Chapter II: Preface: To Elements of Woodwork

In preparing this book, it has been the author’s purpose to present, in as complete and concise form as possible, the knowledge which every wood-worker should possess regarding the care and use of his tools and the material upon which he employs them.

Whether an amateur, apprentice, or skilled workman, whether a carpenter, boat builder, pattern maker, or wood carver, the elementary knowledge of the construction of tools, of sharpening them, and of their adjustment and manipulation is practically the same. The structure of wood, and the necessity of applying its peculiarities of grain and texture to the advantage of the work in hand, also is the same upon all branches of woodwork.

While innumerable tools and cutting devices have been invented to enable the wood-worker to accomplish special results economically both as to time and material, a study of them will prove that they all operate upon a few simple principles, a knowledge of which is not difficult to acquire, though skill and judgment in the application of the tools can be attained only by continuous and properly directed practice.

It would be both impossible and unnecessary in a book of this sort to describe these various devices, though in a schoolroom it is a great advantage to have as many of them as practicable, not for their use only, but that the students may become familiar with their purposes and the applications of the fundamental principles upon which each is based.

The actual use of tools may be considered the A B C of woodwork, as it bears the same relation to the finished product of the workman as the alphabet bears to literature, the space between the mere mechanical facility in the use of either tools or alphabet, being the result of the judgment, skill, and individuality of either the workman or the author.

Thus, if a student acquires the facility to use the tools described in this volume, he will have little difficulty in using other and more complex tools; and when he has mastered the principles of construction involved in the exercises explained in the following book of this series, the “Elements of Construction,” and the correct use of the tools involved in making these, together with their applications and combinations, he has acquired the fundamental knowledge of all construction in wood.

CHARLES A. KING.

BAY CITY, MICHIGAN.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

CHAPTER I. GROWTH OF WOOD.--Kinds of trees used for lumber;
The formation of wood; Tissues; The medullary rays; The grain
in trees; Defects found in lumber; When to cut lumber 1

CHAPTER II. LUMBERING AND VARIETIES OF WOOD.--The manufacture
of lumber; To saw lumber of irregular dimensions; The
grading of lumber; The testing of lumber; Surveying or estimating
lumber; Qualities of wood 12

CHAPTER III. CARE OF LUMBER.--The piling of lumber; Permanent
lumber ways; To minimize the warping of lumber; Weather-dried
lumber; Kiln-dried lumber; Moist air kilns; Induced draft kilns;
Results of the two systems; Filling a kiln; Length of time lumber
should be left in the kiln; The care of kiln-dried lumber;
Steaming wood; Preserving wood 45

CHAPTER IV. TOOLS.--How to purchase tools; Benches; Rules;
The try-square; The steel, or framing, square; The bevel; The
gauge; The hammer; The hatchet; The mallet; Saws; The knife
blade; Planes; Sharpening a plane; The jack plane; The jointer;
The smoothing plane; The block plane; The correct position;
Chisels; Gouges; The drawshave; The spokeshave; Bits; The
bitbrace, or stock; The screwdriver; Compasses, or dividers; Pliers;
The scraper; Edges; Nail sets; Wrenches; Handscrews; A grindstone;
Emery, corundum, carborundum; Whetstones; Files;
Saw filing 57

CHAPTER V. GLUE AND SANDPAPER.--Different kinds of glue; How
to use glue; The testing of sandpaper; How to use sandpaper 118