Dang. I had no idea that “facial angle” would evoke such an impassioned response. I’m still sorting out the online and off-line comments and will post a follow-up. In the meantime, let’s do an easy one (famous last words).
fillet (fil’it) A small flat area that separates individual mouldings. A narrow flat band used for the separation of one moulding from another; a fascia.
— Christopher Schwarz
This year Lost Art Press has two books coming out on mouldings – understanding, designing and making them. But if you have ever delved into the world of cavettos, scotias, astragals and toruses (tori?), then you know that the lexicon can be off-putting.
Or even impenetrable.
We are determined to publish an excellent glossary with these books, and we’d like your help. Starting this evening I’m going to post a term and a proposed definition. If you have anything that you think should be added or changed, please leave a comment.
Commenters who are particularly helpful will receive free stuff. What defines “helpful?” I don’t know yet. What is “free stuff?” Depends. Free books, T-shirts, hats, smack and blow.
So here’s the first definition:
facial angle: The angle at which a moulding or grouping of mouldings are viewed. Mouldings that all fall in a consistent facial angle are more pleasing than those that jut out or are radically inset from the facial angle.
Thanks in advance for your help.
— Christopher Schwarz
“The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” arrived via truck this afternoon. The book looks great. I, however, look like a boiled hobo and am on my second set of clothes this afternoon. Here’s the story:
The books left the Michigan printing plant on Tuesday – one-third of the press run went directly to wholesale customers. The other two-thirds came to my house.
Getting a semi-trailer – even a small one – into a dead-end street in a residential neighborhood is always a game of chicken. Literally. But I’ve unloaded more trucks than I care to remember, starting with my days in a liquor warehouse and up to my current job at Popular Woodworking Magazine. I can’t drive a forklift, but I can do everything else.
Today, my truck driver was having a bad day. I was the last delivery, and someone had pooped in his All Bran (not that you can tell the difference when someone voids in that stuff). He drove down the street and he didn’t like what he saw. Cursed a blue streak. Drove away.
He called me from a nearby grocery store and told me to come pick the books up there.
I told him he would be the first driver in 15 years who failed me. He hung up.
About 15 minutes later he pulled up and we made nice. We pulled the three pallets off his truck and deposited them on my driveway.
“I hope you have a lot of tarps,” he said as he walked back to his cab.
The sky was suddenly dark. I grabbed a knife, ripped through the plastic around the pallets and began humping boxes into my sunroom. Ten minutes later, the sky opened up. Stupid rain.
I covered what I could with tarps and then brought what I could inside – more than 140 boxes. After getting two pallets in the house, the rain was too strong to fight. I covered the third pallet as best I could and peeled off my clothes. While I waited, I cut the wet cardboard off the books and surveyed the damage.
So far, it looks like none of the moisture got into the books. Only one book and one box was damaged in transit. That’s not bad.
Tomorrow we’ll set up a shipping station in my sunroom and start signing and signing and mailing the books. Right now, I’m going to drink a beer (Pliny the Elder – thanks Nate!) and take a close look at the printing job.
— Christopher Schwarz
If you don’t have your copy of “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” yet, you can order it here from our store for $37.
Thanks for your orders. We will be contacting everyone shortly to confirm that you are on the list.
— Christopher Schwarz
In a table or stool construction either the legs or the rails may be marked out first. This example starts with the rails. Cramp together the long and short pairs, with true faces out and true edges down. Mark each end with a knife and square (Fig 96). Then uncramp the pairs, square round the lines (Fig 97), and carefully saw off the waste. It is important to saw this cleanly in order to be able to gauge nicely on the end later. First gauge the set-in, at about 3mm (1/8in.), and then the haunch (Fig 98). The set-in is purely cosmetic, to conceal any irregularity in the joint.
The haunch provides a bridge at the top of the leg, helping to prevent the mortice splitting and at the same time, by its added width to the tenon, reducing the possibility of the rail twisting in the leg. The haunch should be about a quarter of the tenon width. Some writers will say a third but this seems to reduce the tenon too much.
To mark out the legs, put them together with the faces and edges as shown (Fig 99) then turn them over and mark them on a blank face. Mark the total length, leaving some waste (which should be shaded) at each end. The waste must be about 20mm (3/4in.) at the top or jointed end.
Offer up the rail, and from it mark the haunch, set-in and rail width (Fig 100), square these across and uncramp. Square these lines onto the other blank face. The total length lines are squared right round (Fig 101).
The thickness of a tenon is normally about one third of the rail thickness. It is not taken from measurement but is the size of the nearest available chisel to this size. The traditional hand mortice chisels vary considerably from the nominal size. Machine chisels are quite accurate and are now becoming metric. Hand mortice chisels are much thicker than the common firmer or bench chisel (Fig 102), which is very liable to break when levering. The extra thickness of the mortice chisel is also a help in preventing it from twisting.
Set the mortice gauge carefully to the chisel (Fig 103) then set to its position on the rail, commonly central. Without changing the setting, mark out the mortices on the legs (Fig 104), gauging from the true face and the true edge. Mark the tenons similarly, gauging from the true face.
Beginners will find it helpful later on, when sawing the tenons, if a thick, soft pencil is run in the gauge marks. This produces a double pencil mark (Fig 105). The waste should be very clearly marked with pencil, generally by diagonal shading. (The method adopted in the illustrations is to avoid confusion with the end grain, and is not typical.)
Note: It is a good idea to number the joints to avoid confusion. This should be done on parts not involved in the cleaning-up process.
— Robert Wearing, from Chapter 2 of “The Essential Woodworker”
