Your life work.
Music Great buildings are constructed of stone, concrete, brick, steel, and other
materials in addition to wood.
The woodworker plays a very important part in their construction, however.
Carpenters erect the scaffolding, which is an example of rough carpentry and does
not require a high degree of accuracy or tool skill.
Building forms for concrete work is also rough carpentry, for when foundation
walls are to be of solid concrete, forms are necessary to provide
reasonably smooth surfaces.
Today plywood is used extensively for this purpose because of its flexibility
and large, smooth surfaces.
The plywood is prepared at the mill by putting together several thin
sheets of wood in the dimensions needed.
This is limited the carpenter's work in building forms out of lumber, although
more work has been created for workers in plywood mills.
On many smaller buildings, the forms for concrete pouring are still made from
common lumber and provide work of rough nature for the local carpenter.
A barn is an example of rough carpentry, as are hog houses and other farm
buildings, such as poultry houses, machine sheds, granaries, and corn cribs.
Building a house involves a considerable amount of rough carpentry. When the
foundation is ready, sills and joists are laid.
And where extra strength is needed, diagonal braces, called
bridging, are nailed between the joists.
This is rough work, as no attempt is made to get the angle of cut exactly right.
The rough floor is then laid over the joists, forming what is commonly
called the platform or deck.
Upon this platform are erected the outside walls. As they are framed, openings
are provided for doors and windows.
The outside is covered with material called sheathing. This may be wood or one of
numerous insulating materials, the purpose of which is to keep the house warm in
winter and keep the heat out in hot weather.
As the outside finish is applied, the door and window frames are set.
The inside walls, which form the partitions, are erected.
Carpenters on a framing job work as closely as possible to exact dimensions.
While studying and joists are sawed to fairly exact dimensions, the variation in
length may be as much as one-fourth inch without creating any serious difficulty.
When the walls are ready, the roof structure is framed. This consists of rafters
and sheathing, and although classified as rough carpentry, it involves careful
measuring and cutting to get a reasonably accurate fit.
When the roof covering is completed, the inside work may
progress regardless of weather.
After the plastering is finished and properly dried, the carpenters return to
install the inside finish. This requires very careful, accurate work in order
that all parts will fit exactly.
Certain fixtures, such as stairs and cabinets, are usually built at the mill, but
their installation on the job requires skill and judgment.
The carpenters lay the floor, usually of hardwood, over the rough flooring.
Doors are made to fit exactly before they are hung. Usually they have been made
by machine and assembled at a woodworking mill.
Cabinets of various kinds and sizes which have been assembled in the mill are
grouped together in the finished house to form any
cupboard arrangement which may be desired.
In former days, such cabinets were entirely built by the carpenters on the job.
Today the field of cabinet making has been reduced greatly by the substitution of
other materials for wood and the use of specialized
machines in woodworking mills.
For the most part, the men in the mills are machine
operators rather than woodworkers, although they do work with wood.
A certain degree of skill is necessary to operate the machines, however, and this
work provides considerable employment.
In the assembly departments, the workmen put together
window sash as well as doors.
If the machine work has been done properly, the assembly usually
goes along without difficulty.
However, just a slight variation in the size of a piece or swelling of the wood
due to excessive moisture in the air may cause problems which require
considerable judgment and skill to solve.
In the stair building department, special orders which vary from stock designs
create problems which require ingenuity and some creative
ability on the part of the stair builders.
Consequently, this is a very high type of work, and only woodworkers with great
skill and long experience are entrusted with it.
To those well qualified, it offers a very satisfying occupation.
In the woodworking field, there are jobs for workers of all degrees of skill.
If you prove your ability to take on extra responsibility, you may
become a foreman or an inspector.
Although most furniture is machine made in large quantities, there is still some
employment for well-trained workers in the building of
made-to-order furniture and cabinets.
Cabinet shops usually are small in size for quality of product rather than
quantity is the first consideration.
These craftsmen are generally older and highly skilled men who learn
their trade through apprenticeship.
This is still probably the best way to get started
and become successful in this trade.
The shop work you take in school will also help.
Fine veneers are used in much of the furniture made in these shops.
In the mill, the veneer is sliced from logs in thin sheets by great knives and
then cut into sections of convenient size.
In the furniture shop, the veneer is glued to the groundwork
or core of solid wood.
The veneer is placed in a press where the glue sets and the layers
become fastened solidly together.
Effects of great beauty are obtained by using veneers, and this work calls for
skill and true artistry in selecting and combining various woods and veneers.
Craftsmen such as these are able to perform many different operations in the
shops even to finishing the furniture with stain and varnish.
Fine furniture making is a fascinating field, but one which is somewhat limited
because the higher cost of skilled handwork reduces the market for such articles.
Pattern making is another important branch of woodworking.
This wooden pattern of a flywheel, for example, is necessary in forming a hollow
mold and sand into which molten metal is poured to form this metal casting.
Later the casting is machined and finished ready for use.
In the pattern shop, the maker of wooden patterns works from a drawing or
blueprint which has been supplied him.
He uses various woodworking machines and hand tools.
His work must be extremely accurate, and it is complicated by the fact that the
pattern usually is made in two or more pieces so that it
can be removed from the sand bowls.
When the pattern is finished, the inside corners are rounded by means of fillets.
The whole pattern is then shellacked.
The true test of a pattern is the ease with which sand molds can be made from it.
If the wooden pattern is used a great many times, the
sand soon destroys the wood.
Therefore, when many castings are needed, metal patterns are cast from the
original wooden master pattern and are used by the molders.
The pattern, in this case made of metal, is placed in a
special container known as a flask.
Special molding sand is sifted over the pattern and pressed tightly around it.
The pattern is carefully removed, and to hollow space, the exact shape
of the pattern is left in the sand.
Into this cavity, molten metal is poured, which may be iron,
aluminum, brass, or various alloys.
The flask is opened after the metal is cooled and hardened.
The sand is removed, and the casting has the shape of the original pattern.
There are numerous independent job shops which make patterns, in addition to
those which are departments of large companies.
The independent shops do a much wider variety of work, although they employ
the same principles and processes.
Because of the great variety of work, they frequently require a higher degree of
skill on the part of their workmen.
The majority of contractors have come up through the carpentry field, and
owners of mills, cabinet shops, and pattern shops are
usually masters of their trades.
So there is the possibility of a business of your own.
Young men are getting a start today as apprentices or as carpenters' helpers.
Practice on the job, accompanied by further training in evening or correspondence
schools, should result in progress in an interesting occupation.
But success in this field, as in all others, requires hard work and study.
If you are interested in any phase of woodworking, investigate it thoroughly and
learn carefully the basic tool processes as
taught in your school woodworking shop.
It is the use to which you put the tools that counts,
and this requires training of the mind.
Learn to read and interpret drawings, the language of construction, and
develop your ability in mathematics.
The sciences you study in school will also be a help to you.
Spend as much time as possible in your own woodworking shop at home.
Use your spending money to build up a set of tools and to
buy material with which to work.
If you can make woodworking a successful hobby, you have a good chance to make
it a successful occupation.
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