CARPENTRY

Carpentry is the process of shaping Timber, using hand tools. The products produced are used in
building construction, such as doors and windows, furniture manufacturing, patterns for moulding in
foundries, etc. Carpentry work mainly involves the joining together of wooden pieces and finishing the
surfaces after shaping them. Hence, the term joining is also used commonly for carpentry. A student
studying the fundamentals of wood working has to know about timber and other carpentry materials,
wood working tools, carpentry operations and the method of making common types of joints.
Materials Used in Carpentry:
Basic materials used in carpentry shop are timber and plywood. Auxiliary materials used are nails, screws,
adhesives, paints, varnishes, etc.
Timber:
Timber is the name given to wood obtained from exogenous (outward growing) trees. In these trees, the
growth is outward from the centre, by adding almost concentric layers of fresh wood every year known
as annual rings. After the full growth, these trees are cut and sawed to convert into rectangular sections of
various sizes for engineering purposes.
Timber is available in market in various shapes and size. The common shapes and sizes an: given below:
1. Log: This is the trunk of die tree which is tree from branches.
2. Balk: This is the log after sawing roughly to square cross section.
3. Deal: This is the log after sawing into rectangular cross section of width about 225 mm
and thickness up to 100 mm.
4. Plank: This is the timber piece having width more than 275 mm and thickness 50 lo 150 mm.
5. Board: This is the timber piece below 50 mm in thickness and above 125 mm in width,
6. Batten: This is the timber piece below 175 mm in width and thickness between 30 mm to 50
mm in thickness.
7. Scantlings: These are timber pieces of various assorted and nonstandard sizesother than the
types given above.
Classification of Wood
The timber used for commercial purposes can he divided into two classes as soft wood and hard wood
Soft wood
A soft wood is light in weight and light colored. They may
have distinct annual rings but the medullar rays (radial
lines) are not visible and the color of the sap wood (outer
layers) is not distinctive from the heart wood (inner layers).
These woods cannot resist stresses developed across their
fibers; hence, not suitable for wood working.
Hard wood
In this type of wood the annual rings are compact and thin and
the medullar rays (radial lines} are Visible in most cases Figure6.1. Hard woods are nearly equally strong
both along and across the fibers. Hand wood is the material used for wood working
Classification of timber
According to the manner of growth of trees, timber can be classified as
i) Exogenous or out ward growing
ii) Endogenous or in ward growing
i) Exogenous or out ward growing
In exogenous trees the growth take place from the centre by the addition of concentric layers
of fresh wood every year, known as annual rings. These varieties of trees are suitable for building and
other engineering uses the exogenous trees are again classified as
a) Conifers or ever green trees

b) Deciduous or broad leaf trees

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The conifer give soft woods and the deciduous gives hard wood common example of hard wood are
Sal, teak, rose wood, sandal, shisham, oak beach, ash ebony, mango, neem, babool, etc., soft wood
include kail pine, deodar chair, walnut seemal etc.
ii) Endogenous or in ward growing timber
These trees grow in wards i.e. .every fresh layer of sap wood is added inside instead of outside cane,
bamboo, coconut
Seasoning
Seasoning of wood carried out for removing the sap and reducing the moisture content the presence
of sap and moisture will render the wood unsuitable for engineering works due to uneven shrinkage,
crack, wrapping and decay.
Different methods of seasoning
1. Air seasoning or Natural seasoning
2. Water seasoning
3. Electrical seasoning
4. Kiln seasoning

Ply wood
Thick sheet formed by pasting veneers of wood is called ply. Three or more plys joined by glues is
called plywood. The grains of adjacent layers are kept at right angle to each other in order to get better
strengthening both directions the outer layer are called facing plys and good hard wood veneers are used
for this inner ones are called core plys and low quality wood is used for this the ply wood is made by
either cold pressing or hot pressing.
Tools for wood working
The principle hand tools used in a carpentry workshop can be classified into
i) Marking and measuring tool
ii) Cutting tool
iii) Planning tool
iv) Boring tool
v) Striking tool
vi) Holding tool
Marking and measuring
tool a) Rules
Rules are used for measuring dimensions. For measuring and setting out
dimensions various types of rules are used in carpentry shop. Steel Rule-
Stainless Steel Rule of length 30cm and 60cm. Flexible Measuring Rule-for
measuring large dimensions as well as curved or angular surface
dimensions.
b) Straight Edge and Squares
This is a machined flat piece wood or metal having perfectly straight and parallel edges.
c) Steel Tape: It is used for large dimensions, such as marking on boards and checking the overall
dimensions of the work.
e) Gauges
Gauges are used to mark lines parallel to the edges of a wooden piece. It mainly consists of a wooden
stem sliding inside a wooden stock. The stem carries a steel point for marking lines. The stock
position on the stem can be varied and fixed rigidly by tightening the thumb screw.

Fig. Marking Gauge

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To mark a line parallel to an edge the gauge stock is held freely against the edge and pushed along it,
pressing the steel points to the surface

Fig. Mortise Gauge

c) Try square
Try square consists of rectangular steel blade fixed rigidly to cast iron stock. The length of blade
varies from 150mm to 300mm.
Marking Knife or Scriber
Marking Knives are used to convert the pencil lines drawn on the wooden surface into deep scratch
lines on the surface. They are made of steel with a sharp point at one end and flat blade at the other end.

Fig. Marking Knife

Fig. Try Square

Bevel Square: it is also called sliding level. It is an adjustable try-square
used for measuring/marking angles between 00 and 1800.
VI Holding tools
a) Work Bench
This is a table of having size and raised construction made of hard wood.
The size ranges from 50- 80 cm in length and about 90cm in width. Two
Fig. Bevel Square
or four carpenters can work at a time on the work
bench.
Carpenters Bench Vice
It consists of jaw fixed on the table side and movable jaw
kept in position by means of screw and handle. The
body of vice is made of cast iron or steel. The jaws are
lined with hard wood which can be removed when it is
damaged.

Fig. Work Bench with Bench Hook

The screw moves inside the fixed half nut which can be
engaged or disengaged by operating the lever. This is made up of a bar of steel. The work is clamped
between jaws by rotating the screw using the handle. It is used for clamping glued pieces or holding
the work piece of larger size together for various operations.
a) Sash-cramp

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b) C Clamp: The clamp of the shape of letter C or G is used to clamp short pieces together as the
bar clamp. These clamps are available is sizes varying from 70 mm to 800 mm. it is used for
holding the planks after gluing

Fig. Carpenters Bench Vice

Fig. Bar or T-Cramp
Fig. C- Clamp
Bar or T-cramp: it consists of a steel bar fitted with a threaded spindle and an adjustable shoe. It is used
for holding the glued pieces tightly or holding firmly two or more unglued pieces for fitting dowels or
doing other operations on them in assembled position.

II Cutting
tools a) Saws
Saw is a cutting tool which has teeth on one edge and cutting is affected by reciprocating motion
of the edge relative to the work piece. Cutting occurs during the forward motion; such a saw is called
push type saw, the cutting occurs during the backward motion.
i. Hand Saw- This saw is used for short straight cuts. It has a blade of 25-40cm length 6-
10cm width. The number of teeth per cm length ranges from 3-5.
ii. Tenon Saw (Back Saw)- It has a parallel blade of 25-40cm length and 6-10cm width. The
number of teeth per cm length ranges from 5-8.
b) Chisels
The common type of chisels used is briefly explained below.
i. Firmer Chisels- they are most common and general purpose chisel used by a carpenter. They have
flat blade of 15-50mm width and 125mm length.
ii. Dove Tail Chisel (beveled edge firmer chisel) - These chisels are used for fine and delicate works
as well as for cutting corners.
iii. Mortise chisel – These chisels are used for heavy and deep cut to remove large quantity of wood.
These chisels have width of about 15mm but the blade thickness may range from 6-15mm.

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Fig. Saws

Fig. Parts of a Chisel

Fig. Cross-cut Saw

Fig. Rip Saw

Fig. Parts of Saw

Fig. Types of Chisels

III Planing Tools

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Planing tool is used to smoothen the wooden surfaces.

a) Wooden jack plane
This is the most commonly used plane in carpentry shop. The main part of a wooden jack plane is a
wooden block called sole, in which steel blade having knife edge is fixed at an angle with the help of
wooden edge. The angle of the blade is kept about 45 ° to bottom surface of the blade.
b) Metal Jack Plane
It serves the same purpose as the wooden jack plane but
facilitates a smoother operations and better finish. The
body of a metal jack plane is made from a grey iron
casting with the side and sole machined and ground to
better finish.

DRILLING AND BORING TOOLS:

a) Bradawl: It is a hand operated tool, used to bore
small holes for starting a screw or large nail.

Fig. Gimlet Drill

Fig. Plane

b) Carpenters brace: it is used for rotating auger bits,

twist drills, etc., to produce holes in wood. In some designs, braces are made with ratchet device.
c) Auger bit: it is the most common tool used for making holes in wood. During
drilling, the lead screw of the bit guides into the wood, necessitating only moderate
pressure on the brace. The helical flutes on the surface carry the chips to the outer
surface.
d) Hand drill: carpenter’s brace is used to make relatively large size holes; whereas
hand drill is used for drilling small holes. A straight shank drill is used with this tool. It
is small, light in weight and may be conveniently used than the brace. The drill bit is
clamped in the chuck at its end and is rotated by a handle attached to gear and pinion
arrangement.

e) Gimlet: it has cutting edges like a twist drill. It is used for drilling large diameter
holes with the hand pressure.
Striking Tools
a) Mallet
This is wooden headed hammer of round or rectangular cross
section. The striking face is made flat. Mallet is used for striking
the cutting tools and has wooden handle.
b) Claw Hammer
This is a hammer having steel head and wooden handle. The flat face of the head is used toFig.driveMalletnails
and claw portion for extracting nails out of the wood.

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Fig. Pincer

Fig. Claw Hammer

c) Pincer: it is made of two forged steel arms with a hinged joint and is used for pulling-out small nails
from wood. The inner faces of the pincer jaws are bevelled and the outer faces are plain. The end of one
arm has a ball and the other has a claw. The bevelled jaws and the claw are used for pulling out small
nails, pins and screws from the wood.
d) Screw Driver: it is used for driving wood screws into wood or unscrewing them. The length of a screw
driver is determined by the length of the blade. As the length of the blade increases, the width and
thickness of the tip also increase.

Fig. Screw Driver

Wood rasp files: it is a finishing tool used to make the wood surface smooth, remove sharp edges,
and finish fillets and other interior surfaces. Sharp cutting teeth are provided on its surface for the
purpose. This file is exclusively used in wood work.

Fig. Wood Rasp files

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EXPT.NO:1 DOVETAIL LAP JOINT DATE:

AIM:to make a dovetail lap joint.

MATERIALS REQUIRED: Teak wood (30mm*150mm*50mm)
TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT
USED:
1. Steel rule
2. Try square
3. Marking guage
4. Rip saw
5. Tenon saw
6. Mortise chisel
7. Mallet
8. Jack plane
9. Wood rasp file

OPERATIONS TO BE CARRIED
OUT:
1. Planning
2. Marking
3. Sawing
4. Chiseling
5. Finishing
PROCEDURE:
1. The wooden pieces are made into two halves and are checked for dimensions.
2. One side of pieces is planned with jack plane and for strraightness.
3. An adajacent side is planned and checked for squareness with a try square.
4. Marking guage is set and lines are marked at 40-50 mm to make the thickness and
width according to given figure.
5. The excess material is planned to correct size.
6. Using tenon saw, the portions to be removed are cut in both the pieces
7. The excess material in X is chiseled with mortise chisel.
8. The excess material in Y in chiseled to suit X
9. The end of both the pieces is chiseled to exact lengths.

PRECAUTIONS:
1. Wood should be free from moisture
2. Marking is done with out parallax error
3. Care shoukd be taken while chiseling
4. Matching of X and Y pieces should be tight.

RESULT:
The dovetail lap joint is made success fully.
EXPT.NO:2 CROSS HALF LAP JOINT DATE:

AIM:to make a cross half lap joint.

MATERIALS REQUIRED: Teak wood (30mm*150mm*50mm)
TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT USED:

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1. Steel rule
2. Try square
3. Marking guage
4. Rip saw
5. Tenon saw
6. Mortise chisel
7. Mallet
8. Jack plane
9. Wood rasp file

OPERATIONS TO BE CARRIED
OUT:
1. Planning
2. Marking
3. Sawing
4. Chiseling
5. Finishing

PROCEDURE:
1. The wooden pieces are made into two halves and are checked for dimensions.
2. One side of pieces is planned with jack planeand for strraightness.
3. An adajacent side is planned and checked for squareness with a try square.
4. Marking guage is set and lines are marked at 40-50 mm to make the
thickness and width according to given figure
5. The excess material is planned to correct size.
6. Using tenon saw, the portions to be removed are cut in both the pieces
7. The excess material in X is chiseled with mortise chisel.
8. The excess material in Y in chiseled to suit X
9. The end of both the pieces is chiseled to exact lengths.
PRECAUTIONS:
1. Reaper should be free from moisture
2. Marking is done with out parallax error
3. Care shoukd be taken while chiseling
4. Matching of x and y pieces should be tight.
RESULT: The cross half lap joint is made success fully.