15-19, p. 178, the gaging is all done from what will be one of the flush surfaces of the joined pieces. Then, if the gaged line should be slightly more or less than half the thickness of the pieces the closeness of the joint would not be affected.

2. _When possible, in laying out a joint, use the method of superposition._ Fig. 302. By this is meant the method by which the lay-out of one member is obtained directly from the other by laying (superposing) the latter on the former and marking or scribing the needed dimensions directly, instead of by measurement. It has the advantages of simplicity, speed, and greater probability of fit.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 302. Marking by Superposition.]

Familiar ill.u.s.trations are in the making of halved joints, Fig. 265, Nos. 15-19, p. 178, dovetail joints, Fig. 267, Nos. 42-45, p. 180, and scarfed or spliced joints, Fig. 264, Nos. 4-7, p. 177.

3. _Work systematically._ In case the same process is to be repeated on a number of parts, complete this process in all before taking up another process. This is the principle of the division of labor applied to the individual workman.

In laying out duplicate or multiple parts, the proper cross measurements should be carefully laid out on one piece and then transferred with a try-square to the other parts laid accurately beside it. So when a number of like pieces are to be gaged, all the parts requiring the same setting should be gaged before the gage is reset for another gaging. This is a great saving of time and insures accuracy.

In making a number of like parts, if they are not too large much of the work can often be done in one piece before it is cut up. For example, to make a number of slats from a given piece of wood, the piece may first be brought to such dimensions that the length will be correct for the finished pieces and the thickness of the piece be equal to the width of the slats, Fig. 303. The face may then be gaged with a series of lines so that every other s.p.a.ce will be equal to the required thickness of each slat, and the alternate s.p.a.ces be just sufficient for the saw kerf and dressing. The slats may then be ripped apart and dressed to size.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 303. Making a Number of Like Pieces from a Given Piece.]

Or a long strip may be planed to thickness and width and then be sawn up and finished to the proper lengths. For example, in a mitered picture-frame it may be convenient to plane up two pieces, each one long enough to make one long side and one short side.

In fitting up framed structures each part when fitted should be distinctly marked, so that there may be no confusion in a.s.sembling.

4. _Where practicable secure the same conditions of grain in different elements of joined structures._

Ill.u.s.trations of this are as follows: The grain of the sides of a box should run continuously around the box, or, in the case of a tall, slim box, the grain of all the sides should run up and down. In either case, the grain in the different sides is parallel. In a rubbed joint, Fig. 269, No. 70, p. 182, to be planed down afterward, in case the grain is not straight, much trouble in planing may be saved if the different pieces are laid so that they can all be planed smooth in the same direction. This may not be possible where the boards are joined so as to match the grain, as in quartered oak, or where the annual rings of slash boards are made to alternate in direction so as to lessen warping, Fig. 280, p. 188.

5. _Where possible, allow for shrinkage without prejudice to construction._