Woodworker

“ CHAPTER XII. TOOLS FOR WOOD TURNING. It does not seem necessary to go into the discussion of tools, or shapes of tools, for wood turning, for the grand and great reliance for roughing is the gouge, and a skillful workman will do as many things with it as the Russian carpenter is said to do with his axe, which is almost his only tool. For smoothing, there is the flat chisel, and for special work, every one will find tools, or, rather, make those he finds best suited to his needs. ”

“ There are a great many other tools and appliances used by the wood-worker with which the workman should be familiar, but it is not necessary to describe them, as the above-mentioned are the most essential tools common to all forms of woodworking. There is no important principle involved in the construction, care, and [Pg 109] use of woodworking tools which is not discussed in this chapter, and the student who becomes thoroughly familiar with the matter treated will have little trouble in learning to handle other tools.
Fig. 89.—Jointing a Saw. ”

“ One who has had no previous knowledge of tools should, before attempting to build, go to some carpenter or builder and obtain a few lessons in the use of the different tools, or if he cannot do that he had better practice by himself with them for a little while every day, and on useless timber, for if he goes to work on good timber at once he is apt to spoil it, as a cut or two deep may give him the trouble of getting another post or so, or he may cripple himself by a want of knowledge in holding and using the instrument. ”

“ I had naturally useful hands, and learned the pleasure and utility of being able to do things with them. I took naturally to woodwork, and spent nearly all my Sundays in the carpenter shop, where I cut and bruised my hands, and butchered wood into clumsy, ill-fitting and rickety benches, stools and boxes, which amused our mechanic greatly. But with perseverance, patience and time my skill improved, so that before I left the mill I had become something of an artist in wood, and could really do a very nice and creditable job in joining and fitting. ”

“ Many kinds of wood show well in large works, but in smaller wares, such as sleeve buttons, and napkin rings, they look like common wood; it is, therefore, labor lost to spend time in working out a nice job to show the veining and marking of the wood, because such veining is not brought out fully. The first care is to select sound wood. It is one of the most vexatious things in the world to have a nice job nearly done, and find a large worm hole extending right through the center of it, interfering with the tool and destroying the beauty of the piece. ”

“ By 1900, the carpenter's tool chest, fully stocked and fit for the finest craftsman, contained 90 or more tools. Specialization is readily apparent; the change in, and achievement of, the ultimate design of a specific tool is not so easily pinpointed. Only by comparing illustrations and surviving examples can such an evolution be appreciated and in the process, whether pondering the metamorphosis of a plane, a brace and bit, or an auger, the various stages of change encountered coincide with the rise of modern industrial society. ”

“ In a separate part of the factory they attend to the cleaning and filling of the wood and to whatever finish is applied to the work of the joiner. It is hardly necessary to add that the finishing of all kinds of woodwork is quite as important as any other feature in its production; for, however good the lines of design may be and however thoroughly the design may be carried out in the construction of any piece of furniture or other woodwork, it may be and often is spoiled as a work of art in the finishing. ”

“ Fig. 16, our second exercise, like the first one, is only to be taken as a suggestion for a design to be made by yourself. It is a fundamental principle that both design and execution should be the work of one and the same person, and I want you to begin by strictly practising this rule. It was indeed one of the main conditions of production in the best times of the past, and there is not a shadow of doubt that it must again come to be the universal rule if any real progress is to be made in the art of wood-carving, or in any other art for that [90] matter. ”

“ Daily practise with the tools insures a manual dexterity with which no amateur need hope to compete. Many traditional expedients are handed down in this way that can be acquired in no other. There is, however, another side of the question to be considered, of quite as much importance as the practical one of handicraft skill. The art of wood-carving has also to fulfil its intellectual function, as an interpreter of the dreams and fancies of imagination. In this respect there is little encouragement to be looked for in the dull routine of a modern workshop. ”

“ Carry the plane parallel with the grain when it is possible, and take no more shavings off than is necessary to attain the desired results. The young workman should make a study of the grain and the peculiarities of the different kinds of lumber upon which he works, losing no opportunity to experiment upon and compare the qualities of every available wood.
(E.) In using edge tools of every kind, little is gained, and much is often lost, by working with dull tools; tools should be sharpened often and thoroughly. ”

“ The opinions of the well-known wood-carver, Mr. W. Aumonier, on this subject, will be of value to you; he says with [204] regard to the best method of going to work: "A fresh piece of wood-carving executed without a model is distinctly a created work," and that much good work may come by "chopping boldly at a block without any preconceived design, but designing as you go on." But he thinks it is best to work from drawings; "rough, full-size charcoal cartoons, which give the effect wanted by their light and shade." ”

“ Never, under any circumstances, begin sawing without a tracing, or a pattern of some kind, to saw to, for now is the time to cultivate habits of accuracy. With no design or objective-point, nothing but a bit of useless board will result; besides, you will form a habit of working without a guide, a habit that has made more poor artisans than the love of idleness and bad company. Lay the wood on the rest, or plate, and see that it lies solidly. If it shakes, the wood is uneven and should be straightened, for no one can saw a warped board and make accurate work ”

“ Bending to a certain extent does not weaken wood, but stretching the same has been found to impair and destroy its strength.
The principal problems which the inventors of the century have solved in the class of wood-working have been the adaptation to rapid-working machinery of the saw and other blades, to sever; the plane to smooth, the auger, the bit and the gimlet to bore, the hammer to drive, and a combination of all or a part of these to shape and finish the completed article. ”

“ You have already discovered by practise that wood has a grain which sets bounds to the possibilities of technique. You have yet to learn that it has also an inordinate capacity for swallowing light. Now, as it is by the aid of light that we see the results of our labor, it follows that we should do everything in our power to take full advantage of that helpful agency. It is obvious that work which can not be seen is only so much labor thrown away. ”

“ In joiner’s work the whole surface of the work is made perfectly smooth by planing the material, and allowance must be made for the reduction in thickness and width of the wood, produced by this planing, in the choice of the rough material.
The Tools employed.
All mouldings in wood are worked out by planes made of the proper form, to leave the moulding in the wood when the plane has been passed over the part. The carpenter and joiner consequently require a vast variety of planes for these purposes, which constitutes the most expensive part of the expensive tools used by these workmen. ”

“ The woodman at work — Tree-cutting in frosty weather — Preparing sticks and stakes — Winter Jasmine — Ferns in the wood-walk — Winter colour of evergreen shrubs — Copse-cutting — Hoop-making — Tools used — Sizes of hoops — Men camping out — Thatching with hoop-chips — The old thatcher's bill.
It is good to watch a clever woodman and see how much he can do with his simple tools, and how easily one man alone can deal with heavy pieces of timber. An oak trunk, two feet or more thick, and weighing perhaps a ton, lies on the ground, the branches being already cut off. ”

“ It is hardly to be expected that any one set of models or of exercises, tho they may be of very great value, will fill the needs of varying local school conditions. The production of a text-book which shall deal with tool processes in a general way without reference to any particular set of models or exercises is the author’s aim. It is believed that such a text will prove suitable wherever the essentials of woodworking shall be taught, whether in grammar, high school or college, and whatever the system of instruction. ”

“ They are naturally ingenious, and fashion many things as difficult to learn as to saw a board or drive a nail, to make a watch or a shoe, a saddle or a harness. My next-door neighbor is a natural mechanic, and has manufactured various articles in wood, from a foot to two feet in size, such as tables, chairs, bedsteads, wardrobes, frames, brackets, etc., with only a penknife and a bit of sandpaper for tools, which are perfect specimens of workmanship, and are so acknowledged by first-class cabinetmakers. ”

“ The labour of building a lumber rack was much heavier than anything the boys had done before, but it brought the larger muscles into play, seemed like real carpenter work, and was an excellent preparation for the finer tool work to follow. A boy who has never carried out a piece of large work [154] successfully cannot realize the satisfaction of looking at a really good piece of construction and being able to say, "I made that all myself!" ”

“ To the invention of wood-working machinery we are also indebted for the awakening of interest in the qualities of wood for a vast number of artistic purposes. It was a revelation, at the great Philadelphia Exposition of 1876, to behold the specimens of different woods from all the forests of the earth, selected and assembled to display their wonderful grain and other qualities, and showing how well nature was storing up for us in its silent shades those growths which were waiting the genius of invention to convert into forms of use and beauty for every home. ”

“ It treats of the “every-day” practical problem of the carpenter and house-builder from the “laying of foundations” to the completion of the “interior finish.” $1.00.
WOODWORK FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS. By Griffith. A textbook for high schools, colleges and technical schools. It contains chapters on woods, tools and processes, joinery, turning, carving, inlaying, wood finishing, pattern making, and the use of woodworking machines. It is a well-balanced and authoritative text, presupposing a knowledge of elementary tool processes. Specially adapted to secondary schools. ”

“ The general plan of the wood shop for the high school will depend so greatly upon its relation to other shops in which wood is worked that the most that can be hoped by discussing it is that the plan offered may offer a starting point from which to work. In some communities the one shop will be all that is needed both for cabinet work, first year joinery, and pattern-making with, possibly, wood-turning. In other communities the number of students taking the work may warrant separate shops with full machine equipment for each. ”

“ The legitimate purpose of the bradawl is to bore holes in wood so as to ensure the passage of a nail or screw in the right direction, and to facilitate its entrance into the wood.
Three words of advice might be remembered by teachers beginning woodwork:
(1) Don't begin it too soon; don't begin woodwork with children of seven and eight because others do; wait until they are really ready, until they have the necessary strength. There is plenty for them to do in measuring and cutting out paper toys and toys of thin cardboard; they will enjoy the woodwork the more when it comes. ”

“ Thus work which is very much cut up into minute detail, and which lacks a proper contrast of surface, or, for the same reason, work which is too generally bald and smooth, rarely exhibit a good surface texture. Again, work which is overlabored, or where delicate details have been attempted on a coarse-grained wood, or finally, work which, although done with success in the matter of mechanical dexterity, is deficient in feeling for its woody possibilities, are all likely to fail in the matter of texture. ”

“ When the twenty-four boys of the Carpenter’s Laboratory have become expert in the use of the tools employed in carpentry they will be introduced to the Wood-turning Laboratory. The change is radical—from the square to the circle, from the prose to the poetry of mechanical manipulation. ”

“ The accuracy and skill required can be developed only by actual constructive work. I suggest that we take up a form of decoration which can be done with the knife.
"There are two ways of making an article in wood pleasing to the eye. One is by varying the outline, as we did in our match scratchers, and the other is by some kind of surface ornamentation. There are many ways of decorating surfaces—carving, pyrography, staining, polishing, etc., and very often several of these methods are combined. ”

“ Though the author is not a mechanic by trade, he has worked in his own shop for many years. With the carpenter’s bench, the turning-lathe, and the various implements for working in wood and metals, he finds not only his needed exercise, but a degree of pleasure which makes it all the more healthy and exhilarating ”