652

THEORY OF ARCHITECTURE. Bock II.

Iianclle of this and the foregoing saws being enclosed all round, it is called a double handln.
The sash saw is used for forming the tenons of sashes
;
its plate is 1 1 inches in length, having
about thirteen teeth to the inch. It is sometimes backed with iron, but more frequently
with brass. The dovetail saw is used for cutting the dovetails of drawers and the like
;
its
plate is backed with brass, it contains fifteen teeth in about one inch, and is about 9 inches
long. The handles of this and the last saw are only single. The conipass saw, for cutting
wood into curved surfaces, is narrow, thicker on the cutting edge as the teeth have no set,
and is without a back
;
the plate, near the handle, is about an inch broad, and about a
quarter of an inch at the other extremity, having about five teeth to the inch
;
the handle
is single. The kei/holc, or turninr/ saw, in its plate resembles the compass .saw, but the
handle is long, and perforated from end to end for inserting the plate at any distance with-
in the handle
;
there is a pad in the lower part of the handle, through which is inserted
a screw for fastening the plate therein. As its name implies, it is used for turning oaf
quick curves, as keyholes, and is therefore frequently called a keyhole saw.
2116. The teeth of all saw.s, except turning and keyhole saws, are bent alternately on
the contrary sides of the plate, so that all the teeth on the same side are alike bent through-
out the length of the plate, for the purposes of clearing the sides of the cut made in tht
wood by it. The saw is a tool of great importance in every case where wood is to be
divided, for by its means it can be divided into slips or scantlings with no more waste than
a small slice of the wood, whose breadth is equal to the depth of the piece to be cut
through, and the thickness of it equal to no more than the distance of the teeth between
their extreme points on the alternate sides of the saw measured ou a line perpendicular to
them
;
whereas, by any other means, such as the axe for instance, large pieces of timber
could only be reduced in size by cutting away the superfluous stuff, which would be no less
a waste of labour than of the material used
;
and even then it would have to be reduced
to a plane surface.
2117. Joiners use the hatchet, which is a small axe, for cutting away the superfluous
wood from the edge of a piece of stuff when the part to be cut away is too small to be
sawed.
21 1 8. The square consists of two rectangular prismatic pieces of wood, or one of wood,
and the other, which is the thinnest, of metal, fixed together, each at one of their extremi-
ties, so as to form a right angle both internally and externally
;
the interior right angle is
therefore called the inner square, and the exterior one the outer square. Squares are, for
different applications, made of different dimensions. Some are employed in trying up
wood, and some for setting out work
;
the former is called a trying square, and the latter a
setting out square. To prove a s(iuare it is only necessary to reverse the blade after having
drawn a line on the surface to which it is applied : if the line of the blade on reversal
do not coincide with that first drawn, the square is incorrect.
2119. The bfvel consists, like the square, of a blade and handle; but the tongue is
moveable on a joint, so that it may be set to any angle. When it is required to try up
many pieces of stuff to a particular angle, an immoveable bevel ought to be made for the
purpose
;
for unless very great care be taken in laying down the moveable bevel, it will be
likely to shift.
2120. The ffour/e
is an instrument used for drawing or marking a line on a piece of stuff
to a width parallel to the edge. It consists generally of a square piece with a mortice in it,
through which runs a sliding bar at right angles, called the stem, furnished with a sharp
point or tooth at one extremity, projecting ? little from the surface
; so that when the side
of the gauge next to the end whicli has the point is ajjplied upon the vertical surface of
the wood, with the toothed side of the stem upon the horizontal surface, and pushed and
drawn alternately by the workman from and towards him, the tooth makes 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 marks precisely the intersection of the plane which divides the
superfluous stuff from that which is to be used. When it is required to cut a mortice in a
piece of wood, the gauge has two teeth in it, and is called a mortice gauge, one tooth being
stationary at the end of the stem, and the other moveable in a mortice between the fixed
tooth and the head
;
so that the distances of the teeth from each other, and of each from the
head, may be set at pleasure, as the thickness of the tenon may require.
2121. The side hook is a rectangular prismatic piece of wood, with a projecting knob
at the ends of its opposite sides. The use of the side hook is to hold a board fast, its fibres
being in the direction of the length of the bench, while the workman is cutting across the
fibres with a saw or grooving plane, or in traversing the wood, which is planing it in a
direction perpendicular to the fibres.
^122. The mitre btx consists of three boards, two, called the sides, being fixed at right
angles to a third, called the bottom. The bottom and top of the sides are all parallel ; the
sides of equal height, and cut with a saw in two directions of straight surfaces at right
angles to each other and to the bottom. fn-ming an angle of 45 degrees with the sides.
The mitre box is used for cutting a piece of tried up stuff to an angle of 45 degrees with two