404 



KNOWLEDGE 



[Nov. 14, 1884. 



T>aj Sign for the Month. 



spending pieces being cut out of the others. A very little 

 study of the sketch will show that if these are truly cut, 

 when the top and bottom of the frame are laid notches 

 downwards, and in the notches of the sides, the whole 

 frame will fit flush together, like one solid piece of wood. 

 If the inside edges of the notches are 6 in. apart on 

 our longer pieces, or sides, and 4 in. apart on our shorter 

 pieces, or top and bottom, we shall have a solid frame 

 measuring G in. by 4 in. inside. We will look it over and 

 Bee which face looks the best, and that shall be the front of 

 our frame. Now our photograph is 6^ by 4i in., so by 

 aid of the marking-gauge (Fig. 8, p. 154), we must mark 

 a "rabbet" or rebate on the inside of the frame, ^in. 

 wide, and | in. deep. First marking our fitted strips 

 with pencil, in order that we may restore them 

 in their order, we take the frame to pieces, and, with a 

 knife or chisel, cut the rebate out. If we now replace the 

 pieces we shall, of course, have a depression at the back of 

 the frame, '-inch larger each way than the front inside 

 measurement, and |-inch deep. Into this subsequently 

 will drop the glass, the picture, and the thin bit of "scale- 

 board," which will keep it in its place. And, as far as 

 merely holding the picture is concerned, we may regard 

 our frame as finished ; but we want to have it ornamental 

 as well as useful, so we must proceed to the more decorative 

 part of the work. So far it has all been pretty plain 

 sailing ; but I am rather afraid that at this stage the 

 incipient mechanic will find that, in the words of a vulgar 

 proverb, he is "like a young bear, with all his troubles 

 before him." For he has now got to do the chamfering. 



which is far from an easy job ; in fact, he may very 

 possibly spoil his first frame altogether at this stage of its 

 manufacture. He must begin by marking the edges of the 

 chamfer on the front and sides of his pieces of wood ; and 

 then it is not a bad plan to saw nearly down to the lines at 

 short intervals. This enables the initial part of the work 

 to be done more cleanly. If, having marked out your 

 chamfers and determined their length you go straight at 

 them with a chisel, the chances are that after taking off the 

 first few thread-like cuts from the sharp angle of the wood, 

 the chisel will, as joiners say, " find its own way " into 

 the wood far below the proper level of the bevel, and 

 so ruin the whole affair. The secrets of bevelling are 

 to find the right way of the grain of the wood, to 

 use a very sharp, thin chisel, and to turn it bevel-side 

 next the wood. It is much less likely to dig in then. 

 When the bevel in the wood is long enough, one of the 

 little American " bull-nose " planes, which only cost a 

 shilling or eighteen-pence, may be used with advantage to 

 make the central part of it. There is also what is called 

 a " chamfer shave," which may be similarly used. The 

 " stopped " ends, though, must be carefully finished with 

 the chisel. Fig. 25 will serve as a pattern for the learner. 

 Four little knobs or pins will be seen at the points of junc- 

 tion of the ends and sides of the frame. These are simply 

 for ornament. I turn them myself out of old tooth-brush- or 

 knife-handles, &c., when I am using dark -coloured wood, and 

 out of ebony when the wood is of a light colour. I have 

 endeavoured to make this description as intelligible as pos- 

 sible ; but no amount of pictorial illustration can ever 



