Flush

A term which signifies that surfaces are on the same plane or line. The studs of a wooden building are said to be flush with the posts and girts.

Foot

A measure of length, containing 12 English in., - supposed to have taken its name from the length of the human foot. The term is also used to denote surface, or solidity; as a square foot, and a solid or cubic foot. The length of the lineal foot varies in different countries. The accompanying table contains its dimensions, in English in., in the principal cities of Europe: -

Fore Or Jack Plane

The plane used by carpenters to take off the rough surface of boards and timbers, preparatory to finishing them with the jointer and smoothing-plane.

Fox-Tail Wedging

A method of securing a tenon in a mortise. It is done by first splitting the end of the tenon, and then introducing a wedge, a portion of which is permitted to project from the cleft. The tenon is then put into the mortise, the back or bottom of which, opposite the end of the tenon, resisting the head of the wedge, it is forced into the split in the tenon, driving its parts asunder; and it is thus compressed and held fast by the cheeks of the mortise.

Frame And Framing

The rough timber-work of any building, including roofs, partitions, floors, etc.

Furring

Thin pieces of wood nailed to beams or any timbers falling back of the surface or line they are intended to form, either in consequence of sagging, or from any original deficiency in size. The term may be appropriately applied to any pieces of wood employed in bringing crooked or uneven work to a regular surface.

Fust

A term used in some parts of England to denote the apex or ridge of a roof.

G

Gauge

An instrument for drawing lines on any surface of a piece of wood parallel to one of the arrises of that surface.

Gable

The vertical triangular piece of wall at the end of a building, bounded by a horizontal line level with the eaves, together with the two inclined lines of the roof.

Gain

The term is probably derived from the Welsh word "gan" a mortise, and "gann," to contain: hence any piece of timber, having one or more mortises, may be said to be gamed. In England, the term more properly applies to the bevelled shoulders of a floor-joist, for the purpose of giving additional resistance to the tenon below it. In America, the term is generally understood to mean a notch or mortise cut into the arris of a beam or timber to admit the end of another. In framing ordinary house and barn floors, the joists are gained into the sills and girders instead of being mortised.

Gambrel - Roof

(See Curb-Roof.)

Gimlet

A well-known instrument used by carpenters and joiners for boring small holes.

Girder

The principal beams or timbers in a floor into which the joists are framed. Their chief use is to lessen the bearing or length of the joists.

Girt

The term, when used to denote the size of timber, signifies the circumference, or distance around the outside of the stick, and applies to all timber, whether round or square. Among American carpenters, the term is used to designate those horizontal timbers in the outside walls of a wooden building which are framed in between the posts at the floors of the several stories; the timber beneath the post being the sill, and that immediately on its top the plate. Into the top and bottom edges of the girt the studs are framed; and into its side, or bridging it at the top, the ends of the joists of the floor

Grain

The direction of the lines or fibres of wood. Thus, when those lines are straight and parallel, the wood is said to be straight-grained; but, when they are twisted or crossed, it is said to be cross-grained.

Groin

The curved line of intersection where two arches cross each other.

Groove

A sunken channel.

Ground-Plan

The horizontal section of that part of a building lying next above the surface of the ground. A story, of which the floor is below the surface of the ground, is called a basement.

H

Halving

A method of joining timbers by cutting away a portion of each, so that they may lock into each other.

Hammer-Beam

A short timber often used in ancient timber-roofs at the foot of the principal rafters. They extend a short distance out from the wall on the inside of the building, and are supported by a brace from the underside.

Handspike

A lever of wood for turning a windlass or capstan.

Headway Of Stairs

The clear distance or vertical height from the top of a given stair to the ceiling above.

Hew

To cut with an axe or hatchet so as to make an uneven and rough surface straight and true. The practice of hewing timber for frames is nearly out of use; most of that used at the present day being sawed at a mill. The modern carpenter is seldom familiar with this process: still, a competent knowledge thereof, although not often needed, is essential to a thorough understanding of his profession, and should by no means be neglected.

Hip-Rafter

A piece of timber placed between the two adjacent inclined sides of a hip-roof to support the jack-rafters.

Hip-Roof

A roof of which the end of the sides is not terminated by lines on the same plane as the ends of the building, but by hips formed by the other sides or ends inclining from "the end-plates to the ridge.

I

Inch

A lineal measure. In England and America, it is the sum of the lengths of three barleycorns, or the twelfth part of a foot.

Inter-Joist

The space or interval between two joists.

Inter-Ties

Short pieces of joist or timber used in floors and partitions to bind the work together. The word is synonymous with bridging.

In The Clear

A phrase denoting the clear or unobstructed distance between any two given points. A room, the ceiling of which is ten feet above the floor, is said to be ten feet high in the clear.

J

Jack-Plane

A plane used to take off the rough surface of wood previous to its being finished by the jointers and sniooth-ing-plane.

Jack-Rafter

The shorter rafters, which, in a hip-roof, are cut in against the hip-rafters.

Jack-Ribs

The shorter ribs of a groin, which are cut in against the angle-rib of a groined ceiling.