A manual of fret cutting and wood carving

The young amateur wood-carver who has followed my instructions, has kept his wits about him, and has worked diligently and energetically, and with a determination to excel in the beautiful 'art of fret cutting and wood carving, will have frequently felt himself greatly impeded by having to wait the leisure or convenience, or to depend on the good nature, of the neighbouring carpenter to dress his wood for him, or he will have felt in the high price he has had to pay at the tool-shop for ready-prepared wood a burthen on his pocket-money he would gladly be spared.

The price that tool-sellers charge for ready-prepared wood is not to be wondered at, although it costs about a third more than unprepared wood bought at the timber-yard, and nearly a fourth more than unprepared wood bought at the tool-shop. It must be remembered that the tool-seller has to pay the workman for dressing the wood, and also to make a profit on his outlay; and these two items, workmen's wages and profit on outlay, necessarily run up the price.

Almost every amateur wood carver, I repeat, must feel the annoyance of one of these two impediments the time lost in waiting the leisure of the neighbouring carpenter, or the high price of prepared wood purchased at the tool-shop. The high price of the wood is serious, but the loss of time is more serious still ; therefore, I should advise everyone who can afford it, or who can little by little save up the money, to buy a few carpenter's tools, and to begin with a couple or three saws, a dovetail saw, a common hand-saw, and a half-ripper this last is the least necessary to the beginner; and two planes, a jack-plane and a smoothing-plane; and, having procured these tools, to become as soon as possible their own carpenter, and dress their own wood.

To enable young amateurs to do so, and with a view to their eventually becoming their own joiners, I purpose in this chapter to give them some instruction on the nature of the tools named, and how to use them.

I have no intention to enter on the subject of joinery; this would require quite a treatise to itself, and is beyond the scope and intention of this work but whoever can learn to handle these two tools saw and plane- efficiently, he will have mastered the principal part of the groundwork of carpentry and joinery. To saw straight and plane true may be called the groundwork and foundation of carpentry.

Looking at a carpenter planing a piece of wood, the operation seems easy enough but to plane a piece of wood true and without "winding," is not so easy as it seems it requires considerable skill.

We will begin with the saw, the first tool in the order of importance. Of this tool there are many kinds, each adapted to a different operation ; but we will deal only with the three before named.

The common hand-saw is used for cutting across grain it is generally twenty inches long in the blade; it has eight teeth to the inch, and fines off from the teeth to the back. The teeth of all saws are bent alternately to right and left. This is called the set of the saw; without this set the saw would not pass freely through the kerf or cut, the fibre would close in and jam it; but the teeth being thus set right and left, the space they cut is doubled, and as the blade of the saw fines off, as before mentioned, from teeth to back, it passes freely through the cut.

When the teeth of large saws are set wide for sawing large timber into planks, I have seen them on the continent set in groups of three one tooth right and left, and the third remains in its original position, upright, the saws were thought to cut quicker by this set.

Saws should be made of the finest steel, and be so thoroughly well-tempered that, if bent nearly to a right angle, they should spring back true to their original position, and in choosing a saw its temper should be thus tested.

There was, many years ago, a firm at Chelsea, Howell and Co., celebrated for their saws. I have seen a carpenter take one of Howell's saws, bend the point through the handle, and let it spring back it came as straight and true as a line.

The natives of all such Oriental countries as I have seen, reverse the teeth of their saws and point them towards the Handle. From this it results that the motion required is a pulling motion the teeth of our saws point away from the handle, consequently the motion required is a pushing motion. I have tried both, and prefer our own method, as infinitely more powerful and expeditious. But time with an Oriental is comparatively of little value, and the pulling motion suits their habit of working, which is, squatted on their heels on the ground.

Now we will suppose that the amateur wishes to saw off a portion of a board, and that the line the saw is to cut is marked across it. Now the way to use the saw is not to grasp the handle with the right hand, to place the left hand on the back of the saw, and applying the teeth to the edge of the board on the marked line, to make a dash and a dig at it, as I have seen more than one amateur do. This proceeding makes a gash on the edge of the board, mangles it fright-fully, tearing out large splinters, and it is ten to one if the marked line is hit, and then the edge of the board has to be haggled about until the saw fairly enters on the line.

Proceed in this way: Place the board or plank on a saw- ing trestle, or old box or packing-case, of a suitable height, put your left knee on it to steady and keep it firm, then grasp the edge of the board with the fingers of the left hand, at an inch and half or any convenient distance from the marked line. Now raise the thumb of the left hand, to form a guide to the saw, grasp the saw firmly by the handle, and placing the blade against the guiding thumb, apply the teeth very lightly to the edge of the plank at the mark so lightly as just to merely scratch it; make three or four short, quick strokes, each as light as possible, until the saw has fairly entered the board on the line; then lengthen the strokes gradually, and saw with long, regular strokes.

Do not press the teeth of the saw downwards into the wood when propelling the saw forward, but let the saw cut by its own weight. This will be quite sufficient, and if the amateur saws steadily, and not by fits and starts first two or three short, hurried strokes, then two or three long ones he will soon make good work.

If my young readers will follow strictly the advice just given, they will soon be able to enter a board with a single stroke of the saw. Use the full length of the saw, draw it back to within two inches of the point, and propel it forward as far as the handle will permit. If the wood is hard or tough, a little grease applied to the teeth will greatly facilitate the sawing.

When a plank or piece of wood is nearly sawn through, the operator must take the precaution to support the portion being cut off, either with his left hand or by putting something under it, or it will break off by its own weight, and splinter one or the other part.

We will now suppose that the amateur desires to saw with, instead of across, the grain of the wood, and to split a piece of board, say an inch and half thick, sawing through both edges, so as to make two boards of the same superfices. The board must be dressed along both edges, and on the top also; then with a gauge mark a line for the saw carefully on the dressed edges and top, and place it nearly upright, but at a convenient angle, in the bench vice. Take the half-ripper saw; this is a little longer than the hand-saw, and with larger teeth enter the saw most carefully at the upper angle of the board, with very light and short strokes; cut through to the further edge of the board, then turn it round and cut from what was the further edge, and so on alternately and if done carefully this will make both halves come as even as possible. Success mainly depends on entering the saw evenly on the lines at top and edge.