150 The Farmstead 



they require rafters of various lengths and bevels. 

 Farmers and many carpenters have much difficulty 

 in getting the length and bevels of both rafters 

 and braces. Most carpenters' squares have so- 

 called brace rules stamped upon their tongues.* 

 These give the length of the brace for the 

 shorter and more common runs, t but they do 

 not give the angles of the ends of the brace. , 

 Then, too, the length is given in inches and hun- p 

 dredths of inches, and carpenters' squares are 

 not divided into hundredths, so this complicated 

 brace -rule is as useful as a steam whistle on an 

 ox -cart. 



The methods by which the length and bevels 

 of any member of a frame which departs from 

 any other member at an angle are so easily 

 understood that the wonder is that all are not 

 familiar with them. For a simple illustration, 

 let it be supposed that rafters for a building 

 18 feet broad, with one -third pitch, are to be 

 laid out (Fig. 62). The rafter, E, takes the 

 form of a brace. The run is 9 feet horizon- 

 tally or half the width of the building, and 6 

 feet perpendicularly. If the square be laid upon 

 the stick designed for the rafter, as 6 is to 9, 

 one side of the square will give the shorter and 

 the other the longer angle or bevel (Fig. 63). 



*The short end of the square. 



tThe perpendicular and horizontal distances covered by the brace. 



