Sawing

: THE HALVED JOINT

Lay the work on the cutting board as at ; or, if you prefer, put the work in the vice. Carefully saw down the work until you just touch the gauge line. Do not press heavily with the saw; use it lightly; the weight of the back iron which is fixed on the saw will ensure the saw feeding into the work quite fast enough. If the saw is newly sharpened it will, in fact, be an advantage to slightly ease the weight of the saw from off the wood, owing to the keenness of its edge. If the ha
ving is a very wide one, additional cuts may be sawn between the outside marks, and these will greatly facilitate the removal of the waste wood when paring it away. For sawing the joint reference may be made to the chapter on .



Fig. 70.—Sawing the Cheek of a Halving Joint. Fig. 70.—Sawing the Cheek of a Halving Joint.


Paring away the waste material with a chisel is the next step, and this is shown at . The work may be chiselled either in a vertical or a horizontal position. The horizontal position is the easiest for the amateur who has a vice or handscrew, because he may hold the work securely with a mechanical device and so avoid the unnecessary risk to his fingers.



Take the chisel and cut away A, ; now turn the chisel and cut away B; after which keep the chisel horizontal and cut off "the top of the hill," as it were, C. Repeat the three operations until you gradually pare the wood away exactly to the gauge line. When chiselling, if you find a tendency for the work to chip or crumble at the back edge owing to the forward pressure of the chisel, turn your wood round and begin to cut from the other edge, allowing the chisel to finish paring at the centre.





More

;