Part 7

The dress of school-girls and children must not be overlooked. It should be as simple as possible and above all else it should be comfortable. It should never bind or pinch; indeed, the clothing should not interfere with any function of the body. But we often see children dressed with much lace, with many ruffles, and even with jewellery; and we have seen school girls wearing net waists, plumed hats, and high-heeled shoes. What an infraction is this of the principle of appropriateness in dress!

VII

FURNITURE MAKING

It is only by labour that thought can be made healthy, and only by thought that labour can be made happy--_John Ruskin_

The chief purpose of this chapter is to outline the most important general facts upon which good furniture making is based and to give specific directions for working out a number of typical problems, following designs which have been proved in completed articles made, for the most part, by school-boys and tested by use. No attempt is made to give this great subject complete and systematic treatment; for this would involve many problems in constructive design and a corresponding number of working drawings, with specifications for the selection and preparation of materials and for the work of construction--a subject so extensive that it would easily overrun the limits of a single chapter. The aim is rather to select a few of the most suggestive lessons of experience in constructive work with special reference to our main subject of household decoration.

It is taken for granted that the interested reader is familiar with the use of the common hand tools for woodworking or that he can, with some assistance, perhaps, easily command their use. It is not thought necessary, therefore, to describe in detail the proper method of using tools, but rather to offer practical suggestions on the selection, preparation and constructive use of woodworking materials and, in the series of problems which follow, to give some helpful hints on the way woodworking tools should be used. It is also assumed that in most cases the very great advantage of woodworking machinery may be utilized, especially in preparing the materials and bringing them within easy reach of the hand-tool processes. The true art-craft spirit, which always honours handwork as the supreme method, may not hesitate to command the services of machines so long as it does not become slavishly dependent upon them.

SELECTION AND PREPARATION OF STOCK

The first thing that should claim the attention of the artistic woodworker is the selection and preparation of his materials, commonly known as the stock. The sculptor selects his marbles with the greatest care. So should the cabinet-maker make sure that his woods are taken from the right parts of selected timber and that they are properly sawed and well seasoned. The importance of this cannot be overestimated. Hard wood boards, cut from the sides of a tree, will in drying, invariably curve across their grain. It is only those that are cut from the centre to the outside of the tree that may be depended upon to remain approximately true; for, after this cutting, the grain runs directly through the thickness of the board, or nearly so. Boards taken from timber in this way are said to be "quarter sawed"; those cut by sawing through the logs from side to side, as is always done with soft woods and often with hard woods, are said to be "plain sawed." This is illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

_Quartered Oak._--In the case of oak, the quarter sawing not only maintains a flat surface but greatly improves the appearance of the stock when finished. The popularity of quartered oak for furniture may therefore be said to be well founded, for it is the sincerest of woods. It is as good as it looks.

Quarter sawing, however, is very largely confined to oak because the appearance of the grain and the strength of most woods is far from being improved by this method of cutting. Thus ash and gum wood and all the softer woods sometimes used in furniture making are plain sawed. We shall, therefore, generally find stock from these woods curved and twisted badly so that it will be necessary, in selecting material for large surfaces such as table tops, to pick out the straight parts for these surfaces and save the remainder to be cut into the smaller pieces which will always be needed. These pieces can be easily planed without much loss of thickness.

_Kiln-dried Lumber._--This bending and twisting of the boards does not take place as soon as they are sawed out of the log, but gradually during the process of seasoning; and, unless the lumber is kiln-dried, the more gradual the seasoning the less the bending. Lumber is kiln-dried by stacking it, with air spaces left between the boards, in steam-heated closets or kilns, where the process of drying is carried on evenly though rapidly. Kiln-dried lumber, therefore, retains its shape quite as well as that which is dried slowly in the lumber pile. But whether kiln-dried or not, it should be allowed to remain in a dry place as long as possible before using it so that it will have a chance to change all that it is likely to and so lessen the subsequent shrinking and warping. A good cabinet-maker never undertakes to make furniture from stock that he does not know to be perfectly dry and well seasoned, not only because unseasoned lumber is more likely to shrink, warp, and crack, but also because it cannot be depended upon to hold the glue, take varnish well, or respond readily to other methods of finishing.

_Planing Down to a Flat Surface._--Since boards are seldom perfectly flat, even if one has taken the greatest pains to select well-seasoned stock, it will almost invariably be necessary to work them down to a plane surface when they are glued up or joined together in any way. To accomplish this result it is necessary to plan the arrangement of the pieces in such a way that the concave of the bend shall fall on the same side, as shown in the illustration, and thus provide for the final working down with the least possible removal of stock. They can be arranged on a level bench top or floor with the convex side down so that they will lie as flat as possible. The boards should then be taken out one by one and their edges should be carefully planed so that they will match together in the position in which they are laid. It will be necessary to take each board from its place and return it several times in order that this matching may be made as perfect as possible. The object of all this is to prevent the entire arrangement from springing--_i. e._, from acquiring any new bend or twist when the parts are glued up. In joining boards to form large pieces of glued-up work, like table tops, it is customary to strengthen the joints by means of dowel pins. Small table tops and similar work may be safely glued up without dowelling.

_Fastening Glued-up Work._ It will be readily understood upon a little reflection that all plain glued-up work should be allowed to move slightly upon the framework to which it is attached; for even after it is well seasoned and well finished all woods will swell slightly in a damp atmosphere and shrink slightly when the air is dry, the greatest movement being across the grain. Solid table tops, therefore, should never be fastened down firmly upon the framework with glue or with screws, but should be secured by means of buttons screwed to the under side of the top which travel in grooves cut in the framework and thus allow for expansion and contraction. A drawing is shown to illustrate the method of attaching the table-top buttons. Much of the warping and splitting of furniture is due to the failure of the designer or maker to observe this precaution.

In planing up stock, whether it be a single piece or several glued together as just described, the cabinet-maker planes off one side first and then, using this side as the working face, gauges to the required thickness and planes off the other side if necessary. If the work be upon glued-up stock, it is well to plane off the projecting edges of the concave sides first, as that is generally somewhat easier and may be all the planing that will be necessary. If it be single pieces of stock that need to be planed up, the natural twist or "wind" is first planed out to a flat working face on one side before putting the plane to the opposite side.

_The Surface Plate._--Planing to a flat surface requires some device to guide the eye. If the surface be very uneven at first, a beginning may be made in the planing without much assistance; but a point will finally be reached when neither the unaided eye nor the hand can determine whether or not a surface is flat. To determine this a surface plate, as it is called, is needed. This consists of a block of cast-iron, thick enough to prevent it from being bent--_i. e._, an inch or more--and with a somewhat rough but perfectly flat surface on one side. This surface is well chalked over. When the wood surface which is being planed down is laid upon this chalked surface and slightly moved it is readily seen that the highest places on the wood will become marked with the chalk and so indicate to the cabinet-maker what parts are to be removed. By making several tests of this kind he is able to plane to a good flat surface.

_Winding Sticks._--If the amateur's workshop is not provided with a surface plate, a simple means of testing for a flat surface is by means of two narrow straight edges or "winding" sticks, placing them on their narrow edges across each end of the piece, as shown in the illustration, and sighting across their upper edges. The slight projections in the surfaces of the board can be determined in this way and planed off until the two top edges of the sticks are found to be level. These winding sticks are simply wooden strips, accurately made, with opposite faces parallel. Their dimensions may be 1 × 2-1/2 × 30 inches.

_Importance of True Surfaces._--It may be well to add that all this care to produce flat and parallel surfaces is not merely for the purpose of giving a good appearance to these surfaces. True surfaces are necessary for the good of the work as a whole, for they form the basis from which other surfaces are gauged and other parts "trued up"--_i. e._, made square or otherwise geometrically correct. When the main surfaces of a piece of cabinet work are properly shaped, all the framework and other parts may be brought into line without bending or twisting. All such strains should be religiously avoided in good cabinet work. The natural curves, twists, or projections of the stock used should be removed by the use of the proper tools and never be strained to force any of the parts into their proper places or shapes. Such efforts produce strains which are transmitted to other parts, displacing them, causing new defects or a general failure of the parts to support each other.

_A Systematic Plan of Work._--When the cabinet-maker undertakes to make either a single piece of furniture or several pieces, he goes about it in a very systematic way. Consulting his working drawing he makes an accurate list of the different pieces that will be required. For example, if he is to make a Morris chair he notes the fact that he will need four legs or posts 2-1/2 inches square by 22-3/4 inches long, a front rail and a back rail each 7/8 × 2-1/4 × 22 inches, two side rails 7/8 × 2-1/4 × 24 inches, and so on until the list of necessary parts is completed. With this list in hand he makes a careful selection of the lumber and prepares the pieces in the rough, allowing economically for the necessary working waste. Economy of time and labour is also secured by keeping together all parts on which similar work is to be done. Thus, if several parts are to be sawed to the same width or fashioned to the same curves, it is generally the best plan to work these parts out together while the machines and tools are set for this purpose. Such a plan not only saves time but, partially at least, it obviates the danger of mistakes. It is important also to follow a systematic order of work. All sawing to rough dimensions should be done before the pieces are dressed to drawing dimensions, and the latter operations should generally all be completed before laying out and cutting the joints. As the work progresses toward completion great saving of time and much comfort will result from keeping the completed parts in good condition and so arranged that they can be easily assembled.

GLUING

_Necessity of Good Joints._--After the selection and preparation of the material for the stock, the next important general process that demands attention is gluing; for good cabinet work implies good glue and a knowledge of how to use it. Prepared glue, such as is sold in bottles, is unsatisfactory for work of any consequence. A good woodworker always has his own glue pot and sees to it that it may be made ready for use on short notice. The glue should be fresh, thin, and hot. It should be applied quickly in a warm room and the parts to which it is applied clamped up quickly before the glue chills. It is the glue which penetrates the wood that holds the parts together and not a layer of glue between the joined edges or surfaces. It is therefore evident not only that joints and surfaces should be well smeared with glue, hot and thin enough to be quickly absorbed, but also that the parts should be clamped up quickly while the glue is still hot so as to prevent any surplus from remaining in the joint. This is an additional reason for making close fits in all joints--in those which are to be glued up as well as in those which are not. It is a common fault of beginners to be satisfied with loose mortise and tenon joints, counting upon the glue to fill up the spaces. Much of the furniture found in the markets falls to pieces for the same reason. Such work should never be allowed to pass. It is based upon an entirely mistaken notion of the true office of glue and is nothing more nor less than a falsehood in wood.

_Systematic Methods Required._--As in the preparation of stock and working it up, so in gluing, system is all important. The hand screws or clamps should be made ready and adjusted to the required width so that they may be quickly placed in position as soon as the glue is applied. The whole process must be managed as quickly as possible because the joints must be tested before the glue has had time to set. A carpenter's large square should be used for testing the right angles, since it is more reliable than the small try squares. It will frequently be found necessary to hold framing pieces square while the glue is hardening. This can easily be done by nailing small strips of waste stock across the parts, as shown in the drawing. A beginner should be cautioned not to attempt to glue up too many joints at one time. Two opposite corners of a framing piece should be glued up separately and left to set before the attempt is made to glue the whole rectangle together. The two remaining joints, however, should be glued and clamped together at the same time.

PICTURE FRAMING

_Inexpensive Framing Stock._--Picture-frame stock can be easily obtained of dealers in artists' supplies and in furniture stores in a great variety of styles. Much of it is so well prepared and so nicely finished that it leaves little to be desired. It is, therefore, often best to secure the stock for frames in this way. It is, however, somewhat expensive, so that, when economy is important, it behooves the young woodworker to prepare his own framing stock.

Very satisfactory frames 2 inches in width or less may be made from matched oak flooring, a section of which is here illustrated, by planing off the tongue and cutting away one side of the groove to furnish the inset for the glass. Wider flat frames of any thickness can, of course, be cut out from the ordinary stock. A special tool for cutting the inset is desirable but not necessary. A 1/4-inch saw cut may be made with a circular saw or even with a hand saw and the necessary removal of the wood accomplished by means of careful chiselling.

_Mitres._--Frames may be joined at the corners in various ways. A common way is by the mitre joint illustrated in the drawing. To secure good joints of this kind it is necessary that the mitres be cut on an angle of exactly 45 degrees and that the pieces for the corresponding sides of the frame be precisely of the same length. Hand sawing is generally not exact enough to produce angles of sufficient accuracy even when an ordinary mitre box is used. Hand-sawed mitres, therefore, will require a little truing with a small plane. Great care must be exercised also in fitting the corners together. The common bench square is not large enough to prove the work. A better way is to lay a carpenter's framing square on the bench and fit the two pieces of the frame against the sides of the square, testing each corner in that way.

_Gluing the Joints._--If the corners are unusually well fitted, a good joint can be made by first sizing the ends with glue and then firmly pressing the pieces together upon a true surface, leaving them undisturbed for four or five hours until the glue is hard. By sizing the ends of the joints is meant thoroughly filling the end pores with glue, rubbing it into the pores with another block. Generally speaking, however, it is necessary to make use of a mitre-clamping device. If a special clamping device is not available, one can be easily made by gluing small soft wood blocks to the parts of the frame near the corners, as shown in the accompanying drawing. In a half hour or so these blocks will become firmly set so that the mitre joints may be glued together, clamping them up with a hand screw. As already explained under the general directions on gluing, it is good practice for a beginner to glue up opposite corners and not attempt to glue up the two remaining corners until the first two are well set. When the first two corners are well set they should be nailed; and before the two remaining corners are glued it is well to try the parts together to see if they do not require a little correcting before gluing. These joints also should have light nailing after the glue has been set. In nailing, small holes should be made with a brad awl or drill in order to avoid splitting the corners, and long finishing nails should be used.

_The Defect of Shrinking._--With proper tools the mitre joint is the easiest one to make, but it has one unavoidable defect, especially in wide frames. It is very difficult to get stock well seasoned and almost impossible to get it perfectly seasoned, so that wide frames, however well finished, must be expected to shrink a little after they are joined together. As most of this shrinking is across the width of the stock it is evident that it will tend to open the mitre joints on the inside of the corners. This is what happens almost invariably with joints made in this way from wide stock in picture framing. The same defect is also frequently observed in the interior finishing around windows and doors.

There are three other methods of joining the corners of picture frames--_viz._, the halved lap joint, the mortise and tenon joint, and the dowelled joint. A drawing is shown to illustrate these three kinds of corner joints, and it is hardly necessary to say that no one of them is open to the same objection that attaches to the mitre joint. All these joints require accurate cutting and rather more of it than the mitre joint requires, but they are more easily glued up. The halved lap joint is easily clamped up with a common hand screw, even when the frame is a very large one. But the other two require long clamps in order to pull the joints up well.

_Character of the Frame._--The kind of joint required depends upon the general character of the frame--whether it is to be heavy or light, wide or narrow, and whether made of picture frame moulding or of the plain framing stock with round or flat face; and the character of the frame is a matter of design, determined by the kind of picture, by its setting, and by other considerations discussed in Chapter III. How the plan for the construction of the frame for any given picture is influenced by such considerations may be seen in the example which follows:

MAKING A FRAME FOR A LARGE PHOTOGRAPHIC REPRODUCTION

This photograph is 60 inches long by 16 inches wide. It is a copy in brown tones of a classic painting by Otto Kneille--_The Education of Athenian Youth_, the original of which hangs in the Royal Gymnasium in Berlin. It represents a spacious hall or court showing three of the large marble columns and a massive seat in which an old man reclines while another old man is expounding some doctrine to him and to a group of younger men gathered around. In the centre of the scene a boy lies flat upon the pavement reading a manuscript. Near him several youths under the direction of a master, are contending in feats of strength. The composition is one that suggests weight and power. It may appropriately hang in the hall or in the library over a wide, low bookcase.

A picture of this character needs no mat and must have a wide, heavy frame. The stock chosen was oak, 4 inches wide, 1-1/2 inches thick, and flat faced. The size and weight of such a frame, including the glass, demand firmness of construction as the first consideration. The stock is too wide for successful mitring because shrinking would naturally open and weaken such joints. It was therefore framed together with mortise and tenon joints, well glued. A dowelled joint might have sufficed, but it would not have the same strength. The mortises were cut in the vertical ends and the tenons were left on the long horizontal pieces. This was in conformity with the usual method of joining framework--for example, door frames, window frames, panel frames, and other interior woodwork; for the greatest possible length is invariably given to the vertical parts.

The frame was given a dark brown finish, repeating the darkest tones of the picture. Long screw eyes were fastened to the back 2 inches from the top, so that the picture might hang nearly flat against the wall. A strong braided wire about 75 inches long was run through the eyes and securely looped at each end, so that a little more than an inch of wire on each side passed through the eyes. Since the picture was to have a prominent place on a certain wall, two nails 66 inches apart allowing for the two widths of the frame as well as for the length of the picture were driven into this wall, and the heavy photograph was easily hung and balanced without exposing the wire to view.

TO MAKE A KNOCK-DOWN BOOKCASE