ABC OF THE STEEL SQUARE 3 



point, this provides for the ridge board being 

 nailed on the face of the cut without in the least 

 changing the pitch. 



A line along the edge of the blade, gives the 

 proper bevel for the level or horizontal cut. If 

 the bottom end of the rafter is to have a crow- 

 foot cut on it to fit the plate, the workman will 

 have no difficulty whatever in cutting the foot of 

 the rafter to suit, as all the lines will be at right 

 angles to each other, and a section of the plate 

 may. be made on the line of the bevel and the 

 "cuts" laid off to suit the conditions. 



In reviewing an article of .mine on this method 

 of laying out a rafter, an English carpenter 

 took exceptions to it on the grounds that it 

 would take too much time to lay out the rafters 

 for a whole building by this "tiresome process,'* 

 as he called it. Now the Englishman was right 

 from his point of view, but no American work- 

 man would ever think of laying out the rafters 

 for a whole building by the process. He would 

 simply make one rafter as I have shown, for a 

 pattern, and use this pattern for laying out all 

 the other rafters for that particular pitch and 

 rise on the same roof. Most workmen, however, 

 make a pattern from thin stuff of some sort, as 

 it is lighter and easier handled. The reviewer 

 suggested as a better way "that the pitch be 



